B4May

Are these "insane deals" always on interior rooms only?  I would likely want to book a balcony for an Alaska cruise, which have been $700-1200+ pp.

Cabin - 

We booked a sailaway balcony about two weeks out (great deal!) and were assigned 0063, second to last balcony on the 10th deck.  We loved the aft location, just one flight up to the buffet and sports bar and a quick elevator ride straight down to the Seven Seas dining room.  It was quiet also, just very occasional scraping sounds from the chairs one deck up.  The balconies on the Sun are really nice, larger than I've had on Carnival ships.  One tip - the room directly next to ours (0064) had a much bigger angled balcony and I believe it's in the same room category.  We loved that the balcony door could be left open (even though you're not supposed to 😬), so nice to listen to the ocean waves from inside the room. 

The only real downside of the room was the teeny tiny shower. It's a weird round design and the smallest shower I've ever been in. Still had great water pressure though and a handheld showerhead.

Also there is a weird wall mounted hair dryer above the toilet that barely blows out air.  BUT I discovered on our last day that there was a regular hair dryer in the cabinet behind the TV. Hooray!

Hi everyone,

I'm just back from the weekend itinerary to the Bahamas (Great Stirrup Cay & Nassau) on the Sun. I didn't see any recent reviews for this one so I thought I'd share my experience.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer. 

Quick background - I was traveling with my mom for a mother/daughter getaway, this was my 5th cruise ever and my second on Norwegian.  First one of this short of an itinerary.

Embarkation - 

We have never been to Port Canaveral before so I'm not sure if it's the port staff or this particular cruise, but this was the smoothest embarkation process I've ever experienced.  We flew into Frontier Airlines into Orlando MCO, and used Cortrans shuttle service from the airport to the port.  It was $20 per person each way and we had great service.  They give clear instructions on how to get to the shuttle pick up location which was really helpful.  There is a set schedule so we did have to wait a bit but that was just because our flight landed right in between scheduled rides.  We arrived at the port around 12:30pm and sailed right through security, check-in, etc. and were on the ship in ~30 minutes.  There was clear signage everywhere in the port and plenty of employees directing us where to go.  Port Canaveral is run really well compared to New Orleans.

Onboard - 

I was surprised to find our rooms weren't ready by 1 pm when we got on the ship, but apparently Norwegian's standard is 2 pm for this ship.  They were ready a little earlier than that.  I'm not sure if it's because of various dry dock upgrades over the years or just a bad design, but this ship has a very confusing layout.  There are lots of turns in the hallways, corners to go around, and decks that don't go all the way through.  One couple told us they were on some half deck on Deck 6 and they couldn't even find their room at first without help. LOL

A couple tricks we learned - the aft dining room (Seven Seas) is mostly empty because it's on a deck that doesn't go all the way through.  Our room was aft, so it was an easy elevator ride straight down.  Also, when exiting the ship at the ports, take the elevator all the way down to deck 4 and then walk to the front of the ship and down the stairs to deck 3.  If you try to walk down from the Atrium on deck 5, you might get held up to wait there.  This happened to us when boarding the tender to Great Stirrup Cay and we stood around for 20 minutes before they let us go down, while I'm sure others who came in from a different way were lining up downstairs. Getting to port took us almost an hour!

The specialty restaurants are also more hidden. I also missed having the big open promenade with shopping, dining, casino, etc.  You have to walk through the casino to get from one end of deck 7 to the other, so I'm not sure how they handle that with kids.  But smaller ship means there are some compromises, and the small size was a plus in a lot of ways.

Will continue with the rest later tonight!

Thanks for starting this thread! I'm on the Sun with my mom for a quick Mother's Day getaway on May 10.  I'm really excited to be on a smaller ship again, and we loved our last Norwegian cruise.  Hope others chime in with some tips!

Ports - Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman is exceptionally beautiful and everything feels so clean and new. My husband remarked that it felt like we were in Florida and he was right - the whole place felt very "Americanized" which is either a good or bad thing depending on your opinion.

Grand Cayman is a tender port, which we had never done before. I actually found it kind of fun! If you get seasick though, try to time getting on the tender right before they leave. We sat for maybe 10-15 minutes while they were boarding other passengers and it was pretty wavy down there.

