Dream Review...7/17-7/24 2010

[Chamwa]

To celebrate my parents 50th Anniversary we all saved up for a "Dream" cruise together. I began visiting this site last June when we booked and I'd like to thank all of those who placed reviews and pictures of the Dream. I became the "TA" for the family as I knew EVERYTHING about the ship PRIOR to embarkation!!

 

I'd like to post pictures but have no clue how. So if you would like to assist, I'd love to share. chamwa@att.net

 

We left home (Newnan, GA) on the 14th and spent 2 days in St Augustine Beach before arriving at the Radisson on the 16th. GREAT place to stay on the eve of a cruise. Free parking and free shuttle to ship...but note...MAKE YOUR SHUTTLE RESERVATION when you reserve your room. My father failed to do so and the only ride we could get was after 1:00pm....no thanks! We shuttled ourselves (we had 3 cars) and left one car at port ($105 for the week). Worked out well as we were off the ship and headed home by 9:00am. More on that later....

 

My oldest son & I woke up at 4:30 and headed over to Jetty Park to watch our "Dream" come in. WOW!! It was a great site to see as we knew the months of waiting were over....my brand new Canon T1I camera got fogged up so I could not get quality shots but we did get some video and stills from the Kodak waterproof.

 

 

Arrived at port around 10:30.... security never checked my carry on which had 1 bottle of wine, 2 bottles of rum and 1/5 of Southern Comfort. I swear I could have gotten a case of beer in. Maybe next time....

 

I will continue later...I'm going to try & figure out how to attach pics....please help!! :confused: I have tried using the attachment here but pics will not upload

[Chamwa]

Pics are all jpeg...but too big. What do I need to do to getr them posted? THANKS!!

[DEBnGAB]

One question...Do you recall experiencing 113mph winds on your cruise?

[cnssu123]

One question...Do you recall experiencing 113mph winds on your cruise?

 

hahahahaha, its funny how one poster can affect all ther Dream reviews for the week.

 

OP, never post pic before, can't help. But I am sure your review will help lots of people who have nothing better to do then to figure out the wind on your cruise. And I am one of them.

 

Looking forward to your review.

[Upandadam]

Not sure if there's another way, but how I post pics is to upload them to webshots and paste the url where they are located in the text of the message. You do this by chosing the "Veiw different sizes" in webshots, make sure they are on the largest pixels and copy the url from the "Post in a forum" option.

 

I'm giving directions from memory, so some of the instructions may be off a bit.

 

Hope it helps.

[The Klev]

Chamwa -

 

Best thing to do is get a Photobucket (or similar pic hosting) account, upload your pix to there, and use the "mountain" link up in the top right(ish) side (it'll say "insert image" when you hold your arrow on it) and paste the link to the Photobucket picture you want to post. There's a thread about how to do it somewhere.

 

More important, did the winds vary from 9 to 113 mph on the cruise? Inquiring minds want to know!:D

 

Best.

[DEBnGAB]

hahahahaha, its funny how one poster can affect all ther Dream reviews for the week.

 

OP, never post pic before, can't help. But I am sure your review will help lots of people who have nothing better to do then to figure out the wind on your cruise. And I am one of them.

 

Looking forward to your review.

 

Just inquiring minds.....

[Chamwa]

 

My 9 year old son enjoying the Radisson pool!

[Chamwa]

113 MPH? We had rough seas and some bad weather but nothing close to those Hurricane speeds!!!

[DEBnGAB]

[ATTACH]163594[/ATTACH]

 

My 9 year old son enjoying the Radisson pool!

 

 

Nice pool!

 

Cant wait to see the rest of your review :)

[Chamwa]

Here she is at 5:30 AM arriving at Canaveral. Sorry for quality...

 

[Chamwa]

The wife took this shot entering port...

[ATTACH]163597[/ATTACH]

 

Ok..to continue...we arrived at 10:30.....check in took about 20 minutes...then we took our seats and waited to board... we were Zone #8. We were on the ship by 11:30. Embarkation was pretty much a breeze.

 

9 year old upon entry...

