My family went on our first Disney Cruise and can't wait to go back on another one (we have done one Carnival cruise in the past). We love Disney so this cruise was a great match for my family. First of all, save yourself a little time and process the pre-check in on-line. It makes things quicker I would have to say- especially the kid registration for their clubs.
Upon entering the ship, you immediately know you are on Disney property. EVERYTHING is immaculately adorned and cleaned! We came from Disney world and arrived around 1:30pm after having a 10am breakfast at the Polynesian. If you want to arrive early, you can board early and begin enjoying the amenities. However, bring what you'll need in your carry on because your room won't be ready until after 1pm usually and your luggage probably won't arrive until around 5pm depending on how early you arrived.
We LOVED our room. It was a deluxe inside state room with a magic porthole. We decided to just orient ourselves to the room before the muster drill. The sail away party is on deck 11 of Dream. Every staff we encountered was very friendly. We received great service in every aspect of our voyage. There was ALW'AYS something to do- for the young and old. I wasn't completely sure I wanted to leave my five year old with perfect strangers on the ship. However when I checked the Oceaneer's Club/Lab out and saw how they worked the security, I was good with it. By the last day, our son preferred visiting the cub to hanging around with us- go figure!
The magic porthole was ...as it says...magical. My son tried forever to catch a picture of our 'Disney' guest.