5 Night Cruise on the Disney Dream--What's new or different?

I got my hands on the Personal Navigators from the first 5 night sailing on the Disney Dream.  Ok, you knew I would, and it was just a matter of time.

The first sailing of a 5 night itinerary on the Disney Dream left port on May 29, 2011.  The Dream had been sailing 3 and 4 night itineraries since its Maiden Voyage in January, 2011.  The internet was full of Personal Navigators—click here to read more about Personal Navigators—for those sailings.  But since we are headed for a 5 night cruise, I wanted to find out what might be in store for our upcoming Disney cruise.

If you want to take a look at the Personal Navigators for the 5 night itinerary—click here for a great site.

Before I begin a comparison, know that there are different itineraries for the 5 night.  The itineraries include 2 stops at Castaway Cay—double dip, a stop a Nassau, and a day at sea.  What’s different is the order of the days.  For the first 5 night, the Nassau day came before the day at sea, while it will be reversed on our cruise.

So, here’s what I have discovered:

·         Pirate Night coincides with the stop at Nassau.  So, that could be the 3^rd or 4^th night of the cruise depending on the particular itinerary.

·         There is still a mandatory safety drill on the first after noon on board, but you no longer have to wear the life vest from your room.  Darn!  We sort of liked donning the vibrant orange life vests before making our way to our assembly station.

·         While some of the earlier sailings had 2 “Sail Away Parties” on the first day on board, it looks like there will be just one Sail Away Party—4:45 pm.

·         Characters, Characters, Characters!  We know and love meeting characters on the ship, especially the Princess Gathering—click here to read more, but the Navigators indicate even more characters that we didn’t expect—characters from Toy Story, the Incredibles, and Remy from Ratatouille.  (Makes sense given the more Disney/Pixar themes on the ship.)

·         The Oceaneer’s Club and Lab open at 6:00 pm on the first evening for secure kids’ activities.  On our last cruises the kids’ clubs didn’t open until 7:00 or later on the first evening, so the early opening is great for us.  Our dinner starts at 5:45, so once the boy eats, he can head to the club—which is what we do on the other nights, but can now do on the first night due to the earlier opening of the Club and Lab.

·         No character breakfast.  Well, we sort of knew that would be the case, as typically character breakfasts are for 7 night or longer itineraries.

·         No Kids’ Club “graduation” such as “Friendship Rocks” which were typically held on the last evening in the Walt Disney Theater just before the first dinner seating.  The kids gathered in the theater on stage, wore t-shirts, sang, and watched a slide show of their activities together.  The boy has done this on our last 3 Disney cruises, but alas, no more.  He still has the other 3 t-shirts from the previous ceremonies! (I think they are packed already!)

·         There is much to do!  OK, this isn’t new information as we already know that there is way more activities on a Disney Cruise than one could even hope to participate in.

Once I found the Navigators on line, I started pouring over them, trying to capture every detail, every nuance.  Did we have time to meet Remy before dinner on our first night?  We would definitely do the portrait session on the other nights, etc.  What I realized was that I was pouring over the set of Navigators—1 per night—just like I do when they are silently slipped under our stateroom door late in the evening for the next day.  I smiled.  Yep, it was a similar feeling, but instead of reading/studying while lying in a comfy bed in a stateroom on the ocean, I was sitting outside on the patio.

I’ve still got them. They are printed and bound with a heavy duty clip, so that I can make reference to them at any time.  Most likely, I’ll keep them until we get to replace them with our very own set of Navigators from our 5 night sailing on the Disney Dream.