Carnival Dream (9/14/14)- With Pictures

I just got home from my second ever cruise, but this time I wanted to post a review. My first cruise I didn't know what to expect. However, now that I'm a seasoned cruiser, I had a lot more things that I wanted to know before hand. And with all the research I did, the full reviews with photos were my absolute favorite! It almost made you feel like you were already on the cruise!!

This cruise I went with my boyfriend and his brother and wife. My boyfriend and I had cruised before, but his brother and wife had not. Overall, Me and the BF enjoyed our trip and are already planning another cruise. Brother and wife really enjoyed themselves too.

So, I hope that I can give a nice thorough review for those of you who are interested. And feel free to ask questions along the way. I've never done the whole picture thing, so I hope this works. And you will have to bear with me because I have been known to be wordy, and I don't doubt this review will be as well. So it might take me a few days to get my full trip posted.

Come along with me on my journey on the Carnival Dream!

Im along for the ride!

The drive overall from where I live is about 10-11 hours to New Orleans. We wanted to be able to spend some time there as well, since no one in my group had been to New Orleans before. We wanted to see the famous Bourbon Street and the French Quarter and try some local delicious foods. So we left on Friday, when I got home from work. That meant I had to be packed the night before, and I'm a last minute throw things in the bag kind of packer. Not a-Think things through- kind of packer. So that was fun in itself. I did compile a packing list that worked for me. My BF was responsible to pack his own things so sorry ladies and gents, I can't help with a mans packing list, but if you are interested to see mine, I'm sure I can figure out how to post it on here. :)

Anyway, Since we left around 8pm on Friday night we chose to stop halfway, which for us was Shreveport, LA. I won't waste your time with this hotel as I call it the cheapest(in cost and quality) hotel I've ever stayed at. But, we only needed a place to lay our heads for the night and then hit the road again. We stayed at a Days Inn that was just off the highway and I was asleep when we got there but I believe it was between $40-$50 for the night. My group passed out as soon as we got to the room, but me on the other hand....... I was as excited as a little kid on Christmas waiting for Mom and Dad to wake up so that I can open presents! I could not sleep!! I finally did fall asleep but was of course the first person to wake up. So I had to patiently wait for my family to wake up so we can get back on the road!

Soon enough we headed out and in no time(although it didn't feel like it to me, if you can guess by now) we made it to NOLA!

We stayed at a hotel called Le Pavillon.

It was located on Poydras street and was actually not a bad walking distance to all of the main strips. Although BF and brother made the mistake of paying for a taxi from the hotel until we learned how close we really were. This hotel was a beautiful piece of history. It was so neat to stay somewhere this beautiful. Our favorite spot in the room was the bathroom, but it definitely felt like luxury staying there. I didn't quite get picture happy yet, so I didn't take much but here is a couple shots.

*Apparently I'm limited to 6 photos per post so here are a few more.

Last one is a picture of me and my love. (notice the cheesy smile on my face. Excitement hasn't worn off yet!!) ;)

Can't wait to read your review and see the pictures. We are going on the Dream in January. So I am so looking forward to your posts. I have been away from Cruise Critic for almost 2 years as we have vacationed via land travel during this time. So I am excited about getting back on this site and planning our trip.

great start! thanks for the review!

Your smile is lovely. Nothing cheesy about it at all. Loving the review so far.

Oh, I am so onboard with this review! I'm a fellow Okie from Broken Arrow, and we're cruising on the Dream in April, driving down and flying back. Can't wait for the rest!

So of course we enjoyed the beautiful hotel and then us girls got ready(while the BF watched football) and then we hit the town. Don't make the mistake of paying for the taxi. That was a good 10 dollars wasted for what was maybe a 5-10 minute walk to the popular streets.

I have to say, temperature this time of year wasn't too bad. The humidity on the other hand was out of control!! I have naturally curly hair that I blow dry and curl, but this weather kept making my hair oddly REALLY flat. Because of the humidity, my group wanted to find a good place to eat and quick. We needed AC! My BF's brother wanted to try some good local gumbo, and kept asking everyone where was good. We finally landed on a place called The Grill after he asked a cop and the cop said it was the best gumbo he'd had in a while. So off we went to find this place.

Along the way, we saw all kinds of crazy-ness that I felt bad taking photos of. Cause I know they know I was going to poke fun. But besides crazy, the streets were alive with all kinds of bands or side acts and beautiful sights to see.

And then we found it....

We didn't quite know what to expect and were definitely shocked to walk into some local diner looking place. So we pulled up a seat at the diner bar and got ready to view this menu.

Looking at the menu, BF and I agreed this wasn't the place we were imagining when we thought to be eating in New Orleans. But when the food came, I was in love! I ordered beans and rice with the hot sausage patty and I wouldn't recommend it any other way! It was amazing! My BF got the gumbo(my apologies, I forgot to take a picture) and brother and wife got gumbo and a po boy. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the food. We were pleasantly surprised. I'd definitely recommend this place!

Doesn't look like much, but I got to admit.... I am craving it!

Off we were to do a bit more roaming. This city is so fun and full of life. And there was never a boring thing to look at. We didn't venture into any bars because we had plans to wake up early to board the Dream! :D

We roamed a lot, watch some fireworks from a wedding that was going on that night, and eventually found this place everyone had been talking about called Cafe Du Monde. I highly recommend this place as well. It was such a delicious bite of a funnel cake/donut mixture. And the perfect sweet to end a beautiful day. We discovered they were open for 24hrs. So no matter what time it is you can try this place.

After dessert, we made our way back to the hotel. Here is just a couple more shots before bed time and then tomorrow starts the Dream!!

We are on her in October, can't wait to read the rest!

