Our Dream "Full of Firsts" 13-Night EB Transatlantic (Portugal & Spain) Cruise + WDW ~ w/pics ~ May 2023 ~ Completed!

[disneyfaninaz]

Whew! We just returned from 24 days of traveling for our cruise and a short trip to WDW. I am exhausted! I only hope I can remember everything, it seems so long ago, but I will attempt it. I have to say there was a lot of good and some bad moments, but overall we had a fantastic time. I am also happy to report that we did not get Covid this time!

While I download my thousands of photos , gather my notes, get a handle on my laundry and catch up on my sleep, here's the beginning of my report.

Now, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that I welcome you to: my trip report!

Background:

Our DNeighbors booked the transatlantic cruise when bookings became available. It took a little more time to convince DH to sign up for this cruise. DH is not a sea day kind of guy, so 6 sea days in a row was pushing it. Hence, we are not taking an Australian cruise because 9 out of the 13 days are at sea. Oh well, at least he’s going on this one. Something else unique about this cruise for us is that we have never sailed on the Dream class ships before. We will be on the Dream for the first time this cruise. We are also sailing as Platinum Castaway Cay members for the first time.

We are going to spend a few days in Barcelona after the cruise and then fly back to Florida and visit our DD at WDW.

Cast of Characters:

The usual suspects will be sailing this cruise.

DH and Me: Retired empty nesters. I love sea days, DH loves port days.

Our dear neighbors; DNC, DNJ and DNM: This will be our 11th cruise with our neighbors.

DJ – DNJ’s sister. She last cruised with us on our 2018 Med Cruise. We’re looking forward to sailing with her again.

Planning

This will be the longest trip I have ever had to plan. This cruise leaves out of Miami, so unlike our other European cruises; we only have to purchase flights to return to the US. Our DD is currently participating in the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World and is a Character Attendant at the Magic Kingdom. Since our flight returns through Miami, it’s not much more to take a side trip to Orlando and visit DD for a few days before Memorial Day before returning home. She moved to Florida in February so we haven’t seen her for a few months.

We have our favorite rooms on the Wonder and Magic, but really didn’t know what to get for the Dream. The handicapped rooms are more spread out on the Dream so our DN ended up getting a room in the middle of the ship on the 8th floor. We knew we wanted a slightly larger room, we also prefer a room with no connecting doors, and so we have a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah on the aft to middle of Deck 8, #8628. Our staterooms are usually on the port side of the ship, so we’ll see how we feel about the starboard side. Fortunately, our cruise buddies both have port side rooms if there’s anything interesting to see.

We booked our hotels for Miami, Barcelona and WDW pretty much right after we booked the cruise. We waited until after our European cruise in August of last year to really start making any kind of excursion plans for this cruise. Due to our DNeighbor’s DD, we prefer private excursions, as most DCL excursions will not allow a wheelchair. We were very impressed with our tours we booked through Tours by Locals in Europe so we booked all of our port tours, except for Cartegena, through them for this cruise as well. For the most part, they will be day long tours. We are excited about the new sites we will see.

Booking Activities

Back in January, I became Platinum the minute we walked off our last cruise in San Diego. Ironically enough, activity booking for this cruise started for Platinum members midnight that night for EST. Since we were in San Diego, that window opened at 9:00 PM. Unfortunately, I had some glitches and wasn’t able to book anything until 10:00 PM. By then the Tequila tasting and Chocolate and Liquor tasting our DNeighbors had signed up for were already sold out. Fortunately, I was able to snag a Chocolate and Liquor tasting for DH and I on a different day. We were able to get a Champagne Tasting, a Wine Tasting, a brunch at Palos and dinner at Remy’s together.

Checking In On-Line

On April 6, 2023 at 9:00 PM MST, on line check-in opened up for our cruise. Unlike my previous cruise, only one other DCL ship was also embarking on May 7th. When I went on my computer to check-in, I never got the option to check-in. I was later told that changing the clock on my computer would have helped, but I just wanted to get it done. I immediately went to the Navigator App on my phone and was able to complete the process without any hiccups. Fortunately, I had my passport photos and head shots on my phone. We were able to get an 11:30 AM PAT with boarding number 7. So much for the Platinum perks I waited so long to finally get, no boarding early for us.

