Windard Ha! Weathering the Dream (Verbose with Beaucoup Snaps)

[crewsweeper]

My DW-Kathryn, SIL-Karen, BIL-Rich, and I just returned from a wonderful Western Caribbean Cruise on the Carnival Dream. We were looking forward to this cruise. It would be Rich’s first and the rest of us were excited to be making up the missed visit to Cozumel due to last spring’s H1N1 virus scare. Plus Kathryn, Karen and Rich had all just added candles to their birthday cakes and this was a celebration for them. A bit of back ground, Kathryn and I live in Tallahassee, FL. Karen and Rich live in Phoenix. Kathryn has had more drinks at more past cruisers parties than Karen or I, but we’re trying to catch up as fast as we can. When Kathryn boycotted the past cruisers party in protest of no pins—more on that later—Karen and I have added 3 more free whiskey sours to each of our totals. I'm going to give you my take on our experiences; your mileage may vary. As I go along, I'll be glad to answer your questions, so please ask away.

 

Ready? Set. Let's Go Cruizin'!!

 

PRE-CRUISE:

 

The first week of January 2010 found the entire country in blistering cold, snowy, icy weather. Florida wasn’t spared. We drove down to Port Canaveral on Friday, the temperature never got above 40 down I-75. Karen and Rich landed from relatively warm Arizona and had to don their ski wear for the shuttle ride to the port. The Canadians riding with them were stripping down to their shorts, LOL. We enjoyed a nice overnight at Country Inn and Suites. The wind was hollowing Friday night when we headed out to dinner. We decided to bypass Fishlips and Milliken’s Reef with their outdoor seating and filling parking lots. Based on a pilot’s rec to Rich in the shuttle, we pulled into Rusty’s, which is next to Fishlips, where we caught up on family gossip over seafood platters and mahi sandwiches. Then back to the hotel to repack, add luggage tags and try to sleep. but like the climbers on Everest before summit day, sleep is AWOL.

 

EMBARKATION DAY!!

I popped out of bed before 5AM Saturday morning, wide awake and raring to go. After showering I wandered down the hall way to look out the north window and see if the Dream had pulled in yet. Nope just the Disney Magic. And the wind. And the sleet. In Central Florida, what’s with that?!:confused: Then lo and behold, but what should appear: a splashing of lights making its way down the barge canal. And my first glimpse of the Dream….

 

We grabbed the CI&S’s shuttle to the port about 10:15 AM. Embarkation was very smooth and quick. The weather was blustery and light rain falling, so we were allowed to enter through the VIP doors in an attempt to keep the outside lines down. By 11:00AM we were through security and had our S&S cards in hand.

 

Oops, they messed up our dining. We had requested and were confirmed late seating, but at embarkation they had us down for Your Time Dining. We would soon discover that Carnival’s idea of Your Time and my wife’s idea of Her Time dining weren’t in sync. For now, we decided to just go with the flow and handle it on the ship. The worst part (minor quibble here so you can skip this part) of embarkation is the seating area where you wait for your boarding zone to be called. Just straight back hotel conference/banquet type chairs jammed in about 3 rows along the wall. You had to climb over other passengers to get a seat or go to the bathroom. They could have spaced the aisles wider by removing one of the jet lines set up. There was space in those lines for several hundred cruisers at a time to wait to get their S&S. But the process and embarkation staff were so efficient the longest line I saw was 3 couples. We were Zone 5 for boarding and punched in our S&S cards around 11:20 A, less than 45 minutes after leaving the hotel. WOW!! What a ship!

 

Loved the glass bubbles and the mirrored walls in the atrium

 

And we admired these stairwell paintings every day in our treks up and down the ship:

 

 

 

 

After a short wait, a glass elevator brought us to the Lido Deck, where we grabbed a table and then went off hunting for grub. I slipped aft to the Tandoori grill and had the tandoori fish, naan, and several chutneys, lime, garlic, mint. There were at least 6 different kinds every time I passed the Tandoori Station during the cruise. Later I went up stairs to the pasta bar, no waiting for a slip and only about a 10 minute wait for my bowl of farfelle, sausage and pomodoro sauce. Up until 1 PM none of the lines in any of the stations looked unreasonably long. Mongolian Wok had the longest, but from where we were sitting it appeared to move along. Someone at the meet and Greet commented that the Burrito Bar and Deli had long lines too but nothing outrageous.

