Late,Late Dream Review

Better late than never

Spanish Delights 22nd May-29th

Son Matias Hotel Palma Nova 29th-2nd June

Not the best of starts....Flight(Edinburgh) delayed by 1 and a half hours which we spent sitting on the plane on the tarmac due to French air traffic controllers strike( the french like a strike).Detour meant flight was just over 3 hrs...We were the lucky ones as flights from

Glasgow and some airports down South were delayed by 5 hrs

On arrival collected our luggage on the coach and off to the port.Took the driver not much more than 15 mins to get their.On arrival,into check in hall,deserted so it was a quick 5 minute register/ check in,through security,custumory photo then onto the ship.Having been on the Dream numerous times we made our own way to our cabin meeting our cabin steward Ady en route.What a top bloke he turned out to be.Our cases were outside our cabin when we got their,now thats what I call quick,excellent service.Quick look at our 4 berth outside plus cabin and it was just as we remembered it from 3 years ago,big,queen sized bed,sofa/sitting area,clean and tidy..Off for a bite to eat,drink and back to unpack and get ready for evening and sailaway party after lifeboat drill

We had a great time at the sailaway party,or maybe that should be the “not the sailaway party” as although we were due to sail at 11pm due to delayed flights we didnt sail until after 2-00 am and the party was finito long before then and we were tucked in bed

Pre sailaway we ate in the Lido and must say it was pretty poor and thought,I hope that wasn,t a sign of things to come.Glad to say that wasn,t the case as the food in Lido on our cruise was very good,hot and excellent choice and good quality every night.I say every night as thats where we ate our whole cruise.We did try the Orion twice but when we took lift down to the MDR we couldn,t get out the door due to the volume of passengers waiting/ queuing to get in so we gave it a miss and were more than happy to eat in Lido...Great stir fry station in Lido

Entertainment

Resident band were New Generation who I thought intially were good but after listening to them a numerous times that feeling waned a little.However must say that the band in the Waters Edge were brilliant.They also did a Bee Gees tribute in the Medusa and were very good..Enjoyed the cheesy game shows in Medusa which was busy most nights

We also went to a few shows ,in the Show Lounge ,Abba and an Oscars type show of best selling artists over the years.We enjoyed both shows.A couple New York and Africa we didnt go to see as had seen them before.Show team worked hard and generally good..Looked forward to the comedian as I do like a good comedian but sadly this one was not,thought she( Brenda???)was pretty poor.

Service

One afternoon/ night service in the Medusa was bordering on ridiculous waitng to be served a drink...There were a number of tables that had been served twice whilst many others hadnt seen a drink.Eventually noticed one fellow passengers who,d had enough storm to the bar and complain and eventually we ,along with others were served.Service didnt improve much that night but the following night/s service was swift,in fact waiter was bringing another drink to our table without us ordering and before we had finished the one we had :D..

Drinks in Medusa were a hit or a miss in terms of quality eg flat pint,warm pint,weak spirits,cocktails...No issue with this at the Waters Edge,Pool bar or bar on smoking deck 10 where drinks were excellent.Not saying staff in Medusa were unfriendly but staff at Tides,swimming pool bar and especially Waters Edge bar were great and up a notch on the Medusa

Our ports were

Cadiz,Portimao,Gibraltar,Cartagena,Valencia

We didnt get off at Portimao as it was a 30 rond trip tender and shuttle bus

The Dream is clean, tidy and wearing well and generally in good nick.They have made a great job of Waters Edge and Coffee Port which have been done since we were last on her.Staff,overall all excellent especially in certain bars and our cabin steward Ady.Food I though eas very good from breakfast,burgers from Terrace Grill to Lido at night...Fellow passengers,great and contributed to a great atmosphere on board

All in all we really enjoyed our cruise and met many new friends

If anyone has any questions fire away and i,ll attempt to answef them.If not i,ll ask Mrs Jim The Scot :D

Waffling over

Great review - thank you Jim.

We have booked Dream for December - haven't been on her for 3 years so very interesting to get an up to date opinion from someone who has sailed on Dream preiously. We are expecting changes, and that Dream will be looking older, but sound as though we will enjoy being back on her, and enjoy the smaller ship atmosphere, after several cruises on the Discoveries.

Thanks again.

P.S. We flew home from Luton Airport on 22nd May and were lucky being on the only plane that left there on time that afternoon/evening - those pesky French Air Traffic Controllers have a lot to answer for!

Thanks campolady...

