3-Night Bahamian Disney Cruise Line Report — Part 3
I’ll start this page by reiterating just how impressed we are with the maintenance standards and show quality on Disney Cruise Line. This is right up there with Tokyo Disney Resort, and head and shoulders above Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
The cool thing about this as a Disney fan (at least I think so) is that a lot of this maintenance happens in plain view of guests. Most of it does occur at off hours, but if you’re up early for sunrise, you’ll encounter numerous maintenance crew members repainting, varnishing, and just cleaning the ship. It’s a neat ‘behind the scenes’ look at something that would usually occur after hours at the parks.
I don’t consider this ‘poor show’ because it’s out of necessity. The cruise ships have so little down time between cruises that, in order to maintain these standards, preventative refurbishment work necessarily must occur during cruises.
Honestly, I wouldn’t consider this ‘poor show’ if it occurred in plain sight at the parks. I think maintenance and upkeep send a message to guests of quality standards, and are also a signal for how to behave. If people see overflowing trash cans, they don’t hesitate about adding to mess. If they see Cast Members meticulously maintaining the environment, they behave similarly. I suppose you could call this a theme park corollary to the broken windows theory.
I thought it’d be appropriate to share my thoughts on the high level of maintenance on Disney Cruise Line to underscore how important this is to me as a guest, and also “offset” what might seem like an inordinate amount of quibbles I’ve shared in this cruise report. Quibbles I’ve made despite this being an exceptional cruise.
After getting back on the ship, we immediately started wandering around. Aside from Midship Detective Agency and a few efforts at photographing the sunset and sunrise, we hadn’t done much in the way of wandering.
These ships are beautiful environments, and part of what I enjoy about a Disney cruise is simply walking around the ship.
Disney Cruise Line doesn’t have quite the same luxury of space as the parks, so you see a lot of functional areas that it’s difficult to theme. Yet, they still look great and have a bygone ocean liner vibe to them.
Above is a perfect example of the regular maintenance aboard Disney Cruise Line. Maybe as a geek for this type of thing I’m unduly obsessed with it, but I love seeing this.
We were incredibly hungry, so we made a stop at Flo’s for some light items before dinner.
This ended up being our first, and only, okay meal on the Disney Dream.
I also had another round of ice cream. I haven’t shared every single time I had ice cream (and for some reason didn’t take photos), but I had a shockingly large number of them. It’s a good thing(?) soft serve is mostly made of chemicals and other stuff I’d rather not think about, because I probably would’ve gotten milk poisoning (the kind you get from too much milk too quickly, not the kind that comes from sick cows) were it primarily dairy.
After eating, we continued walking around the deck…
The sunset was once again a dud, but we still had a great time wandering the ship and enjoying the fading afternoon sunlight.
Yeah, I know I have a ton of photos of the funnels, but I just love the style. I really hope Disney Cruise Line never changes its logo. Its timeless and brilliant…just like the Disneyland logo, original (and current, again) Walt Disney World logo, and old Disney Vacation Club logo.
In fact, I cannot think of a single situation that Disney improved upon a logo with a redesign. It always seems to occur as an attempt by a new “leader” to “modernize.” (Air quotes in both cases.) This is fundamentally misguided; Disney is a classic company, not some hip startup.
All in all, it was an incredible day on Castaway Cay and back aboard the ship. It was also a really long day, but with this being our last night on the Disney Dream, we wanted to savor the experience as long as possible. We’ll be back with the final installment of this Disney Cruise Line report tomorrow, which will cover the rest of our final evening aboard the Disney Dream.
Click here to continue reading Part 4 of this Disney Cruise Line Report.
Planning to set sail aboard one of the Disney Cruise Line ships? Read our comprehensive Disney Cruise Line Guide to prepare for your trip, plan entertainment and other activities, and learn what to expect from your Disney cruise!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Castaway Cay? Where does it rank among the ports where Disney Cruise Line stops? Would you rather visit it, or a more culturally-rich, non-Disney port (or is a mix of both ideal)? Have you done the Castaway Cay 5K? Any thoughts on maintenance on the Disney Cruise Line or anything else we’ve covered in this cruise report? Any other tips to add or recommendations? If you have questions or thoughts, please share them below and we’ll try to respond!
Did you book directly through Disney to get the last minute fare? Believe it or not, I’ve been on two Disney cruises and missed docking at Castaway Cay both times due to wind/weather. I have to go back because I feel I missed the best part.
Directly with Disney. Highly unlikely you’ll find any good deals on the Bahamas now–they are entering their prime seasons.
A question about DCL food, specific to the Dream and Fantasy. Our cruise experiences have always been about food, I tend to vacation with my stomach in mind. Our first cruise (I think it was the Magic, before the rebuild) we made reservations for Palo. It was good. definitely not a bad place to eat at all, but I didn’t feel it was so far above the “normal” cruise dining that the extra money (and missing a dining room) was really worth it. Fast forward a couple years, and we had the opportunity to eat at Remy on board the Dream. I was more than impressed. I’m not sure Michelin Guide would ever do Cruises; but if they did, Remy would make their list. It was reason enough for me to cruise again.
