Dream Cruise 1/2-1/9

[rkeate0804]

So sad the long awaited cruise is over......Here goes a short review...my first cruise as platinum and embarkation was easy at about 11am...even though it was a little cold outside( nothing like when we got back on the 9th and it was 32....ugh).........went to Lido deck for lunch and we were a group of 9....no problem with seating or getting food at this lunch time.....ship was clean and beautiful with little gems all around...even imbedded in the floor and on the light fixtures...

 

Our cabin was a spa cabin 12211 and wonderful...Shanita was our steward and did a fantastic job and had a great personality.....crazy new towel animals that i hadn't seen before.....small balcony but adequate and no problem for us.......we had nice toiletries and plenty of free toothpaste ...wish I hadn't brought my own....bathrobe and slippers also

 

Easy lifeboat drill ....so much better than it use to be.......

 

WE had our first meet and greet back by the Tandori grill organized by Dana thanx so much.......and it was so nice to meet all that I had been talking to for awhile.......

 

Our dining times were all mixed up...so went and changed us all to late dining....the Maitre D Ante(sp?) was great and easily got us changed....another platinum perk happened as I went to the head of the line to make changes....surprise for me so we ate at 815 in the wonderful Crimson dining room......

 

Will write more later......kathie

[Fungusgnat]

Thanks, Kathie - I enjoy reading your impressions. 40 plus days and I will be working from my own impressions. I can Dream, can't I? :D

[LindaJSteele]

Kathie,

Thanks for writing a review. Could you please answer a few questions for me? It looks as though you were on the Eastern swing. We're going in April - my daughter is getting married on there - and we're trying to plan some things for the people cruising with us, but we need some information first. If you could answer these questions, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

 

Which nights are the formal nights?

How does the mini-golf course work?

Is there Karaoke every night? If not, which nights? Where is it?

How many big production shows are there? Usually there are 2 - the same nights as the formal nights. I wondered if it was the same here.

Are there comedy shows other times than midnight? Do they still have the midnight shows?

If you visited any bars, which did you really like?

 

If you can think of anything else I might need to know for planning purposes, please let me know that, too. Thanks again!

[rkeate0804]

More on the cruise...... Thanx to Host Mach and all the details he provided on the ship I was very observant and really enjoyed the decor more than I usually do...THANK YOU.....

 

The service we had in the Crimson dinig room was wonderful.... food very tasty and always arrived warm....prime rib and filet and all the fish dishes were great.......We had Win as our headwaiter who will leave in 2 weeks and then come back on the Ecstasy and Jo will leave after this week and come back on the Splendor....If you ever have the priviledge of having them serve you you will be very lucky.....

 

We ate in the steak house and it was a great experience...the food and the service were outstanding....the only little problem was that some of the servers English wasn't that great and communication was a little hard....Shrimp cocktail was awesome with the biggest shrimp. We celebrated a birthday and they made that fun..They let us in early to decorate our table and we order the best chocolate mouse birthday cake for 7.95...highly recommend it.

 

 

it makes me hungry just writing this report as I had to cook tonight and do dishes...ugh I miss the Dream.....or was it a dream haha more later kathie

[rosamana]

Kathie:

 

Did you get a lot of noise from the serenity deck above you? I will be in room 12223 (5 doors down) in June and I've been a tad worried about the noise potential. Thanks.

[GlendaleCruiser]

Kathie:

 

Did you get a lot of noise from the serenity deck above you? I will be in room 12223 (5 doors down) in June and I've been a tad worried about the noise potential. Thanks.

 

Noise from what? They enforce a "quiet" rule there. Everyone I ever saw there was reading, sleeping, or watching the sea go by.

[rkeate0804]

Rosamama.....there was not much noise above us.....it was a very comfortable room with great linens....the shipp does shudder and creek more than usual....but a great cruise

 

linda........

 

Which nights are the formal nights? They are on Sunday and Thursday

How does the mini-golf course work? Not sure....we were so busy that we never got around to playing.....lol

Is there Karaoke every night? If not, which nights? Where is it? There is alot of Karaoke....We did it on Monday evening in the Jazz bar.....but I saw it several more times on the caper

 

 

How many big production shows are there? Usually there are 2 - the same nights as the formal nights. I wondered if it was the same here. The shows were much better than I have seen on other ships. The Dancing in the Streets is as good as everyone is saying. .It wasn't on a formal night . I think it was weds. night but not sure. The break dancers and poppers are just so much fun. The country show was not that good. The production with the singers impersonating was fun. There is a good show the first night that people liked....never made it there haha.....

 

Are there comedy shows other times than midnight? Do they still have the midnight shows? There is tons of comedy shows and the comedians change midweek.....they are at all times...early show that is pg .....late shows that are R rated.....they were some at 945 and 1045 as well as midnight.....It was nice that they were not all late....there were some good comedians...

If you visited any bars, which did you really like? WE had a cruise critic cocktail party at the song jazz bad which was nice and had the karakoke there....can;t remember the other names it is all a blur and went by so fast

hope this helps kathie

[buzzsmom]

Thanks for the review - I also loved the little gems you'd see in different places around the ship. My 8 yo son noticed them everywhere. I also loved the granite on the lido deck tables - am installing it in my kitchen this month :)

 

PS. The mini-golf has a desk on Lido deck and you just check out your putter and ball there. Then go up a deck to the course. It's fun. :)

[rkeate0804]

Cruise Review continues.....Ports

 

Nassau.......It was a little cold but we were going to The Sheraton to get the 25 dollar pass to use their facilities...after fighting off all the cab drivers and tour drivers......We went into town and got the city bus (near a dunkin donuts) ...only $1.25/person....we were able to combine for all four and give the driver 6.25 using a 5 dollar bill......easy 15 trip and the buses run all the time...

