Pullmantur Pacific Dream cruise

Has anyone been on this all inclusive cruise? Would like some feedback?

Has anyone been on this all inclusive cruise? Would like some feedback?

pecountygirl: I'm taking for granted that you are looking at the package from Ottawa that includes flights to and from Santo Domingo and 7 night cruise on the Pacific Dream. I'm seriously considering this too, having taken the same package in Feb 2007 on their ship at that time the Holiday Dream. Everything went well on that trip and we had a great time.

Remember this line is RCI's Spanish subsidiary and there will be some differences from the regular cruise lines, the main one being that it's all-inclusive and most of your alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are free including the great Spanish wines served at dinner. Most of your fellow passengers will be European,mainly Spanish but also probably many French as this ship is also being marketed by CDF a French cruiseline. Don't worry, we found that all the crew spoke English, although the MC at the evening show only used Spanish. It was no great problem. You will find that the English speaking Canadian passengers will be allocated early seating dinner at 8pm, the late seating for the Spanish being 10.15pm.

The ship being used this year is larger than the one we were on, it is the ex Celebrity Horizon and may have alternate dining venues.

If you need any more info just ask.

I'm going in January on the Ocean Dream (another Pullmantur ship) with a departure from Cartagena. If you know some Spanish there is a forum much like this one but with much more information about Pulmantur and the departure you are asking about. It is www.infocruceros.com. Have fun! I know I am very excited.

We booked this cruise through an on-line travel agent called Gotravelsouth.com, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The cruise was to celebrate our 25th anniversary, and my wife's birthday as well as New Years, so we paid a premium price for a balcony cabin.

The flight to Santo Domingo was included as part of the package we purchased, and due to freezing rain we were 5 hours late departing Ottawa. When we arrived at Santo Domingo we were lucky to get our bags as others did not and we had to wait for theirs to be flown back from Punta Cana where the flight had continued on to, as we all shared a bus to get to the ship. We were fortunate that the ship had actually waited for the nine of us on that bus and it departed a few hours later than originally scheduled.

Once onboard we discovered there was no balcony cabin which we had paid for and we ended up with an outside cabin with a lifeboat view until we were switched to an outside cabin with a view a couple of days into the cruise. Another couple had the exact same problem.

I sent an email to Gotravelsouth from the ship complaining about the apparent misrepresentation, and on return sent them a detailed letter but so far no response. We also filled in a complaint form and submitted it to Pullmantur while on the ship. Gotravelsouth had advertised that they would have a representative on board the ship but there wasn't one.

We wanted to travel on this ship because it would be a truly international experience and we were not disappointed about that. There were about 800 travellers from France, about 2 to 3 hundred from Spain, 55 from Italy and 9 of us from Canada, of which four of us were mainly english speaking.

Service on the ship was excellent and the quality of the food was very good. All regular alcoholic drinks were "free" as was wine with meals and the wines were generally good quality Spanish wines. Spanish bubbly called Cava flowed non stop during the cruise and especially on New Years Eve, but we did not see anyone obviously drunk or behaving poorly.

Our cabin was cozy (and would have been nicer with the balcony we had expected) but it was a little dated as were many areas on the ship. The ship apparently had a refit in 2009, but I expect that was just a rebranding as it entered the Pullmantur fleet in 2009.

As this was our first cruise we did some research on what to pack and made a few mistakes such as under estimating the clothes we would need. This was due to the very limited weight allowance of 15 kg per person for baggage and 5 kg per person for carry on which was imposed by the charter airline Flair Air that we flew on.

In addition we were disappointed that we could not book shore excursions on line before the cruise as other Pullmantur passenegers apparently could as Gotravelsouth did not have the facility to do so. We were assured that their representative on the ship would help us with these things, but there was no representative on the ship.

Booking excursions on board was a hassle so we did not bother. The ports we visited were St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Martin and Tortola. We went ashore at each and explored a bit. Each port was different but one thing was clear and that was that the locals could see a cruise ship passenger a mile away.

As this is my first posting I may have left some things out that others might be interested in so please let me know. In addition any advice on how to get our money back from Gotravelsouth.com for not getting what we paid for and screwing up our 25th anniversary would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Plato123.

we are booked on cruise from santo domingo on feb/20.perhaps could you or anyone answer few questions.

Hope lot more people from canada are going.

Thank you in advance.

How difficult it is to go on excursion on different islands on your own?

My wife would like to know if they have safe in the cabin?

Do they provide hair dryers and towels in cabin?

How big are cabins or how big are beds?