I have enjoyed reading your food reviews throughout the parks and DCL, I was wondering if you have had a chance to enjoy Remy and what your thought were on it.
To be fair, my mom and I got left behind once at Wild World of Sports after a minor league game. Came out of the stadium with a handful of people who stuck around for the whole thing and there was no transportation to be found. This was back in the day before cell phones, but that was a hell of a night trying to find a phone to call for a cab.
Were there still Cast Members at the stadium? If so, they should have called a bus for you. However, maybe Disney was not so accommodating with transportation then? Or, maybe that’s how WWoS always has been and still is…I’ve never been there late.
I do know that you could not get yourself stranded at one of the theme parks no matter how hard you tried.
Your beautiful photos make me want to take another Disney cruise–but one where the sun is shining and the sea is calm. (We still had fun, riding bikes around Castaway Cay and enjoying its ambience, but it wasn’t the tropical paradise I’d anticipated.). ‘Looking forward to Part 4.
Tom,
I don’t recall you ever talking about how easy or hard it is to enjoy a Disney cruise when you are traveling sans kids. That is are adults able to enjoy the cruise by themselves. Apparently the answer was yes for this cruise, but any tips for adults only Disney cruising?
If you can enjoy the parks without kids, you can enjoy a cruise without kids. I know people associate Disney with family-friendly entertainment, but Disney Cruise Line strikes me as something that can be enjoyed by a really wide range of demographics. I’ll do a post on ‘DCL for Adults’ at some point, but for now I’d just stress that it’s really easy to have fun if you’re an adult with kids.
Some people might miss the gambling (as compared to other cruises), but we don’t gamble, so that doesn’t even register for us.
Thanks, Tom. But can you avoid the kiddos when you need to?
Honestly, Jeff, I found it really easy to mostly avoid kids when I wished to when on Disney cruises. During the day most of them are at the kids pools and kids clubs. Of course you’ll see them running around, but usually they’re on their way to go do something. There is a adult only pool area for relaxing in (because of the placement of the rear elevators you may have kids cutting through the area, but they are only passing through and if they try to linger I have seen cast members asking them to move along), and on the dream and fantasy there is also Satellite Falls on the top deck for lounging which is adult only and doesn’t have the elevator placement issue (and that tends to be much less crowded to boot)
Non-pool related there will be several bar areas throughout the ship, in particular the nightclub area. During the day these are not strictly adult only (the bigger dance club area will sometimes hold family events during the day, and sometimes the smaller pub like area will hold an all ages trivia or something). However, outside of specific family/ all ages events, you don’t find a lot of kids in those areas, and throughout the day you will also find adult only events like trivia and alcohol tastings (the tasting have an up charge but tend to be a pretty good value and a lot of fun). Besides the events, you can also just go an have a quiet drink and relax in these bars too- I highly recommend Skyline if you’re on a ship with that area. After 9 these area do become adult only, and there will often be some sort of enterianment going on- a DJ, a adult act, a game show type thing- stuff like that.
Mealtime in the main dinning room and the shows you will be around kids. In the main dinning room if you aren’t traveling with kids you likely wont be seated at a table with kids, and at the evening shows usually it captures the attention of the kids enough to not be a big deal. You may want to op for the later dinner- most families with younger kids want to have dinner a bit earlier then 8, and midway through the second seating family have the option to let the kids be gathered up and lead to the kids club, so it tends to be a bit calmer then the early seating. Of course, the up charge dinning is always adults only.
Castaway Cay- no worries there! Just make your way to Serenity Bay, find a beach chair, and enjoy the blessed quiet. 🙂
It is a Disney Cruise, and there will be a lot of kids on board. Just due to the nature of it being a ship you won’t be able to avoid them completely. But I do feel that Disney has done an excellent job of providing adult only spaces on board, and of providing plenty of entertainment for all ages, so that adult only traveling parties don’t feel overwhelmed by kids running everywhere. It also helps that nobody is walking through the parks for 10 hours, so you also largely avoid the epic meltdowns you can sometimes see in the parks. 🙂
I’ll respond to your question about kids: I actually think a Disney cruise is better than most other lines for dealing with kids. My theory is that Disney knows they will have a higher percentage of children, yet cater to a higher-end clientele, so they are SUPER good at keeping adult spaces (of which there are many) truly separate and kid-free. I never saw a kid at the adult pool — partly because they kick them out, and partly because they have so many kids-only spaces to inhabit there are no reasons for them to be in adult areas. I cruised with my husband and my parents last year, and because our party was all adults, we were seated in an area with all-adults parties. I don’t know if that was unique to our experience or what, but it was clearly done on purpose. There were still kids in the restaurants (of course) but they weren’t on top of us and that was a nice surprise.
