Review of our Spring Break cruise on Carnival Dream

[seguincruiser]

Love your review. Will you be posting any more pics tonight?

[PaulMedik]

Thanks Paul for the information on the pictures..Did you have the option of getting all your pics on a CD for a set amount? Thanks. Loving your review!

 

darla

 

Darla,

 

I don't recall that option being offered, but it's a good idea. :)

 

 

Love your review. Will you be posting any more pics tonight?

 

sequincruiser,

 

Thank you.

 

Maybe. I just finished uploading the last of my pics of this cruise to webshots and the final total uploaded is 1844 pictures. :eek: I took 3126 pictures, but many were duplicates or included images not appropriate for uploading. I think that next time I'll just upload everything and then delete the pics that are questionable. I'm sure webshots censors would get a kick out of that. :D

 

I know it seems like I'm dragging my feet, but choosing pics to upload and actually uploading takes quite a bit of time. It's near impossible for me to access webshots while I am uploading because it's too laggy. :o

[DGP1111]

. . . I just finished uploading the last of my pics of this cruise to webshots and the final total uploaded is 1844 pictures. :eek: I took 3126 pictures . . .

 

Gee Willikers, Paul!! :eek: That's a lot of pictures. You were busy!! :D

 

. . . It's near impossible for me to access webshots while I am uploading because it's too laggy. :o

 

Yep, that and having to constantly turn the sound down on those darn video ads they've included. Gets annoying page after page after page.

I'm in the process of fully swapping over to SmugMug due to the success Tom-n-Cheryl have with their account. It's definitely more versatile.

 

Kudos, again, for getting as much done as you have. I'm really looking forward to the rest. :)

[seguincruiser]

Thanks for all your hard work. This is just an addict getting the jitters for her next "fix". Gives me something to look forward to tomorrow night. Your family looks like a lot of fun.

[jljlinda]

We love your reviews and are enjoying your current review of the Dream. In fact, after reading your previous review of your B2B on the Destiny, my DW and I booked and sailed the same B2B as did you and your family. We sailed the Mar 18 and Mar 22 sailings. We had a wonderfull time. I feel rather certain that we will be booking the Dream also once we get to read through your complete review of your sailing on this ship. (I think Carnival should be willing to pay you a commission for all the booking that you "cause happen" from your great reviews!! LOL!!)

 

(By the way, we were thrilled to learn that you are from WV and to find out that your home county and ours, Braxton, are next door neighbors! Several years ago, I taught a WVU math class for teachers in Webster Springs. What a small world!!)

[familycruzer]

After surveying the buffets Karen and I headed toward our customary eating area on all ships; the deck above the rear buffet.

 

Can you walk me through where the best spots are to grab a bite to eat and when? I am very unfamiliar with Carnival.

[cruskitten]

Great review & thread! You are a blessing.

 

Looking forward to you being able to post the daily "fun times" as I will be taking this cruise in the fall and just cannot wait!

[GetNAway]

I'm booked on the Dream for Sept 2010 and really appreciate your detailed comments and photos! Especially liked the info about the Spa -we're planning to get a spa pass for the week -here's to more cruise adventures!

[PaulMedik]

Yep, that and having to constantly turn the sound down on those darn video ads they've included. Gets annoying page after page after page.

I'm in the process of fully swapping over to SmugMug due to the success Tom-n-Cheryl have with their account. It's definitely more versatile.

 

Kudos, again, for getting as much done as you have. I'm really looking forward to the rest.

 

 

Don,

 

Thank you.

 

I opened an account at SmugMug last year, but forgot to use it....:o

 

 

 

 

We love your reviews and are enjoying your current review of the Dream. In fact, after reading your previous review of your B2B on the Destiny, my DW and I booked and sailed the same B2B as did you and your family. We sailed the Mar 18 and Mar 22 sailings. We had a wonderfull time. I feel rather certain that we will be booking the Dream also once we get to read through your complete review of your sailing on this ship. (I think Carnival should be willing to pay you a commission for all the booking that you "cause happen" from your great reviews!! LOL!!)