Is there any bars or restaurant not part of all inclusive on board?

Anything else you can tell us will be very much appreciated.we are seniors and first time cruisers.

Hello Plato123.

we are booked on cruise from santo domingo on feb/20.perhaps could you or anyone answer few questions.

Hope lot more people from canada are going.

Thank you in advance.

How difficult it is to go on excursion on different islands on your own?

My wife would like to know if they have safe in the cabin?

Do they provide hair dryers and towels in cabin?

How big are cabins or how big are beds?

Is there any bars or restaurant not part of all inclusive on board?

Anything else you can tell us will be very much appreciated.we are seniors and first time cruisers.

Hello Plato123.

we are booked on cruise from santo domingo on feb/20.perhaps could you or anyone answer few questions.

Hope lot more people from canada are going.

Thank you in advance.

How difficult it is to go on excursion on different islands on your own?

My wife would like to know if they have safe in the cabin?

Do they provide hair dryers and towels in cabin?

How big are cabins or how big are beds?

Is there any bars or restaurant not part of all inclusive on board?

Anything else you can tell us will be very much appreciated.we are seniors and first time cruisers.

There are always people on shore who will give you a tour of whatever you want to see. Some are better organized than others but we did not go on one ourselves. Check out portpromotions.com or portcompass.com as they say they provide excursions.

Yes there is a safe in the cabin. There is a built in hairdryer but it is not very strong so I would bring a small one with you. Yes there are towels and they are changed up to three times a day depending on your cabin attendant. You have to ask your cabin attendant for beach/deck towels and most important ask for face cloths as these are not normally provided as the ship runs on European standards which don't normally provide face cloths. Should you have to change cabins as we did and you move to another level in the ship. the cabin attendant stays the same which can be a hassle as you have to find him or her on your previous deck if you need something such as ice for the ice bucket. You can't get the ice yourself for some reason.

There is a small 19" TV in the cabin and you will get BBC international on it as well as french and spanish programming..

The beds are twin size and two together make a large double. The cabins are not large but they are efficiently designedwith lots of storage space.

All bars are all inclusive except for high end drinks, but things like Johnny Walker Red are part of the all inclusive. There is one bar that specializes in non included premium brands but still offers free items. The main buffet has a walk up bar for beer wine and sangria at lunch and dinner. The large dining room offers wines, red white or rose (and cava) but there are no specific brands available unless you want to pay for something special as they do have other choices.

Hope this was useful.

thank you for information.we are excited about going on our first cruise.we are booked with gotravelsouth for feb/20.

Do you know how everything goes like getting to santo domingo and transfer to pacific dream assignment of cabins etc and return.

thank you.

thank you for information.we are excited about going on our first cruise.we are booked with gotravelsouth for feb/20.

Do you know how everything goes like getting to santo domingo and transfer to pacific dream assignment of cabins etc and return.

thank you.

Once you land in Santo Domingo, you pick up your bags (hope they arrive) and go through Customs. You will have been given a Dominican Republic Tourist Card at the Ottawa airport, and you hand it in at Customs. Then you exit straight out the terminal and look for a Gotravelsouth sign held up by someone in a blue coat. They will tell you where the bus is for the cruise, as there will be several buses waiting for passengers going to other locations on the island.

On the bus they will tell you which cabin you have been assigned. You have no choice.

The bus or van ride to the ship will take about half an hour, then you will go to a Pullmantur check in area in the terminal where they will take your credit card info and give you a personalized key card which will open your cabin and allow you to charge things on the ship.

After the Pullmantur check in stop you will proceed to Dominican Rep. Customs again. Note that each time you go through their customs you will have to fill in a form. Make sure you note that you are only transiting the D.R. not staying there.

Once part customs you will walk to the ship and take the elevator to your assigned cabin. If there are problems as we had go directly to the ship reception on the 5th level and complain. Its the only way to get anything resolved.

Note that we took our own bags onto the ship as we were late in arriving, and you may need to drop yours off and get them in your room after you board the ship. Apparently this can take some time, so if they let you I suggest that you take your bags with you as you board.

On departing the ship you will be considered as "independant" travellers (forget about there being a GTS rep there), in other words not with an organized group, so again it may well be in your interests to keep your bags and not leave them out at 3 AM as everyone else will, then take them with you when you leave the ship. This will mean you have access to all your stuff in the morning unlike most of the other cruisers.

After the mad rush to disembark you will proceed through the terminal and again look for the GTS bus/van which will take you back to the airport.

At the terminal you will go through security and customs again then wait for the plane.

