Picture review of the Dream, June 12-19 sailing

Hi! I thought I'd share my experience on the Dream. This is my 4th "all girls cruise", and 3rd time on the Dream. I sailed with my mom and my two daughters, age 9 and 11. We drove down from the St. Louis area and stayed the night in Hammond, LA the night before we sailed away.

I used my new Nikon Coolpix waterproof camera exclusively for the first 2 days, until I realized I wasn't getting good quality indoor pictures at all. I pulled my iphone out of the safe and unless near the water, I used it the remainder of the cruise. The Nikon worked great for outdoor pics though!

We went to Little French Key in Roatan, stayed on the ship in Belize, and visited Nachi Cocom in Cozumel.

OK, so here we go.....

First of all, we were assigned 1pm check-in. I knew New Orleans went to staggered check-in, but just hadn't thought to go online and register for a time. By the time I did, 1pm was the earliest I could select. Lucky for me, my PVP called me a couple days before the cruise just to check in and see if I had any questions or concerns (I was impressed!) and I asked her if I could get an earlier check in time and sure enough, 12pm was available!

We got there about 11:30, but by the time we parked and made our way inside, it was close enough to 12. The lines seemed about as long as they've been in the past, so I'm not sure if the staggered times really mattered or not. I have always been impressed with Port of New Orleans' efficiency and we've never had to wait in crazy lines. We were on the ship within a half-hour.

We were SO EXCITED to get up to the lido deck but as we boarded, there was a table selling bottomless bubbles and cheers with no line, so we jumped at it. My mom went to the bar to get us drinks while I got the girls bottomless bubbles ($4.50 per day for a child, $6 per day for adults).

After that, we went straight to deck 10 and there was a sign-up table for the Dr. Seuss Breakfast, which was on the last sea day at either 8am or 9:30am. It was $5 per person. We signed up for 8am because we are early birds:D

Ahh, we got the technical stuff out of the way...time for lunch and drinks poolside and get this vaca started!!! Except that it started pouring down rain. POURING. And every.single.person. was huddled under the covered parts of the lido. We had to maneuver around (we carried on our suitcases) and wait for a table to come empty. It was not a great start to things. My Miami Vice was all melty by the time we settled in, but hey, we were on vacation!!! In fact, we were so stressed about getting through the crowds and lines that I didn't take any pics! Our stateroom was ready at 1pm, so once we made our way there, the picture taking began. More to come, with pics of our cove balcony!!!

We stayed in the same cabin as last year. Room 2357. It's under the restaurant, and pretty much directly under the pool, so we would just jump on the elevator and be right in the middle of all the action. The only thing about that room that I would change is having to walk up 2 flights to deck 4, around the corridor, then back down 1 flight to get to the Scarlet Dining Room. We didn't realize until the last day that we could have been walking down the hall on deck 2 to the next set of stairs and only have to climb one set :cool: oops!

Here is a cove balcony set up for 4 people. The couch turns into a bed.

I'm loving your review so far! I can't wait to read the rest!

Our cabin steward met us right away and asked if we wanted early or late room service. We chose late so he could get in there while we were at dinner. Worked out great for us except I have one question for all of you....

What do you do with room service trays when you're finished? We ordered coffee and fruit or bagels every morning but the tray was not removed until dinner time. Kind of gross and in our way in that tiny cabin. We had always set the tray in the hallway in the past, but I saw a debate started on John Heald's page and lots of people say that's rude? So yeah, not sure what the proper etiquette is on that one.

Anywhoo, as soon as we got our swimming suits on, the girls decorated our door. We always buy a simple decoration and poster putty from the Dollar Tree.

I'm loving your review so far! I can't wait to read the rest!

Thank you!!

I'm so excited about your review! I was hoping that I'd see another one before we leave Sunday. I love the details you're giving about how best make one's time when first on the ship!

POOL TIME!!! It finally stopped raining, so the kids had just enough time to swim and get soaking wet for the Muster Drill. Happens every year. They freeze to death sitting in the dining room for the muster drill because they're dripping wet! This drill was pretty lax. The guy was poking fun at the whole thing (which I totally got, since I bet half the people in there were repeat cruisers, and let's be honest...most of it is just common sense!) but they somehow didn't have any muster station bracelets for the kids to wear, so they told us to visit guest services at some point to get them. Yeah, we dropped the ball on that one, and ended up never going! They said Camp Carnival gave them out too, but my kids don't go to Camp Carnival. Oh well.

After the drill we went up to deck 11 for a good view of sail away. We got drinks, did a toast, and had great "front row" seats to watch. And we waited. And waited. And waited. I finally started walking around to see what was up and on the pier side, and a woman pointed out that they were still loading luggage on! Grrr. The rain had held them up and we ended up sailing an hour and a half late. Seems we always miss watching sail away because it's not on time and we get bored waiting. Oh well, we went swimming instead and they still had the sail away party, so we got to dance. And the important thing was that it was NOT RAINING!!!

Finally on our way!!!

I'm so excited about your review! I was hoping that I'd see another one before we leave Sunday. I love the details you're giving about how best make one's time when first on the ship!

Thanks! And I must admit, I'm a little jealous that your cruise is still ahead of you. I already miss it so much!!!