I hired a large 12 passenger van to take us from our hotel to the port because of the vast number of pieces of luggage the 6 of us will have and the wheelchair. I did this on one of our Alaskan cruises and it worked out well. I had to change our pick up time now that we knew our PAT.

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Friday, May 5, 2023 - Travel from Phoenix to Miami
Day 2 - Saturday, May 6, 2023 –Miami – Everglades National Park
Day 3 - Sunday, May 7, 2023 – Embarkation
Day 4 - Monday, May 8, 2023 – Sea Day 1
Day 5 - Tuesday, May 9, 2023 – Sea Day 2
Day 6 - Wednesday, May 10, 2023 – Sea Day 3
Day 7 - Thursday, May 11, 2023 – Sea Day 4
Day 8 - Friday, May 12, 2023 – Sea Day 5
Day 9 - Saturday, May 13, 2023 – Sea Day 6
Day 10 - Sunday, May 14, 2023 – Ponta Delgada, Portugal (Azores)
Day 11 - Monday, May 15, 2023 – Sea Day 7
Day 12 - Tuesday, May 16, 2023 – Lisbon, Portugal
Day 13 - Wednesday, May 17, 2023 – Cadiz, Spain (Sevilla)
Day 14 - Thursday, May 18, 2023 – Malaga, Spain (Alhambra)
Day 15 - Friday, May 19, 2023 – Cartagena, Spain
Day 16 - Saturday, May 20, 2023 – Barcelona, Spain
Day 17 - Sunday, May 21, 2023 – Barcelona, Spain (Costa Brava)
Day 18 - Monday, May 22, 2023 – Barcelona, Spain
Day 19 - Tuesday, May 23, 2023 – Travel from Barcelona to Orlando
Day 20 - Wednesday, May 24, 2023 – Disney World
Day 21 - Thursday, May 25, 2023 – Disney World
Day 22 - Friday, May 26, 2023 – Disney World
Day 23 - Saturday, May 27, 2023 – Disney World
Day 24 - Sunday, May 28, 2023 - Travel
Final Thoughts

Next: Let the fun begin!

 

[lorimay]

Can't wait to read along! We were also on the San Diego cruise with you in January.
This was our first Pearl cruise, we got boarding group 5.
But the traffic at the port held us up and we didn't pull into port until after 12:15, just as we got through security, they started open boarding, it was crazy traffic. We left for this cruise from home and we were just sitting around waiting to leave, we had no idea what we were in for.....

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Can't wait to read along! We were also on the San Diego cruise with you in January.
This was our first Pearl cruise, we got boarding group 5.
But the traffic at the port held us up and we didn't pull into port until after 12:15, just as we got through security, they started open boarding, it was crazy traffic. We left for this cruise from home and we were just sitting around waiting to leave, we had no idea what we were in for.....

Welcome! Boarding in Miami was chaos. I think all PATs went out the window. Everybody complained about San Diego, but Miami was so much worse!

 

[lorimay]

Welcome! Boarding in Miami was chaos. I think all PATs went out the window. Everybody complained about San Diego, but Miami was so much worse!

San Diego was a breeze...... We have a family member who works for Miami Dade Police Dept. We asked him if he knew what was happening and he said his friend who works at the port said that a few of the ships that day had capacities of 5,000+ so that was the issue.
I can't wait to hear all of your firsts, this was only our 2nd time on The Dream and we had some very unusual firsts to say the least.
It was so nice to be able to drive to the port from home this time and only worry about flying back, but boy it was a long day. We spent one day in Barcelona and they flew on Sunday morning to Rome for 5 days. We got back Friday night, 18 hours of travel and layovers helped us sleep good and get back to our time zone.