Elation, April 2012

Fascination, September 2012

Fascination, September 2013

Dream, October 2014

Looking forward to reading your review. :-)

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So we didn't wake up as early as we wanted. I gotta admit, I did sleep through alarms not because of lack of excitement, but because the bed was just that amazing!! So we finally woke up around 11am and made it to port by 11:30.

If any of you are like me, this is the part you were waiting for! Everytime, I read ship reviews and people talk about the port they stay in I always just want to get on the ship and forget about the port you leave out of! So here it is!! The time is finally here!

We parked with Fulton Place Parking because it was cheaper to be honest. The website we used was airport parking reservations for fulton place parking. You can even google for a $5 off coupon. Overall it costed $62.72 for the nights we left our car for a 7 night cruise, where if you parked with the cruise port I think it was something like $112. Fulton Place Parking said that your paying for rooftop parking but they let us park on levels 6,7, or 8. I think 8 was the roof. So we parked on 6, and enjoyed parking at half the price in a covered lot. They also offered free shuttles that ran about every 10-15 minutes. Luckily on the way in and the way back we didn't have to wait for a shuttle. Some people say you can walk from this lot, but I wasn't going to with a free shuttle. Our bags(with sodas and wine) was too heavy. So we boarded the shuttle and pretty soon we saw our new home for a week!

p.s. He isn't mad, he just doesn't like to smile. I think you might see him smile in maybe one of all the pictures I'll post! :(

When we got to the terminal, it was a little bit of a mad house outside with all the people waiting to go home while we were trying to make our way in. We discovered you leave your bags that your checking outside. Although, it was hard to tell until someone directed us where to go. Then we made our way inside and from the time we were dropped off til when we got on the ship was about an hour. Inside we had to go through security check of course and then they check our drinks. At this port, the only thing they were concerned with was my wine that I brought from a local winery. They actually cut the seal off of it so they can verify the cork was secure in place. They didn't bother to count the open sodas we had in the back pack so we technically could have brought more then the 12 per person. (although if you try this-don't take my word for it. Maybe you'll encounter a stricter person) After all of our carry on's were checked we made our way in to get our Sign and Sail card and wait to board. We were boarding zone 28. As we waited in line to get our S&S, I looked back at all the people that were waiting.

The worst part about the wait wasn't how long the wait was, because 1 hr wasn't bad at all! The worst part was how hot it was in that room, but then again, maybe I just didn't like that room cause I was sooooo beyond ready to board! Time passed quickly though and then we made our way on the ship!

I didn't take pictures from when we got into the ship because there were so many people, you wouldn't get a good view of the place. I'll show you the atrium later. :)

I hope you all are enjoying! I'm enjoying reliving it as I tell you! Feel free to ask questions as well!

I am enjoying your review so far and can't wait for more!!! Thanks for the pics too. :) We will be on the DREAM in Aug 2015. What ports did you visit?

I am enjoying your review so far and can't wait for more!!! Thanks for the pics too. :) We will be on the DREAM in Aug 2015. What ports did you visit?

I will post more for sure. I am off to bed now because of a long day of traveling, and I'm purposely waking up super early to pick up my dogs tomorrow before the work. I miss my kids. You will love the dream. We were on the itinerary that went to Cozumel, Belize and roatan, Honduras.

So excited to read more! We sail on the Dream this coming Sunday (less than a week! Eeeeeee!), and I'm DYING over here. I love, love, LOVE Le Pavillon, especially in December when the lobby is decorated for Christmas. The last time we stayed there, they were still doing complimentary peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and ice cold milk in the lobby for guests at 10pm. You'd think in a city full of food that no one would care, but we LOVED that little snack every night! We were tickled to death to find out that (for a price, of course) they will come and draw you a bubble bath in your room? WHAT?! That is some service right there. Love that place. Good location, too.

Really enjoying your review. Great pics and I love your happy attitude! We cruise on the Dream over Christmas :)

~Denise

I can't wait to read your review! My friend and I were on this cruise and we had a blast!

Very nice start to your review. We were on the Dream in April and we will be on again in December

Love this review. Definately best way to do one!!! Kinda like a soap opera!! ;)

Oh, this is starting out to be a fun review! We were on Dream WAYYYY back on one of her maiden cruises when she came to "visit" for a few cruises from Manhattan. I have ALWAYS wanted to visit, then cruise from NOLA. Sounds like you had a nice pre cruise day! :)

So excited to read more! We sail on the Dream this coming Sunday (less than a week! Eeeeeee!), and I'm DYING over here. I love, love, LOVE Le Pavillon, especially in December when the lobby is decorated for Christmas. The last time we stayed there, they were still doing complimentary peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and ice cold milk in the lobby for guests at 10pm. You'd think in a city full of food that no one would care, but we LOVED that little snack every night! We were tickled to death to find out that (for a price, of course) they will come and draw you a bubble bath in your room? WHAT?! That is some service right there. Love that place. Good location, too.

Sounds like I better hurry on my review before Sunday! Haha, I'll do my best. I'm excited to share so it will probably come out quick. Le Pavillion did still do the pb&j. It was so cute, we went downstairs to walk to the store for something to drink and the guy was downstairs singing about the pb&j's. Such a cool little treat. But I didn't know about the bubble bath! That is super cool. Like I said, the bathroom was my favorite part. We did go up to the roof where the pool was and it's Gorgeous up there too, I just didn't take any pictures.

I'm glad you all are enjoying my "soap opera" review! I will continue to day one soon!

Thanks for sharing your review with us. I love your pictures and your review is really great. We will be in New Orleans and on the Dream on the 5th of October, so only two weeks and we will be there. Thanks again for sharing your trip with us.

Really enjoying your review. Great pics and I love your happy attitude! We cruise on the Dream over Christmas :)

 

~Denise

Same here! We'll be on her during Christmas :) Thanks for the review.