After attending a conference in Orlando (Rosen Shingle Hotel is great, highly recommended), my wife and I decided to have a long weekend on the Disney Dream. We had always been curious about Disney cruises after 2 previous NCL cruises and the timing worked. We were picked up at our hotel by Orlando Airport Town car (highly recommended) and arrived at the terminal just before our 12:15 booking time. 20 minutes later we were on the ship! The entrance to the ship was nice, but the Atrium was a little disappointing compared to the 2 NCL ships we had been on. One thing that was apparent straight away is how well maintained and cared for the ship is, and during the cruise there always seemed to be someone cleaning etc. That is true on all the cruises we have been on, but more so for Disney, the ship really looked like brand new. As we were sans children we spent most of our time in the Adults Only area and it was really good. The pool area and hot tub on the side deck were great, the Cove Cafe had very good coffee and the ice cream machines were close by. We took advantage of carrying on alcohol, and also enjoyed the Currents bar on Deck 13. Service was very good, and the friendly greetings by all crew members was nice, it really set the tone for a good experience. Our cabin was on deck 9 and was well appointed with plenty of storage space, a very comfortable bed and the split bathroom was a nice touch. The balcony had some slight obstruction on the right hand side and for this reason I would not choose this room again.

The food was very good, but not exceptional. Cabanas buffet was a good standard buffet for lunch and dinner, the restaurants were decent with Animator's Pallet probably the pick of them. One of the things I really like about NCL is the anytime dining and this was reinforced as we had to wait until 8:15 for dinner. I also did not care for the way Disney did the tipping, it made you feel that you should be putting in extra over and above the amount that was automatically charged to your account and was pretty tacky. We used Room Service for lunch when in Nassau and it was excellent, the steak sandwich and chicken fajita wrap were great - you can also get the Mickey ice cream bars with the thick chocolate coating.

Our other stop was Castaway Cay and this was really well done, NCL's island doesn't even compare. Serenity Beach which is the adults only area is really pretty, but we actually enjoyed the atmosphere of the main beach areas. The buffet lunch was good without being anything special, the beach area was really good and the water crystal clear. All too soon we had to leave and Disembarkation was quick and painless. Read more