Tender boat coming in to the ship

We did not book an excursion here, instead we opted to take the local bus/taxis that charge $5 per person each way to take you to the public beach area/Calico Jack's on Seven Mile Beach. One thing I will point out - if you have Grand Cayman on your itinerary, check and see how many boats will be in port the day you'll be there BEFORE you book. There were 7 ships in port the day we went, and it was crazy busy. Every square inch of beach was covered with people. If we had gone on this same trip the next week, there would have been only two ships in port. But I didn't check before I booked. Doh. :rolleyes:

When you get dropped off at the beach, vendors will be on you to rent a chair and umbrella from them but because it was so crowded, and we wanted to explore a little, we opted out of that. We walked the beach a bit and then found a place to relax on our towels not far from Calico Jack's. The kids had a blast playing in the ocean and we could grab drinks from the bar. There isn't much shade in the area, so that's something to be aware of. We grabbed a table at Calico Jack's under their canopy and ordered food when we felt everyone needed a sun break.

After we got back to the port, we walked around the shopping area right outside the port. Very nice stores and a great place to pick up souvenirs.

Seven Mile Beach

So many people!

Lunch at Calico Jack's

Shopping in Georgetown

Thanks that's actually the new menu. Old menu didn't have the broken egg sandwich or salted caramel pancakes :D

Ah ok, good to know! I guess I missed the toast. :D Too many choices and everything was delicious!

Ports - Jamaica

We had never been to Jamaica before and I was a little nervous based on some of the things I was hearing about aggressive vendors, it not being safe, etc. But I'm happy to say we had a great experience! We booked an all-inclusive day at Sunscape Splash Montego Bay through Shore Excursioneer. It was $89 each for the adults, $59 each for the kids and I found a coupon code online to take a little more off that - so we felt that was pretty reasonable. We paid a deposit of around $50 at the time of booking and brought cash to pay the balance when we arrived. The company that provided our transportation was Caribbean World and they had a mini bus there and ready to take us and several other passengers to other resorts as well. It was about a 5 minute ride; you can actually see the high rise hotel on the property from the ship.

Sunscape Splash is a big resort, with an adults-only side and a family friendly side. Basically the two sides of the pool are separated by a swim up bar in the middle. Each side also has a beach area and there is a water park on the family side with slides, a lazy river, a cool pirate ship and a shallow splash area. There were two restaurants - a big lunch buffet with lots of choices, and a grill for burgers & fries. There was also a coffee cafe that had ice cream, specialty coffees and some desserts. There were several bars dotting the property as well. Everything that was on the resort was included for us and the bartenders did not go light on the alcohol, as has been our experience with other all-inclusives. The one thing I did miss that we enjoyed at Playa Mia in Cozumel, were the poolside and beach side waiters - none to be found here.

Our same driver came back to pick us up at the end of the day and he offered to take us to a shopping area before we got back on the ship, but there were a couple very drunk people (from another resort) so we skipped it. The kids were worn out after all the water park fun anyway!

Jamaica is beautiful and I would definitely go back there again.

Waterpark area at Sunscape Splash

The beach area

Pool and swim up bar

We found a live sea urchin on the rock jetty - my kids thought that was pretty cool!

Could you tell me if they have the new or old menu for breakfast in the dining room on port days (new has dosa and avocado toast)?

 

Thanks

I think it was the old menu - we only ate there once for breakfast but I don't remember seeing avocado toast. My husband had the broken egg sandwich (which is also available in the lido breakfast buffet) and I had the salted caramel pancakes, which were delicious!

Kids Club - Camp Ocean

Both my boys spend quite a lot of time in Camp Ocean and really enjoyed it! They were in two different groups - Penguins for 2-5 years old and Sharks for 9-11. They had fun theme nights in the evenings that the kids loved - Pirate Party, Color War, Prince and Princesses, etc. The younger ones made fun crafts like a telescope, a crown, bug hats, and there was a lot of face painting for that age group as well.

My older son loved all the video game consoles - TVs were all around the room with a different game on each one. They also spent time doing more active things like playing gaga ball. Like I mentioned previously, the only thing that was a little odd was that his group was sometimes down in the Club O2 area or in an empty conference room on deck 4. Not a huge deal but it made it a little inconvenient for one parent to pick them both up or drop them both off.

There are a few times during the week when Camp does a fee-based or "independent" activity. For the 9-11s who could check themselves out, they sent them on a ship scavenger hunt and those who couldn't check out had to stay behind and so some other activity. Also there's a Build A Bear workshop time, and a Groove for St. Jude party on the Lido deck.

One thing I super love about Carnival's kids club is the kids dinner. Both my boys love getting to eat with their buddies and we love getting to eat dinner by ourselves. They don't offer anything like that on Norwegian. It's offered at 6pm each night in Pasta Bella, so they are in a totally separate area from other diners. The menu is different every night and is listed in the Camp activity schedule. Also, all age groups eat together, so that's great for siblings to spend some time together as well.