Just read through my review.My spelling and punctuation is awful :D

Its 3 years since we were last on her and to be honest never noticed a great deal of difference although i,m sure if someone looks for faults they,d find them.The big difference is the refurb at middle/ back of ship eg Waters Edge and Coffee Port.Nice job

Discovery a much better ship but as I said a while back lacked atmoshere when we were on her.Atmosphere on the Dream was great as it has been every time

Son Matias rooms have had a refurb since our last time,aesthetically lovely but space at a premium.Great hotel though and food still delicious

Forgot,something we did notice a few nights was vibration whilst sitting in Medusa.A piece of useless info

Jim we were on this cruise and also delayed 1.5 hrs due to the French on our return dutifully not arriving to collect our cases early but at 10.45 as specified we found everyone on our flight had already left and there were only four suitcases (including ours) waiting to be picked up!!! We got ours and started walking to the only coach and we're then told that even though the coach wasn't full there wasn't enough room for our cases and the other couples cases and wheelchair!! So he drove off and an hour later a taxi arrived to take us to the airport. (FOC of course) The queue for check in was horrendous and stretched right to the entrance doors by the time we arrived but thankfully we were checked in very quickly for the no of people there. Then of course the plane was delayed again but only by an hour. This happened to us on 28th April in Palma after returning from TA on Discovery 2 so the French have been having strikes for weeks.

I can confirm all you've said about Dream we had great food and the Acoustic Soul in Waters Edge were fabulous

Vitalsign

It might have been you we saw at Palma port as we sat on bus waiting to take us to our hotel.

There were other issues with someone regards suitcases.Somebody had taken the wrong ones and were away on coach to a hotel up the coast and the other couple were staying in Son Matias.There was also an issue with a taxi organised by TUI not turning up for a wheelchair user.Organised chaos

We were delayed an hour on our return also,again spent sitting on plane on tarmac.This was due to bad weather back home

Jim yes it was probably us you saw We purposely didn't go down too earlier to get on the coach as there were 3 flights all told to be down for 9.30 We didn't want to get in their way It was me and my girlfriend and then an Indian couple who were a little late down as the wife had been waiting for a wheelchair The TUI rep was furious with the bus driver who wouldn't take us and made the port lady ring for a taxi for us

Glad you had a good holiday even so - we did Off again 29th June on Discovery 2 can't wait When are you off again?

Yes defo you we saw Vitalsign

Glad you got sorted eventually and glad to hear you enjoyed your time on the Dream...When we off again?Just dont know and nothing in the pipeline but know for certain not this year or potentially next.After coming off the Dream and reflecting in Palma I had a strange “cruised out” feeling but thats gone now were home :D

Got my lucky dips ready for tonight :D

Have a good one on 29 th

Good Luck - you've got to go for it while you can - well that's what I say

Glad to see all good Jim you done same cruise as I’m doing in August Anything good to look out for ? Also is it still fosters on draught while you were onboard

Hi Dave

Anything good to look out for?In what way Dave,anything specific?

Yeah Fosters was the non supplement lager.Found the pints in Medusa hit or miss,mainly miss.Generally warm,flat..Same for spirit quality/ measure and mixers

Pints in Waters Edge,Tides,Lido pool bar were consistently excellent , and cold.Spirit quality/ measures and mixers were also very good in these bars

In way of organised excursions, nothing they gave us when we booked court are eye to be honest but open to anything really as are first time on a cruise Have 2 late teenage kids in tow need to keep them happy some how Have you been in the excursion in Gibraltar as they want to see the monkeys . Happy with the fosters hope they still doing the strongbow to as the wife likes half or 2 My top shelf is spiced rum That not in the al is it

Dave,

We didnt do any organised excursions with TUI,were more do our own thing now

We didn,t do the the rock/ ape trip this time as we,ve done it before but recommend it. .As you come out the port there are plenty of organised trips available,think it was £27 pp this time.Basically an 8 seater taxi/ mini bus,once full(doesn,t take long) off you go on your guided tour.After you,ve done the rock you get dropped of in the centre of Gib,time for a stroll,pint,shop then head to back to ship.As you exit the main area/high street there are plenty shuttle taxis you can jump in to take you back to the port.Cost( dont quote me),£2 or £3 .....Think we paid £8 return for me a mrs from ship...Choose to walk back it,ll take you 25/30 mins.If your looking to buy cigs or tobacco its cheaper in the port shop than in Gib high street

Cadiz...we had a leisurely stroll into the town,coffe and wife likes a shop....There were ho ho tour buses if you fancied that,cost was something like €13 pp

Portimao..Didnt get off ship as it was a 30 minute round trip tender then a shuttle bus

Valencia...Think it was something like a 20/25 minute shuttle bus journey to town.You need to book your place/ ticket in advance at reception the day/night before,£7 return pp

Cartegena..short stroll,then walked along prom

Your wife will be happy,Strongbow still on AI

Poor choice on the Rum with only Bacardi and Malibu on AI...

Captain Morgan,Mount Gay,Myers and

Bacradi Dark are the only other Rums avaialable but all carry £2-50 supplement

Any other questions on AI( have the drinks menu in front of me) or anything else,fire away