 

Are we having Fun yet?

 

[crewsweeper]

Ran into the 6 Images Police. So let me continue Embarkation Day from the Gathering:

 

After a short wait, a glass elevator brought us to the Lido Deck, where we grabbed a table and then went off hunting for grub.

 

Karen and Rich

 

Kathryn and I

 

I slipped aft to the Tandoori grill and had the tandoori fish, naan, and several chutneys, lime, garlic, mint. There were at least 6 different kinds every time I passed the Tandoori Station during the cruise. Later I went up stairs to the pasta bar, no waiting for a slip and only about a 10 minute wait for my bowl of farfelle, sausage and pomodoro sauce. (sorry no food porn...yet) Up until 1 PM none of the lines in any of the stations looked unreasonably long. Mongolian Wok had the longest, but from where we were sitting it appeared to move along. Someone at the meet and Greet commented that the Burrito Bar and Deli had long lines too but nothing outrageous.

 

Our Deck 11 spa cabin hallway doors were open by 1:15 P. And we went to our staterooms. Kathryn and I had an inside while Rich and Karen had a balcony across the hallway. We were even numbered on the port side. We met our room steward, Wasun, from Thailand. Great smile and very friendly guy. Unfortunately, I can't find a single picture of him on 3 cameras.

 

Rich Karen and I took the ship’s tour with Amy…a 6’3” rail thin young English lass with a nice sense of humor and easy manner. Not sure if she's a CD-In-Training, but I know Todd had to look up at her and 4 of her could wear John Heald's trousers. The tour was essentially a walk through of Deck 4 and 5. But a good orientation of the ship. Amy wisely pointed out the smoking areas on Deck 5. the forward port corner of the casino, the Caliente Lounge, the Piano bar. I never experienced any strong smoking when going through the casino. what little I smelled was gone by the time I reached the Sports Bar bar. The Piano Bar’s set up allowed smoke to drift forward toward the Wasabi and Fun Hub, but the door between the Piano Bar, Burgundy Lounge and Song kept the smoke from drifting that way. Loved the masks in the Burgundy Lounge, especially when they lowered the lights and the expressions seemed to change.

 

Luggage was in the room when we returned. So we were all unpacked before muster drill. It was a good thing these safety briefings were inside today.

Even there it was chilly as evident by the balaclava on the sound man.

Kathryn and Karen were getting all “high school” giggly and taking funny pictures during the briefing.

 

We all cracked up every time we saw this one:

The briefing was mostly a short video that showed you where the life boats were from your muster station. Safely over the briefing, I headed aft to the Sunset Bar for our CC Meet and Greet. The DOD was the Fun Ship Special, a fruity icy drink perfect for the Caribbean; probably should have been the Fun Ship Irish Coffee in honor of the weather at embarkation. No Sam Adams at the Sunset so I guaffed a Becks. The Sunset Bar is on the port(smoking side) and dispite being outside the puff puff puff of the cigarettes was fairly strong. So we ambled over to the starboard side and gradually met a lot of great folks we’ve been chatting with on the roll call. Thanks Gloria (InCharge) for setting this up! Shortly after sail away, a young couple clamored up the stairs in their bathing suits and hopped into the hot tub to the cheers and clapping of everyone on the deck.

Aah! Weather be damned, it’s Cruz time!!!

 

Hang on folks, I'll be back.

 

 

[rzyjzq]

Looking forward to the rest of the review. Im on the Dream in June and hoping the weather is much better, but sounds like everyone on this sailing made the best of it. Is the shuttle that Country Inn & Suites offers free and did you have to make reservations ahead of time?

Thanks!

[crewsweeper]

Looking forward to the rest of the review. Im on the Dream in June and hoping the weather is much better, but sounds like everyone on this sailing made the best of it. Is the shuttle that Country Inn & Suites offers free and did you have to make reservations ahead of time?

Thanks!

CI&S shuttle is free, but you need to reserve your time. There's 2 shuttles and they haven't left anyone behind yet.

[crewsweeper]

Kathryn and Karen, headed toward the Cloud 9 Spa, where you would later find them most any time when we were at sea or on the ship in port. They loved the Thalasso Pool,

the steam rooms and the hot tile benches.

Best place for a quiet spot on the ship is the tea room on the starboard side

where you can lounge and sip herbal tea or lemon and cucumber waters while watching the ocean flow by

or see a rainbow.

