Just off the Dream (Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel)

I am on Day 41 waiting for the Dream on my first cruise. Thanks for the exceptional review. Friends told me almost same thing about Fulton Street parking so I've already booked my parking. It's been weirdly fun waiting so long for this vacation and researching navigating cruise-land makes the wait fun too. Thank you much.

Parking: Parked at Fulton Garage on the top floor. About $8a day cheaper than parking in the port garage. As soon as you enter, theyattendant takes your pre-paid receipt and lets you go park. Keep in mind, theclearance between your car and the ceiling is minimal. We have a full sized SUVand I was thinking we would hit the roof a few times. Having a car-top carrier onan SUV or a lifted truck and you probably won’t make it.

 

Takes a while to get to the top as there are 9 floors in thegarage. Parked, then found out the elevator only reaches the 8th floor.No biggie really. Just had to roll our suitcases down one level to theelevator. Next time – or if its raining, I’ll stop on the 8th floorand drop off the luggage then park on the 9th. The garage wasn’tcrowded at all.

 

Load your bags on the elevator and go to the bottom floor. Onthe bottom level, the workers load your bags onto the awaiting shuttle bus. There’sa coffee shop and a convenience store for snacks. Quick trip around the blockand we’re at the port terminal. Driver gets your bags off, then a short walk withyour bags to the terminal porter who loads them onto a cart. Then walk to thestart of the embarkation process. We checked two big suitcases and had 2 carry-ons.One carry-on with wine and one with extra change of clothes and all theimportant documents. First time cruisers who packed too much!!

 

When we debarked, the shuttle was waiting in the same spotas when we left. Driver loads the bags, trip around the block to the garage.The shuttle driver says one person from each group can go get the vehicle. Healso tells us where to drive our car to so we can load the bags. Workers allaround to help. I get the SUV, drive to the spot as directed, load thesuitcases and pull away. Make a left turn, a right turn and we’re on I-10.

 

 

Easy. I guess some people like the convenience of parking inthe port garage. But there were long lines to get in. And its an extra $8 aday. At first, I was a little nervous about parking in the Fulton Garage, butnow, I’ll do it every time.

I am so glad I found this. I am going on the 10th and parking here during my cruise on the dream... I am going down 3 days early but going to park here and just leave car until get back. I was very nervous but am not so much now. I have a jeep cherokee the smaller ones so thinking i should have no problem!!! thank you for your review...

Following

Do you have copies of the fun times that you can share?

Sorry I don't have copies of the fun times. I used the HUB app exclusively and never consulted the paper.

Do you have copies of the fun times that you can share?

Adam3313 carnival dream western Caribbean funtimes. look for him its not the same stops but same length and pretty sure they follow the Same things whether or not the same stops. It helped me.

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Hello, are there irons in the rooms? Thank you!!

No irons in the cabins, but they are located in the self pay laundry room. You also have the option of having your room steward take items for pressing for a fee. I did send some clothes to be laundered that way. They will leave a bag for clothes and a itemized form to fill out. Very easy and hassle free.

Great review.... happy you guys had fun.

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Thank you for the great review! :D

Thank you!

Thank you!

One of the most informative reviews because you included so much info about the port and parking. This is very helpful to us! Also, appreciate the info about the starboard vs port - this is good news for us non-sun worshippers :)

Loved your review and so glad your first cruise was great!!!

We went on our first carnival cruise earlier this year after a Disney cruise and 2 Norwegian. Loved carnival!!!!

Question from the hubby.....

Cigarettes? he rolls his own w a machine. Can he bring the ones he rolls? also, whats the rules on smoking on the ship? watched you tube videos where people r smoking on their balconies. can yall fill me in on the smoking rules or locations?

Smoking on balconies is no longer allowed. Each ship has designated areas for smoking. You can check the Carnival site to see where you can smoke on your particular ship. As far as hand-rolled, I have no clue.

We have been on approx. 24 cruises but only on Dream twice (have another bookedh. Our first experience was wild. Our room flooded real bad and had to move. We were not happy at all, but we was ok after the shock wore off.

We always park at Fulton when sailing NCL.