[ATTACH]163599[/ATTACH]

[afcj1]

Here's a link from a previous post on how to upload pics. I've never used it, so I can't vouch for it's ease.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=836877

[Dave0311]

I use Webshots to share my photos because they don't have bandwidth limits like Photobucket. You are given a 1000 photo limit (+100 each month) with a free account.

 

After you upload your photos, click on the photo you want to include in your review, then scroll down on the photo's page. On the right hand side is a box that says "link to this picture." To get the largest size in your posts (600 pixels wide), click on the 600 box. Then copy and paste the code under "post in a forum" directly into your post.

[Chamwa]

Testing here....

 

Sign to the terminal...("A" fyi)

 

[Chamwa]

Thanks for the help guys. Webshots is nice!

 

Anyway.....sail away was exciting and we enjoyed the first of too many DOD!!

 

Here are the boys at the aft pool area.

[Chamwa]

Main Pool on Lido

 

 

My first negative opinion of the Dream has been a common complaint here on CC. The pools are both WAY too small for a ship this large with almost 4000 passengers. I failed to get a picture of the "fish in the nets" as we called the pool but I'm here to tell you it is awful. During sea days (Eastern has 3) you will not want to be in the pools between 11:00am-4:00PM. My father says he got a picture so if I get that I'll be happy to share.

 

We learned quickly to enjoy the pools early/late. The slides had similiar crowds but not as bad. The longest wait was about 10 minutes for us.

[WAHMto5]

Can't wait to read the full review, thanks for sharing!

[Chamwa]

This was my 9th Cruise and 3rd on Carnival (Tropicale & Fantasy) and we expected a great trip. This was the kids 1st trip so I mainly looked forward to seeing their reactions and enjoying them during the experience. My 9 year old visited Camp Carnival early & often. We allowed him to sign himself in and out and he did great. Each day he looked at the schedule and picked what he wanted to do. Video games, scavenger hunts and dances were his favorites. He made a few friends but was disapointed that there were not many young ladies!! HA!!

 

My oldest, a 13 year old introvert, met MANY friends. Circle C was a meeting place towards the end of the cruise but for the most part it was useless. No activities in this age group. Friends were made regardless.

 

Our cabin (#7391) was better than I've ever had on a ship previously. Plenty of room fot the 4 of us, but the wife and I lived out of our suitcases as storage was sparse. Bathroom was great with nice shower head (feels great after long days/nights!!). Balcony was very nice and even felt private. A must have for any future cruises!!

 

#7391 Balcony

[boaterette]

Enjoying your review. Thank you for posting.

[Chamwa]

Nassau.... the wife and I have been here on multiple trips and other than Atlantis, it's really a dying port of call. If you don't take an excursion, stay on the ship. We ventured off so the boys could experience the straw market. They are not the shopping type (are any boys?) so after a couple hours we returned as planned to the ship. It was a great way to enjoy a dip in the pool with small crowds and to experience the slides with no wait. We made some great videos going down the "Twister" with our Kodak Playsport. Is there a way to link that here?

 

Here are some shots from Nassau..

 

 

 

Oasis Of The Seas

 

Nassau Lighthouse

[Chamwa]

FOOD!! Let me tell you..... my last cruise was in 1993...back when I was young and could eat whatever I liked without gaining weight. As I've aged, I've learned to appreciate good food. I was REALLY looking forward to the DREAM and all its dining options. FYI...I gained 9lbs this trip!!!!Overall, I was satisfied but here is my play-by-play on the food choices..

 

*Main dining room menu was nice but the taste was bland most nights, expecially the fish items. We had 14 in our group and the overall concensus was similiar to my opinion. The best items were the soups (all great!!), salads and deserts (Chocolate melting Cake WOW...Creme Brulee...I had 3!!!!). Main dishes were well presented but the taste was nothing special. Wait staff was SUPERB!! We had a gal named Kitty and a fella named Kim. Outstanding!!

