WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Saturday morning May 30thI was awake early and we were all excited to get on the ship but we had read that the gates to the terminal don’t open until 10:30am and our Port Arrival Time was 12:30pm so we weren’t sure what to do. This little guy was enjoying the room and Mickey's Clubhouse.CP ran and picked up some breakfast at McDonald’s across the street while I packed up, before too long we were ready to go and decided to talk around the hotel more to kill some time. Finally it was close enough that we headed to the ship.We pulled up at the DCL terminal at 10:30 and I snapped this picture.Evidently they let you in much earlier than I expected because we were in line and we could see a huge line of people in the parking garage waiting to get in.Soon enough we made it to the building, I dropped the bags and CP & W off and I headed to park in the garage. FYI you pay in advance now not when you leave.I found a spot near the ramp on the second level so I walked down the ramp to the ground level and avoided that huge line upstairs, it was so quick I caught CP before they headed through security.Once in the terminal we found crowds, but check-in was quick. But even though we were checked in before 11am we were given boarding group 17..booo but oh well.The line for Mickey was long so we passed but we did get these:CP had a hard time positioning the camera for my picture:We eventually gave up.Then headed outside to see our ship.Our cabin is on Deck 5 on the opposite side of the ship but this gives you a good view of what it looks like. Its on the same level as the lifeboats, one with an extended balcony, right above those can looking things on deck 4.Back inside I snapped some pictures of the Terminal.It's been said before but the terminal is too small for the amount of people that go on these ships so it gets crowded, it eventually got much worse than this, but we were lucky and found a table near the concierge area so we got to sit.Then we saw this guy walk by:His vest was full of pins.At this point W fell asleep which was good because it was nap time, so we sat and relaxed and waited.Our table, the concierge waiting area was behind that glass wall and their check-in was to the right of this picture.We didn't know it at the time but concierge even has their own entrance so they don't go through the ears and get to avoid the line with the commoners.They even have details on the chairs in the terminal:Concierge check-in desk:Before too long they started boarding, concierge first of course. The family next to us had been picked as the family of the day and got to be the first commoners to board. A guy in the party even proposed to as part of the ceremony, good job guy.We sat and watched people board, and it was going pretty quick. Then when they had gotten up to group eight, we got some pixie dust. The concierge host came to us and asked how many were in our party, we said just us and she led us through the concierge area and straight to the boarding area, bypassing the long line and jumping nine boarding groups! Winning!The only picture I got during all of that was this:Since W was still asleep we bypassed the official boarding picture and before long they were announcing our family on the ship.Once in the atrium we looked up and saw:We quickly headed to Deck 11 to eat at Cabanas, the elevators were crazy but we eventually made it and found a mad house!It was crazy busy and I had a dang stroller. We managed to figure everything out, W woke up and ate too. Sorry no pictures it was just to crazy in there.Then we set out to explore the ship.We headed to the kids areas to look around and sign W up for the nursery.On the way there we got stuck behind a Travel Agent group touring the ship and we couldn't get around them, I got annoyed, here I was paying good money to be on here and they blocked me! I eventually pushed through, we ran into them again inside the kids areas but at least they didn't block us in the hallway.I think this is the Oceaneer Club:W loved those ships wheels, it's a simulator to steer the Fantasy.Funny story, I didn't know it at the time but the lady in the picture above, we ran into everywhere. She had three daughters and one was close to the same age as W so met her at Toddler time and then always saw her even on CC.Check out these kids bathrooms, pretty cool if you ask me:A crafts area:And that's 30 pictures.WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Ummm.... next update?? How am I suppose to fall in-love with a Disney cruise, if you don't give me any information!? :waiting2-smiley: :) haha sorry, lunch was calling my name, but please see above now. WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Looking forward to an update! Just posted and working on another. WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Awesome, you're on the ship! I'm glad you didn't have to wait the whole time for your number to be called. Somehow, we've always lucked into an early boarding number- I want to get on the ship as soon as possible! I'm interested to hear how you liked your cabin. That verandah looks huge! I prefer to be near the forward elevators, as I think they're less crowded, but maybe with a little one it wasn't a good thing for you. I wonder what that pin guy had in his rolling duffel bag. More pins? TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mouseketab.....Carol 1,261 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Those extended verandah cabins are sweet!! On the Dream, we had 5552, which is the left most cabin right next to that lifeboat. Our cabin was accessible and the verandah was HUGE!