Reivew of the carnival dream, the good, the bad, and the crazy!

Hello everyone, my family and I are just back from our seven day cruise on the beautiful Carnival Dream. When I say we are just back, we just walked in the house about two hours ago! On this trip was myself (Carol - 60), my hubby (John - 86), my daughter (Charmaine - 36), and friends (Michelle - 40/Cynthia - 63).

To be honest, I had written a review on the Dream, when hubby and I went in October of 2014. I swore after that cruise that I would never, ever, set foot in New Orleans again, after the mass confusion we experienced trying to get on the ship. But, as the saying goes..."never say never", right?

This will be a long review with plenty of pictures, copies of the Fun Times, and please be sure to ask questions along the way. I also would like to add to please be patient with me as this is only review #2 for me, and I am going to try and write the review each day. I am very detailed, (it's the "OCD" side of me), and I try to make it easy to ready and follow:

1st - Pre-Pre Cruise Day

2nd - Pre-Cruise Day

3rd - Cruise

4th - Post-Cruise

So without further ado, I would like to welcome you to my review/vlog, or whatever you want to call it. Pre-Pre-Cruise Day starts tomorrow.

Welcome back! Will be following along.

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This should be an interesting review with your husband being 26 years older than you. Amazing! :)

I’m so frustrated. I can only see 3 posts in this thread, I was in the middle of reading your review and the app crashed, now I can’t find my way back to your review!! What am I doing wrong? [emoji30]

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Thank you for starting this and will be following it.

Keith

Looking forward to your review as my hubby and I will be on the Dream in April.

I'm ready to get this rfeview going, but seem to be having problems uploading pictures. I'm using Photo Bucket, and I thought I remembered how to do it. Can someone please tell me the steps on how to upload pictures from Photo Bucket? Sorry about the delay folks.

Can't wait to follow along!

Looking forward to your review as my hubby and I will be on the Dream in April.

We're on this cruise too!

Looking forward to the review and sorry I can't help with the uploading of pictures.

Looking forward to seeing the review. Thanks

Following......we are on the Dream in January.

Following.. We will be on the dream in 5 weeks.

following will be on the Dream in February, and we love NOLA!

Following

Looking forward to finding out what caused the issues in New Orleans. We have cruised from N.O. several times and consider it one of our favorite ports. We have always had very easy embarkations and found our fellow cruisers a lot of fun and very considerate.

Following!

Following! Looking forward to your review.

Following !

Following

I'm ready to get this rfeview going, but seem to be having problems uploading pictures. I'm using Photo Bucket, and I thought I remembered how to do it. Can someone please tell me the steps on how to upload pictures from Photo Bucket? Sorry about the delay folks.

I'm not an authority on photobucket, but I have read recently they started charging a fee for different levels of service and shut down some of their third party access. This thread might help:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=2516067&page=4

Okay.....we're ready to get this party started. :)

Following

Okay, I'm still having trouble uploading the pictures, but someone did contact me, and will help me out later on. In the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and get started with this, so I don't get behind.

Pre-Pre-Cruise Day

I don't know about you, but I have to take at least one day off before we leave on vacation. The day was booked with haircut appointments, nail appointments, picking up the rental car, going to the bank to get cash, and just last minute running around. We had no major problems that day, but it was the longest day ever. We had left the house early that morning around 9:00 am, and being honest, didn't get back home until after 6:00 pm.

My sister came over later that night so she could get our house key, the garage door opener, and also the code for the alarm. Isn't it so reassuring to know that there is someone you can trust to keep an eye on your home while you're away. Thank goodness for family and friends you can trust, right. After all the running around, getting everything done before leaving the next day, the car was packed with our checked bags, and we were finally ready to hit the bed. Tomorrow is a big day, and we can't wait to get started. Our vacation has finally begun!

Pre-Cruise Day (Saturday, October 28th, 2017)

I woke up on our travel day to the house phone ringing at 5:45 am. It was my sister calling to wish us safe travels for us the day. Now folks, I love my sister very much, but who in the "bleepers" calls to wish us safe travels at 5:45 am???? Oh well, I'm up and ready to get going. My plan was to get on the road by 7:00 am, so to be honest, I couldn't be mad at her, because she woke me up at a good time (just don't tell her that).