 

Prime Rib

 

*Sushi Bar..... my wife and I LOVE sushi. In fact, we leave the kids home and go to our favorite sushi spot each Friday evening. So we were GREATLY looking forward to the Dream Sushi bar. It's only open from 5:00 to 8:00 each night. We had early seating so this was not perfect, but we experienced it anyway. It's not the sushi bar you think it will be. You wait in line and they give you a small plate of 2 or 3 pieces of sushi. One night it was great (3 differents rolls...I forget what) but our other trips were terrible. After the 3rd night we never returned. By day its a salad bar. Very dissapointed in the Sushi Bar.

 

*Burrito Bar was pretty good. My brother & oldest son are big burrito eaters and they were dissapointed. I only had it once and thought it was great!

 

*Pasta Bar is GREAT! We ate lunch there multiple times and were always impressed. You MUST try the Lasagna!! You check your choices, hand it to chefs, then wait for a bit. They bring it to you and you can eat there or take it back downstairs.

 

*Grill....typical burgers, dogs & fries....nothing special. But good to eat by pool. Never had to wait very long even though lines were intimidating! If you are a from the south...skip their coleslaw!! It ain't grannies!!!

 

*Pizza....kids had it daily....wife had it upon leaving Casino after a few (yeah...a FEW!!!) drinks. I only had it once. Pretty good. Kids loved it! 24 hours.

 

*Wok....never had it by family said it was GREAT!

 

*Desert bar.....again, never had it but kids loved it!!

 

*Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt....a family favorite!!! Who could eat the most cones in a day!!! My 9 year old had 18 one day!!! Great stuff and a daily MUST HAVE!!

 

*Breakfast buffet......nothing special. Scrambled eggs, bacon, cereal, yogurt, breads & fruits. We ate here each morning but I stuck with cereal after first few days as choices never changed. Dad said omlets made to order was fair to good.

 

*Steakhouse.... the wife and I ate there on the 22nd (our 15th Anniversary) and we were very impressed. Service was 5 star and food was great too. Wife had surf & turf and LOVED it! I had the strip and was satisfied. Cheescake was good but if you've had cheescake from NY, you've had better! We would molst definately do again!

 

*Room service.....we ordered breakfast to be delivered at 8:00 one morning....9:00 rolled around and we gave up. I'm still not sure if it ever arrived. Other family members complained of how long it took.

 

Overall, I think most of us were satisfied in the food on board. I've had better but I've had worse. And no, I'm not a picky eater!!

[Chamwa]

Drinks!!

 

First....let me say I respect each persons opinions concerning sneaking alcohol on board ships. My wife & I drink.... lots...on vacations. We are both beer drinkers but enjoy good beers. We assumed the good beer choices would be slim to none so we decided to sneak rum, etc.. on board. I used rum runner flasks in the checked luggage (no problems) and put bottles in my carry on. I figured if they get it I'll still get it the last night. Again, they never checked or gave us any problems. Everything made it without incident.

 

GOOD BEER!!! We love Blue Moon beer so we were VERY EXCITED to see it on the bar menu! Blue Moon, Corona, Bud Light, Heni and others were options. Beer was cold and good!

 

DOD's were very good. Beware the Caribbean Dream (?) they served on the 6th day. A very sneaky drink...but oohhhh so good!

 

We finished only 1/2 of our own alcohol since they had Blue Moon. So my bar tab was a bit higher that I had planned. We'll just say the wife and I drank well!!

 

We debated getting the boys soda cards and decided against it. Good thing. I think we bought MAYBE 5 sodas on board. The kids loved the free lemonade. I love SWEET TEA.....but all they have is non-sweet. A bit of sugar and you're good to go. If you have kids...consider trying without the soda card first and see how they do. You might save $50 by NOT getting it!

[Chamwa]

This picture tells it all about St. Thomas. We got rained out. Most excursions were cancelled including our snorkel trip. The kids were very dissapointed but what can you do? I have visited St Thomas twice before so I was not as upset as the wife and kids. We spent the day on board eating...and hanging out in hot tubs & pools (nobody in them during rain ).

 

[ostrrich]

Loving your review! Keep it coming!!:rolleyes:

 

Rich & Lisa