 

Got to the beautiful Sheraton/Wyndham resort at Cable Beach and were waiting in line to buy the pass and a lady behind us (thank you very much, she was staying at the hotel) started talking with us and said it was very cold out there so we got out of line .....toured the property and left a few coins in the casino and went out to get the bus back......I would get that day pass any day it is warm....

 

then a quick stop at Senor Frogs for some delicious chicken nachos and of course a few beers and the youngest daughter had one delicious mojito in the tall tall glass.......it was fun

 

on the way back to the ship we went to the liquor store along the pier....ny husband got a good deal ....bought a 6 pack of local beer and visited with other shipmates along the pier while drinking our beers out of brown bags.....local rule.....LOL it was fun......

 

back to the ship.....by the way it was sunday and some little store were closed.......sailaway and will write more later kathie:D

[sunnidayz]

Our cabin was a spa cabin 12211 and wonderful...Shanita was our steward and did a fantastic job and had a great personality.....crazy new towel animals that i hadn't seen before.....small balcony but adequate and no problem for us.......we had nice toiletries and plenty of free toothpaste ...wish I hadn't brought my own....bathrobe and slippers also

 

Hi Kathie,

Thanks for your wonderful review. I look forward to hearing more! One question, did you feel like you felt alot of movement in your cabin? We are also booked in a Spa Cabin, and I was curious due to the size of the ship.

 

Adrienne

[rkeate0804]

Adrienne......I would go with the spa cabin...we had less movement than other parts of the ship....My girls were in 11204 and they were really rocking and shaking....I wonder if it is the size of this ship....kathie

[rkeate0804]

More of the review.....St. Thomas....This port was really crowded with ships....I think there were 6 including the big Oasis....so we decided to book tours....I sent my parents and another couple on Godfrey's tour of the island....they really enjoyed this and it was very well done..

My husband, myself and 3 daughters booked the Cpt Nautica snorkel tour from carnival......It was well worth every penny....We went on a small boat with inflatable sides.....there were only 20 passengers on this tour with two mates......They were both great and helpful...

 

We first went to Turtle Cove and saw alot of fish and some turtles...I had never seen turtles snorkling so it was fun

 

Then on to Shipwreck cove.....we saw the remains of the shipwreck with fish swimmming all around.....Below us we could see the scuba divers looking right into the wreck....

 

Then off the boat to a fun bar....MOjo's which one of our mates recommended....great food,,,,we had some giant grilled shrimp and barbequed chicken legs which were yummy....and of course the beer....

 

Then we head back towards the ship and there is this swimming pool/ bar on the left right before heading for the ship and we stopped there for another beer...funky outdoor place with a fun bartender from Philadelphia...ex lawyer he claims.....

 

another great port and back to the wonderful Dream kathie

[rkeate0804]

More on the food on the Dream....All the stations for lunch were great.....our family favorite was the Tandori grill.....we tried pasta area the last day.....it was great and sitting upstairs above the lido deck was very nice....you order the food on a slip of paper and they deliver it to you..... all three sauces we tried were tasty....and great italien sausages.....

 

Some of us did Mongolian the first day when the line was short and the kids would go at off times and the lines were short.....

 

Burrito bar was fun with different flavors of tortillas and alot of choices for fillings......

 

Pizza was crispy and just seemed better than most pizzas on ships

 

Reuben from the deli was great...my dad loved it....

 

Room service had great BLT's and the caramel flan on the room service was our favorite dessert.......

 

The lines would look long at the hamburger and hot dog area but they moved very fast......

 

They did still serve the bacon ......it must be gold.....lol .... because everything else was self serve......and there were alot of egg stations so there was usually one availalel with little lines.....We always ate our meals on the later times so think we missed alot of the congestion.......

 

oh how I miss all those choices ...more later kathie:D

[mom2girls]

Thank you so much for posting your review! I truly appreciate it!

[*Mach*]

More on the cruise...... Thanx to Host Mach and all the details he provided on the ship I was very observant and really enjoyed the decor more than I usually do...THANK YOU.....

 

The service we had in the Crimson dinig room was wonderful.... food very tasty and always arrived warm....prime rib and filet and all the fish dishes were great.......We had Win as our headwaiter who will leave in 2 weeks and then come back on the Ecstasy and Jo will leave after this week and come back on the Splendor....If you ever have the priviledge of having them serve you you will be very lucky.....

 

We ate in the steak house and it was a great experience...the food and the service were outstanding....the only little problem was that some of the servers English wasn't that great and communication was a little hard....Shrimp cocktail was awesome with the biggest shrimp. We celebrated a birthday and they made that fun..They let us in early to decorate our table and we order the best chocolate mouse birthday cake for 7.95...highly recommend it.

 

 

it makes me hungry just writing this report as I had to cook tonight and do dishes...ugh I miss the Dream.....or was it a dream haha more later kathie

 

 

Kathie, I'm thrilled that my review helped enhance your cruise. That's one of the reasons I write them. I love passing on my observations of the little things that tie the concept together.

Super review... keep up the great work!

Mach