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Archive for the ‘Disney Dream’ Category

The contemporary cruise line industry continues their quest to make cruising more unexpectedly cool. Their goal is finding new ways to attract younger, funkier customers, while inspiring experienced cruisers to return.

Read more about ongoing changes:

Variety of Themes.

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Michael Priebe, Owner, Priebe’s Travel

USA TODAY’s Gene Sloan just returned from a preview cruise on the new Disney Dream? Question about the Disney Dream? Click Here.

Let me first say that the Disney Cruise Line’s much-ballyhooed new ship, the Disney Dream, is a wondrous vessel. One of the most spectacular ever built (see our new comprehensive photo tour for a glimpse at its many marvels). But one person’s dream ship, of course, can be another’s nightmare.

To wit, as a “fair warning” to those thinking of booking, we hereby offer the Cruise Log’s list of Five Things on the Disney Dream that Could Drive you Nutty (lest you think we’re USA TODAY’s version of that little-known dwarf from Snow White, Snarky, rest assured we’ll be back later this week with a less irreverent companion list: Five Things on the Dream that will Leave you Dreamy):

1. Disney show tunes playing around-the-clock in hallways. True die-hard Disney fans will love this, but for the small remainder of us, it just might be a wee bit over-the-top. Three days after debarking the vessel, A Whole New World from the movie Aladdin remains on Continuous Loop in my head (please, make it stop!).

2. Disney-dominated cabin TVs. Yes, Disney, we know you own ABC, ESPN and The Disney Channel, but can we get a little diversity here? And I don’t mean the two extra channels that play Disney animated classics and animated features. Given the hallway situation mentioned in item No. 1, it’d be nice to fall asleep to something without a Disney song attached to it.

3. (Disney-hopped) kids. I love kids. I have three of them myself (ages 11 to 15). But with a stunning 1,500 extra pull-out bunks for children in a vessel with just 1,250 cabins, this is one ship that is going to be jam packed with the little ones. Even on last week’s far-from-full preview cruise, my head was spinning.

4. (Disney-hopped) kids high on soda. Kudos to Disney for not nickel-and-diming passengers with extra charges for soda and other drinks. It’s a great touch. But (free) soda machines on the pool deck? That’s all we need: The 1,500 kids mentioned in item No. 3 running around pumped full of sugar.

5. The omnipresent Mickey. We’ll get letters on this, for sure, but put me down in the camp that says the “hidden Mickey” phenomenon is just completely out of control. Do I really need mini-Mickey heads stamped into the plastic water cups at the buffet and woven into the carpets?

Cruise Loggers, am I a Disney-dumping spoilsport? Tell us what you do — and don’t — want to see on a Disney ship.

TV talent show judges love to poke fun at cruise ship entertainment, but we’re guessing they haven’t been on the latest crop of vessels. From top-tier Broadway musicals to big-ticket Las Vegas shows, the new generation of mega-ships is dazzling passengers with a quality and quantity of acts never before seen at sea. Here, USA TODAY’s Gene Sloan compares the three new entertainment titans of the waves: Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Epic and Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Dream. Which ships deserves the title of cruise ship entertainment king? Read on

By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY