Carnival Dream Review, May 15, 2010 - That New Ship Smell!

[rstout]

My family and I were also on the cruise last week (previous five cruises were with Royal Caribbean - this was our first Carnival cruise) and the smell was absolutely noticeable in various areas throughout the ship at any time. I think I noticed it the most standing in line at the top of the Twister and Drainpipe water slides and walking along the lower street area of Deck 4, for some reason, but it would hit us at any time.

 

Our cabin was an OS suite on Deck 7, toward the front, and the shuddering that others have noted when the seas are a bit rougher and the ship is hitting waves (which was really one night, I think heading to Roatan) made it tough for me to sleep. We did not notice it when we walked up to the higher decks though. I usually book cabins towards the middle of the ship, but moved our cabin location in this case because of what I had read about potential problems with people in the hot tubs on deck 5; I'm not sure if we would have noticed the shuddering in the middle of the ship.

 

Our boys (ages 5 and 6) had a GREAT time at the water park, and we spent a lot of our free time on the ship there. Although our first impressions were that the ship could have used another pool, we never saw the pools full. There are certainly plenty of hot tubs, although I think a couple should have been located in the middle pool area, where the movies are shown. On the last sea day, one of the big umbrellas by Water Works blew out of its holder and slammed onto the deck. Luckily, no one was injuried, but they easily could have been. The Carnival staff acted very quickly to take down the remaining umbrellas to prevent any further incidents.

 

Word of advice regarding Camp Carnival (which the kids loved) - one mother was absolutely irate that her 5 and 7 year olds could not be together in the program, yelling at the director in front of other kids and parents. They are very strict about their age groupings and do not change them for anyone, even if your kid is the only one in his group at that time (which happened with our 5 year old once - he was fine, and we accepted their policy).

 

We saw Edge (the juggler/comedian), Dancing in the Streets and a magician - all were great shows. We didn't get to see any of the comedians. The R rated shows are pretty late, and we didn't keep our kids in Camp Carnival past 10.

 

We did a dune buggy tour with Island Marketing in Cozumel (great), didn't get off the ship in Roatan (our plans for Mahogany Bay were canceled with the change in docking locations), cave tubing in Belize (very fun, despite the initial weather issues and the cavetubing.bz guys were awesome with our kids), and Maya Chan in Costa Maya (very nice, although my husband didn't get to enjoy it).

 

We went to the MDR for dinner every night, buffet for breakfast and somewhere on the Lido deck for lunch. I was disappointed in the dessert offerings, but thought the food overall was probably a bit better than RCCL. The service was generally very good, with the exception of the drink service the first half of the cruise in the MDR (slow service with people like us that just have the soda cards and don't order alcohol). We always went to the back buffet in the Gathering - the lines there were always smaller than towards the front buffet area. They also had a smaller selection of buffet items on both pool decks (midship and back) in the morning that generally had even smaller lines (especially in the back).

 

Carnival is a great value - we were able to get a suite for the price of a balcony on a RCCL ship, the water slides were great, and I think Carnival offered more in the way of variety of shows. We are used to the larger ships - we like the extra features of the slides or waterpark areas, miniature golf, ice skating (on RCCL), etc., so we expected to see a lot of people on the ship, and that didn't bother us so much. I did not like the design of Deck 5 on the Dream - I agree this area was underutilized and I think the way it juts out negatively impacts the decks above. The sewer odor (hopefully getting fixed soon) and shuddering are troublesome, as well. I would try other ships before booking the Dream again. Overall, it was a very nice week and we were sorry to see it end.

[jtmalt]

We went to the MDR for dinner every night, buffet for breakfast and somewhere on the Lido deck for lunch. I was disappointed in the dessert offerings, but thought the food overall was probably a bit better than RCCL.

 

Thanks for posting your perspective, rstout. I thought the dining room was really very good (with the exception of the desserts), probably better than what we experienced on in the dining rooms on either Princess or RCCL. Conversely, I thought both the selection and the quality at the Gathering were pretty weak at dinner (although it was much better at lunch).

 

We skipped dinner in the dining room two nights, and were slightly frustrated with the lack of choices in the Gathering (we wouldn't even consider the Chef's Art...just too much food for us). I can't imagine why they don't open the Tandoori or the Pasta Bar for dinner.

