adam3313

Hey all!

I promise I didn't forget about you!

It has been a mixture of catching up on sleep when I can, and a very busy week at work, so I haven't gotten to this as quick as I would've liked, but I have not forgot about you guys! I definitely want to finish out the "live" portion, as well as give my overall thoughts on the trip.

I'll be back later tonight to finish up. All of my pictures are back at home, and I'm writing this on lunch break. Just didn't want you guys to think I forgot.

Hey all,

I didn't forget about you. It's been a wild day. My flight back to dc has been delayed 5 hours and I am working on 2 hours of sleep, so I can't even think straight right now. I promise I will get more updates when I finally make it home.

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Greetings from Cozumel, our final port of call.

My luck never got better in the casino last night. Today, after getting off the boat I wasn't feeling great. I'm not sure if it was something I ate or what but I spent the next few hours resting.

I made it up for sailaway, feeling a lot better. I'm currently waiting for America Rocks to start.

It seems sailing away from Cozumel we are hitting the roughest seas I've felt this week. It has been very calm all week, so hopefully it's just a few errant waves!

We've got two more nights aboard the Carnival Dream, and one more sea day to enjoy. I may even be able to lay in the sun a bit, as my burn has calmed down finally. I have a 4:30 appointment for a hot stone massage tomorrow. Looking forward to that for sure.

Will check back in later, the show is starting.

Also, don't worry, I've been grabbing pictures all week and will be posting when I get home. It's been too frustrating to get them to post.

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Greetings from Grand Cayman day!

Today I was a little too sunburnt to enjoy the beach, but got off the ship and just explored port a little bit. I got back on board and tried my hand at a few trivias. I finished in 2nd place twice, and finally won game of thrones trivia to get my ship on a stick!

Dinner tonight included some mushroom cream fusilli and steak!

I caught the early showing of Flick, which is an awesome main stage show featuring music from movies!

I took a bit of a beating at the casino, and now am drowning my sorrows at the piano bar. We'll try to get back at the casino later.

At least my efforts at the casino earned me a hot stone massage this Saturday, on their dime. Looking forward to that!

Talk later!

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We seem to be waiting for something....sailaway was set for 5pm and no movement so far...

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Greetings from Montego Bay!

Sorry for the lack of an update last night, the internet access was not cooperating.

We made a stop in Grand Cayman early for an emergency medical situation. It did not seem to affect our arrival time in Jamaica.

Last night was basically a repeat of Monday night. So I won't go into any details on that haha. Tonight should be different as the piano bar is off tonight, so I will likely spend some time at Karaoke, or attending the carnival quest. If you've never seen the quest, I highly recommend it. It is one of the funniest shows you will see onboard, courtesy of your fellow passengers.

Today I spent the day at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort. I was off the ship super early to meet my excursion with Resort for a day. After a ~30 minute drive, we arrived at the resort and were quickly checked in and able to use all the facilities.

I spent the day between sitting at the pool bar and floating on the lazy river. I would've liked to float more, but my shoulders and arms and chest got burnt up yesterday, and there was not a ton of shade around the lazy river, haha. I also went down the water slides, which were fun! They have some small body slides, and a big tube slide that shoots you right into the main part of the water park pool.

I enjoyed a Jamaican beef patty and a quesadilla for lunch.

My drinks of the day went between Miami Vices and Red Stripes. I also tried a Bam Bam, which is the drink of the day.

I was a little concerned with our tour operator having us get back only an hour before onboard time. I pushed for at least an extra half hour of cushion time, but the rest of the tour voted for more time at the resort. SHOCKINGLY, we hit traffic, as the driver expected, and i dinged back on to the boat at 4:28, just two minutes to spare. Luckily I had no reason to stop in the shops.

Time for Sailaway!

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Greetings from Montego Bay!

Sorry for the lack of an update last night, the internet access was not cooperating.

We made a stop in Grand Cayman early for an emergency medical situation. It did not seem to affect our arrival time in Jamaica.

