Just off Dream 12/12-12/19 and...

[rosebud6362]

I'm exhausted! Anyway, it was a good time.

 

Here is a quick, randomly organized review (of course, only my DH and my opinions):

 

The shows that we saw were all good. The best was the Dancing in the Street. G-Force, Dizzy and Miguel steal this show. They are awesome. The Country Singing/Dancing Show was ok, the fiddler was awesome and saved this one foor us. The Legends show was great. This is the one where the passengers are part of the act (Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, etc). The comedy acts were great. Michael Macy was histerical, and the other guy Tommy was really good as well. Oh, they also put on a Holiday Show with the Camp Carnival kids that was nice.

 

The ship was decorated for the holidays, which was nice.

 

We felt the food was good. Our favorite was lobster night. We didn't do the Chef's Art Steakhouse. We tried the pizza, DH liked, I didn't. The grill twice, basically hamburgers, hotdogs, etc. That was decent. We did the Lido buffet (The Gathering) for breakfast most days. There were lines. The only day when it was kinda outta hand was when all the passengers had to meet for their excursions at 7:45am, and they didn't schedule the buffet to open until 7:30am. Oh, we thought the staff in the lido was very attentive. They were always cleaning off ouur tables and watching for tables to clean, etc. We tried the pasta bar once. My DH received his meat lasagna and liked it. My pasta with red clam sauce and garlic shrimp never came:-( You have to fill out a piece of paper and submit it to the cooks either yourself or via a waiter. Then you go grab a table. When your food is done cooking there are waiters who bring it to your table. Anyway, my slip must've been lost somehow, but whatever, it's not like I starved or anything. I just went back downstairs to the buffet and we got some desserts to eat on our aft balcony.

 

Speaking of which, the aft balcony was pretty cool. We were on deck 6. In the middle. Anyway, it was noisy from the club under us, but I was prepared and brought a fan and ear plugs (and Ambien;-) Our room steward was great. We didn't see him much but the room was done twice a day and was very clean.

 

The weather was kinda rainy the last 3 days of the cruise. It poured on us during the Altun Mayan Ruins/River Wallace in Belize as well as during the Costa Maya excusion (dune buggys or something like that). We felt that Carnival needs to more accurately describe some of their excursions, so make sure you ask detailed questions before you book. Just little things were off, like how many passengers in the ATVs/Dune buggys and they said the boat for the river tour would be partially covered, but it wasn't. But my DH and I totally had a great time and we didn't let rain, etc get in the way of our fun.

 

Sorry I'm writing so randomly but I'm just writing as my thoughts flow out... Ok, so we did the "Your Choice" (anytime dining) option. We liked it. We were put in the Crimson, on the 4th floor. We especially liked Yotsa and Suraj. My DH and I like to have very private tables and they have a table all the way in the back in a corner #336 that we request 3x. We sat in another section 2-3 times but we enjoyed Yotsa's service and personality the best. He is very professional and efficient.

 

Oh, I have to go run to pick up my holiday cards from Walgreens now. I'll be back eventually...I think I'll stop for some iced coffee too (sorry Northerners, but it's hot down here in Tampa:-). :)

[English Tim]

Thanks for the review. I'm glad you appeared to enjoy yourselves, despite the poor weather at the end. Perhaps the rain got to the webcam!

[ryoku]

Could you be more specific about the dune buggy tour? We were thinking of booking it for next month. I just want to have all the facts before we do.

 

Glad you didn't let a few little things get you down.

[the herd]

What was your cabin number on deck 6? Did you like it? Is that the upper deck? We are in an aft cabin on 8/21/10.

[vacationmama]

Thanks for the review Rosebud! We leave on this same itinerary in just 6 days and can't wait. After reading so many negative reviews, it' snice to hear something that sounds very realistic.

 

I'm afraid we may hit some rain too. How heavy of rains did you get and was it warm or cold? Would just a little cheap poncho from a sporting goods store work okay? We are from Southern California so we don't too much rain, so I want to be prepared and we ahve justa couple of days until we leave. In fact it looks like rain in Orlando when we arrive and also on the day we are to board the Dream.

 

We also have anytime dining...would you do it again?

 

Anything else that you can think of. We might book excursions in Belize and Roatan with outside companies before we leave...any suggestions? What about Costa Maya...what would you recommend?

[katiel53]

Was the dining room open every day for lunch or just on sea days? I thought I read somewhere that because of the crowding in the Lido, they were opening the dining room for lunch. Do you know if there were brunches in the dining room on the sea days? I had read about those too, but that might have been just for a special cruise.