[hkbragg]

I assume you can park your car at the CI&Suites for the week as well. Is their parking secured? Love the review - we are sailing on 2/20!

[mistyinca]

Loving the review and pictures! Keep it coming!

 

Thanks! :)

[crewsweeper]

We decided that around 7PM would be our "Your Time" dining today. So off the Crimson Room on Deck 4 we go. Only one other party in front of us. Virtually no waiting. We were seated by a window and served by Kenroy, Lucson, and Spuardi. All were very pleasant and tried to serve us promptly. But they had several tables to tend to so no real time for chit chat. As we would discover later, the popularity of "Your Time" dining means less tables for the seated dining servers thus more attention there, but more patrons for the "your Time" servers thus less attention. They really need to add staff to the "Your Time" areas.

We started our dinner with shrimp cocktails and tomato bisque soup.

Kathryn and Rich had the flatiron steaks which were cooked to their order and no need for a special steak knife.

Karen had the Spa Mahi, a very nice piece of fish that didn’t look dried out at all.

In fact, based on what Karen ate and I had at a couple of meals, I’d recommend if you want the better seafood of the day, go with the spa selection. I tried the pan seared tilapia, wile the thicker parts were fine, the thinner ends were over cooked.

 

And as tradition for us, first night’s dessert was…wait for it…Warm Chocolate Melting Cake!!!

 

ACCK!!! The camera ate my WCMC picture:eek:

 

A bit cakey around the edges but just gooey enough in the very center and bottom to meet the “melting” standards. We devoured them. Our plan was to mention Karen's, Kathryn’s or Richard’s birthday at dinner and get the slice of cake and birthday song. Our first night nixed that plan all but good. The cake was the diet orange sponge cake.

A bad version of WCMC is better than the best version of DOSC. So we celebrated birthdays a bit more quietly the rest of the cruise. I also got a cheese plate. The cheese were very good with the pears. But taste pairing warning—do not eat a bit of WCMC after eating a piece of blue cheese!

 

After dinner we headed up to the Burgundy Lounge for Karaoke with Mouna! Except for one table, it’s was only Mouna singing.

So we opted for the Song next door and got out toes tapping to the Latin rhythms of the “Salsa Nights”. These guys were hot (musically!) How three old guys could get all those young people going whether in the song or at the Ocean Plaza was truly amazing. A stroll by the Caliente showed no one there. 10PM must have been too early. But we never saw anyone there, even on Michael Jackson tribute night when we come out of the late comedy shows.

 

With a long day behind us, we shuffled off to bed. But, lo and behold…our towel animal had escaped!! We were thinking about putting up lost posters. Wasun had disappeared too...maybe he was chasing it? Oh well, off to bed to get into the rhytm of the rocking and shuttering as the ship plowed its way south... Hopefully to warmer weather and sunshine..

[ladycaveat]

Well hi there! Great review and love the pictures . . . there were some places I never even saw. Aside from the weather, I had a fantastic time. Really enjoyed meeting you and your wife. Tammy (ladycaveat)

[crewsweeper]

I assume you can park your car at the CI&Suites for the week as well. Is their parking secured? Love the review - we are sailing on 2/20!

Yes we did a park n cruise package with them. The lot is open, but lit and you are given a parking slip to put on your dashboard. They must patrol, because the shuttle driver knew exactly where we were parked. IT's a great place. We'll be there again in May.

[crewsweeper]

Well hi there! Great review and love the pictures . . . there were some places I never even saw. Aside from the weather, I had a fantastic time. Really enjoyed meeting you and your wife. Tammy (ladycaveat)

 

Hi, Tammy...pleasure to meet you too. Too many people to really run into anyone else once the ship sailed. Did you and Glo get to celebrate your birthday? What about the swimming with your dolphins? Our Coz adventure is coming up soon. And did you get over to Caye Caulker?

[crewsweeper]

We felt the ship shutter and rattle at night as its speed increased and the seas got rougher. I even slid down the bed a bit. But Sunday broke with the cold weather and high winds still coming along with us (did some TA book them on this cruise?). I went up to the gym just around 6 AM and did a 5k on the eliptical trainer, plus a set of dumbbell weights. The gym was getting crowded by 6:45. And as the treadmills got going, they served as an alarm clock for my BIL and SIL who discovered their cabin was right under the threadmills, not further back like we had thought. This created a bit of a sour note later in the cruise.