Nobody has brought this up but I am curious about the soda you mentioned. Carnival outlawed water and soda way back yet they let you bring it on?? We are done hauling it anyway but I am shocked they didn't take it away. The water is really cheap if you order ahead of time. I did screw up and ordered two cases the first time. Way too much for two people. Then they drop off two huge bottles (for platinum ). Floating in the stuff.

Enjoyed your review BTW.

Thanks For Your Review I Really Enjoyed It And You Had Alot Of Good Advice Counting Down The Days To Sept 24th When We Sale Out On The Dream 💙

Thanks for your review! I'll be onboard her in 46 more days!

Outstanding review! So many questions answered that I didn't even know I had.

We have been on approx. 24 cruises but only on Dream twice (have another bookedh. Our first experience was wild. Our room flooded real bad and had to move. We were not happy at all, but we was ok after the shock wore off.

We always park at Fulton when sailing NCL.

Nobody has brought this up but I am curious about the soda you mentioned. Carnival outlawed water and soda way back yet they let you bring it on?? We are done hauling it anyway but I am shocked they didn't take it away. The water is really cheap if you order ahead of time. I did screw up and ordered two cases the first time. Way too much for two people. Then they drop off two huge bottles (for platinum ). Floating in the stuff.

Enjoyed your review BTW.

You can bring water/soda in cartons/cans. Just no bottles of water/soda. You can still bring on a 750ml bottle of wine per legal adult.

You can bring water/soda in cartons/cans. Just no bottles of water/soda. You can still bring on a 750ml bottle of wine per legal adult.

No water allowed in any version, only soda.

Yes, you can bring water in cans or cartons. Coconut water comes in cartons & I forget the brand, but there is canned water on the market as well.

Thanks for this awesome review! The Walmart comment made me laugh out loud! It is because of the Carnival prices that we can afford several cruises a year! We love Carnival -- the crew is always awesome, the customer service is always excellent, the ships are beautiful, and we ALWAYS have a wonderful time!!!! We sail in 38 or so days, and I CAN'T WAIT (especially after reading your review)!!!!!!!

My thoughts exactly! We love it and we will have a wonderful time! I refuse to allow anyone to rain on my parade!

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@Kathyds: In our circumstance, my wife doesn't drink so buying the Cheers for 2 @ $100 a day wasn't a deal. At most, i had 9-10 beers maybe 2 days at the beginning of the cruise. Port days probably 3-4. For some it works, for us it didn't. Wasn't a problem.

 

Let me wrap up my review with a few quick hits:

 

CD: Matt I think was his name. Very energetic. Did a greatjob I thought. Kept the fun rolling.

 

Getting around the ship: The stairs are your friend. Don’teven look in the direction of the elevators. If going to one end of the shipfrom your cabin, walk as far as you can in your hall and then go up\down.

 

Tendering at Grand Cayman: Tender boats come out like antsonce the ship is cleared for tendering. Big boats, hold lots of people. Doesn’ttake long at all to get from ship to dock. Sign and Sail cards are a must. Never was asked for apassport or ID. And you can bring a conch shell back on board the ship. Don’task me how I know.

 

 

HUB\Chat: Wait until about a week before your cruise todownload the app. Or at least update it before you get on board. Useful app.Easy to keep tabs on your expenses. Daily Fun Times plus you can scroll toupcoming days to see what’s happening. Someone said the app and the paper funtimes are not always in sync. I didn’t notice. Order the internet plan via theHUB app. We used the social plan and it worked fine. The chat feature workedgood although I had an older version that didn’t have some of the search featuresthe newer version has. Heads up on the Chat: We bought the chat plan for mydaughter, she’s 11. By default – and I guess it’s a good thing – for a minor,the chat feature is limited to the guests assigned to your cabin. For us, thatwas a bummer since she wanted to chat with friends in other cabins. After 3trips to guest services and 3 totally different answers, they were able tochange daughter’s age to 23 which allowed her full access to the chat feature. Herfriends did the same. So there is a work around. Looks like Carnival could allowlinking of cabins that contain minor friends for the chat app if both parentsagree to it.