After getting the family up and going, we finished packing the car, and pulled out of the driveway at 6:30 - 6:40 am. But, we had to turn around as my daughter thought she had left something at home. Okay, let's try this again...but then I had to turn around yet again, as this time I thought I had left something behind. Isn't that the way it goes, you always think that you are leaving something behind, or that you left an appliance on. Believe it or not, we finally get on the road, and it's after 7:00, so it wasn't too bad. Our first stop was at Starbucks for my daughters iced coffee. I cannot drink Starbucks coffee, it's just too strong for me. So the next stop we made was for coffee at Panera Bread, I have GOT to have my coffee in morning, or I'm just not a happy person. Once everyone had coffee, we were on our way to Birmingham.

Now let me give you an idea of what our travel plans were for the day. Because are leaving from the Port of New Orleans, we decided to rent a car in Huntsville, AL and drive to Birmingham. Then once we get to Birmingham, we would hop on the train and ride into New Orleans. Easy as pie, right???? We are scheduled to leave Birmingham at 12:08 pm, and arrive in New Orleans at 7:35 pm, which really isn't a bad ride. We had done it before in 2014, and had an awesome ride. However, this time...well, just continue to read to find out what happened.

Our ride to Birmingham was really uneventful except it was cold and rainy. I don't know about you, but I hate driving in the rain. The crazy speeding drivers were out that day, so I had to make sure I was watching out for everyone else driving, and myself as well. When we got to Warrior, AL (on the out skirts of Birmingham), I decided to stop at Cracker Barrell since we had only had coffee, and needed something to eat. We were seated right away, and had a good breakfast, and back on the road to Birmingham within the hour. When we got into Birmingham, we found a Publix grocery store, and stopped to pick up snacks, water, and made to order sandwiches. Let me tell you this, if you want a good sandwich (made to order), Publix is the place to go. The sandwiches are about $7.00 plus change, and they are soooooooo good. Once we finished at the store, we were on our way to Enterprise to drop off the car, and here is where our trouble begins. I think I had mentioned earlier that I am very OCD, I mean when it comes to planning, I research, I make calls, I talk to people that have been to the places that we may be going so that I can plan everything out for us. So with Enterprise, I had done the same thing. I called months before and asked if this particular location was close to the Amtrak station, so they could take us back. Unfortunately, I was given the wrong information, so when we dropped off the car, I was told that they wouldn't be taking us to the station. So now I'm thinking how in the world am I going to get us all in a taxi to the train station. So I asked the clerk at Enterprise if she could call a cab for us and ask for a large car, and she said "I don't know of any cabs in the area". Now mind you, she works at a rental agency where people get dropped off, and I'm sure some people have requested cabs. Wouldn't it just be something you would think they would have handy for their customers, I'm just saying! So now, my daughter and I are trying to find a cab company on our phones. She lucks out and calls for a cab and tells them, we are tall people, and have 3 large suitcases with 3 carry on bags. Please send a van or a SUV. What do they send...a regular sedan car, which we had to send on it's way. Now I'm getting a little nervous as I don't want us to be late and miss our train. So I decided to try Uber. I have heard good things, and bad things about Uber, but what the heck, let's give it a try. Within 15 minutes, the guy shows up in a large van, and gets out to help us load our luggage. I asked him if he knew where the Amtrak station was, and he said "yes, it's less than 5 minutes from here". Wait, what...less than 5 minutes from the Enterprise location, and they wouldn't take us to the train station (urrrrrrrrrgh). We finally get to the station, and he helps us unload the car, and and takes us into the station. Now one thing I failed to mention is that my husband just started using a walker, because he's very unbalanced. The Uber driver took his time helping us with our luggage, and also helping with my husband. I tried to give him a nice tip, which he refused, and just told us to relax and have a wonderful time. He really made our day, and I truly appreciated what he did. He did more for us than Enterperise did.

