Vacation 2

We got settled on the Disney Dream and set out of port about 5pm. Our rooms were on the aft of the ship and we had a large and comfortable balcony. We were happy to let the Captain see where we were going while we enjoyed the view of where we had been. We met our room steward Torino Torino. He was from Indonesia and said his real name was Torino. Disney had a policy that he had to have a last name so they just repeated his name on their paperwork. While he may not have the fame of Cher or Sting he was our single name celebrity for this trip. He proved to be a valued member of the crew and a great help to our group. Carol's mother Jackie suffers from dementia. She of  course denies it and how can you argue with her. She does well in situations that are familiar but this was a huge new experience. We had hoped that being on the aft of the ship would make it easier for her. She literally had the last room on the right hand corner of the ship. Walk down the hall to where it ends and open the last door on the right. Every day when she left the room unaccompanied Torino would find her wandering the hall headed in the wrong direction looking for her room. He would gracefully and kindly escort her back, get her settled in the room, get the TV on CNN and go back about his usual duties. Disney has an interesting system on the Dream. In order for the lights and television to operate you have to put your room key card in a slot by the door. If you don't do so then those things don't work. It is their plan to save energy. You have to have your key when you leave so you can get back in and it insures you cannot leave the TV and lights on when  you are out of the room. Torino showed Jackie this  several times but she just didn't get it. He would come to clean the room and she would be sitting on the deck because lights and TV wouldn't work. He would get everything going and she would go back in and watch CNN. If you want to have an interesting conversation have it about current news events with someone who watches CCN daily and has a mild case of dementia. It is enlightening.

The first evening meal we were assigned to table 30 in the Enchanted Garden. We met our servers Ean and Jose for the first time. They were from India and Columbia respectively. Ean was the head server for us and Jose was his assistant. This meant that Ean took the food orders, placed the plates of food on the table while Jose managed the drinks and removed the used dishes. Little did we know that first night what amazing men they were. Disney treats children like they are minature adults. Ean would get down on their level, look them in the eye and ask them what they wanted for their meal. If they named something that wasn't on the evening's menu Ean would write it down and when the meals showed up what that child  had ordered was on the plate. The first night the girls ordered orange juice, milk and chocolate milk for their drinks. Every night after that when we got to our table the drinks were waiting on them with their names written on the lids. Every night after our food was ordered and delivered to our table Ean would bring us a plate with one of the choices no one had made so we could sample it. On our second visit to Castaway Cay we went to lunch and Ean was working bussing tables at the Cookie's BBQ. The menu was hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken and various fruits and salads along with potato chips. Ean stopped at our table and chatted for a minute or two then asked if we would like some french fries. We should have know better than to say that there were none. After all it was an open kitchen and we did not see a fryer. About 10 minutes later Ean shows up with a family sized plate of french fries and tells us to enjoy them. There were plenty of jealous heads turned our direction has we enjoyed some hot fresh fries.

The picture is of the amazing Ean and our granddaughters Vannessa, Johnnie and Audrey. Disney is a giant corporation and the Disney Dream is a huge ship but the key to the success of both is the dedication and hard work of people like Ean and Jose. They were friendly, polite, considerate, efficient and the  hundred other things you look for in outstanding employees. Their dedication and the hard work of hundreds of other crew members made this more than a vacation, it was the experience of a lifetime. The thing that really helped make it special is that the Dream has three themed dining rooms and over the course of the five day cruise you eat at all of them. When you change dining rooms your servers go with you so you don't have to deal with someone new. It helped us to get to know Ean and Jose and made them better able to do their jobs. It cannot  be overstated that Disney seems to have looked at everything and provides it without the consumer having to ask. It is incredible.