This is a guest trip report written by Sara, who sailed with her husband and 7 month old daughter on the Disney Dream on September 7, 2018. You can start this trip report from the beginning by clicking here. You can see all of the Daily Navigators by clicking here. In addition, you can see all of my previous trip reports and guest trip reports by clicking here.
Day 2: Nassau
The second day of our trip was a port day in Nassau. We have done this itinerary before, and for some reason have never had any interest in disembarking at this port. With the cruise lasting only three days we wanted to stay onboard and enjoy the ship as much as possible.
We woke up later than we planned, and Enchanted Garden and Cabanas were the only restaurants still open. We decided on Enchanted Garden because this was the restaurant we missed on our Remy night (and it’s my favorite). Our server set us up with a high chair in front of one of the mirrors so our daughter could see her “friend.”
She stayed busy this way for quite some time! I ended up wishing all of the restaurants had table side mirrors. After breakfast, we dropped our girl at the nursery so we could go to our appointment at Senses Spa. I asked the nursery attendants if I needed to take the wave phone into the treatment room, but they told us that they would call the Spa directly and the therapist would let us know if there was an issue.
Upon arriving at Senses, we found that they were running behind schedule but they assured us that we would still receive our full treatment. We went to the locker rooms to change into the robes provided, and then relaxed in the waiting room. It wasn’t long before we were taken to our treatment room, which turned out to be a Couples Villa (you can read more detailed review of our spa experience here).
Originally we considered booking a Villa, but wondered if there would be another ship docked next to us in Nassau. This was the case, and the therapists had the curtains drawn for privacy. As we were changing I peeked out and found that a Carnival Ship was totally blocking the view from the window. The Villa did have a private bathroom which I thought would have been very convenient if needed.
I decided to get a Bamboo Massage, and my husband got a Hot Stone Massage. I have had two Bamboo Massages on DCL in the past. The first one was very deep tissue (which I love), and the second made me wonder if the therapist had much experience with the Bamboo Massage. Thankfully, this one was a great experience. The therapist (Michelle from Jamaica) found the perfect balance between deep tissue using the bamboo, and using her hands on the more sensitive areas. I actually fell asleep at one point during the treatment, which has never happened to me during a massage.
My husband thoroughly enjoyed his experience with the Hot Stone Massage, (although I didn’t write down the name of the therapist) and said that the stone experience was less pressure than the bamboo, which he appreciated. We forgot to bring his birthday voucher, but they gave us the discounted price and asked us to bring the voucher back, which we did immediately after leaving the spa. On the way back to our room, we saw that there was a wedding in the atrium.
We went by the nursery to check on our girl, and the attendant told us she had been fussy but they were working on getting her down for a nap. We decided to quickly grab a bite for lunch at Royal Palace. We thought that the nursery would call at any minute so I didn’t get pictures of the menu or our meals. We ordered a calamari appetizer (which was excellent). Our entrees were grilled halibut (pretty good), and grilled chicken over linguine noodles (pretty good). Our server joked with us that because we hadn’t finished our plates we wouldn’t be able to order dessert. We told him, “In our family, there is always room for dessert!” We ordered a molten hazelnut cake and an Italian ice cream sundae (both were excellent).
Right as we finished dessert the nursery messaged us saying they were unable to soothe our daughter, so we went to pick her up and take her back to the room. We found throughout our trip that she was overly stimulated walking through the ship and would probably benefit from earlier/longer naps. Once we figured this out, I assumed she would need to be in our (dark) room for her daytime naps, and this proved to be true.
We took her back to our room and she fell asleep while we watched A Bug’s Life on the stateroom TV. The On Demand system offered on the Dream Class ships is one of my favorite stateroom features. We love flipping through and watching Disney movies while we rest or get ready for the day.
After she woke up from her nap, we got her ready to try out Nemo’s Reef (the splash pad for children still using swim diapers). We hoped that we would be able to sit her down and let her splash around a bit, but she ended up hanging onto her daddy for dear life. The space was pretty crowded and there were some older children running through. Their voices echoed making the area seem very loud. Children up to the age of 8 were permitted in this space, although they seemed to hang out mostly on the side with a small slide, making the other side much quieter for little ones. Overall, I would say our daughter “tolerated” the experience. I think she will enjoy it more in a few months.
We decided to grab ice cream cones and head up to the top deck to relax. We had a view of the Atlantis Resort as well as a Carnival ship which was docked right next to us.
Before long it started to rain and we ended up back in our room to take showers and get ready for dinner. We started watching Inside Out, which we hadn’t seen before and really enjoyed.
Dinner that night was at Royal Palace, and our girl slept throughout the entire experience.
Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp (very good):
Breaded and Deep Fried Brie (very good):
Gaston’s Escargot Gratinee (one of my husband’s favorites!):
Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak (excellent):
Oven-Baked Salmon Royale (very good):
Classic Opera Gateau (excellent):
Grand Marnier Souffle (good, but I remember this having a stronger citrus flavor in the past):
Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brûlée (another favorite of my husband’s) and the Strawberry Shortcake Sundae (excellent):
Bonus Anniversary Cake (very good):
After dinner, we had about an hour to kill before Beauty and The Beast started at 8:30. I got an espresso at Vista Café (it was delicious and started a very bad habit for the remainder of the cruise). This was the view from the Vista Café:
We walked through the art gallery which is always enjoyable. Then it was time for Beauty and the Beast in the Walt Disney Theater. I had been really looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. Our daughter even stayed awake for the duration of the show. She enjoyed all the movement and music. It felt a little risky taking her in, but I was comforted by the fact that there were a lot of children in the theater. It seemed that a meltdown would have been quickly excused, maybe even expected. I don’t want to spoil the show, but there are some really sweet moments. I ended up getting teary-eyed at the end. I’m not typically an emotional person, but if you’ve seen it, you know what I mean.
There was an interruption right before the “Be Our Guest” scene. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but at one point all the music cut off and the actors immediately left the stage. Seconds later, an announcement was made that there were technical difficulties and it was requested that the audience remain seated. Within a few minutes, the cast returned to the stage and started at the beginning of the scene. The cast was so professional with the interruption. They quickly left the stage when the music cut out, and when they came back it was as if there was no interruption at all.
After the show, we took a quick walk through the shops and then went back to our room. We needed water for baby bottles, so I went up to Deck 11 to fill up a bottle. The Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party was already underway. There is a new show for this event, now including Captain Jack Sparrow. I got back to the room just as the fireworks started, and realized that we could see the fireworks from our porthole. I’m not sure that this would be the case every time (it may depend on the wind direction) but that was a special treat for us before getting to bed for the night. The tip envelopes were already on our bed, and it just seemed way too soon!
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Up next: Day 3 – Castaway Cay
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