Last night was basically a repeat of Monday night. So I won't go into any details on that haha. Tonight should be different as the piano bar is off tonight, so I will likely spend some time at Karaoke, or attending the carnival quest. If you've never seen the quest, I highly recommend it. It is one of the funniest shows you will see onboard, courtesy of your fellow passengers.

Today I spent the day at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort. I was off the ship super early to meet my excursion with Resort for a day. After a ~30 minute drive, we arrived at the resort and were quickly checked in and able to use all the facilities.

I spent the day between sitting at the pool bar and floating on the lazy river. I would've liked to float more, but my shoulders and arms and chest got burnt up yesterday, and there was not a ton of shade around the lazy river, haha. I also went down the water slides, which were fun! They have some small body slides, and a big tube slide that shoots you right into the main part of the water park pool.

I enjoyed a Jamaican beef patty and a quesadilla for lunch.

My drinks of the day went between Miami Vices and Red Stripes. I also tried a Bam Bam, which is the drink of the day.

I was a little concerned with our tour operator having us get back only an hour before onboard time. I pushed for at least an extra half hour of cushion time, but the rest of the tour voted for more time at the resort. SHOCKINGLY, we hit traffic, as the driver expected, and i dinged back on to the boat at 4:28, just two minutes to spare. Luckily I had no reason to stop in the shops.

Time for Sailaway!

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Steak and Eggs at Sea Day Brunch

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The piano bar was good, but I have something to write in my survey for sure. Apparently on Sunday night, someone from corporate didn't like that Zack provided his own song books, and made him keep them off the bar last night, so it turned into a crapshoot if he knew what you requested. I just don't understand the logic behind it. Carnival produces a song list, but I don't think there's a song from the last 15 years on it....Zack has done a good job though, and has promised to learn a bunch of requests. I'll definitely be giving carnival corporate my feedback though.

This morning I got a breakfast burrito from Blue Iguana, loaded my Tervis with lemonade, and bounced between hot tubs on Serenity for a few hours.

Currently I'm sitting in the Ocean Plaza enjoying my first lunch at Guy's Pig and Anchor. It is awesome. Everything I tried has been delicious.

After this, it'll be time for slot pull attempt #2, hopefully with better results today!

I'll make a few posts with some pictures to share.

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Good afternoon from the Carnival Dream! We are currently sailing south of Cuba on our way to Jamaica.

My apologies, I had a post all typed up earlier but I tried to add a photo and the app had an error and I was forced to erase everything I wrote, so I got frustrated and went to serenity to relax in the hot tub. In the future, I will be posting pictures alone so I don't lose any text haha.

Last night followed the same routine as the first night: close the piano bar, hit the nightclub, close down the blackjack table, and eat pizza.

The nightclub was the most crowded I've seen on a carnival ship. People must enjoy DJ Verso's mixes.

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Well our slot pull was fun, but we didn't win anything....but as they say, "if at first you don't succeed, try again!" So we'll be trying again tomorrow.

After the slot pull I spent the rest of the afternoon having some frosty beers in the hot tub above lido deck.

I don't usually do formal night, so I grabbed a guy's burger right before closing, and then grabbed some of the spaghetti carbonara that I would've had in the dining room, on the lido deck. Win-win for me. I don't enjoy lobster, so no loss by missing formal night #1.

After dinner I relaxed and showered, then had a good session in the casino. I loaded up Jameson, and am back at the piano bar.

We're almost off the coast of Cuba as we head toward Jamaica. Hoping to get an earlier start on sea day 2 to get a solid spot on lido.

May be back with an update later, we'll see where the night takes me!

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Good morning from Day 2 aboard the Carnival Dream. It's overcast as we make our way through the Gulf of Mexico on the way towards Jamaica.

Last night, I closed down the piano bar. This is Zack Daniels' first cruise on his contract on the Dream, and he was awesome. Very good at playing requests. I can tell it won't be the only night closing out the piano bar.