 

Debarkation: Mostly easy. If you can manage your own bags,you have the option of getting off early in the process. Same for Diamond\Platinumguests. Those with early flights too. We checked 2 big suitcases (again,overpacked) in the hall the night before we reached NOLA. They give you a newset of luggage tags that have a number for order of leaving. Ours was 7. Theykept changing the estimated times for debarkation, later every time. Lots ofannouncements to keep the guests informed of the progress being made. Judgingby the time it was taking initially, we went to the Scarlett (I think) to eatbreakfast. About half way through breakfast, I got a text from someone in ourgroup saying they were off the ship. WTH? I didn’t hear any announcement forour number!!! Then I realized that once we stepped into the restaurant, I hadn’theard ANY announcement. Apparently the speakers in the Scarlett were turned offor the announcements weren’t being broadcast in the room. We finished breakfastto find out they had called numbers 1-15 for debarkation. So we made our way tothe lobby. That by itself was a journey since the main stairs in the lobby weblocked off and we had to find a different way down. Carnival could do a muchbetter job with little signs that point the way off the ship. Oh well. Off theship. Lines again. But, they scanned our sign and sail card, took our custom’sdeclaration, we found our luggage and stepped out the door. Shuttle bus rightthere back to the garage.

 

The River: A very enjoyable part of the trip was the journeyfrom NOLA down the Mississippi River to the Gulf. Stay on deck and watch the sceneryand sites. Lots of ships to see. Late Sunday night we passed the Triumph as itsailed up river towards NOLA. Seems like you could throw a baseball between the2 ships they were that close. On our return trip upriver, we again passed theTriumph as it sailed downriver for another cruise. Kinda neat.

 

Walmart of the Seas: There was a thread somewhere discussingsome guests that choose Carnival and how they might be compared to the Walmartpeople. Ok, I get it. Carnival is apparently a good value that allows peoplefrom different economic situations to enjoy the world of cruising. Having thatin mind, I noticed folks as they walked around and did their thing. Yes, therewere people there who I imagine frequent Walmart quite often. There were peoplewho didn’t dress as nice as some, didn’t follow the bathing suit cover-up suggestionin certain areas, did or didn’t do things that might cause some to wonder abouttheir own choice of cruise lines.

 

 

But you know what? What I did see just about all the timewere people having a good time and not worrying about how they were dressed ornot dressed. Kids were running around laughing and yes, doing cannon balls inthe pools!! I saw smiles from kids with ice cream cones. I heard the laughs. Isaw families sitting at tables playing board games, cards and enjoying timewith each other. I saw more than one grandmother dancing with the waiters inthe dining room. My wife told me that our son said, unprompted, he’s glad tohave parents like us who take them on trips like this. He’s 9. Is Carnival theWalmart of the Seas? Don’t know, don’t care. Our family had fun. So did manyother families. And when they swipe your sign and sail card that last time,having had fun is all that really matters.

Since they changed your daughter's age to 23 in their system, I wonder if the computer would have to let her buy an alcoholic beverage lol

Had a great time. I've learned so much from this site over the past several months while getting ready for our cruise (first time cruiser), that i want to provide a review of our journey so others can possibly learn also. I'll have to do it in sections as apparently i still have a job and the bosses expect some productivity!!! Topics I hope to cover include parking in NOLA, embarkation, river journey, room (balcony), food\dress attire, shows, excursions\ports, cruise director, getting around the ship, HUB app\chat, Internet, of interest to kids, general observations, debarkation. Probably a few more as i work my way through the review. If you have any specific questions, let me know and i'll answer them if i can.

looking for recommendations for beaches in cayman and montego bay

I have never booked a cruise so this maybe a dumb question but it always per person after the price, how is the room priced? per person or for two or more people?

I have never booked a cruise so this maybe a dumb question but it always per person after the price, how is the room priced? per person or for two or more people?

Basically per person. A single has to pay double, though, on the fare. 3rd & 4th people in same cabin have a lower rate. So, when we booked our family trip, hubby & I paid $459 base fare each. Son's fare was $918. It stinks for single travelers.

So I guess they get their double occupancy fare no matter what.