The Dream is Back!

Later today, August 9th, the Disney Dream will begin its first cruise with regular paying guests since March of last year!  The Dream did go on a few test cruises recently, but they weren't real cruises, as they weren't available to the general public.  The cruise starting today, a 4-night Bahamian cruise, will be the first real Disney cruise from the United States after cruises were shut down.  It'll also be the first Disney cruise with normal guests to stop at a port of call since the shutdown.  On this cruise, the Dream will spend two days at Castaway Cay and one day at sea.  After this cruise, the Dream will alternate between 3-night and 4-night Bahamian cruises.  Both of these itineraries include two days at Castaway Cay.  

Since Castaway Cay is Disney's private island, everything guests experience there is controlled by Disney.  Nassau, the other port that Disney's Bahamian cruises typically visit, is not owned by Disney, and Disney has much less control over what guests do and who they come into contact with there.  Only visiting Castaway Cay will ensure that Disney's new restrictions and safety measures will remain enforced, so it makes sense why they're not visiting Nassau for now.  Speaking of which, there will be many of them in place on the Dream and on Castaway Cay, as I talked about in my last post.  Overall, it doesn't seem like they'd completely ruin the cruise experience, but it looks like these cruises won't be as much fun as normal (pre-shutdown) cruises.

As time goes on, Disney will likely start visiting Nassau again, but for now, guests get double the time on Castaway Cay.  That's way better than Nassau!  Can you please make this a permanent change, Disney?

Unfortunately, no.  The Dream is currently the only DCL ship going on cruises with guests from the US, so it's the only ship that's going to Castaway Cay at the moment.  However, when the other DCL ships resume, starting with the Fantasy on September 4th, the Dream won't be the only ship going to Castaway Cay, so the double Castaway Cay cruises won't always be possible.  Plus, Disney probably wants to keep the double Castaway Cay cruises limited so they can charge extra for them.

If you want to watch the Dream sail out of Port Canaveral, be sure to check out PTZtv's Port Canaveral Webcam in the later afternoon.  You won't see a deck party, but plenty of people should be up on Deck 11 and Deck 12.  I'm excited to see actual guests, not just crew, on the ship.  

Assuming the Dream's cruises go well, nothing terrible happens, and Disney doesn't change plans, the Fantasy will resume cruises on September 4th and the Wonder will resume cruises on September 24th.  Things will probably change, so be sure to check the DCL website for the latest information about cruises resuming.