Afterwards, I hung out in Caliente for a bit, and then proceeded to close down the blackjack table, and walked away only down $15. The way the table was going, this was a semi-success.

After finishing off my Jameson, I ended the night like many do on a Carnival Cruise:

I'm currently fueling up at Sea Day Brunch.

Steak n eggs with a side of bacon. Amazing. In all my carnival cruises I haven't ever made it to sea day brunch, but it has certainly impressed.

I plan on hitting the lido deck after brunch, and will be hosting a slot pull later in the afternoon.

Also, apparently Chris the Flying Scotsman is not onboard. Seems he is going to be on vista for a few weeks, according to what I heard on our "social network" group. Maybe he talked about it in his weekly blog?

Cheers from the high seas, will check in later!

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If you like peanut butter, ask for some​with the chocolate melting cake. :)

 

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I kid you not, I asked tonight for the first time and was denied [emoji22]

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Dinner was delicious and fast tonight. I had the Corn Chowder Maryland, crispy chicken bites, sweet and sour shrimp, and chocolate melting cake of course.

After dinner, I had an up and down blackjack session, and now parked at the piano bar.

So far, I haven't seen Chris. Mat, the CD taking over, covered muster and the sail away party... He seems pretty good so far.

Back to my requests!

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Definitely the fastest I've ever got my luggage on the ship. We're currently sailing down the Mississippi.

This was drink number one, a ting mojito.

Here's a Jameson with ginger ale, a fine pre-dinner drink.

About to hit the crimson dining room for any time dinner.

Muster Drill was inside, in the theater and restaurants.

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A short nap in the shade helped cool down. Muster drill time in the encore theater...

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Made it on board! Security took about 35 minutes to make it through.

No line for one of these though

First guy's burger on the dream (and it won't be the last...)

I believe Chris is still on this sailing so we'll have two CDs.

It is sweltering hot. Might need to take a dip before muster...

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Quick pit stop in the French market to cool off!

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Flight number 1 is complete. Short layover in Nashville before I continue on to New Orleans. Southwest didn't take my free drink voucher so we've got our first "free" drink of the trip, a Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. Waiting to board flight 2 now.

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Have a great time Adam! Will be on Dream for B2B Premier cruises in August. Would be interested to know who the Casino Hosts are.

That I can do. I intend to meet them today!

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Quick breakfast at DCA while I track where the ship is haha.

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Ready to rock to the airport!

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Hey all,

I have been a long-time lurker of Cruise Critic since I booked my first cruise as an adult, and I love reading reviews and live reports. I gave a short review of my first Carnival Cruise in 2013, but have slacked on my past few, but this time, I am going to try my best to do a semi-LIVE review of my trip on the Dream.

Here's a shot of me on my first trip on the Dream, contemplating how great vacation will be.

A bit about me, and my cruising history to start. I am Adam. I am 30 years old, and live in Northern Virginia. My cruising history dates back to 1999, when my family took a 4 Night Baja California cruise aboard RCCL's Viking Serenade (I was 12 at the time, so I didn't do the booking, haha). We left from Los Angeles, and visited the ports of San Diego, Catalina Island, and Ensenada, Mexico. My sisters and I had a blast, which is funny because I learned years later my parents were horrified when they saw the Viking Serenade. She was in her final years of service for RCCL, and was actually previously a ferry that was converted to a cruise ship. They were used to nicer ships at the time, but were happy that we didn't care at all!

I didn't get back to the cruising until 2013. My parents preferred all-inclusive resorts to cruising, so that took up most of our family vacations. In 2013, I cruised with a group of 15 on the Carnival Dream for the first time. She was based in Port Canaveral at the time, and we visited Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. I fell in love with cruising as an adult, and really enjoyed the Carnival Cruise experience. I also decided that St. Maarten was my favorite cruise port.