 

[o&smom]

So excited to read your report! Have been stalking the boards waiting for someone to be the first. We get to enjoy 11 days on the Dream at the end of June. Looking forward to reading about your experiences.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We were on your cruise, too! Not sure I have it in me to do a trip report, though I found one from years ago so helpful as they traveled with children and it might help someone in the future. I'm hesitant to share family pics on here but maybe I could put a heart over his face

And Miami departure was AWFUL. We've cruised from there before and it was a breeze - I think it was a perfect storm of too many ships, Disney being in over their heads at a new terminal, and lack of signage and information. Awful way to begin the trip but thankfully the trip was long enough to (mostly) forget

 

[Erica1016]

Looking forward to following along with your trip report. I'm hoping to do this sailing next year! Funny enough, all of the sea days are helping me convince DH - he loves them!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Looking forward to following along with your trip report. I'm hoping to do this sailing next year! Funny enough, all of the sea days are helping me convince DH - he loves them!

Welcome! I highly recommend the cruise. If you like relaxing and enjoying the ship, this cruise is for you and your DH!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We were on your cruise, too! Not sure I have it in me to do a trip report, though I found one from years ago so helpful as they traveled with children and it might help someone in the future. I'm hesitant to share family pics on here but maybe I could put a heart over his face

And Miami departure was AWFUL. We've cruised from there before and it was a breeze - I think it was a perfect storm of too many ships, Disney being in over their heads at a new terminal, and lack of signage and information. Awful way to begin the trip but thankfully the trip was long enough to (mostly) forget

Welcome! I agree, Miami was awful. I have never had an embarkation like that in all of my 11 sailings. I do agree Disney might have been a litle overwhelmed.

As far as a trip report, I find it easy enough not to include personal photos. I like to share my experiences and places I visit and hardly ever put family pics in my reports. But my DD is now 22, so that isn't an issue for me anymore.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

So excited to read your report! Have been stalking the boards waiting for someone to be the first. We get to enjoy 11 days on the Dream at the end of June. Looking forward to reading about your experiences.

Welcome! I was surprised when I returned and nobody started a trip report yet considering I got home over a week after we got off the ship. Hope you enjoy your cruise!

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh, I am looking forward to your report! We got on the Dream the day you got off!

 

[buteraa]

How exciting! Following along.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 1
Friday, May 5, 2023
Travel Day

After months of planning the day had finally arrived. I felt pretty good that I had everything organized and ready. We had a 9:14 AM flight to Miami on American Airlines. We ordered a driver through Execucar to get us to the airport. Unfortunately, they did not have big enough vehicles that could handle us as well as our neighbors, so we all made our way to the airport separately.

We got picked up at 6:45 am by our driver Barry. Barry was a very talkative gentleman and we enjoyed talking to him about cruising and Disney. We arrived at the airport in about 20 minutes, it seemed busy from the outside, but it was a Friday.

Once we got inside, it wasn’t so bad. We walked right up to AA priority check in, checked our bags, went through TSA Precheck and were up to the gate by 7:45 AM. Our neighbors were already at the gate.

While on their way to the gate, DNs stopped in one of the airport stores to get some water and snacks for the flight. DNM noticed a stuffed sparkly unicorn and pointed it out. While DNC was buying her snacks, a lady came up and said that she bought the same sparkly unicorn for DNM. Well, she named the unicorn Sparkles. Sparkles went everywhere with us. She became our mascot, flat-Stanley, if you will for the remainder of our trip.

Our plane arrived almost immediately soon after we arrived. Our neighbors boarded first with the wheelchair. There was a little confusion as to when our boarding group 1 was called, but we were boarding the plane at 8:39 AM. It was a beautiful day in Phoenix and you could clearly see our skyline.



We took off on time and made great time. Before we knew it, we could see the Miami skyline.



We landed in Miami at 4:08 PM EDT. 3 hours ahead of our time zone. We had to wait a few minutes for a gate to open since we were early. Once we got off the plane, we immediately noticed the humidity in the jet way. Welcome to Florida!

It seemed like we walked miles, but we made our way down to baggage claim and waited forever for our luggage to arrive. By the time our luggage arrived, our neighbors, who were the last ones off the plane, made it down to claim their luggage which actually arrived before ours.

Anyway, we found our way out to the area to wait for our hotel shuttle. We decided to stay at the Miami Airport Courtyard by Marriot. They offered a free airport shuttle. We got a king room with breakfast included which was nice.