Also, something important to note is that Camp Ocean starts at 2 years old, a year younger than Norwegian. And they give you cell phones if you have a younger child so they can contact you if needed while you're out and about on the ship - you get it at the beginning and keep it all week. That is a nice added benefit for peace of mind.

The last evening is the Kids Fun Farewell and they usually watch a movie and get a little souvenir of some kind. It used to be Carnival t-shirts that they colored but this year it was string bags with their group's animal. Both my boys really liked them.

You can pick up the printed camp schedule for the entire week on the first day.

Not in the garage that is attached to the terminal.No reservations required (or accepted, as far as I know).

Yep, no reservations, just follow the directional signage for Carnival. We drove in on Henderson and made a left at Mardi Gras World and the garage is just past that on the right. They have credit card machines right there and you pay as you enter. Very simple! All floors are enclosed except for the top level.

A towel animal on every chair. My kids loved this!

For the fellow runners out there, 7 laps to a mile. :D

Complaints/negatives -

I'm going to do just one post with the negative/nitpicky/complaints that we had - quirky things that aren't a huge deal but did make this cruise a less than stellar experience. Most of it has to do with the maintenance of the ship so could be remedied; hopefully they have a dry dock for the Dream scheduled soon! The ship overall looks pretty dated and is in need of an overhaul.

Random things throughout the ship didn't work. Sometimes the automatic doors wouldn't open or only opened a foot or so. The rinse off showers near the pools or hot tubs didn't work. The locks in the spa area only worked sometimes, so no wonder they had trouble with people sneaking in.

The booths in the lido are so low compared to the heights of the tables. It was an uncomfortable difference so we avoided them. The traffic flow pattern is a little difficult getting in and out of the lido because on one side is the topping bar for Guy's Burgers and on the other the Salsa Bar for Blue Iguana Cantina. Those areas were mobbed with people carrying plates of food so it was tricky to get around and into the lido without getting a plate of food jammed into you.

The sushi bar takes up a ton of space with the counter and lots of tables and I never saw more than four people there. Would have been a great place for a sports bar/restaurant! There isn't a drink station near Pig & Anchor BBQ.

The lights in the staterooms were the old fluorescent type that flicker, and take a while to come on. The finishes there are pretty worn as well. One switch in the room we never could figure out what it did.

The only place we encountered any rude staffers was in the spa. They seemed annoyed by us getting cards to use the facilities while booking customers were there or wanting to do the complimentary yoga class. Then when we got to the class, the instructor cancelled because of a back issue.

There was at least one elevator that wasn't working at any given time. You have to walk through the smoky casino to get to the things behind it, like Punchliner, the Piano Bar, etc. I had to take my kids through there a couple times also.

Disembarkation was a total nightmare but I'll go over that in a separate post.

It was odd to me that half the time my older son's Camp Ocean group, 9-11 year olds, was down on Deck 4 in either the Club 02 room or an empty conference room with chairs stacked in the back and half the time they were up in the Camp Ocean area with the other kids. Also, IMO, 9-11 is too young to let kids check themselves in and out of camp. They let you opt out of that though thankfully. I'll talk more about the kids club in another post coming up....

Entertainment -

We thought the shows were very good and our favorites were the 80s music show, Flick (a tribute to movie music) and America Rocks. The singers in the shows were the same every night, except for America Rocks, where two new ones showed up and we thought they were the best of the bunch! I wish we had seen them more throughout the week. We also really enjoyed the Punchliner Comedy Club and went there several times for both the family friendly and adults only shows. The funniest comedian by far was John Wessling, and he came on board at the end of the week.

This was the first ship we'd been on with the big movie screen over the pool and we enjoyed that with our kids. The popcorn available at the Red Frog bar during movies is a nice touch as well.

The Cruise Director Chris Williams did a great job. We loved the Mardi Gras parade and party that he hosted and the Michael Jackson showdown on the last night of the cruise. We also had fun stopping by the piano bar a few nights to listen to Ben sing and tell a few jokes.

Loungers in the Laconium

Spa Robes and Ladies Dressing Room

Spa and spa perks -

Overall the spa was nice but it was pretty apparent here more than anywhere else that the Dream is an aging ship and is in need of maintenance. It was functional enough to enjoy it as a perk of our cabin but I don't think I would have been happy if I had paid for the spa pass.

A couple minor things I found annoying - each time you wanted to use the spa you had to check in with the front desk, hand over your card for them to keep and get a "VIP Access" card to unlock the various rooms and a white rubber bracelet. She told us that was because they had a problem with people sneaking in. Sometimes the desk was busy so it would have been more convenient if they could have made our spa deck key cards work in those locks as well. You get one loofah and one body scrub per room so if you are sharing the cabin with a friend, I guess they expect you to share. :o It was listed that you'd get a choice of 8 scrubs, but you just get what's handed to you.