 

Thanks for your review. We go in two weeks and I can hardly wait.

 

 

PS To me, living near Orlando, it's not hot today, lol. It's cold!!!!

[matt690]

Welcome home!

 

Thanks so much for writing. I hope you enjoyed your week aboard the Dream. We'll be sailing in 2 weeks on the Dream on the same Western itinerary.

A few quick questions:

 

-How was the weather throughout the week? Did you have a lot of opportunities to sit by the pool and relax?

-Was the pool area really crowded; was it hard to find chairs by the pool area? It seems smaller than the pool area on the Conquest-class ships.

-How was the pool calypso band? Did they play decent hours; did they play on port days?

-Did you have a problem with lines?

-Anything to recommend to do or try? Any advice for the ports - did people enjoy Mohogany Bay in Roatan?

 

Thanks so much for your help.

[jspirit]

Welcome back Rosebud and thanks for the review!

Can you tell me when the cabin had noise from the club below- did it keep you up at night? Is the venue below only used for the comedy shows at night or was there music in there later than 1 am?

Thanks so much.

[yogimax]

Thanks for your review and glad you enjoyed the comedy acts and shows.

[vegasbrew]

Thanks for the review...what night was lobster night?

[rosebud6362]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone:-)

 

jspirit: The noise was from ~9pm-1am. I am a really REALLY light sleeper, so basically anything keeps me up. It was included heavy bass that kind of vibrated the room. With the fan and ear plugs it wasn't too bad I guess. You could definitely still hear it though. If I had kids and/or went to bed early, etc I prob would try a quieter location. I think it was just comedy directly below us, but just outside of the comedy room there is a dance club type of thing I think. We didn't go in there. But they had latin music, etc coming out of there that I could hear during the comedy show.

 

katiel53: I am sorry, I don't know about dining room lunch. Now that I think about it, we didn't really eat lunch. We sort of ate big breakfasts then ate something when we got back on the ship in the afternoon/evenings. I think I have some capers that I will try to check and upload if I can.

 

vacationmama: The rain was extremely heavy for us during the ruins and the mini jeeps (rhinos). It was pretty cold for us when we were soaked to the core. There was a couple that had ponchos on-it seemed to work ok for them during the ruins but definitely not for the mini jeeps (they were on both tours with us).

 

We really like the anytime dining. We will definitely do it again if we cruise again.

 

 

We used outside companies for our 1st 2 excursions:

 

In Cozumel we did the XRail with "This is Cozumel". The tour was driving XRails around and then it brought us to a hidden cave where we went for a swim. It was alittle gross though, there were bats (and bat extrement)and the water smelled like sulfer (sulfa?), anyway this tour is not for the faint of heart:-) Our guide was Yared, who was really good and seemed like a genuinely good guy. Bring bug spray! Oh, for this tour we met up at Margaritaville. My DH and I made the mistake of walking from the ship. It was HOT and FAR! Well, we aren't in the best of shape either, but seriously, it was a really long walk.

 

 

In Roatan we booked through "Island Marketing" and did a 31 foot catamaran/snorkeling trip with Captain Roger and his helper Hector. They were great. Captain Roger is Italian with decent English, Hector didn't speak any English (that I know of). Hector was like a deckhand and a certifed diver (but no one did scuba during this tour). I accidentally dropped my snokeling goggles to the ocean floor and he swam down and got them, no problem. It was crazy. I was a life guard back in college and am a pretty strong swimmer, but I couldn't even get close to reaching them. After the snorkeling they gave us papaya and rum punch (too strong). It was only us and one other couple, which was nice. The only thing that was a bummer about this was we booked the cab through them as well and the cab driver (Lena?) was also driving a bunch of other people to other places, so we had to 1st bring them and then had to wait on them after it was over for ~30-45 minutes. Oh, and the van was not air conditioned. I get over-heated really eaily and I was dying in the beginning. But my strong DH opened some windows for me and then it wasn't too bad.