As life does, it took until March 2016 to cruise again. Vacation time and dollars were quickly booked up by weddings, as they tend to do. I received an offer from the Hollywood Casino in PA for a free Carnival Cruise, and made the few hour trek to pick up the voucher. I ended up booking an 8 day cruise on the Carnival Sunshine that visited St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, and Grand Turk. I was happy to try the refurbished Sunshine with all of the 2.0 upgrades, and looked forward to a return to St. Maarten, and 3 new ports. I traveled solo for this cruise, and was a little hesitant, but enjoyed myself, and met a ton of people on that cruise. Also, Grand Turk claimed the prize of my favorite port.

Luckily, it didn't take all that long to get back to cruising. Taking advantage of a Casino bounce back offer, I booked a September 2016 cruise on the Dream out of New Orleans, visiting Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. I booked with a few friends I met on the Sunshine! As luck would have it, I also had friends that decided to get married on the Carnival Breeze, so I booked that cruise as well, as part of a group of about 50 of us, and went to Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.

In January 2017, I booked my second bounce back offer from my second Dream cruise, and booked another cruise with my Sunshine Casino Crew on the Carnival Glory, visiting Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. I was excited to make my return to Grand Turk, and had heard so much about Half Moon Cay as well, so I was really excited to add that to my list of ports. Unfortunately, weather had other ideas, and forced us to miss both of those ports. It was a bummer for sure, but we were compensated with 25% off a future cruise. It was also a rare cruise where we never hit foreign soil, so we were able to just walk off the ship in Miami!

I received a bounce back offer, and after a tough deliberation on the cruises I had available, decided to cruise on the Carnival Dream again, this being the first time after she received the rest of the 2.0 upgrades (it was rough that one trip on the Dream without Guy's Burgers, haha). The 5/28 sailing leaves from New Orleans, and visits Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. You may be saying "didn't you JUST see these ports last Halloween?" You'd be correct! But, my friends' wedding took place on port day in Montego Bay, so I didn't get off the ship that day. Grand Cayman was the day after the wedding, and I was nursing a rare cruise hangover, so decided to just lounge on Lido all day and get back to life. The only port I made it off the ship at was Cozumel, doing our planned group excursion.

So, here's some information on the cruise:

I'll be staying in an interior room on Deck 9. I've always opted to book an interior cabin. I rarely am in the room, and when I am, I enjoy the pitch black atmosphere which provides amazing sleep. Also, the money can be spent better elsewhere.

Here's a rundown of what I plan to do in each port.

Montego Bay: All-Inclusive Day Pass at the Hilton Rose Hall through Resortforaday. I actually visited this resort back in 2001 with my family, and we LOVED it. We had planned to visit again for my 30th Birthday in October, but they had half the resort closed for renovations, so we selected a different resort. Looking forward to checking out the resort 16 years later!

Grand Cayman: I am planning of taking advantage of the buses to go do a tour at the Caybrew Brewery, and then over to a beach club on 7 mile beach most likely. I am up in the air on this one, so we'll see how it goes.

Cozumel: Finally trying out Mr. Sancho's. I've read so much about it, so it's time to try it out for myself.

As for on ship, I can usually be found between the Lido Deck, Serenity Deck, the Casino, the Piano Bar, the Comedy Club, and Trivia. If you are interested in any of these activities, I can answer most any question you have. If you've got any other questions about the Dream, feel free to ask as well!

I plan on having the internet plan, and will do my best to update the board on what shenanigans I'll be taking part in. This will all be at the mercy of how the internet access is. I'm looking forward to reporting to whoever wants to read, but won't let the frustration of the internet being spotty to ruin my vacation. Nevertheless, I will certainly come back with a report when I return at the latest.

Well, I need to be heading to the airport in about 3 hours, so I best get some shut eye.

Enjoying the review! Your style of cruises meshes will with most of my favorite things to do on cruises (Drinking, Blackjack, Piano Bar, Nightclub, etc.) Can't wait to read the rest!

I thought I read before that the casino can open after going under the Bay Bridge near Annapolis, which is usually reached about an hour after departing from port in Baltimore.