We waited about 10 minutes for a hotel shuttle. Our shuttle arrived at about 5:15 PM. Unfortunately, the shuttle could not accommodate a wheelchair. But the driver was super nice and told DNs that he would go to the hotel and get the Accessible Van and come back for them. He did just that, after he dropped us off, he got the other van and headed back to the airport for them.

In the meantime, we checked into our room. Check in was super easy. We got to talking to the desk clerk (I didn’t get her name) and mentioned that our DD was in the Disney College Program. Lo and behold, the clerk had just returned from finishing her Disney College Program. She worked at the Animal Kingdom Lodge at the front desk. It’s a small world!

Our room was very nice and roomy.



Our neighbors arrived at the hotel at around 6:00 PM. Unfortunately, their check in was not as easy as their first HC room could not sleep 3 people. They were given another room, but it did not sleep 3 people either. Marriott agreed to bring in a roll a way. After that was settled, we went down to the hotel restaurant, Champions, for dinner. It was Cinco de Mayo so we were looking forward to Margaritas and they were 50% off until 7 pm. I was disappointed that the drinks were pretty weak.



I guess we weren’t quick enough in making our selections for dinner. Our server was a little surly and not attentive to us. Our orders seemed to go in at different times, so delivered at different times. We just wanted to eat something at that point.

At about 8:30 PM, our neighbors went back to the airport to rent a van so we could go to the Everglades the next day. We sat with DNM while they were gone.

Our bodies were still on AZ time, but we were still tired from an early morning. We tried to stay up until at least 10:00 before calling it a night. Just over a day left to board!



Moon over Miami!



Next: Manatees, Herons and Gators. Oh My!

 

[bcwife76]

Following too Can't wait to read more. We are on the Dream in August for 11 nights and it's our first cruise on her (the Wish is the only other ship we have not been on).

 

[o&smom]

Following too Can't wait to read more. We are on the Dream in August for 11 nights and it's our first cruise on her (the Wish is the only other ship we have not been on).

Same here! We are on for 11 nights at the end of June. We were supposed to be on b2b Wish cruises last July, but they got cancelled. Super happy that it worked out for us to get to have a nice, long cruise on the Dream.

 

[ukintheus]

Excited to hear all about this! I'm in for the ride.

 

[dcassetta]

Following, hoping to do a TA someday.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 2
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Miami – Everglades National Park

I love going to national parks. We tried to balance our Disney vacations with trips to the National Parks when DD was younger. At one point she wanted to be a Park Ranger, until she figured out there were bees out there! Anyway, I have 2 National Passport books full of stamps from national parks, mostly in the west. One park I never thought I’d visit, merely because of its location, was the Everglades. When we go to Florida, we very rarely ever venture out of the central part of the state, who am I kidding; we never leave the Disney bubble! Therefore, I was thrilled when our DNeighbors suggested a day trip to the Everglades before our cruise.

After our free breakfast, we gathered all of our stuff, got in the van and headed south towards Homestead, FL and the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center.

We were avoiding tolls, so it took a little over an hour to make our way to Homestead. On the way we passed many agricultural holdings and several fruit stands.

We arrived at the visitor center at around 10:00 AM.







We went into the center where I stamped my National Park Passport Book. We were told that they were going to have a Ranger Talk at 10:30 AM at the Royal Palm Visitor Center. We high tailed our way to Royal Palm and got to the talk just as he was going to hit the Anhinga Trail. The talk/walk takes about 50 minutes around the Anhinga Trail.



Our first stop was abundant with wildlife.



A softshell turtle.



A male Anhinga.



A female Anhinga.



A Blue Heron.



And then, somebody spotted an alligator. Tour over! Just kidding.



We saw our first gator sighting. We walked the trails while the ranger talked about myth versus fact about the Everglades.

We continued on. This was the biggest grasshopper I have ever seen!







We saw some fish.



More marsh.



Another gator.



And another



And some more.



This one was sunning himself below the boardwalk.



We were also lucky to see the Swallow-tailed Kite birds flying overhead.



A Great Blue Heron, up close and personal. (Kind of reminds of Jurassic Park when the velociraptors were stalking their prey from the trees!)







Blue Heron’s taking off.