 

I used the spa showers and lockers for all my showering. I liked the fact that you didn’t need to turn in your S&S card to get a locker key, just punch in 4 numbers, like the room safes now (no old gift card with magnetic strip needed).

 

No chair hogs today.

And as an old fellow tin can sailor said in the breakfast line, the waves were “like a kiddie ride” compared to being tossed about on a smaller ship.

 

Lines at breakfast were relatively short early. In fact the omelet line moved faster than the other line, but then you had to go in the other line to get anything else. They had several breakfast stations open and even had fruit and cereal and pastries out on the aft deck. Every day they had a different little egg something. I liked the egg wraps and the mixed sausages. Bacon police were present but generous. I had to tell the guy “not that much”.

Coffee tasted a bit bitter to me so I stuck with my Via instant and Kathryn relieved me of my coffee retrieval duties by going down to the Plaza Café for her morning cup. I did notice that, the Dream used ground coffee and the coffee for breakfast in the Scarlett room cam from the machine on the aft Lido deck.

I saw the servers filling their pots. I spent a quiet morning inside the Lanai deck up near the piano bar.

Rich and I went to the golf clinic. The pro was pushing his video simulator training. First glimpse of CD Todd as he picked up some vitawater at the atrium bar, chatted briefly with a passenger, avoided the teasing of the golf pro to get involved, and headed away. I rarely saw him on the cruise and never went to any function where he was hosting, except the past cruisers party. Afterward, we hit the Lido deck for burgers and hotdogs and hot fries. Mongolian Wok line looked very long. Lots of football fans wrapped in blankets watching the game on the big screen.

That afternoon, the spa was busy but not overly crowded. Figured out how people with no spa bands got into the spa rooms. The door to the men’s and women’s spa locker rooms wasn’t keyed and you could enter the tea room, then from the tea room go into the other rooms. However, I only saw a few people without bands wandering around. By Thursday, the spa people had figured this out and workers were finally adjusting the door for key card access. Serenity deck wasn’t being used at all except for the two hot tubs.

We passed on the Captain’s Party. 7:30 P was our “Your Time” Dining time tonight because it took the wives that long to get out of the spa and get ready. Since it was first elegant night, the wait was about 15 minutes. They handed us a pager/beeper and we wandered around people watching as groups and couples were getting their photos taken.

We were seated in a section handled by Taitana, Astwan, and Surjai. Again, very friendly and at least Taitana was as attentive as she could be give the number of tables she was contending with. We sat a table for 4 with a small gap between us and another table for 4 closer to the windows. Even though the other two couples were already seated when we arrived, it seemed to me that we got first service on every thing and that sometimes the servers just missed going to the other table. It was pumpkin soup night. We ordered the lobster and the duck (very good and happy to see it back as an entrée). Kathryn had the prime rib, end cut as requested. The prime rib slices served to the other table looked medium rare in the middle and fairly generous in portion. Desset was carmelized apples in a flat pastry layer. And we had the WCMC for the table. Much more like how it should be. Thick chocolate goo in middle.

But the children running amock both nights and then the crowds finally drove my wife to say, that’s it, we’re going to try to get Late Seating. So off she went the next day and sure enough, we got a table in the Scarlett Room lower level.

Rich and I went to the Burgundy Lounge for Will Marfoni’s Adult show. He was funny without too many 4 letter words. But Jeff the Fun Dude was bombing in his warmup. Salsa Nights were going strong in the Song Lounge. We avoided the Piano Bar route and headed up the stairs to the Lido to go forward to our cabins. We were greeted at the door by this bull dog. Our towel animal had found its way home.

 

[azkcruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. I am really enjoying it and will be on board next month :)

[crewsweeper]

Monday seemed to dawn a bit warmer as we made our way down the channel between mainland Mexico and Cozumel. I again started my day with a 5k and some leg weight reps. Outside, while the sun was shining, the wind was very strong. The ship appeared to be struggling to time its approach on the pier at Puerto Maya.

 

Notice the water washing over the bow bubble at the pier.

 

 

We had a tour with Gerry of cozumeltaxi. We found him right away and he was as personable as everyone has said. You’d thought you were being driven around by an uncle or cousin you had known all your life. We were heading toward the east side which is the wild side most of the time. But first we stopped at Paradise Beach.

