This was a highly-anticipated first family cruise on Disney after planning/booking a year in advance. We took our two children and traveled with friends with two children of roughly the same age, and everyone was very excited. Because of the cost of the trip, though, I judge Disney on a tough standard - overall the trip was fantastic, but I definitely saw room for improvement as well.

We stayed at the "Radisson Resort at the Port" in Port Canaveral the night before, and utilized the Park & Cruise Package to leave our car there the length of our cruise. A shuttle took us to the Dream the morning of the cruise, and I was impressed with the overall organization and efficiency of getting to the port, checking our bags, and proceeding on to the terminal. We waited in two short lines after going thru security: (1) general check-in procedures; (2) registration for the kids program. Another short wait and our section was called for boarding. I was very pleased with how well Disney handled this process, it makes a big difference when you have two excited children and they handle the boarding process so efficiently.

The ship itself is beautiful. The 3-story entranceway is stunning, and there are Disney details everywhere. We visited the kids area and were given free reign to walk around and check everything out with our kids; Andy's Room from Toy Story was an immediate hit, something my kids had anticipated ever since first booking the cruise. The kids program was exceptional, our children loved everything about it and my wife and I appreciated the use of the onboard wave phones to have easy communication with the children's staff if necessary. Read more