 

 

The next two excursions we went through Carnival:

 

 

In Belize we did the Altun Ruins/River Wallace. Ok, so the description says that the boat will be partially covered. FYI, it is 100% NOT covered. And about 20 minutes of the river tour is in open water going very very fast. My DH and I sat in the back of the boat. We got soaked. It was cold. And we didn't hear any of the tour over the sound of the motor. The guide told us he would turn around and repeat stuff for us, but he didn't. I think this tour would be good for nature lovers, bird watchers, etc. So after the 1 1/2 hour boat tour we docked, got off the boat and were at an outdoor restaurant type of place. For about $25 (including tip) we ate a hamburger, fries, chicken with plantains and 2 sodas. They have ice cream bars too for ~3-4 dollars. We stayed there for about an hour, there are some vendors there as well with wine and carved figurines, jewelry, etc. Then we got on a nice air conditioned bus and drove to the ruins. The tour guide gave a great tour on the way about the area, etc. The ruins were totally cool, but like I said it was really downpouring out. We climbed to the top of one. We did not stay long unfortunately, due to the rain.

 

 

Lastly Costa Maya: We signed up for the dune buggys but when we got there the guide told us it was 4 to a buggy. Many people who signed up were upset by this because they were under the impression it would only be 2 people. Anyway, long story short- we switched to the Mini Jeep Rhino Adventure. 1st you take ~20 minute ride in an open air type of truck to the beach location. Then we went for ~1 hour ride in the rhinos. This wouldv'e been way better if it wasn't downpouring on us almost the whole time. I was not too happy during this to be honest. The rain really was pelting us and it hurt. I couldn't hardly see at times. Ok, enough about that. So then after that they give you ~1 hour at their beach. This is a very basic beach with a little bar. As far as I could tell they didn't have much food beyond chips and salsa. The bathrooms were not nice. Didn't flush/dirty. After that they put us back on the outdoor truck thing and drove us around random streets for awhile. If it wasn't raining, this tour wouldv'e been ok:-) But once again, it's not for the faint of heart.

 

theherd: we had cabin 6498. Yes, I think it is on the upper deck. I liked being at the back of the ship like that, but be prepared for some noise and some long walks to the Encore Theater. Oh also, the doors to the balcony's slam shut really hard which is very loud.

 

ryoku: Sorry, I clarifed with DH, we did the XRail and the Mini Rhinos not the Dune Buggy. I think the Dune Buggys are 4 people per vehicle FYI.

 

 

 

 

Thanks again everybody. I am trying to upload some pics and videos onto photobucket. I'll let you know when it is done.

[rosebud6362]

Thanks for the review...what night was lobster night?

 

It was the 1st "elegant night", but DH and I can't remember when it was exactly. Sorry:-(

[REPOLADY]

We are just off the dream as well. This is my first comment on here. I will say it was an absolutely beautiful and very big ship. We had the aft cabin on 9th floor 9475 absolutlely loved it. This was mine and dh first aft and it spoiled us. Room steward kept room remarkably well. There is no couch in there but that is the only difference, you still have just as much room.

 

We had scarlet dining room late dining. Desi and peter were absolutely charming and amazing. Never had to wait on anything. And ken the maitre d sang frank sanatra every night and was very good at it.

 

I read all the negative reviews before i left for the cruise and i was worried. All i can say is they must of sailed a different ship cause the one i was on, well i have no complaints.

 

Dancing in the streets was fantastic and legends show was also. I as well only ate bkfst. On lido it was good. The pasta bar, me and my dh loved it also.

 

Didn't do any excursions but we just like exploring and walking around. We don't cruise for the stops just the ships. We have been on 8 other cruises with carnival and 1 with rccl (liberty of the seas) and i can tell you from my experience there is no other way to go but carnival. That is just my opinion.

 

I will say out of all my cruises i have never gotten on and off a ship so fast. We were off by 6:30 a.m. This morning. And no we did not fly. We were self assist.very organized.

[rosebud6362]

http://s872.photobucket.com/albums/ab284/Rosebud6362/Carnival%20Dream%20December%202009/

[lee0070]

Some people on this board complain about the smallest things. So what if you have to wait 10 minutes in a buffet line. There is no pleasing some. Glad the Dream is getting good reviews now that it got out of New York.

[apmets]

I also got off the ship today and have to say we had an absolutely amazing vacation. Beautiful ship, great food and food variety, never encountered crazy lines people speak of. Our room was awesome, aft room on floor 6, never had any noise issues. Our room steward and dining team were the best we ever had on a ship. The slides and mini golf were so much fun!! Loved all the stops (except maybe Belize). Had a lot of laughs at the r rated comedy shows. No complaints what so ever. Also was the easiet and fastest embark and debark we ever had, we were also off the ship by 6:30 and got to make a early flight that beat the snow storm in NY. Only complaint would be the many people we encountered that went on and on about all the things wrong with the ship. Service was bad, bad food, awful lines, not enough towels, smaller ships are better, too many people even one guy that was complaining that his platnum card was too gray and not shiny enough...my husband and I joked all week that obviously we must have been on different vacations! I would not worry about anything if you have a trip booked on the Dream, we look forward to getting back on her!

