Disneygeek - Disney Cruise Trip Report

Disney Cruise

Monday, December 5, 2011

Trip Log:

Woke up about 7am and headed up to the upper deck to watch us pull into Nassau this morning. Once in port went down to the Royal Palace for breakfast then back to the room to change and head for the pool deck and the Aquaduck. Only a ten minute wait.. unfortunately I did not get to ride though.. one group in front of us and they had to shut down because someone got sick. Then due to a drill no one was around to sign off and reopen it. So back to the room to change then up try some Goofy Golf before grabbing a quick lunch at Maters. After lunch headed for the Making of a Disney Dream in Evolution followed by Art of the Theme Ship tour. Once back from the tour regrouped in the room with everyone else then headed up to Deck 11 for a quick snack and look around on Deck 12 before heading to the main atrium on Deck 5. Caught some Carolers and then tried the case of the Missing Paintings from the Mid-ship detective agency. Once we had solved the case it was time to see if the Aquaduck was running, it was but pushing an hour wait.. so skipped it and went to relax for a while before dinner. Went down for dinner at the Royal Palace this evening. After dinner spent some time roaming the decks until it was time for Villains tonight. After the show decided to call it an early evening since tomorrow will be a busy day at Castaway Cay.

Thoughts & Observations:

I really enjoyed being up on deck and watching the ship come into port at Nassau this morning. The engineering in me cannot help but to be impressed at how easily the big ship is maneuvered. The ship came into the harbor, made an 180 degree turn inside, then backed into the dock along side another ship. To accomplish this they have 3 bow thrusters (totally 12,069hp) and 2 stern thrusters (totalling (4,824hp) onboard the Dream. They can turn the ship at a combined 35 degrees per minute rate.
Since I had zero desire to disembark the ship and see Nassau we had a relaxing day on board. I had visited Nassau back in the 90s on my "Big Red Boat" cruise and really did not enjoy it. I also looked through the current guides and talked to some who had visited recently and when combining all that thought my time was better spent on the Dream.
Ate a relaxing breakfast at the Royal Palace and took a bunch of pictures since it was not crowded at all. Not sure if it was our timing or what but I was really surprised at how empty and calm the dining room was. It was about 8:30 in the morning so not supper early.
After breakfast the plan was to give the Aquaduck a try. It was about 10am by the time I made my way up to deck 12 and the entrance. The line was short, posted at 10 minutes only. I walked up the stairs and in reality it was closer to about 5 minutes. But then as the group before me was waiting to board their raft no raft was sent up. The Castmember working looked over the side and started talking on the radio to the one at the exit. It seems someone lost their breakfast and they had to shut the ride down to clean it up. We hung around for a while since the CM said it should be quick to clean up. The cleanup did go fast but unfortunately they were not allowed to re-open until an officer could come and sign off on it and all the officers were tied up in a safety drill till noon. So my first attempt to ride the Aquaduck failed...
As a substitute since I had some free time I ended up giving the Goofy Golf course a try on Deck 13. We really enjoyed playing but we were really pushed along by some kids that just did not seem to get the concept of waiting or going ahead of us. Really this is the only time in the four days that stands out to me when some kids were a bit out of control and bothersome. I mean to the point of we were still hitting our second and third shots and they were already hitting off the tee into us and running around. We did return at a later time and played a more peaceful round.
I thought some of their scheduling was a bit odd. For example there was a presentation on the Making of a Dream. This was scheduled to start at noon. So it interfered with lunch choices a bit (especially since I wanted to go on another tour at 1:00pm). The Royal Palace lunch was open from noon to 1:30pm only so the only table service option was not going to work. Cabanas was 12 to 2 so again not really a good option. So I ended up with fast food since that opened at 11am.
The first presentation of the day that I went to was entitled Making the Disney Dream. The Personal Navigator billed it as "Explore the origins of Disney Cruise Line - and the latest and greatest innovations conjured especially for the Disney Dream, in this fascinating and entertaining behind-the-scenes program." It lived up to the exploring the origins part. The rest I was a little more disappointed in. I think my problem was I saw the Imagineers presentation at the D23 Expo and that taught me more about making the Dream and the special features than this presentation did. I kept comparing to that in my mind and then wishing I had skipped it and went to a nice lunch instead. For someone who had not seen a presentation on the ship before this would have been a worthwhile endeavor but when combing the timing and the content I walked away disappointed. Not as disappointed as I was with the ships tour yesterday but still not satisfied. One thing that I do want to compliment the presentation material on is how it tied back to Walt and really tried to convey the company history. I did think this was worth mentioning.
After two strikes in a row I was a bit nervous about the third program I was planning to attend. At 1:00pm I joined a small group in the Meridian up on Deck 12, Aft for a program entitled "Art of the Theme Ship Tour". This was described as "Join us on a guided ship tour and discover the ingredients that make the Disney Dream cruise ship one-of-a-kind". Well this tour lived up to the billing and then some. I really enjoyed this tour. This tour visited the Meridian, Palo, Remy then went down to Deck 4 and the District. It focussed on some of the unique spaces on the Dream and how they came to be and our guide pointed out some of the details (some hidden some not so hidden) of the spaces we visited. Out of the three tours this is the one I found the most interesting and would recommend to someone if they had to just choose one.
Gave the Mid-Ship Detective Agency a try. In this family friendly game you choose one of two cases (the case of the missing puppies or missing painting, I did the painting one) and you register on Deck 5 and pick up your game guide and card. You then visit several pieces of interactive art around the ship for clues to help you solve your mystery. I would recommend giving these a try to anyone. It is a great way to view some of the art and fun too.

Dinner this evening was at the Royal Palace. I had already explored the restaurant and took plenty of pictures at breakfast so during dinner I relaxed and enjoyed the meal. This turned out to be my favorite meal of the trip. I had the Royal Palace Aged Angus Grilled Beef Tenderloin (it also came with lobster medallions that I did not get but many others at the table did and all enjoyed them too).
The show this evening was Villains Tonight. This was more comical than last nights show. The gist here is Hades (from Hercules) is loosing his evil ways so he wants to assemble all the Disney Villains to increase his evilness. I found the show entertaining but kind of an odd fit to focus on Villains.

We called it an early evening since I knew I would have a busy day tomorrow at Castaway Cay. For those that are interested I learned Castaway Cay is 74.6NM from Nassau. While summing up my notes from the day I found it very interesting that I managed to walk 4.4 miles and I never left the ship today!

Christmas by the Numbers on the Disney Dream -- From a Disney Cruise Line Press Release

Garland, wreaths, twinkling lights and glitter transform Disney Cruise Line ships into a winter wonderland during the holidays. On the Disney Dream alone more than 300 custom designed décor pieces adorn the ship for its very first holiday season, including:

1,016 feet of garland, which is more than three football fields and nearly enough to stretch the entire length of the ship
66 holiday sprays ranging from 15 inches to six feet
29 wreaths ranging from 24 inches to five feet in diameter
41 Christmas trees ranging from two feet to 20 feet
One 20-foot-tall tree takes center stage in the atrium lobby weighing more than one ton and featuring 300 branches and more than 20,000 white LED lights
Unique holiday décor is created for specific locations around the ship. Themes include bright colors in the kids’ clubs, holographic foliage for the teen and tween spaces, and elegant accents for the adult areas. Customized ornaments include a paint brush and palette in Animator’s Palate, Mr. Potato Head in Oceaneer Club and colorful tropical fish in Cabanas.