To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 2 Continued

We spent about an hour at Royal Palm. We ended up seeing 7 gators in all. I’ve seen gators at zoos, but there’s just something about seeing them in the wild. The ranger said that was a good day.

After the walk we loaded up headed down to the Flamingo Visitor Center to grab a bite to eat and hope to see the Manatees.

They have a temporary visitor center as the permanent one was damaged in a hurricane and is still undergoing repairs.

An Osprey







An osprey caught his lunch.



We saw some manatees! We had to be patient as there were a few manatees inhabiting the water, but they would only come up every several minutes for a few seconds to breathe.





DH also saw a crocodile that had made its nest on one of the boat ramps.



They still had a food truck available, though it probably won’t be there in a few weeks as we were nearing their off season. We had a nice lunch and found a shady picnic table to eat at.

We talked to a nice ranger who happened to graduate from Northern Arizona University and lived in the South Mountain area of the valley.

As we started driving back to the park entrance, we stopped at the Mahogany Hammock overlook. I opted to stay in the car. Photo credit to DH.







Our last stop was at the Pa-hay-okee Overlook. I volunteered to sit with DNM while the rest went and looked.



As with most National Parks, with only a hand full of hours to visit, we saw such a small part of this vast wilderness. But, it was definitely worth taking the time and we had a lot of fun.

It was about 4:30 PM when we left the park. We found a Walgreens on the way back to pick up some bottled water for the cruise.

Once we got back to the hotel, our other cruise buddy, DJ, arrived from New Jersey. Rather than try to venture out, it was after 6:00 PM at this point, we decided to eat at Champions again. Being a sports bar, we were able to watch the Kentucky Derby. We had the same server as the night before, but she was in a better mood and we got our food ordered and delivered at the same time.

I don’t have a regular exercise regimen, but I do keep track of my steps, so I thought it would be fun to see how far I walked each day of the trip. So, for this day I walked 7,414 steps for 3.3 miles.

It was time to call it a night. We had a ship to catch in the morning.



Next: Let the chaos commence!

 

[KGmomoftwins]

Day 2 Continued

We spent about an hour at Royal Palm. We ended up seeing 7 gators in all. I’ve seen gators at zoos, but there’s just something about seeing them in the wild. The ranger said that was a good day.

After the walk we loaded up headed down to the Flamingo Visitor Center to grab a bite to eat and hope to see the Manatees.

They have a temporary visitor center as the permanent one was damaged in a hurricane and is still undergoing repairs.

An Osprey







An osprey caught his lunch.



We saw some manatees! We had to be patient as there were a few manatees inhabiting the water, but they would only come up every several minutes for a few seconds to breathe.





DH also saw a crocodile that had made its nest on one of the boat ramps.



They still had a food truck available, though it probably won’t be there in a few weeks as we were nearing their off season. We had a nice lunch and found a shady picnic table to eat at.

We talked to a nice ranger who happened to graduate from Northern Arizona University and lived in the South Mountain area of the valley.

As we started driving back to the park entrance, we stopped at the Mahogany Hammock overlook. I opted to stay in the car. Photo credit to DH.

20230506_145949



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Our last stop was at the Pa-hay-okee Overlook. I volunteered to sit with DNM while the rest went and looked.



As with most National Parks, with only a hand full of hours to visit, we saw such a small part of this vast wilderness. But, it was definitely worth taking the time and we had a lot of fun.

It was about 4:30 PM when we left the park. We found a Walgreens on the way back to pick up some bottled water for the cruise.

Once we got back to the hotel, our other cruise buddy, DJ, arrived from New Jersey. Rather than try to venture out, it was after 6:00 PM at this point, we decided to eat at Champions again. We had the same server as the night before, but she was in a better mood and we got our food ordered and delivered at the same time.

I don’t have a regular exercise regimen, but I do keep track of my steps, so I thought it would be fun to see how far I walked each day of the trip. So, for this day I walked 7,414 steps for 3.3 miles.

It was time to call it a night. We had a ship to catch in the morning.



Next: Let the chaos commence!

I love the Everglades! Roberts fruit stand is always a great place to stop one of the best milkshakes I’ve ever had. Shark valley tram is also a great way to spend a morning or afternoon. I biked the 16 miles in my younger day!