 

Not a great day for the water toys.

 

 

Hey Tom…we missed you but those were killer margaritas!

 

Then we went down to the lighthouse and eco park at Punta Sur. Visited the crocs!

 

[crewsweeper]

Then we drove over to the lighthouse.

 

 

Climbed the 140 someodd steps. Kathryn sets up Camp II halfway up.

Took a nap.

On down the road past several blow holes and rock formations.

 

 

[gaylensgigi]

I am loving your review,thanks for taking the time to post it, I will be on the Dream again in November and just cannot wait.Glad you had a good time

[crewsweeper]

On to Playa Bonita for killer ceviche and huge chips with great salsa verde.

 

and entertainment. Hey who’s that guy on th amarachis and where’d that back up singer in the hat come from?

 

Then up past Coconuts and Mezcalitos

We have a video of Gerry singing on the way here and maybe we’ll get it up on You Tube.

We had a wonderful day with Gerry, well worth our time and money. We learned so much about Cozumel traveling with him and he knows everybody.

 

The Dream was peacefully waiting for us when we returned. No running down the pier for us.

[SMSACE6]

Enjoying your review very much, thankyou for sharing your experience and your photos. You all look like you are having so much fun! :)

[crewsweeper]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. I am really enjoying it and will be on board next month :)

you're going to love it. Just don't let the towel dog chase your cats.:D

[crewsweeper]

gaylensgigi...maybe you can get one of the lounge bands to play a little shagging music in the atrium. A little Big Joe Turner or the O'Kaysions will get the crowd moving.

 

Sparky8. As Commander Cody used to sing...I never heard of too much fun:)

[crewsweeper]

When we rebooked our dining arrangement we switched our Great Art Steakhouse reservations to Monday night instead of Friday.

 

G.A.S. is a wonderful experience. The service was excellent, but some attention was lost as the evening worn on and more diners arrived.

We started with beefsteak tomatoes and gorgonzola

 

 

 

I went for the NY Strip. Yummm for the roasted garlic too.

 

Kathryn had the rack of lamb.

Karen had the sea bass and Rich ate a huge lobster tail.

 

My cream spinach was not your old time steakhouse cream spinach. This was good stuff.

 

Dessert was the chocolate sampler.

 

And Rich had a slice of cheesecake.

[crewsweeper]

We had a bit of trouble attracting our waitstaff’s attention for more coffee, which never came after the request. And we had to almost venture out the door before they came rushing over for our S&S cards. Note that the tip is NOT included in the $30 pp tariff, but the tip is attached to the separate drink bill.

All in all an enjoyable meal, good food, good company. We’ll be back here in May for sure.

On to the Burgundy Lounge for Will’s PC show. Hilarious. We intended to stay for Lew Nixon’s adult show, but when I returned from the men’s room, Kathryn and Karen were leaving because Rich had also left. So we headed back to the stateroom to change for the deck party. That’s where this thing hopped out at us.

It started to rain just as the deck party was suppose to start, so we just called it a night.

Tomorrow it's Roatan. And we're hoping the wintry weather was the passenger that missed the ship in Cozumel.

[ladycaveat]

Hi, Tammy...pleasure to meet you too. Too many people to really run into anyone else once the ship sailed. Did you and Glo get to celebrate your birthday? What about the swimming with your dolphins? Our Coz adventure is coming up soon. And did you get over to Caye Caulker?

 

Yes, Glo and I ran into each other often and she and James bought me a drink to celebrate Glo's and my birthday on the 13th.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't get to swim with "my" dolphins . . . it was so cold and windy . . . I don't know how the dolphins even swam with each other . . . :p

 

And . . . never made it over to Caye Caulker in Belize either . . . what a bummer! This is the first cruise I've been on where the weather was so unfriendly. But . . . despite the weather . . . I had a fantastic time . . . :)

[Nickymjw1]

We have a video of Gerry singing on the way here and maybe we’ll get it up on You Tube.

We had a wonderful day with Gerry, well worth our time and money. We learned so much about Cozumel traveling with him and he knows everybody.

 

 

Thank you so much for your detailed review.

Can you tell me more about Gerry and how you contacted him & cost.

 

Thanks!

Nicky

[hkbragg]

How far is the Playa Bonita from the pier - the food looked great and i would love to try it.