[GalleyWench]

Thanks for the thorough review. If you don't mind, how long did it take to get a tender at Belize?

[cruiseguys2009]

Thank you so much for your complete review. We are booked on the October 9, 2011 cruise in 12219, in the middle of 12215 (yours) and 12225 (the doorway out) Did many people use the hallway, and was there alot of traffic on that deck?

 

Also, the privacy issue, well, at least we get sun all day! I am being facetious...

 

I was under the impression that you could go to the spa at anytime to use the special pool, etc..and....did you go to the pre-sail away champagne party the spa hosts?

[rstout]

We didn't eat at the Gathering for dinner, but I did walk through at dinnertime one night and was surprised at the minimal selections offered. I had been hoping to grab dessert, as we opted to skip dessert in the MDR, but nothing interested me. It definitely did not entice me to try the buffet for dinner any other night. I loved the prepaid gratuities process (i.e. it was automatic and you do not need to bring vouchers or cash to dinner like you do with the RCCL ships), but found it odd that they didn't include the Maitre'd and expected you to tip him separately. If tipping the Maitre'd is customary, then they should include him/her in the prepaid gratuities.

 

As far as the tender in Belize, the process was not functioning as it should have on this particular sailing due to the bad weather. They were not able to get the tenders out from the back of the ship because of the rough seas. They had all of the people taking Carnival excursions meet in one area of the ship for priority debarkation and the rest of the people met in the Burgandy lounge. They were supposed to let people off starting at 8 AM (you could get to the lounge as early as 7:30 AM - first come first served), but they didn't let us out of the Burgandy lounge until around 9 AM, and we had to go to the tenders at the front of the ship. By that time the first come first served process was out the door - they asked that people with early private tours leave first, which was pretty much everyone in the lounge. They were under-loading the tenders, as they had to use the thrusters on the boats to keep them from flipping in the waves (per what the Carnival employees were telling us). The ride to shore was fairly long. It is apparently the rainy season in Belize. I am really glad we decided to stick it out, though, as the weather cleared and we had a nice cave tubing excursion.

[jtmalt]

Thank you so much for your complete review. We are booked on the October 9, 2011 cruise in 12219, in the middle of 12215 (yours) and 12225 (the doorway out) Did many people use the hallway, and was there alot of traffic on that deck?

 

Also, the privacy issue, well, at least we get sun all day! I am being facetious...

 

I was under the impression that you could go to the spa at anytime to use the special pool, etc..and....did you go to the pre-sail away champagne party the spa hosts?

 

There really wasn't any extra traffic in the hallway...the only people that used it were those who had cabins there.

 

At the forward end of the hallway is a door that leads to the coed dry sauna, and a corridor to the lobby of the spa, so you didn't have to go around through the public areas to go back and forth.

 

The Thermal Suite is locked with card readers, but they don't unlock with your Sail & Sign card. You need to stop at the desk in the spa and trade your room key for a thermal suite key. At the end of your visit, you need to swap it back to get back to your room.

 

There are two sets of locker rooms in the spa...one for the public, and one for "paid" members. Nice spacious showers and digital lockers are provided, as well as robes.

 

We missed the champagne party...in fact, we didn't realize they had one.

[jtmalt]

Thanks for the thorough review. If you don't mind, how long did it take to get a tender at Belize?

 

The Fun Times told us to assemble in the Burgundy Lounge at 7:30a. We showed up a bit earlier. The ship was cleared at about 8am, but bad weather was causing trouble getting the tenders tied up safely. We wound up getting a tender at about 8:50a - we had tender ticket #3.

 

Because of the bad weather, this probably isn't representative of how things would normally run.

[CarnivalFan2]

We were in 12204 on the Oct 15th 12 day Grand Med cruise. Maybe a different type of cruise, but we only noticed people above us (on Serenity deck) when we were arriving or departing ports. Otherwise, not a problem & we used the balcony alot.

 

Best info on the Dream "smell" yet. We did notice it at times also, and once mentioned it to the cabin steward. Makes perfect sense, and definitely a design mistake. Well, at least her class-mates (Magic & Breeze) will benefit from this learning experience & hopefully, they'll soon get the gray-water venting corrected on the Dream. Good to know that it wasn't actually sewage though...