 

(By the way, we were thrilled to learn that you are from WV and to find out that your home county and ours, Braxton, are next door neighbors! Several years ago, I taught a WVU math class for teachers in Webster Springs. What a small world!!)

 

 

jljlinda,

 

I'm not so sure Carnival would pay me for my reviews. They'd be more likely to charge us more once they see how much we eat! :D Our appetites are the Webster Countians coming out in us!

 

Can you walk me through where the best spots are to grab a bite to eat and when? I am very unfamiliar with Carnival.

 

familycruzer,

 

The best eating venue in my opinion, is the pasta bar on deck 10. It is accessible via the rear elevators or by walking to the aft buffet station on Lido then up the stairs to deck 10.

 

The grill by the main pool on Lido makes some great burgers and hot dogs. It's on the starboard side and across the ship from it on port side is the 24 hour pizza station. All the way aft on Lido by the aft pool is the deli; great grilled ruben sandwiches! There are several other restaurants, but I did not try them on this cruise.

[PaulMedik]

After our Spa tour, we purchased the couples thermal suite package for $249.00. At this point, all we knew was that we were looking forward to trying it out later.

 

We left the Spa area and began checking out the ship. The Serenity area at the front of the ship looked like a great addition for Carnival and we hoped it would be a great place for us to relax on deck;

 

 

One of the complaints I have read about other Carnival ships is that the hot tubs were always fulll and that there wasn't enough. I don't know how many hot tubs dream has, but they're everywhere and I haven't read those complaints about Dream. Here's one of the hot tubs in the Serenity area;

 

 

A warm breeze was blowing and the clam shells looked like the perfect place to relax duirng the cruise;

 

 

The slide area is close to the Serenity area, but not too close such that noise would be a problem;

 

 

The Serenity Area sans lounge chairs. The bar is in the rear left of this pic;

 

 

The water slides are like steel spagheti above the Dream atrium glass ceiling;

 

[PaulMedik]

When we first saw this deck area Karen commented 'what's this for?' I said it was for laying out on your towels I guess. Later on you will see that it was well utilized. Perhaps a few dozen more such areas would help with the deck crowding;

 

 

 

Another hot tub, this one on Lido;

 

 

The big screen's backside;

 

 

The mini golf is located much more conveniently and was used heavily, unlike other ships when maybe two or three groups would be playing;

 

 

 

Karen and Britt enjoying the comfortable chairs above the aft pool;

 

 

 

Dream's jogging track is a lot more scenic than other ships;

[spencercoop]

I can't wait until November when i will be on the Dream!

[PaulMedik]

For those of you familiar with the Basketball courts on Conquest Class, you'll be pleased with this pic of Dream's Basketball court;

 

 

If you wish to play basketball, bring your own! Karen tried several times to check one out. They open for checking out basketballs at 8:00AM, but tryiing to check one out at 8:05 is too late!

 

 

The aft pool flanked by two more hot tubs;

 

 

After we finished checking out the sun decks, we headed for the elevators and found Chef's Art Steakhouse;

 

 

They had sample cuts of meat on display by the door;

 

 

We then headed down to check out Bryson and Spencer's cabin #6435;

 

 

For those of you who might be curious, no Bryson did not bring the guitar. It belongs to a friend of his.

 

The boys Platinum Stationary had also arriived. The question they had was what's it for? I said for writing. They asked who they were supposed to write, and I had no answer for that. A nice ink pen would have been better.

 

The boys balcony overlooked a bare area on the Lanai. They asked what it was supposed to be, and I answered that it is what it is;

 

[PaulMedik]

I can't wait until November when i will be on the Dream!

 

 

spencercoop,

 

It'll be here before you know it!

 

 

 

The view from the boys balcony looking forward. Not exactly the best view I've ever seen, but perhaps similar to some sloped side Princess ships?