There is duty free at the airport and you will be able to get rum for as little as $3 a half bottle, as well as other local stuff.

In general don't expect anything from GTS and we hope your experience is better than our was in dealing with them. Also these comments are based on our experiences and hopefully yours will be better. As of today we still have not had a response to our written and email complaint to them about paying the premium for a balcony and not getting one as well as other issues.

Hello Plato123

thank you so very much for great info.I hope you get some satifactory reply from gotravel or refund for not getting what you paid for.might have something to do with their name change.But thats no excuse.if you think of anything else please let me know.

Sorry i forgot one thing.Does anyone know email for pullmantur or pacific dream.is it possible to send email with any special request.

thank you all.

I am not sure I know what you mean, but if you are trying to ask Pullmantur directly about a cabin preference etc. you apparently will need a Pullmatur client number which GTS did not provide us, if even they had it. You might ask them. I say this as when we showed our paperwork to Pullmantur staff on the ship they said we should have had a client number. When I asked GTS on the phone if we could book excursions in advance they said that would only be possible when we were on the ship.

BTW, be prepared to deal with Pullmantur in Spanish for best results. Pullmantur does have an English web site and if you go there you can try to book an excursion yourselves. See what happens.

I should add that notwithstanding the hassles we had, the cruise itself was a very pleasant experience for us, and it was our first cruise too, so I am sure that you will have a great time.

thank you plato123.

I will try with gts to get client number.

I know we pay 65 euros for gratuities but do we also tip every time we get drink or dinner etc.sorry to bug you so much for info.promise no more questions.

You don't have to tip extra and it is not expected. We did leave a little for the cabin attendant as she was extra helpful. For example we had purchased some yogurt in Martinique and kept it in our ice bucket and she carefully replaced the ice each day, as well as the towels. We did buy an 80 minute internet access card for US $20 which I used to email GTS and others but no other expenses besides the overall gratuity were on our bill at the end of the trip and no one seemed to expect a tip.

BTW, each evening we dropped by the bar outside the casino (the plaza bar?) and picked up a 1.5 litre bottle of water for the room. The water in the cabin is OK (desalinated) but bottled water from the States is better and no charge.

thank you plato123.

your information will be most helpful to us on our first cruise.

many thanks again.

How do you know what dinner seating you will get? We want the early seating...don't like eating dinner at 10:30 pm. Is there a non-smoking area in the dining room? If so do you know how to get a table there? Thanks for all your info....much appreciated! There is very little information available about this cruise (unless you know Spanish):)

I would also like to know how do we get early sitting for dinner like 8 P.M.

if there are any no smoking areas in bars and dining lounges.

Does anyone know of pictures of ships cabins online.

thank you

If you go to Pullmantur's website and select the ship Pacific Dream you can click on a virtual tour. It shows what all of the cabins, bars, restaurants etc look like.

I tried but cant find anything.what is exact website for pullmantur where you can see cabins etc.

thank you.

How do you know what dinner seating you will get? We want the early seating...don't like eating dinner at 10:30 pm. Is there a non-smoking area in the dining room? If so do you know how to get a table there? Thanks for all your info....much appreciated! There is very little information available about this cruise (unless you know Spanish):)

Your dinner seating and your assigned table will be noted on your cruise/key card you receive at embarkation. I'm pretty certain, as English speakers you will be assigned first sitting, because the Spanish will all want the 1015 pm sitting. The last time I was on a Pullmantur ship I only ever saw one person smoking in the dining area. It may be worse at second dinner. Some of the smaller enclosed bars could be smoky though.

The reason that there is no information on this cruiseline on any of the English language cruise forums is that the majority of contributors on these sites are American, and there are very few Americans onboard Pullmantur ships, in fact not a single one on my last cruise, because Royal Caribbean does not really allow the marketing of this line in the USA.

http://www.pullmantur.es/EN/VVirtual_PacificDreamShip/sp1211199805177/mc1211200319640.html

I google Pullmantur, select the English page. From there choose cruises, then ships, then Pacific dream. Right under the picture of the ship click on virtual tour.

The link above will take you to the Pacific Dream page. Hope you find it.

Plato123: Are the dining room menu availalbe in english/french or only in Spanish? What about other written information?

Tcmroxy.

thank you for pullmantur website.Do they have more than one sit down dining restaurant.i know they have one buffet,dont know what other choices we have.do they have place that serves nice cappucino or irish coffee.what menus they have in restaurants etc.

thank you all.

I haven't gone on the cruise yet, but I have been told that all written materials are available in English and the the staff all speak English.