[cpacheco212121]

loved the pixs...I cant wait to be on the dream next year!!!

[vacationmama]

Rosebud,

 

Thanks so much for your response! We leave home in 5 days now and it's all I can think of. I just hope we do not hit that darn rain! Anyone else out there who just returned and would like to share information on excursions?

[hovank]

Sounds great! Was there calypso music by the pool?

Any info on the gym, exercise classes and spa (didyou have to pay) would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[jspirit]

Thank you Rosebud for your quick reply! I think we will probably be at the late shows so as long as the noise ends by 1 am we should be fine . Love your photos! Your cabin in the aft center looks larger than the usual 8A balcony cabins. I don't recall a large space between the sofa and the night table . Every sq. inch helps! Your balcony also seems deeper due to the curve in the aft on this particular ship.

Really so glad to hear from you and the others that you did not encounter any serious issues and your cruise on the Dream was a dream holiday. Thank you.

[JTJ]

Rosebud, I was one deck above in 12211 and I felt those vibrations. I was more like a jolt or shift. I'm used to a yaw and pitch especially being that high up and FWD, but this was new.

 

Someone on board told me about seeing a show on the Dream having a new hull design that cut fuel costs. When I got back I googled it and sure enough it does.

 

It didn't bothered me or GF, but at the time wondered what was up. It was infrequent and only on the rough days when we were traveling fast (at night) but at 3am could startle new cruisers.

 

 

BTW: for anyone reading this; for the Western, the Dream makes the ports an hour earlier or more than stated. And it was berthed at PC by 5:30 with carry off plats. getting off at 6:15am.

[born2cruz]

BEAUTIFUL new large ship.Christmas decorations were up..nice..Fastest embarkation..ever..28 cruises. Dropped off luggage, parked vehicle in front of entrance to ship,checked in, on board in 15min.. we booked a Cove

Balcony #2283, very nice. Went to the Lido for Lunch, then to the Maitre d', to change the late seating to Your Time Dining, fr.5:45 - 9:30 nitely..mission accomplished.

Went to room at 1:30. Room not cleaned yet, and why is there a motorized chair scooter in the middle of the room?? The steward insisted it was for me.. I finally looked at a tag on the chair and it belonged to 2383. Luggage started arriving around 2. My Tux hanging bag, my last piece of checked luggage, finally arrived around 7pm.

Went to The upper Crimson DR for Your Time Dining at 8 p.m. Table for two..20 min. wait.

Found if we went to eat at around 7pm, took about 10 min..seems as though the Dining staff is overwhelmed. My opinion, after cruising 27 previous cruises..8 on Carnival, crew was not a seasoned crew, many not happy to be there. I don't know what the ratio was.. crew:guests. Went once to Scarlet DR for Bkfst..last time..60+min sitting solo..took too long and the Eggs Benedict were well done.

LIDO Lunch=Lines...get there early or at the end or stand in line. Mongolian Wok. way too busy.finally on Fri., we got in one of the two lines, 1 hr 10 min later got the food..it was delicious..Pasta Bar.. Yummy and no wait. Deli.. always a wait, usually one person making sandwiches and most people ordering more than one sandwich...took my wife 40 min. for a sandwich. Seems everytime we went back to the Deli there was a line.

All the shows were great..Comedy R was really good. Would have loved to hang at the packed Piano Bar, but way too smoky.

Our Highlight on this cruise was the new Mahogany Bay Cruise Center at Roatan. Beautiful Beach..take $$ or Visa/MC

$5 for the chairlift ride all you want..food at the beach..good and inexpensive..take repellant, we got bit up big time. Didn't feel a thing. Got back to room and showered and discovered all these circular marks with a red dot all over our bodies, still got them now, but now an itchy red mark.

We love to cruise and this cruise was wonderful..A new ship, great stops,entertainment,

and a lovely Cove Balcony. You can really hear the waves fr. this second deck. It's like you're on a small ship when your in your room, then you leave and you're on a large ship..

[cruising_kelly]

 

We had scarlet dining room late dining. Desi and peter were absolutely charming and amazing. Never had to wait on anything. And ken the maitre d sang frank sanatra every night and was very good at it.

 

We were also on the Christmas sailing and had Desi and Peter at the early seating... You are right, they were absolutely wonderful!!! I couldn't have asked for better service!!!