Once at the station, we were able to find seats together, and within 10 minutes they announced it was time to check our bags. So bags are checked, we are finally seated at the train station, and we actually meet up with other people who are going on the cruise with us. We chatted for a while, and then realized it was after 12:00 pm, and we didn't have any announcements about our train. 5 - 10 minutes later, my daughter saw a sign on posted where you purchase train tickets that the train is running late, and will be arriving at 1:45 pm. Darn, another set back, Oh well, as long as we are at the station, and bags checked, that's fine. We will still make it to New Orleans that night, so it's okay. The train finally shows up after 2:00 pm, and we get on the train. Now I can really relax, because we are New Orleans bound. The train is not to full and we are on our way to New Orleans. My husband and daughter finally fall asleep as it was a crazy morning, and everyone was tired. They wake up after their naps, and we pull out our wonderful lunches, and decide it's time to eat. Now if you haven't ridden on a train, let me tell you it's an experience for sure. There is plenty of leg room, you can recline in your seat, and they even have a leg rest that lifts up. You can walk back in forth, stretch your legs, and the bathrooms are large (not small compartments like on the plane). There is even a dining car where you can purchase meals, and a lounge car for drinks, sandwiches, and candy. It's really a relaxing ride, and very comfortable. We are now in Mississippi, and coming up to Hattiesburg, MS, where the train comes to a full stop. No worries, maybe someone is getting off, but we noticed that we are not stopped at the station, so what gives. After 2-1/2 hours we were told that a freight train ahead of us had derailed, yup a train that had 5 cars derail, and was in our way. Really, really, this is what happens to us as we are trying to get to New Orleans for our trip. Amtrak really went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and at ease. They passed out free water, and also snacks. They finally made an annoucement that they were going to back up our train, and then transfer over to another track and try to inch by the derailed train. We later found out that it we made it by with only a few inches to spare. Never found out how the cars derailed, but I'm so thankful that it wasn't the passenger train (us). If you believe in God like I do, I believe that our train was late to keep us from derailing. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful and blessed that we were all okay, and that no one on the derailed train was hurt either.

We finally made it into New Orleans maybe around 11:30 pm or later. I contacted the guy I had made arrangements with for transporation, and he showed up 30 minutes later. Apparently New Orleans had a lot going on including a home game. Plus they had the Vodoo Festival, and some other activities, so he was running a little late. The other two friends that we were meeting at the hotel were scheduled to get in later than we were, had already made it to the hotel, and was waiting up for us. We arrived at the hotel, and checked in with no problems. I want to say that it was after 1:00 am, when we finally got to our room. We were tired, cold, and ready for bed.

Pros

Uber is great to use in Birmingham. The Uber driver told us that people don't really use cabs there any more, so it's just a note in case you are in the Birmingham area and need a ride.

The Amtrak folks were pretty nice about checking our bags, helping my husband on and off the train.

Cons

I will never use the Enterprise on 4th Ave South in Birmingham. They were not helpful, wanted me to drive to the other location, so the employees there could take us to the train station. I am not familiar with Birmingham, and didn't want to drive there myself. They also didn't have phone numbers for cabs, and was just not pleasant. I do plan on calling their corporate office. Not to yell or scream, but make a suggestion on how important customer service is. I just felt that they could have handled the situation a little better, that's all.

So that's it for the pre-cruise day. I'll pick up later tonight or tomorrow and hopefully have pictures to upload. Feel free to ask questions.

It's interesting about your experience with Enterprise. My DH and I were just talking about their commercial, "Enterprise will pick you Up". In all the times we have used Enterprise, they have NEVER picked us up. That wasn't poor service you received at Enterprise....it was Non-Existing! What a shame.

Glad to hear you made it to New Orleans....what a long day!

It's interesting about your experience with Enterprise. My DH and I were just talking about their commercial, "Enterprise will pick you Up". In all the times we have used Enterprise, they have NEVER picked us up. That wasn't poor service you received at Enterprise....it was Non-Existing! What a shame.

Glad to hear you made it to New Orleans....what a long day!

Yeah I was not very happy with them, and I will never refer them to anyone. I tell you that Saturday when we left Huntsville, until we got to New Orleans, we traveled for 16 hours total. It was a long day that's for sure!