You also get a complimentary body composition test for two guests, and one complimentary yoga or pilates class. They don't tell you when these are unless you ask; yoga is at 8am and pilates at 4:30pm on sea days only. Also the body composition tests book up so if you are interested in that, book early. We figured that was just a way for them to try and sell us products so we skipped it.

You get a nice heavy robe (although one of ours had a hole in the shoulder), one-size-fits-all slippers and travel size bottles of Elemis shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and lotion.

I did enjoy the semi-private entrance staircase from deck 11 up to the spa. The private shower/dressing area was really nice with two big showers so I got ready there once. I appreciated being able to wear my robe to the showers without having to go through the main entrance. The hair dryers in the dressing room are also worlds better than the ones in the cabin.

The thalassotherapy pool was nice, warmer than other hot tubs we used on the main decks, but the metal lounger in there wasn't very comfortable. There were some kind of fountains that weren't working and the plastic filter covers going around the edge were broken or missing - minor details that didn't interfere with our enjoyment of it, but did show the need for maintenance.

The aromatherapy steam room was really nice and hot - about 5 minutes is all I could last in there. The other steam room is on the other end of the spectrum, barely hot and steamy. And the buttons to create more steam didn't work anywhere. The heated loungers in the Laconium and Tepidarium were a nice place to relax and cool down. There was a nice selection of fruit infused waters and coffee/tea in the relaxation area as well.

There are also two open air showers to rinse off and cool down, though neither had all its features working. The rain shower didn't work at all in either and in one, the side sprays weren't working. There are towels provided in the spa so you don't have to tote one from your cabin.

So not a perfect spa experience but we did make time to use it several times during our week.

Dining -

The food was good everywhere we went but the real standouts IMO are Guy's Burgers, Pizza del Capitano, Carnival Deli and Pasta Bella. The downside is that 2 out of 4 of those aren't open for dinner (Pasta Bella until 2:30pm and Guy's Burgers until 6pm). My mom also really enjoyed the Blue Iguana Cantina for their breakfast burritos and tostadas but it also closes at 2:30 and was always so crowded for lunch that we never tried it. The one thing I miss from Norwegian is having the separate complimentary sit-down, order off the menu restaurants; everything on the Dream (aside from the formal dining rooms) was more buffet or order at the counter style.

We had anytime dining which is in the Crimson dining room, deck 3 only. The food was good, but the service was SLOW. The first formal evening we went to dinner and it took more than two hours. They got a little better on subsequent trips but it was still well over an hour each time. If you want to make the early show, get to dinner right when they open or just skip the dining room altogether.

The burgers were fantastic and stay open later than just lunch; so good that we ate dinner early before they closed just to get one more on the last day of the cruise. Pig & Anchor BBQ was pretty good, the beef was a little tough but everyone else raved about the chicken and pork.

The best tip for dining is that many places have two lines coming from different directions, so pay attention to that - one was almost always way shorter. Also, the lido buffet in the back was generally less busy than the front closer to the pool. The lobster in the dining room is offered complimentary on one of the formal nights and it was delicious; every other night it was $20 extra. Same for the filet mignon. We used the Carnival Hub app to check the menus each day and decide where we would eat.

Sailing on Dream Deck 12 Spa Cabin on March 11th. Where was your muster station drill. I had heard that they are now done inside on dream?

Yes, our muster station was inside the theater, Encore Lounge. You could enter from deck 3, 4 or 5.

Two chairs and table on each balcony - one chair reclines

View of the balcony with the partition open

Our room -

We were in adjacent spa cabins, 11235 and 11237. This was our first cruise with a balcony; I had always been nervous about it because we have small children. Once I saw it for myself though, I had no worries. The railings are solid glass so no way to climb and there is a high door lock on the inside so kids can't get out there by themselves. We had the room steward open the partition between rooms' balconies and it was great to have the big deck between us. We spent a lot of time there and can't imagine crusing without one now!

The extra interior space also made more of a difference than I expected. It was really nice to have the couch and table, especially when we ordered continental breakfast in the room. The bathroom and shower were also significantly bigger than I remembered our inside cabin being, with lots of counter space. There is no outlet in the bathroom though, probably for safety, but I found that annoying.

In fact, there is only one outlet in the entire cabin so I regretted not bringing a small power strip.

