Disney Dream Trip Report July 10 through July 15, 2011 (Stateroom #8184) Part 1
Note: There is so much to write about that I have to do this report in more than one part and keep up with the full-time job.
I feel the need to qualify this trip report. This Trip Report is seen through the eyes of a single guy (Me). No children (none that I’m aware of), wives (None) or girl friends (Still working on that one) had any influence on my observations or decision to go on a Disney Cruise. If you are asking yourself, why would a single guy go on a “Disney Cruise”? The idea was suggested by my co-workers (thanks Bob, Sandy, Ruth and Gary) that have been on prior Disney Cruises. I had not had a vacation in over a year and a half and they all suggested I come along. Ok… enough of the qualifying
July 9, 2011
I arrived at Cocoa Beach Florida a day before the cruise and stayed at the Quality Suites Hotel (Thanks Eric for the Taxi Service). The hotel rooms are spacious (separate living area from the bedroom) with a refrigerator and microwave. There are many restraints located within walking distance plus the hotel is located one block from public access to Cocoa Beach. If you can request a room, ask for a room 507. It has an ocean view and house keeping is located between the rooms. The hotel has a hot tub/Jacuzzi but no pool. The way I figure it, who needs a pool when you have the ocean only a block away. The distance from the hotel to the Port Canaveral is approx 7 miles. The rest of my co-workers stayed at the Radisson Resort just a few miles from the port. The resort is self contained. It has a bar, restaurant, hot tub and pool. For those not wanting to venture far before a cruise, the Radisson is a good option.
July 10, 2011
My assigned boarding time for the cruise was between 12:30 and 1:00 PM. The night before the hotel staff suggested that the call for a Taxi should be placed a half hour prior to time leaving the hotel. I had the hotel desk call for a Taxi at 11:30 AM. And like clock work, the Taxi arrived at the hotel at Noon. Taxi fare from the hotel to the port was under $20.00. The Taxi service used was “Taxi 888”. Walt was my driver who kept me entertained with his fish and gater photo album. He is one fisherman. The drive time from the hotel to the port was about 20 minuets.
Upon arrival to the Disney port terminal, I was greeted by a porter to handle my bags. By their dress, it appeared that they were Disney employees. But after a little questioning, I was surprised to discover that they are not employed by Disney and work for tips. Not having anything smaller than a twenty dollar bill in my pocket, I handed the porter a twenty and told him “Today is your lucky day”. With a big smile he took care of my bags while I headed to the main gate to check-in. I walked up to the main gate at 12:25 PM. I was asked my name, stateroom number and showed my Passport. From there you go through security where your carry on bag is x-rayed and you walk through a metal detector then up the escalator to the terminal. There you are greeted by some employees that request that you fill out a brief health questionnaire. From there I went to main check-in. Upon getting in line for check-in, I was handed a slip of paper with a number in it. At the time I did not think anything of it. After checking-in and receiving my cruise card and exiting the line I thought to myself “this is not bad, from the curb and out of check-in about 25 minuets. That’s fast.” Then I heard the announcement overhead “Boarding Number 1 through 7”. I looked at that little slip of paper, my boarding number is “Twenty”. So I had a wait a while inside the terminal before boarding the ship.
The wait time for boarding was approximately an hour and a half. There is an observation platform where you can see the ship plus there is a scale model of the Disney Magic on display. Also some of the Disney characters come out to from time to time for photo ops and to help keep the kids entertained.
The only real down side to the terminal experience (other than the wait time) is the volume of people that you must weed through in order to gain access to the gangway in order to board the ship when your boarding number is called. At dinner that evening Bob explained to me that Disney used the same process for the Dream as they do for the smaller Disney ships. So even the veteran Disney cruisers were surprised by the longer wait time in order to board the Dream.
After making my way through the typical photo shoot midway down the gangway, I was greeted by the Disney Dream greeters. The asked for my name, I said “Gerald” then they announced “Welcome Gerald” and applauded. To be honest I think the crew thought I lost my kids or left them on the gangway. But after the shock of being greeted onboard so warmly the next thing I did was look up and say “Wow”. The Disney Dream is a gorgeous ship. For the folks that are Disney fans, this ship will please.
Seeing that the people were waiting for the mid-ship elevators, I choose to take the stairs. Knowing that my stateroom was aft, I went outside on the boat deck to avoid the crowds. From the boat deck I found a doorway leading to the aft stairwell and proceeded up to deck 8. Upon arriving on deck 8, this is where I learned my first lesson on stateroom numbering. Most people would figure that the stateroom numbers would be odd numbers on one side of the ship and even numbers on the other going in ascending or descending order from the front or the back of the ship similar to how houses are numberd on a street (odd on one side of the street and even on the other). But I discovered that the stateroom numbers run from high to low on one side of the ship and low to high on the other. So after doing a full circle of Deck 8, I became familiar with the numbering system. I thought to myself, “maybe it was the German way of doing things”. But then again, there is probably no good way to create a numbering system that accounts for the inside staterooms.
Finally making my way to the stateroom 8184 door, I did notice that the door was wider than the others that I had walked past. By the size, it did look like a wheelchair accessable door. When entering the stateroom, is when I let out my second “Wow” in one day. The floor plan of the stateroom is best described as a quarter round. Each leg of the 90 degree (including the bathroom) extends about twenty feet and then arch’s from one end to the other. The arch is almost the entire length of the veranda. Walking to the door to the veranda, I was surprised to find that the door swings outward rather than being a sliding door. After seeing the length of the veranda, no wonder my co-workers said “the cast off party is at your room”.
The bathroom is designed for the wheelchair accessable. But it was missing one typical feature of a handicap bathroom. No grab bars. The other feature that was missing was a call button incase of a slip and fall or some other accident. My speculation is that the stateroom was not wired for call buttons or fitted with grab bars due to the veranda not meeting ADA requirements. The veranda railing curves inward toward the ship, also it is less than 6 feet wide on one end. So it is my understanding that the state room can be booked without having special needs.
The closet space is more that adequate (two closets one with a safe) and again the clothes rod is spring loaded and swings downward to be wheelchair accessible.
Part 2 to follow in the next day or two.
