Carnival Dream 6/5 to 6/12 Review

[PCalabrese]

We booked our cruise in July 2009 long before the Dream was a reality. We followed very closely the Dreams inaugaral cruise, Atlantic crossing, arrival in NYC and eventual home Port Canaveral. We have to say that our enthusiasm was dampered by the seemingly endless streams of negatives. In the end, we are glad we chose the Dream and have no other choice than to believe that most folks who had bad experiences either A. Have no idea how to have a good time or B. simply do not know what to expect from cruise line to cruise line. We are experienced cruisers and we believe we know what to expect from Carnival. First and foremost we expect a reasonable price on a balcony, we feel we received that. We also know that Carnival food is always above average, we got that as well. We are aware that the Carnival ships are built to pack people in, we know that going in so we are not put off when we see lines, sure we don't like lines, but we expect that going in.

 

We planned this cruise as our destination wedding. We got married on St. Thomas 6-8-10 and we cannot say enough good things about Carnival and the worry-free wedding program they put together for us. It went without a single hitch and there was not one stressful moment involved. We brought with us our 3 children ages 16, 13 and 9, our parents, sisters and several close friends. We are mid 30's ourselves. Our entire group was 20. We all booked separately but under the same booking # as to be seated together at dinner. We booked a Lido Deck Balcony cabin # 10240 and loved it. It's your standard balcony cabin and we are always very happy with that. We enjoyed being on the Lido Deck for easy access to the restaurant, bars, pools, spa and waterslides. There was never any noise above and below and that was by design. We studied the deck plans and knew beforehand that the cabin we chose would be quiet by virtue of cabins below and above us. Our close friends chose a Cove Balcony and I will state immediately that we thought the Cove Balcony was amazingly neat. Shaded by lifeboats all day, spacious and about 35 feet above the water, it was a great place to hang out! We highly recommend those balconies and would easily choose one if we do cruise on the Dream again. The rest of our group had balconies and inside staterooms. They were all very pleased.

 

 

 

Embarkation; We enjoy embarking from Port Canaveral. We also cruised from here in October 2008 on the Mariner and liked the Port a lot. It is new, clean and has a great vacation feel to it! We also enjoy the ride from Orlando and the views of Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral. We flew into Orlando 3 days prior to our cruise in order to have a 2 day adventure at Disney World. The kids and family loved it and we had a great time! We covered all 4 parks in 2 days, no stress, got on every ride and there were hardly any major lines! Can't ask for more than that. We opted for shuttle bus to port which picked us up at 8am. We stopped along the way for some wine and last minute items and were dockside by 10am. The porters quickly took our bags, we went through security and got checked in and at about 11:00 they announced boarding. We were Zone 3. My sister and 4 year old niece actually received the honor of being the 1st on board! They let passengers with children/disabilities on first and she just happened to be the only one at the time! We boarded shortly thereafter and were onboard by 11:15am. Can't ask for more than that! Once onboard I immediately went to the shore excursion desk to book our Kennedy Space Center Tour and transportation back to Orlando Airport for the following Saturday. Normally DW and I head right to the Lido deck for a drink but seeing how we were traveling with so much family and the kids and all, I wanted to get all the housekeeping out of the way up front as to not be concerned with it later. Once that was complete we headed to the Lido for lunch.

 

 

 

We arrived at the buffet, secured some tables aft and we got in line for the Mongolian Grill. The line was not long however it took about 25 minutes as everything is made to order, we thought it was very tasty. Unfortunately due to the long wait that was the only time we had all week. Aside from the wait, we would have certainly had it again. Highly recommended. After some time we found everyone in our party and headed out for sailaway and drinks! Always a good time, beautiful weather was enjoyed by all. Oh, almost forgot about the muster drill. It was very simple, had to gather in the Encore Theatre for our group, about a 15 minute talk and we were on our way. No lifejackets required!

 

 

Main Dining Room; Aside from a small hitch at the beginning of dinner where we found our 2 large tables separated by the entire dining room (which was remedied by the Maitre'd very quickly) dinner in the MDR was always great. Every entree we ordered appeared to be cooked to request, very flavorful and the service staff was nothing short of amazing.

 

The Ship Itself; The Dream is a very pretty ship however I and several others commented throughout the week about how closed in everything feels. There are really no open areas with views of the sea. The Ocean Plaza was a disappointment as it felt like any other location on the ship. The decor is very nice though, and certainly not over the top. I think we were just hoping for a more open feel. We are certain that this is because as many cabins as possible were squeezed in. The Dream is a very clean ship although we did catch the infamous "poo smell" several times in various areas of the ship. Not a deal breaker by any means, we simply ignored it and moved on and it went away. Not acceptable either but hey, not gonna let that ruin a vacation! We did not spend any time in the casino but walked through many times. Very spacious and nice. We were also disappointed by the pool situation. Under no circumstance should a ship of this size have only 2 pools and then have them be as small as possible. No adult pool area. The Lido pool area was very nice but the pool itself was clearly an afterthought. The waterslides on the other hand were a blast and are highly recommended.

We toured and purchased our one week membership to the Cloud 9 spa and never regretted once. We used it 3 times during the week and felt we got our money's worth out of it ($149 each for the week). It consists of 2 steam rooms, 2 dry rooms, the Thalasso Therapy pool which is worth the price of admission on it's own, private lockers and a relaxation room facing the sea. This area was never crowded or busy and was very private and quiet. We loved it.

