As my children have grown up, I decided to try a Disney Cruise for the first time without children. I had previously cruised both the Magic and the Wonder with my two sons. We were celebrating a major birthday of my companion who is a big fan of Disney but had never been on a Disney Cruise.
Dream vs Magic/Wonder: The ships were very similar although the Dream is bigger and the Dream definitely looked sparkling new and had the latest in electronics and features. Had an inside stateroom for the first time on a cruise and definitely enjoyed the virtual porthole. Was surprised to see so many different characters coming through the porthole and not just the same ones over and over again definitely enjoyable. The Aquaduck was fun even for us adults although it wasn't running the day at sea because of the weather and the game with the electronic pictures was very clever also.
Food was the same except for Remy's which at first I thought was ridiculously priced as a $75 add-on but because it was my partners birthday we made reservations way in advance (must do if you are going to go to Remy's otherwise can't get in). It ended up to be the most amazing experience I have ever had at a restaurant of any game and was definitely for me the highlight of the event. It is a 3 hour meal (ours took 3 hours and 10 minutes to be precise) and you wouldn't know it until you looked at the clock. I for one am generally known as a fast eater.
Children vs no children: Disney goes out of the way to make special activities and events that cater just to adults. Watching the children geared event reminded me how special a cruise Disney is for children and was for my children when they were younger. In my opinion if you can afford it there is no more magical experience for children 5-12 then a Disney Cruise and that includes the theme parks. However, I must say despite all the effort that I still at times felt like an Adult intruding on a children's show as the restaurants (outside of the adult only ones), the main entertainment and a lot of the peripheral action are geared toward families and the younger ones.
Compared to my recent Carnival Cruise and RCL: I would say that while I loved my recent Carnival Cruise (with my boys) to Alaska that Disney Cruise definitely bettered Carnival in almost all categories: food, entertainment and service. However the Disney Cruise comes at a premium price compared to Carnival so the question is the extra cost worth it. In my opinion if you have young children a definite yes (my two older boys loved the Carnival teen area and were two old for the character stuff so in their case no) or if you want a short special cruise and hit Remy's then it may be worth it. However in general without kids at least for me the premium price of a Disney Cruise isn't worth it for just a pair of romantic adults.
Castaway Cay was our other stop but not listed as a port here I guess because it is a private Disney Island. This place was a great place for a day at the beach with very pretty beaches and nice swimming. You can snorkel and do Sting Rays there also but those things are pretty mediocre and don't expect to see much fish snorkeling.
But for swimming, laying at the beach and a nice stroll it is hard to do better.