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 I'm going to try and get another updated posted because we have 7 days of pictures to get to. Continuing our tour, this is Andy's Room, I really wish W could have played in this area more because he loved it. Then on to the It's a Small World Nursery: The sleeping room: We got W signed up and modified a few reservations. They "give" you a used Magicband for your kid to wear, really they charge you $12.95 for the used band and if you bring it back at the end of the cruise they refund your money. Next we headed to Royal Court Dining room to try for a Palo brunch reservation, I had been trying since we booked the cruise but had no luck. While CP waited in line W explored the dining room: There are different areas devoted to different princess. We didn't have any luck with Palo but we got put on the waiting list and they said we would probably get in, spoiler alert, we did not. But I did find out my Dining information, we had a private table, wining again. I had called and requested that and I guess it worked. Our dining rotation was Animators Palate, Enchanted Garden, then Royal Court. At this point our room was ready so we headed back up to Deck 5. Our Cabin: Wow that's a dark picture but I have more but first let me tell you about our room. I checked DCL.com at least twice a day hoping our room assignment would be posted. On the other hand I was kind of hoping it would not be posted because what if I didn’t like the room, then I’d be worried the whole time until the cruise. Well 13 days before the cruise we got our room assignment, Cabin #5030. I instantly was disappointed for some reason the low deck level didn’t appeal to me, then I realized that this was a category 4E room, that means it’s a Deluxe Family Verandah stateroom! Winning! Then I searched reviews, the first ones I found were bad, real bad. Turns out this room is right above the Walt Disney Theatre so the nights they show movies the room is really loud.I also found out the room isn’t really a Deluxe Family room, it actually has a floor plan that matches a regular veranda, but it has an oversized veranda. Turns out that when the Dream debuted these rooms were Cat 5 rooms, but people quickly found out they could get at huge balcony for a Cat 5 price so Disney re-categorized the rooms to Cat 4E, then when the Fantasy came out they had the same designation. But then I read more reviews and found some really good ones, the noise wasn’t as bad as other people said. And you know what, we didn’t need the oversized room, with only three of us, we would prefer the bigger balcony. By the way the only other time we booked a guarantee cabin was on our first Princess cruise, and we ended up with a double size balcony on that cruise too, maybe we are lucky! By the way we had no issues with noise in our room, I did hear a movie one night but it was hard to tell what it was and was not an issue at all. View from our balcony: W loved the balcony. Notice our balcony is big enough to have four chairs and a table: The only problem with the oversized balcony is half of it isn't covered, so people above you can look down on you if you are out by the rail, but that didn't bother us at all. Looking up: The bathroom: So after touring the room we left all our stuff and headed back out to explore. W loved the elevator: That's 30 pictures. WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 594 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 I think you are the first one to post pictures of the bathroom in the kids area of a Disney Cruise line. Good job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 60 pictures already? Wow, that went by fast! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmaul 65 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Double update. Sensory overload. Great looking room. That veranda. Now I'm jealous. Edit to add I like W's Little Explorer shirt. Top notch! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Awesome, you're on the ship! I'm glad you didn't have to wait the whole time for your number to be called. Somehow, we've always lucked into an early boarding number- I want to get on the ship as soon as possible! I'm interested to hear how you liked your cabin. That verandah looks huge! I prefer to be near the forward elevators, as I think they're less crowded, but maybe with a little one it wasn't a good thing for you. I wonder what that pin guy had in his rolling duffel bag. More pins? TCD Me too, I was disappointed that we had such a late boarding number but it all worked out in the end. We are like you we want to be on board as soon as possible. We loved the cabin and location. As you said the forward elevators seemed to be less crowded but we were also not far from the center elevators. Also being on Deck 5 we could walk down the hall and look down into the atrium. I was also right next to the Buena Vista Theater and being on the same deck as the Small World Nursery was nice. I will say I was surprised by the size of the room and not in a good way. With all the talk of how the rooms are larger than most cruise lines I expected more. I found out later that the room was the same size as our last room on Celebrity, turns out they were both larger than normal. So it's not that it was small by any means. I don't know what that pin guy had, we never saw him again now that I think about it. Those extended verandah cabins are sweet!! On the Dream, we had 5552, which is the left most cabin right next to that lifeboat. Our cabin was accessible and the verandah was HUGE!! Yes they are! Oh I saw that room, the veranda did look huge! I think you are the first one to post pictures of the bathroom in the kids area of a Disney Cruise line. Good job! Awesome! 60 pictures already? Wow, that went by fast! Don't worry there's a ton more to go. Double update. Sensory overload. Great looking room. That veranda. Now I'm jealous. Edit to add I like W's Little Explorer shirt. Top notch! Thanks, I've been looking through the pictures and they are all over the place, I guess we were always on the move so there might be a lot of sensory overload. WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 I forgot to post this earlier, but Disney Cruise Line has an app with a countdown feature. I can't tell you how exciting it was to see this: WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Wish they had the same countdown clock to WDW! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 594 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Do did you reset your clock? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Wow... okay. Lots of Disney decorations, kind-of looks like an on-property hotel, which is really nice. The kid's bathroom... that picture cracked me up :) Your room was bigger than I thought it would be, as was the bathroom (was the tub full sized?). The balcony was large, which is nice... but that's as far as I can go because, as I Iook at the balcony, I realize that soon all you'll see is water and some of the ceilings in the pictures look pretty low, which just reminds me that you're on. a. boat.... in. the. middle. of. the. ocean :bugeyes: I would not have done well at check-in; crowded AND on a boat. Mercy. Having to catch my breath just thinking about it But... I'll keep reading along because, after all, it IS Disney; so I know that you had to have a great time :) Plus, I want to see your pictures of Disney's island... that is the ONE thing that makes me consider drugging up and taking a cruise. I think the idea of that island is so neat :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 I'm in! We actually have a Fantasy cruise booked for Spring Break. I'm not 100% sure we'll get to keep it, but I hope so. Z loves urinals, so the bathroom picture cracked me up. That room looks like the same size as our RC cruise. I like the Disney decor much better though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
we3peas 12 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Wish more cruise lines would only board you after the rooms are available. Maybe that's why I like Princess, I don't have to cart my crap around while touring the ship. They let you on only when rooms are ready.Boy that room looks small. I thought they held 5 people yours doesn't look big enough. We took a Disney cruise because we thought we would get some alone time from our 5 yo at the time, turned out she hated the Disney cruise, so that plan was a big fail for us. Shame because it cost almost 2x more than any other cruise we looked at. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Z loves urinals, so the bathroom picture cracked me up. Oh my gosh, that is hilarious! Brandon, too... he's obsessed with them Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 I find the comments about the cabin size being smaller than expected interesting. My very first cruise was back in 1988 aboard what was then the largest cruise ship ever made, which was brand new and state of the art- Royal Caribbean's Sovereign of the Seas. Our cabin was the size of a walk-in closet. There was barely enough floor space for two people to stand at the same time. When DCL came along, the cabin sizes were much larger than industry standard. It seems like the other cruise lines have caught up in that department. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 TCD isn't exaggerating. Here's an outside cabin on the Sovereign of the Seas: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Family of Bears 98 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 TCD isn't exaggerating. Here's an outside cabin on the Sovereign of the Seas:Ahhh, funny memory. This looks like the cabin we had on our honeymoon. We were very young and I don't think the steward believed we were married. Every day she would push the twin beds apart. Every day we pushed them back together and told her we preferred it that way since we wanted to be together. She continued to push them apart. And one was turned sideways. Like an L. Good times. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Ahhh, funny memory. This looks like the cabin we had on our honeymoon. We were very young and I don't think the steward believed we were married. Every day she would push the twin beds apart. Every day we pushed them back together and told her we preferred it that way since we wanted to be together. She continued to push them apart. And one was turned sideways. Like an L. Good times. Oh my gosh... that's hilarious. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Wish they had the same countdown clock to WDW! Me too, DCL has the better feature on that one! Do did you reset your clock? I did, but it's depressing, lol. We booked a cruise while on board to lock in the extras but its not until 2016 and honestly it was so expensive we probably won't do it. Wow... okay. Lots of Disney decorations, kind-of looks like an on-property hotel, which is really nice. The kid's bathroom... that picture cracked me up :) Your room was bigger than I thought it would be, as was the bathroom (was the tub full sized?). The balcony was large, which is nice... but that's as far as I can go because, as I Iook at the balcony, I realize that soon all you'll see is water and some of the ceilings in the pictures look pretty low, which just reminds me that you're on. a. boat.... in. the. middle. of. the. ocean :bugeyes: I would not have done well at check-in; crowded AND on a boat. Mercy. Having to catch my breath just thinking about it But... I'll keep reading along because, after all, it IS Disney; so I know that you had to have a great time :) Plus, I want to see your pictures of Disney's island... that is the ONE thing that makes me consider drugging up and taking a cruise. I think the idea of that island is so neat :) The decorations are great, not overwhelming Disney at all but they are there, we loved it. No the bathtub wasn't full sized but definitely the biggest shower I've ever had on a cruise ship and bigger than my camper. Castaway Cay is as good as all the hype in my opinion, but we have a long way to go, that's on our last day. I'm in! We actually have a Fantasy cruise booked for Spring Break. I'm not 100% sure we'll get to keep it, but I hope so. Z loves urinals, so the bathroom picture cracked me up. That room looks like the same size as our RC cruise. I like the Disney decor much better though. That's awesome! You'll love it, I hope you get to keep it! That's good to know about the room size. Wish more cruise lines would only board you after the rooms are