For our wedding dinner we chose to take the entire group to the Chef's Art Steakhouse. Wow, we have never received so many compliments and thanks for a dinner. Several in our party commented on how it was the best meal they've ever had and they have eaten at Ruth's Chris' in the past. The Steaks were perfectly cooked and oh so flavorful. The meal experience is worth every penny spent.

We also highly recommend and enjoyed the Burrito Bar and Pasta Bar. Both are located aft and the food is delicious.

The staff on the ship were all very friendly and accomodating and we did not come across one crew or staff member that seemed unhappy. Our room steward, Jose, was always cheerful, the room was always made up and we always had ice.

The kids had a great time. We believe that the 9 year old actually owned the ship for the week as we hardly saw her as her social calendar included some Camp Carnival time (she was permitted to sign herself in and out), waterslide and pool time, buffet time and all around socializing with everyone in our group at various times. Yes, the ship was hers and she loved it! She is also quite independent and responsible so there were never any concerns about what she was up to. The 13 year old had a friend along and they roamed the ship doing the typical 13 year old thing, the 16 year old boy was a little more secluded as is normal for that age. He did not care to attend Club o2 even though we continually mentioned to him that's where the girls were. He still had a good time though utilizing the gym and buffet area.

 

Debarkation; Was smooth as usual as well. Of course we opt to leave our bags out the night before and claim them in the morning. We debarked Zone 3 as we had our tour for KSC all set. We were off the ship by 7:45, through customs and had our bags by around 8am. Through all the chaos we did manage to leave one bag behind though we did not discover that until we landed in AZ later that night. A quick call to Carnival on Monday morning revealed they had the bag and would ship it to us. Out of 17 bags and an entire wedding to leave only one bag behind after all that isn't too bad a percentage....hmmm..

Overall our experience was great, we love to cruise and it would take something fairly major to have us say we didn't have a good time. We would recommend the Dream to anyone looking to go on a great cruise but also trying to not break the bank. You can't go wrong. Go cruise on the Dream and have fun!

[aubreysmom]

Congratulations on your marriage and thanks for the FAIR and BALANCED review!

[kjunea]

Congratulations on your marriage! Sounds like you had a wonderful time with family and friends. Thanks for the review!

[ParRoo]

Thanks for the review!

[The Klev]

Congratulations! The trip, plus your wedding in St. Thomas, must have been magical!

 

Best wishes to you both!

 

Alan

[zabnee]

Congrats! We were on that same cruise, and yes, the weather was absolutely wonderful! I'm glad that you had a smooth go with the wedding!

[scrappynancy]

Congrats on your wedding! And thanks for the review it is good to see a review where people do not expect every single aspect be perfect. Because as we all know nothing is ever perfect.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Poo smell hee hee!!!!!:D

[cruzkitty]

Congrats on your Wedding-I'm so glad everything (including the weather!) went so well for you and your family. It's good to read another positive review of the Dream-I'll be sailing on her in Sept-can't wait.

[mississauga]

Congratulations to you and your bride!

 

As you stated, a positive attitude is the most important thing to bring with you on a cruise.:)

[PCalabrese]

Thanks for all the congratulations! Yes, the weather was absolutely perfect. I forgot to mention how solid the ship was underneath us. All week long I found myself questioning if we were actually floating on the water, it was that motionless.

[yoster1957]

Thanks for the review - I am trying to assess whether we should have our family reunion on the Dream next year - in honor of our mother's 85th birthday. With sibs, spouses and grand kids - it will be at least 18 people. I'll be interested in your insights in planning for a large group I noticed you mentioned all cabins were booked under a single booking number? There will be 4 kids - 16 years, 10, 9, 3 the rest adults - some single... did you ever inquire into family rooms on the Dream?

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions! Oh - any special added discounts since you were a group?

[mamalicious]

Thanks for the great review, and congrats on your wedding!!!!

[PCalabrese]

We did briefly look into the family suites however we decided to go the single cabin route. It affords more privacy and room we felt. The 3 kids got their own inside stateroom (10242) directly across the hall from our balcony cabin (10240). My wife's parents (the kids' grandparents) were next door the kids, inside stateroom. The rest of the family and friends booked on their own, most all were past Carnival cruisers and had deals of their own. My Dad utilized some timeshare points for his and my Mom's balcony cabin on deck 6. Richard at Carnival was extremely helpful with all the bookings. We booked our rooms first and then proceeded to refer our friends and family to Richard along with a booking # he provided to link everyone together. It was very easy. I want to clarify though that every cabin was booked separately but were grouped under one big number to reference. For your 4 kids, they do have interior staterooms that sleep 4. I believe after the 1st 2 occupants, the remaining occupants get a bit lower of a price. I'm thinking that you probably just need a room for 3 as the 3yr old likely will be staying with you. The other kids would have a fine time on their own. No, no special discounts, I think you have to get over 50 or 60 people for those types of discounts to come into play.

[jamo951]

Congratulations on the wedding! I see you mentioned the Spa Pass was $150 each, comes to $300! Everything else I read was saying $250, did they raise the price?

[PCalabrese]

My apologies. Yes, the total for spa package was $249 equating to $125 apiece. Sorry for the oversight. We very much enjoyed the spa.

[DOTTE]

Thanks for the review. Congrats on your wedding!!!

[cruiselover 43]

Congrats to the newlyweds!!!

Did you do any excursions on the islands???

[islandcruisersnc]

Congrats! What time was the Cloud 9 Spa orientation on embarkation day?

thanks!