OK so I haven't really introduced myself. I'm Emily and I just turned 43, and am an elementary school art teacher. My mom is 69 and a retired teacher. We have the BEST time cruising together! The girls, Sara and Josie, think cruising is the greatest vacation ever! My husband cruised with me 4 times and then declared he was sick and tired of it and it wasn't his thing. Whaaat? Not his thing?? I can't even imagine! Oh well, at least I have my mom to go with me. My husband did go to Mexico with me last month and ended up having a great time, so it's a start. I'm easing him back into tropical getaways. I'm hopeful to slip a cruise in by the next year or so :cool: He just needs to give it one more chance!

So now, back to the cruise!!! Coming up is our first evening in the dining room! I took lots of food pics, but I tell you what. I kind of screwed up. After the first night, I never thought to take a pic of the menu again. So some dishes I can't remember the name of! Damn!!! We enjoyed the American Table but missed some old favorites, such as the bacon mac and cheese as an entree, and the farfalle dish with a white sauce and turkey meat.

Looking forward to more.:)

I can't wait to read more! How do you like sailing from NOLA? I'm eyeing it for our next booking.

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Looking forward to more.:)

Thanks for reading!

I can't wait to read more! How do you like sailing from NOLA? I'm eyeing it for our next booking.

 

 

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I've only sailed out of NO, so I have nothing to compare it to, but we love it! Aside from boarding always being organized and fast, the views from the Mississippi are a must-see. There's so much going on down on the river, and it's cool to sail through all the oil rigs. We LOVE sailing down the river into the gulf!

It's such a nice idea to have a girls vacation. You will cherish the memories. I look forward to your adventures.

It's such a nice idea to have a girls vacation. You will cherish the memories. I look forward to your adventures.

Thanks! Yes, we are making lots of memories!

OK, I left off at dinner time. We had the 6pm seating (FINALLY!!) the last two cruises we didn't get 6pm. So the first time we settled for 8pm but found that to be too late, so the next time, we chose anytime dining, which we didn't care for at all. Our waiters were Charlie and Frederico (or something very close). They were wonderful! Here is the American Table set-up. My mom was disappointed in the lack of a table cloth, but loved the little bread plates with the Americana theme. In fact, I'm going to look and see if I can order her some similar ones online.

The bread basket had interesting selections. There was a bread with dried cranberries that was delicious! And at this point I was still using the Nikon waterproof camera and the pictures are a little out of focus.

This was the only night I remembered to take a picture of the menu. Oops!

Shrimp cocktail. My 11 yr old, Sara, ordered this every single night! I think they're too squishy. I'm not a fan lol

the fruit was delicious. My 9 yr old, Josie, ordered this a few times, usually from the dessert menu (I'll have pics of that later)

Sorry about the bite! My goal was to take a pic of everything different we ate, but there were several times I started eating without taking pics.

Loving the review so far! We've got our first B2B on the Dream coming up in April. So, I'm soaking in all the info I can on the Dream!

Great review so far!! I enjoyed my cruise on the Dream a few years ago.

Loving the review so far! We've got our first B2B on the Dream coming up in April. So, I'm soaking in all the info I can on the Dream!

Oh my dream is to take a B2B someday! I bet you're so excited!!

Great review so far!! I enjoyed my cruise on the Dream a few years ago.

Thanks for reading!

Loving the review! Can't wait to read the rest. Brings back fond memories of my Dream cruise last year.

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I'm enjoying your review and looking forward to more. I will be on the Dream next year with my 41 year old daughter and her husband and son. I'm anxious to see the rest of your pictures.

Hi! I thought I'd share my experience on the Dream. This is my 4th "all girls cruise", and 3rd time on the Dream. I sailed with my mom and my two daughters, age 9 and 11. We drove down from the St. Louis area and stayed the night in Hammond, LA the night before we sailed away.

 

I used my new Nikon Coolpix waterproof camera exclusively for the first 2 days, until I realized I wasn't getting good quality indoor pictures at all. I pulled my iphone out of the safe and unless near the water, I used it the remainder of the cruise. The Nikon worked great for outdoor pics though!

 

We went to Little French Key in Roatan, stayed on the ship in Belize, and visited Nachi Cocom in Cozumel.

 

OK, so here we go.....

First, let me say, enjoying your review and thank you. Now for the business portion.... Were your times in Cozumel 8am to 6pm?

We have heard that CCL Dream has propulsion issues, did this change anything that you were aware?

Think this was your cruise, however, were there issues with smoke from funnel, as in some form of a engine issue? Or an anomaly from the norm?

Thanks for the review!

First, let me say, enjoying your review and thank you. Now for the business portion.... Were your times in Cozumel 8am to 6pm?

 

 

 

We have heard that CCL Dream has propulsion issues, did this change anything that you were aware?

 

 

 

Think this was your cruise, however, were there issues with smoke from funnel, as in some form of a engine issue? Or an anomaly from the norm?

 

 

 

Thanks for the review!

We were in Cozumel from 7am-5pm and we arrived and left on time. The day before, we did leave Belize very late though. Probably an hour late. Never did hear why.

I never heard a word about propulsion issues or engine problems, but when we were docked at Mahogany Bay my mom commented on the thick black smoke coming out of the funnel. I had never noticed this before and didn't know if it was normal or not. Sorry I don't know more specifics for you!

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I'm enjoying your review and looking forward to more. I will be on the Dream next year with my 41 year old daughter and her husband and son. I'm anxious to see the rest of your pictures.

Thanks! I am ready to book another one for next year so I have something to look forward to again!

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