 

On this 12 day cruise, we definitely took advantage of full access to the thermal suites & thalassotherapy pool! We did A LOT of walking on this cruise, so the spa really helped with the aches & pains!

 

However, for Carribbean cruises, I think the Cove balconies are the way to go, IMHO. Anyway, new class of ship for Carnival and they'll correct the problems. Loved our cruise & loved the Dream.

 

Marty & Jeanne

[jtmalt]

We were in 12204 on the Oct 15th 12 day Grand Med cruise. Maybe a different type of cruise, but we only noticed people above us (on Serenity deck) when we were arriving or departing ports. Otherwise, not a problem & we used the balcony alot.

 

Best info on the Dream "smell" yet. We did notice it at times also, and once mentioned it to the cabin steward. Makes perfect sense, and definitely a design mistake. Well, at least her class-mates (Magic & Breeze) will benefit from this learning experience & hopefully, they'll soon get the gray-water venting corrected on the Dream. Good to know that it wasn't actually sewage though...

 

On this 12 day cruise, we definitely took advantage of full access to the thermal suites & thalassotherapy pool! We did A LOT of walking on this cruise, so the spa really helped with the aches & pains!

 

However, for Carribbean cruises, I think the Cove balconies are the way to go, IMHO. Anyway, new class of ship for Carnival and they'll correct the problems. Loved our cruise & loved the Dream.

 

Marty & Jeanne

 

Thanks for your comments. The wind direction on this cruise was pretty consistently from the bow, port to starboard, and that may have had a bearing on why the odor was so persistent.

 

We took a look at the Cove Balcony cabins on debarkation day, when many of the doors were blocked open for cleaning. Very nice, seemed to be very private, but of course you lose the free access and proximity to the thermal suite, which is the big bonus of the Spa Balcony staterooms.

[jtmalt]

We didn't take a lot of photos on this cruise, but here are a few for your enjoyment.

 

Our King Suite at the Radisson at Port Canaveral. These are really nice rooms, and reasonably priced under their "Sweet Suite" deal.

 

 

[jtmalt]

Here are some photos of our Category 8S Spa Balcony, #12215. The stateroom came supplied with nice Elemis amenities, as well as plush robes and Cloud 9 Spa Slippers.

 

 

 

The safe and mini-bar chiller are behind the doors on the console.

 

[jtmalt]

The balcony seemed pretty tight.

 

View forward:

 

The view aft:

 

Looking down at the Lanai. We were surprised how much use that giant chess set got.

 

One of the rare moments the rail above our cabin was empty

 

 

More photos tomorrow!

[jtmalt]

We saw the Hanseatic when we were leaving port, which somehow resulted in the Captain leaning on the ship's horn until we finally passed Jetty Park.

 

The Hanseatic looked like a rust bucket, but when I Googled it, I found that it is supposed to be a 5 star luxury ship. Go figure.

 

A few shots from our first port of call, Cozumel. We headed down to Nachi Cocom Beach Club. Our first visit there was in 2007, and there were probably a dozen people there at most. This week, there were probably at least 60.

 

 

 

[jtmalt]

At Roatan, we headed had obtained day passes to Barefoot Cay Dive Resort, and had the place to ourselves. Unfortunately, high winds made snorkeling difficult, but we snapped a few shots.

 

 

 

[meatloafsfan]

In the spa cabin, were the Elemis products restocked or did they only appear on the first day?

 

I'd love to upgrade to an inside spa cabin and I am curious to know this.

 

Thank you.

[jtmalt]

In the spa cabin, were the Elemis products restocked or did they only appear on the first day?

 

I'd love to upgrade to an inside spa cabin and I am curious to know this.

 

Thank you.

 

No, they were not restocked, but we never actually ran out of any of them. I would imagine our room steward would have restocked if we had asked him to, but we never did.

[Nickymjw1]

I loved our cove balcony. It seems that it is a little larger than the regular balconies and the privacy and proximity to the water was great.

 

Even though you don't have private Spa access, if you get a cove towards the front of the ship like we did all you have to do is take the elevator straight up.

 

Regarding the buffet (gathering)....normally stays open until 3:30pm...but on the sea day it closes at 2:30pm! We arrived at 2:35pm for lunch as we are late lunchers and all the buffet lines were closed! Same with lunch venues. We were directed to the deli or grill and both had long lines as it seemed many people ran into the same issue.