 

 

Back in our cabin, Britt found a nice seating place in the window in the corner that should have a chair;

 

 

For some reason I always take a lot of pictures of the paintings on the ships we sail on. This painting is over the bed in our cabin;

 

 

 

We remembered that we still needed to go by the pursor's desk to get an extra key to the boys cabin and get Karen a key for our cabin. The folks standing in the Platinum Line wouldn't get any ugly looks from the folks in the main line, because both lines were VERY long;

 

 

After getting the keys, we headed back to our room. The bathroom was stocked similar to previous ships;

 

 

I got my laptop connected via wireless to Funville and checked it out a little bit;

 

[spencercoop]

spencercoop,

 

It'll be here before you know it!

 

 

 

Then it will be over before I know it!:(

[PaulMedik]

While making a post on Funville, I realized that I was missing the Cruise Critic M&G up on Lido Aft so I headed up there to meet a few people I had gotten to know online via our April 3 roll call;

 

 

I realize this pic may look like we're getting ready to eat, but this is where we went for the Muster Drill;

 

 

The Muster Drill started promptly as announced in the Fun Times at 3:30PM. In the past, they Muster Drill was announced, but could happen any time. It's nice to follow an actual schedule for the drill and nicer still to not have to don life jackets and stand in packed lines out on deck. Ido hope they cleared the tables and used clean glasses for the evening's dinner though.

 

We normally head up on deck for the Sailaway and prefer to go forward on the wings above the bridge, but we opted to enjoy sailway from our balcony. It was kinda like Destiny when we had a Spa balcony because we had people near us on deck watching sailaway as well;

 

 

I'm sure we had a lot of people above us, but we couldn't see very many of them;

 

 

The Disney ship was scheduled to sail at 4:00 also, but she was still tied off when we headed out of the channel;

 

 

I really enjoy those reflection pics;

 

[PaulMedik]

Then it will be over before I know it!

 

 

spencercoop,

 

True.

 

But I must say that it's been over a week since we returned and I am still relaxed. I knew we had a very relaxing cruise, but perhaps I'm still realizing just how relaxing it was! By now I'd normally be looking forward to my next and I am, but nothing like normal and not in a bad way if that makes any sense?

 

 

 

 

 

Sailaways are normally loud with lots of yelling back and forth from the ship and from shore. This time it was muffled yelling since we were on our balcony;

 

 

 

The Lanai below our balcony was not crowded for sailaway and most of the people there soon dispersed. The remaining folks were very sedate;

 

 

The fishing boats returning to the piers were a constant floatilla by our ship. You could tell the boats that had a nice catch by the trail of birds flocking in behind them;

 

 

The view down toward Cocoa Beach;

 

 

Finally out of the channel and almost in open waters;

 

 

Our wake trailing off behind us is a familar and relaxing sight;

 

[spencercoop]

spencercoop,

 

True.

 

But I must say that it's been over a week since we returned and I am still relaxed. I knew we had a very relaxing cruise, but perhaps I'm still realizing just how relaxing it was! By now I'd normally be looking forward to my next and I am, but nothing like normal and not in a bad way if that makes any sense?

 

 

That makes sense.

[PaulMedik]

After sailaway the boys went exploring while Karen and I enjoyed the sunshine on our balcony. When they returned they insisted that we swing by the arcade on the way to dinner. They were especially excited about racing simulators with actual cars instead of just steering wheels;

 

 

 

Dream interior in places looks a lot like Destiny as I'm sure anyone who's been on her can attest to (Destiny that is)

 

 

We had Anytime dining and had no wait for a table for eight to accomodate the five of us and our three friends;

 

 

After dinner we headed up on to Lido to watch the NCAA Final Four semi final game between WVU and some other team. WVU lost, but we were happy they made it that far and found it hard to be too upset given that we were bound for the Caribbean Sea;

 

 

During halftime of the game we went by the Dream atrium to check out our embarkation picture. From this angle, the Dream atrium looks a lot less like Conquest class than we originally thought;

 

[PaulMedik]

We returned to Lido for the second half of the game, but by then it was cold and windy on Lido so we returned to our room to watch the rest of the game. They passed out warm blankets on Lido which was a very nice touch and I'm sure the fans for the other team appreciated the entire game.

