Ahoy, Vanessa! Boy, does it feel great to say that again! I missed Disney cruising SO much!!!
I recently sailed on the very first 4-Night sailing of the gorgeous
Disney Dream since March 2020. It felt so good to walk through that Mickey tunnel from the terminal into the ship, and to hear our family announced again! We were escorted by a crew member as we entered and directed to stand on a white circle with gold Mickey heads on it. Once there were 8 or so families in the atrium, Mickey & Minnie Mouse, along with one of the cruise staff team, welcomed us back on board with a "show".
We were then sent to our staterooms, unlike our past cruises. Since our port arrival time for this cruise was 1:30pm, and the DCL staff were not allowing passengers into the parking garage until their port arrival time, our stateroom was ready! When we arrived on the 8th floor, we were greeted with a sealed envelope in our seahorse mail holder. This envelope contained the Key To The World cards for all 3 members of our family. We then used the keys to open the door and dropped our bags that we’d been carrying. On the bed was our platinum Castaway Club gift, along with a laminated emergency card.
We then headed to our Muster Station (H). There were plenty of crew members to help direct guests to the correct area. Our station happened to be on the starboard side of the ship, outside, near the Walt Disney Theater. There was a crew member there and he instructed us to pull up the Emergency Drill on our
DCL Navigator app. There is a place in that to take a photo of our Muster Drill sign, and it records that we did that and proved that we were there and knew where our station was. We were the only family at our station at that time.
After we did the muster drill, our family decided to grab a bite to eat at Animator’s Palate. We were greeted by a serving team who seems truly thrilled to have guests back onboard the ship. Everywhere we went, we felt the excitement of the crew. After a lovely meal, we took a walk to see some of the changes to the Dream. We noted the new handwashing stations at Cabanas, as well as signs stating limits on the number of guests in bathrooms and elevators. The drink stations and ice cream station on the pool deck were manned by a member of the serving staff. The pools were roped off to limit the entry only from the ladders. Inside the ship, everyone wore a mask.
After our ship tour, we headed back to the stateroom, where our bags were already waiting for us! Yay! So, I did a quick unpack while my travel companions went to an 80s Tune trivia. We met up for the first showing of
Beauty and the Beast in the Walt Disney Theater (it was AMAZING and we went again a few days later!), and then there was an announcement that the ship’s emergency horns would be sounding. We were instructed to stay where we were when that happened, and if we were near our TV, to tune in for further instructions.
The new Disney Cruise Line Navigator app is truly awesome! We used it onboard for everything from seeing the daily activities to viewing the menus in all the restaurants to even scheduling ourselves for a mixology the next day. There is a new chat feature, where you can choose to chat with a guest services crew member or schedule an appointment to go down to the desk to see them in person.
I’m sure we are all thrilled to see Disney Cruise Line back sailing the seas from Port Canaveral. I sure missed my fireworks at sea. I can’t wait until my next cruise!
Bon Voyage!
Tracy