In one instance where a parent brought their kids into one of the bars at night, a cast member immediately went over and asked her to take her kids out. They were perfectly well-behaved, but that was the rule: no kids after 10pm in the bars. I so appreciated Disney’s ability to be proactive and not to enforce rules only after someone was disruptive. So to answer your question: yes, you can absolutely enjoy a Disney cruise sans-kids, and I think even more-so than the parks. 🙂
Tom, honest question (not meant to be rude, but more curious). Do you believe you have traveled so much it has jaded ur view on vacations? I would venture that majority of ur readers are never taking month long European vacations, multiple Japan trips, going to China…. so much so that u almost look down ur nose at a “tourist trap” like Nassau? I know it’s not exciting as place u have been but I think u do a disservice by poo pooing the entertainment available and not give it a stand alone rating not in comparison to much greater places u have been. Most people will never have the opportunity u and Sarah have, so seems a little condescending when u make the cruise seem nothing compared to a European vacation, but they don’t have to be compared to be enjoyed. Always love the blog, love ur reports. Keep up the hard and good work.
I get that same feeling when he writes now. Like he is just over Disney and a lot of other things
I was arguably hard on the Pirate Party and maybe Villains Tonight, but I feel like I was pretty complimentary to Nassau. If you read other online resources, you’ll find a lot of people who absolutely hate it and recommend to others not even getting off of the boat in Nassau. I pointed out that beyond the tourist trap areas, there is some great history and culture in Nassau. That Nassau has tourist trap areas is not a knock on it; some of my favorite places (including the gateway to just about any National Park) have them.
With this post, my comparison to Tokyo was intended to be incredibly high praise towards Disney Cruise Line. I understand many readers don’t have first-hand experience with this, but given how much I’ve praised Tokyo in the past, it seemed like that would provide some context.
I’m well aware that we have been fortunate to travel extensively, and that can change perspective. However, I think I’m pretty critical of every experience I have (for better or worse). My perspective is that this blog is a consumer resource, and as such, offering an ample amount of constructive criticism is more useful than copious praise. I strive for a balance (to the extent that I enjoy and dislike things), but sometimes I might miss the mark on that, I guess?
I thought your assessment of Nassau was fair. We have not traveled as much as you, but Nassau was not a great stop. We have taken two Disney cruises with the kids and didn’t bother on our 2nd one to get off the boat. On a 3 night cruise there is just too much to do on the boat to bother getting off. We had a wonderful day on the boat while everyone else was touring.
Well stated Tom. The intent wasn’t to challenge u but, just probe ur thinking. Ur logic is sound. U have very high praise for Tokyo, just at first read felt very high brow. I didn’t take it as negative. I too have many read the negative reviews of Nassau on any cruise line, so ur not out of line. Love ur work. Just keeping u honest… I guess? Lol
The Castaway Cay Challenge 5K is a much nicer version than the regular. This happens on the cruise that sails the day after Marathon Weekend. They have two separate 5Ks on that day. One is the regular one that anyone can do, and the other one is only for people signed up for the Castaway Cay Challenge. This one is cool because it starts very early in the morning before most of the passengers are allowed off the ship. Besides the weather not being as warm and humid, you also get to take pictures of the ship in the dark as you walk to the starting area, and this is not a view most people see! I was done with the 5K and back on the ship before they were even letting the regular passengers off. And runDisney was out there with race announcers, special photo opps, and the typical food boxes you get at the other races. And in addition to the usual rubber “medal”, I got the beautiful Castaway Cay Challenge medal that has the ship on it. It’s not something I need to do again, but I am glad I did it once.
I had no idea about this! That actually sounds really cool, and like a nice ‘bonus.’ I know that cruise is popular with runDisney people, though, so I’m guessing it isn’t normally discounted much…despite being during a time of year when DCL bookings are otherwise on the light side.
Even with those bonuses, I’m not sure I could justify paying extra for a cruise versus waiting a couple of weeks. (Of course, you’d already be in Florida for the Walt Disney World Marathon, so I guess that tips the scales of the value proposition…)
This was a big deal for me last year because it coincided with my first Dopey and I got a total of 8 MEDALS for the whole experience!!! On the cruise, I had all of the characters sign the ribbon on the appropriate medal. The ship seemed to be filled with mostly runners. You are right about the cruise not being discounted. We payed full price, and it was booked up pretty early. We stayed in the least expensive room category, and since it was a short cruise, we did not mind at all. It’s worth doing once, but it is not something I will need to do again. I think you would enjoy the rare photo opps of Castaway Cay and pictures of the ship before daylight.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll give that some thought if/when I do Dopey again. You’re right about those dawn/sunrise photos of the ship itself being appealing!