 

For us, the game was better on the small screen;

 

 

Britt enjoyed the second half from his couch bed in our room. The couch in our room is not considered a bed for booking purposes, but it had all the routine couch bed furnishings stored beneath it so why can't our cabin be booked for three passengers?

 

 

As we were off the coast of Port St Lucie the US Coast Guard approached at high speed with their blue lights flashing and we came to a complete stop and they boarded. They were on board for less than ten minutes then they returned to shore and we continued sailing South. We never heard what happened and the pics of the Coast Guard were too blurry to bother with. The Lanai prevented us from seeing if anyone left the ship.

 

Karen an I went for a mignight stroll around the ship and found her to be peaceful and calm;

 

The main stage where all the shows are helf was empty;

 

 

We headed for the bow of the ship via the 'secret door' on deck six;

 

 

Stepping out on to deck six forward we noted the stairwell leading down to deck five;

 

 

We checked out the view on deck six, then went down to deck five AKA the Lanai deck;

 

[PaulMedik]

The Lanai completely encircles the ship and reminded me of deck three on Conquest Class where you can walk outside and see the ship cutting through the water. The Lanai is a little brighter and the outer walls are quite a bit higher than on Deck 3 of Conqeust Class. The deck itself it definately longer;

 

 

The lounge chairs were all stowed for the night, but they have comfortable chairs along the way;

 

 

As we passed by the boys room, we took a pic from Lanai of their balcony. For those of you comtemplating renewing your balcony club membership, I suggest you look this pic over carefully;

 

 

We then checked inside the boys room and found Bryson asleep. Spencer was at a Circle C event;

 

 

Karen and I then went by the casino and made a donation to the BlackJack tables and slot machines. As I recall, this was Karen's last night playing slots; I got her hooked on BlackJack for the rest of the cruise!

 

While returning to our room I got a few pics of the hallway art;

 

 

[PaulMedik]

I always take pics of the hallway art on all of the ships. Last year on Legend I was unable to share most of the pics due to their nature, but I only recall seeing one or two on Dream that I could not share;

 

 

The hallway art outside our cabin door;

 

 

There was a gentle rocking that eased us to sleep that night. I enjoyed my customary cruise cigars then turned in around 1:30.

 

We awoke the next morning to a calm sea, party cloudy sky, and smooth sailing ship;

 

 

Britt checking out the view on our Fun Day at Sea;

 

 

Aft wraps are great for many reasons. Walking around and enjoying different angles of view from the ship are high on the list of reasons we love them;

 

 

The morning calm was disrupted by Karen insisting that we needed to go eat;

 

[sag1804]

After dinner we headed up on to Lido to watch the NCAA Final Four semi final game between WVU and some other team. WVU lost, but we were happy they made it that far and found it hard to be too upset given that we were bound for the Caribbean Sea;

 

 

 

HAHA I so hope that was sarcasm because the other team was "DUKE". Im mad they didnt show any basketball games for us on the lido, they just kept it on that weird background with the mountains, etc. EVERY year I try to get them to put sports on and they wont! How do you guys think I should go about getting them to agree before we even board, bc they are always like you can ask on board and then NOTHING.

[gail811]

Loving the review Paul and taking notes for our June cruise! Not able to see all your pictures now though...I am in FL at my moms house and the connection is painfully slow!

[Time2CruiseAgain]

Paul - reading your review has me more and more excited as we prepare to embark in 24 days!! I am at the point of needing a serious FOCUS PILL to work! lol

 

What a beautiful ship and what an awesome review!! Can't wait to see more!!!