 

Why would carnival close the buffet early on a sea day? Doesn't make sense to me...

 

Regarding entertainers.... I was dissapointed with the bands..only great entertainer was Barry in the piano bar. That guy was great! Got the crowd involved and had everyone laughing and singing!

[MikeM]

This review and others like it is the reason we cancelled the Dream and rebooked on the Splendor.

[jtmalt]

At Belize there was rough water and a heavy downpour early in the morning, that caused problems loading the tenders. We got on one of the first tenders out, around 9am. It was very lightly loaded. Very glad DW snuck rain gear into our luggage.

 

Since our excursion got snafu'd, we tendered back to the ship around 11:30. By that point, the weather had really calmed down.

 

 

Our last stop was Costa Maya. We had a great snorkel with a local vendor here, but never pulled out the camera.

 

That about wraps it up. Any questions, please ask!

[amyj23]

The officer acknowledged that this has been a major problem (which is corrected in the Magic's design). The solution is going to be to re-pipe the grey water vent so that it exits through the funnel instead of the foremast. The work on this is supposed to begin at the beginning of June, but he didn't say how long it would take to complete. Once the replumbing is done, the odor problem should be solved once and for all..

 

Ah HA! You may have answered a question that I had... We just did B2B on the Dream (got off our 2nd cruise today). Last Saturday, we were about 30 minutes late pulling out of port. I was watching over the side of the boat and they were loading palettes of silver cylindrical shaped thingies. I wondered what they were. From what you said, I'm guessing those were the pipes. And I must say, that as you've said, the smell was pretty bad last week, but this week was markedly improved. Maybe they started the pipe work this week? If so, it was significantly better. We were on deck 7, and one night during W Caribbean week, I was actually awoken by the smell in our cabin. But this week, I never smelled it in our cabin, and it was only a couple times that I smelled it at all anywhere on the ship. I'm glad it was fixable and that they figured it out in time for the Magic. We loved the Dream and I want to go on the Magic next!

[cruisinsly]

Great review and pictures!! Thanks for posting them.

[PROCRUISE]

Thanks for the update on The Dream smell. We were on the inaugural Dream cruise last December and noted the smell throughout the cruise. Other posters subsequently stated there was no smell. So, yes there is a smell problem on The Dream, and yes Carnival will finally try to fix it!

[jtmalt]

Ah HA! You may have answered a question that I had... We just did B2B on the Dream (got off our 2nd cruise today). Last Saturday, we were about 30 minutes late pulling out of port. I was watching over the side of the boat and they were loading palettes of silver cylindrical shaped thingies. I wondered what they were. From what you said, I'm guessing those were the pipes. And I must say, that as you've said, the smell was pretty bad last week, but this week was markedly improved. Maybe they started the pipe work this week? If so, it was significantly better. We were on deck 7, and one night during W Caribbean week, I was actually awoken by the smell in our cabin. But this week, I never smelled it in our cabin, and it was only a couple times that I smelled it at all anywhere on the ship. I'm glad it was fixable and that they figured it out in time for the Magic. We loved the Dream and I want to go on the Magic next!

 

Thanks for posting that. I'm glad that your second week wasn't affected by the odor. Once they get that problem squared away, I would have no problem recommending the Dream to others who enjoy Carnival.

[jtmalt]

This review and others like it is the reason we cancelled the Dream and rebooked on the Splendor.

 

Wow, sorry to hear that. Really, my two major complaints were with the odor (which is an engineering issue, and is ultimately being addressed) and the uncovered balcony cabins on Deck 12, which, as long as you're aware of them, shouldn't be an issue.

 

There was certainly plenty to like about the Dream, and others that were on the very same cruise have posted very positive reviews.

[ckcb4u2]

Thanks for your review Jtmalt! I have been so busy completing my own review (over several days), that I just now was able to read yours. We had originally booked a spa cabin on deck 12, but we switched to a spa suite (11205) on deck 11 after reading a poster complain about the same problem that you had...people above the balcony being disruptive, and no roof to block sun on the balcony. We also never experienced "the smell" on our balcony, but I did notice it a few times when we were headed down to the Lido Pool area.

 

All in all, I agree that it was a very nice ship, and will be even better when they finish the modifications. Thanks again for a detailed review!:D