Also of note, our cabin had a pull down bunk over the couch that had to be operated by the steward only. On Norwegian, we were able to pull the bunks up and down ourselves. So we asked for service twice per day, otherwise our couch couldn't be used comfortably. Also, we originally had him make up the couch as a bed for our 3 year old but he didn't remove the bedding during the day. We preferred to have the couch to sit on and not made up as the bed so we just had our little guy sleep with us for the rest of the trip. Something to be aware of if you book this room with two adults and two children.

This cabin is in a great location, just one deck above the lido, the same deck as two little used hot tubs and one below the kids waterslide area and the spa. Very quiet. And there is access to a "secret" forward deck at the end of the hall with two benches and beautiful views.

Embarkation-

Carnival’s embarkation process in New Orleans is always a smooth experience - especially when compared to Norwegian's mess at the same port.

Our check-in time was at 11am and we arrived at the garage about 11:20 because there was a little more traffic than usual being Mardi Gras weekend. It is $140 to park in the port garage for the week but worth it IMO for the covered parking and the ease of dropping your bags with the porters inside the garage.

A little tip - take the elevator down to the 2nd floor rather than the 1st like the sign says and you can get right off and in the line for screening. Another advantage of the garage as you avoid the escalator bottleneck of those who parked elsewhere. Thank goodness for some helpful folks in the elevator who told us and saved us a lot of time. The lines move quickly from there and we had our cards in hand walking on the boat less than an hour after arriving.

When we got our cards, she said our room was ready so we headed there first. I guess it wasn't actually ready though because we had just enough time to drop our carry-ons before the steward shooed us out. I guess the posted ready time is 1pm. *♀️ But we were rid of our bags so we set out to explore the ship.

Hi everyone!

I'm just back from a 7 day trip on the Dream, Feb. 11-18, with our family. I love reading reviews so I'll share my thoughts for those considering the Dream for an upcoming vacation. We had a wonderful trip and I'd definitely recommend the Dream, with a few minor caveats. I'll try to separate the review into categories and include some tips and tricks we picked up this time. (y)

For background, I was traveling with my husband and our two boys, 9 and 3, as well as my mom and aunt. We had two spa balcony staterooms on Deck 11, Panorama. We've been on two other Carnival cruises and one Norwegian so we consider ourselves fairly experienced cruisers.

If you have specific questions, just let me know and I'll do my best to answer!

I am just home from the Dream in a spa balcony. We did enjoy the spa and visited it several times during the trip. A couple things to note -

They only give you one loofah and body scrub. We thought that was pretty odd. We had two cabins - wasn't a problem for my husband and I since I'd be the only one to use it, but our other room was my mom and aunt; they both wanted to try the scrub. We asked for another at the spa desk but they told us just one per cabin so I guess they expected them to share a loofah? So the three of you will be expected to share one as well. :o No choice of 8 different scrubs as advertised either - you just get what they hand you. Also you just get one small travel size bottle of Elemis shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and lotion so no way that will be enough for three of you for the week. We didn't ask for any more of that though so maybe your steward would get more for you.

There isn't a schedule of the complimentary classes, but we asked - the yoga classes are at 8am and pilates is at 4:30pm on sea days only. The one day we tried to go to yoga, the instructor cancelled because of a back issue so I can't comment on the quality of the class. Also if you want to do the complimentary body composition testing, book that on the first day - we were told they were already booked up when we asked about it.

The showers in the spa area are very nice; there are two private showers in the dressing room and also two "open air" showers in the area of the steam rooms to rinse off with your swimsuit on. I rarely saw anyone using either. The hair dryers up there are WORLDS better than the ones in the cabin so that's worth the trip in itself. There is a back hidden staircase from the Deck 11 spa cabins so you don't have to walk through the main spa entrance in your robe, which is nice.

A minor annoyance is the fact that you have to check in with the spa desk and hand over your card for them to keep every time you want to use the spa. Sometimes it was busy with others booking and checking in for spa appointments. I don't know why they can't just make the spa stateroom keys work for the spa areas also. :confused:

The spa as a whole is definitely in need of maintenance but it functioned well enough for us to enjoy. If you have any other questions, let me know! I'm planning to work on a review soon.

Darn, I was afraid of that! I just tried to price match last week when the same category was available but was denied. Grr. Thank you!

Can you still request an early saver credit when your category sells out? For example, I have a spa balcony booked and the price of balconies on my same cruise went down. BUT I can't see the price of my category because apparently it's sold out. Am I out of luck? Or can I price match to a different category (still a balcony) without losing the room I chose?

I'm wondering the same! We're departing on Feb. 11 though, but I know there will be lots of parades going on that day. From what I can tell, the routes are under the highway before we typically exit (coming from the north) so I'm hoping we don't run into any road closures. Anyone know for sure? Thanks!