available. Maybe that's why I like Princess, I don't have to cart my crap around while touring the ship. They let you on only when rooms are ready.Boy that room looks small. I thought they held 5 people yours doesn't look big enough. We took a Disney cruise because we thought we would get some alone time from our 5 yo at the time, turned out she hated the Disney cruise, so that plan was a big fail for us. Shame because it cost almost 2x more than any other cruise we looked at. Not me, I want to board as early as possible so I don't mind carrying my bag around, its small anyway. Now that i think about it I thought we did that on Princess too, I'm pretty sure my room wasn't ready when we boarded, but that was 5 years ago so maybe not. I should clarify the room wasn't small, I just expected it to be bigger, as I said it turned out to be the same size as our Celebrity room. Also our room did not sleep 5 only 3. It was not a family deluxe room, just a standard balcony room, but since it has the bigger balcony they created a new category for it and it technically falls into the family category. Sorry to hear that about the 5 year old not liking, our little guy loved everything except for the nursery... Oh my gosh, that is hilarious! Brandon, too... he's obsessed with them That's funny, I'm sure W will get there one day. I find the comments about the cabin size being smaller than expected interesting. My very first cruise was back in 1988 aboard what was then the largest cruise ship ever made, which was brand new and state of the art- Royal Caribbean's Sovereign of the Seas. Our cabin was the size of a walk-in closet. There was barely enough floor space for two people to stand at the same time. When DCL came along, the cabin sizes were much larger than industry standard. It seems like the other cruise lines have caught up in that department. TCD My first cruise was on Carnival in an inside room and that's how it was, but we've been fortunate that our cruises together have all been on newer ships with balconies so we are pretty spoiled on the size. I should also point out that CP thought I was crazy when I mentioned that I thought it would be bigger, she's the cruise expert having been on tons of lines and she said it was a great size and she was right we had plenty of room and could even enjoy the room while W was asleep in the pack-n-play. TCD isn't exaggerating. Here's an outside cabin on the Sovereign of the Seas: Yeah that looks a little smaller. Ahhh, funny memory. This looks like the cabin we had on our honeymoon. We were very young and I don't think the steward believed we were married. Every day she would push the twin beds apart. Every day we pushed them back together and told her we preferred it that way since we wanted to be together. She continued to push them apart. And one was turned sideways. Like an L. Good times. haha that's an awesome story, you'll never forget that. Oh my gosh... that's hilarious. right! WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Time for an update, we are still on Embarkation day, May 30th. Well I guess I'll have to wait for an update, Photobucket will not open... WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WannaBeImagineer 98 Posted June 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Ok, photobucket is working again. Back to embarkation day. We had just checked out our room and not it's time to explore some more. Our room was on deck 5 forward, we could use the forward elevators or walk straight to the atrium past these chairs: And next thing you know you see this: And you'll be at the Port Adventures desk, which is where we went so we could sign up for the Princess meet and greet. It's like a fast pass to see five princess and a separate one to meet the ice queen. We were assigned 9:15am on Grand Cayman day. Down in the atrium we said hello to this lovely mouse: Then we headed outside in search of a cold adult beverage. We ended up at Currents in the adult section, the bartender made us a drink but said he had to fast so we could get out of there quickly since we had W. For some reason i can't find a picture of our drinks or this bar, odd. Moving on we went and toured the spa, we thought about getting a day pass to the rainforest area but never did. They weren't pushing about selling anything either so that was nice. Back outside: We passed the pool area: CP wanted to hit the pool but at this point I wanted to keep exploring. We found the Sports deck: Eventually we made it back to our room and found one bag there, so i quickly unpacked, then a second bag showed up so we upacked it to, by the time that one was done our last bag showed up. It worked out great them being staggered like that. Then we headed to the Walt Disney Theater for muster drill. Don't worry I harassed CP for drinking during the drill, lol After the drill we headed up to the Sail away party and luckily it wasn't too crowded yet. W enjoyed running around, while we chased him. Not much of an aqua duck line at the time. Even though it wasn't on our List of Fun I did want to get on the Funnel Vision. Pretty sure i'm in there somewhere but you can see me walking back in the left of this picture and the center of the Funnel Vision: There was also a Carnival Ship getting ready to leave: The captain came out to dance before driving us out to sea. This picture is supposed to be of a dolphin, but I missed it. fail After Captn Mickey left we headed up to Deck 12 to watch sail away but on the way I found a little hidden bar, called Waves and got myself a drink. I guess Waves is bigger on the Dream but on the Fantasy it's tucked off to the side because of the Aqua Lab Leaving the terminal: W was explore Goofy Golf while we sailed away. And that's 30 pictures. WBI Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Respect points to CP for bringing her cocktail to the muster drill. It looks like you had great weather for the sail away. I hope that continued for the rest of the trip. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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