The Disney Dream was exactly that - a dream.

I realized in the midst of all my complaining, I never told you about the cruise. WOW! It was so worth every penny and we've been told by all the frequent cruisers we met that we have now been spoiled for any other cruise on any other cruise line. We were on Disney's brand new ship, the Disney Dream (it's inaugural voyage was in January 2011) and it was magnificent. Yes, I do have pictures, but they are still to come....

I splurged a bit on our room and we were in a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with a balcony. The room was large, airy and spacious and most importantly, we all had our own bed!

Our room hostess was great and very accommodating with Dylan (who spent a lot of time in the room).

When we arrived at the cruise ship terminal the Dream completely dwarfed the other three ships in the docks. The Disney terminal was an experience in itself and it was Disney through and through. The process of checking in was seamless and fast, we were greeted by Captain Mickey and on the ship in about 40 minutes. Dylan was not too impressed that as we crossed the gangplank onto the ship that we were announced, greeted and applauded by everyone in the ship's atrium (Brendan and I loved it!). Our rooms weren't ready for about an hour, so we headed upstairs for lunch. The elevators were crazy mental, so we hiked it up the 8 flights of stairs with our bags (yay for carry on luggage!). Lunch was being served in the top deck buffet and was a casual setting. We picked a table by the window and the boys went off to fill their plates while I sat for a moment and took a breath. They returned with heaping plates and I set off to check things out. There were sooooooo many choices, it was all hot and there were chefs all around to answer questions or prepare something that you may need done differently. There was food from all ethnicities, seafood abounding, a decent salad bar, a kids only buffet and lots of dessert choices. And I have to say, for the amount of kids that were around, it was fairly calm and orderly. There were crew members around just to help kids navigate the food and ease the process for moms and dads. Disney really does think of everything.

By the time we were done eating our room was ready so we headed back down the stairs and found our new home. It was so much more than I was expecting. Now, in fairness, we have never been on a cruise before, so I didn't have anything to compare it to, but our room was equal to a hotel room. The bathroom was split in to two rooms (one for toilet and sink and one for bathtub and sink), there were three closets, a desk area, seating area, dresser, tv, etc. and the balcony had a table and 2 chairs. I had a queen size bed, Brendan had a bed that came down from the ceiling and Dylan was on the couch that turned in to a bed.

After we had a minute to sit and take it all in, Brendan and I headed out to explore. The ship was HUGE! We got Brendan registered for VIBE (teen club) and found 2 movie theaters, 2 live show theaters, the pool deck with a water coaster slide (the AquaDuck) and an outdoor movie screen, the adult only deck, the spa, gym, adult clubs, kids clubs and all the restaurants. Disney does their dining on a rotational system. Each night you eat in a different restaurant and your servers move with you. The three main dining rooms were The Royal Palace (French), The Animators Palette (Pacific Rim) and The Enchanted Garden (Continental Marketplace). We started in The Royal Palace on our first night. The most unbelievable part of all of it was that Dylan tried EVERYTHING!! The kid had lobster, escargot, crab, beef, souffle and more (this is a kid who eats everything plain, no sauce, nothing touching and nothing new). We had a great serving team and they went out of their way to keep Dylan happy. The food was probably some of the best food I have ever eaten in the world and there was nothing in 5 days that was even so-so. There were a lot of vegetarian and vegan options, but I have to admit that I strayed from my vegan ways because there was too much stuff that I wanted to try. I didn't eat any meat, but I did have some seafood, cheese and cream. The theming in the restaurants was amazing, and it was all interactive - so much fun! We tried all different things for breakfast (a sit down breakfast, a buffet breakfast and room service breakfast) and for lunch we all did our own things. Dylan made best friends with the room service people and used it frequently! He would get cookies and milk at bed time, and blt sandwiches and steak sandwiches were his favourites.

For the majority of the cruise Dylan stayed in the room watching on demand movies and ordering room service, I spent my days lounging in a fantastic chair or in a pool seat on the adult deck reading my book. I don't know what Brendan did. He left the room by 10am each day, came back to meet me for a show at 6pm, had dinner with us and then went back to his peeps for the rest of the night. His curfew was 2am. He went ashore with the teen counselors and went kayaking, snorkelling, bike riding, etc - I think he had the best time of all of us!

I wasn't comfortable going ashore and leaving Dylan on the ship, so I didn't do too much, but it was still relaxing and a good time. I did make Dylan get off the ship at Castaway Cay (Disney's private island) and we did a quick tram ride/walk around to see what there was to see. As you would expect, it was an exotic paradise. There were family beaches, adult only beaches, teen only beaches and every type of water entertainment available. If you were off the ship for the day they had a large bbq place with ribs, chicken, burgers, salads, ice cream, etc for your lunch and snacks. I would definitely go on a cruise again - next time with friends and no kids!

We had a late dinner seating so we went to the early show (well Brendan and I went). I have seen a fair number of big name musicals around the world and the shows on the ship were on par with some of the best. Way more than I was expecting - even Brendan was impressed. The staging, effects and quality of music was fantastic night after night.

All in all, the cruise was a great experience. None of us had any issues with the motion of the boat and we really enjoyed everything we tried. There was also minigolf, ping pong, shuffle board, foosball, a Pirate night, fireworks and more. I could go on an on, but I think you get the picture.

Oh, the best part? Every time the ship sounded its horn... it was the tune of "When you wish upon a star".