Dream Review 9/11/10

[Scott_F]

The Dream 9/11/10

 

Our traveling party of six finally decided to venture out of home port of Galveston for the uncharted waters of Port Canaveral. We are all adults 45-56, wife and her two siblings and spouses. All of us are seasoned cruisers, this being my wife's and my 7th.

 

We also decided to arrive in Orlando and spend a day at Universal, mainly to get to experience the Harry Potter area and ride! Lots of fun for that day. We stayed at the Hard Rock hotel on-site there at Universal. Nice enough hotel, but they need to figure out if they want to be a Hard Rock or a Kids Rock hotel. Closing down the great music at a very lively pool bar scene in leiu of a projected Shrek movie was ridiculus. But, I digress. So, with all that, let me say I've never had a bad cruise. And Dream will be no exception. I will point out things that are negative but will balance with positive.

 

Embarkation was a breeze in Port Canaveral. Here's something new that I'd not seen before. They take the group welcome aboard photos with a green screen background. They digitally insert the scene behind you later. They also took an individual mug shot for facial recognition purposes and ties that to a scan of your cruise card. Very smart in theory but ineffective in practice. When you're ready to see your photos, just scan your sail card and it'll pull up all your photos or tell you were to look for the prints. So thru the week, the photographers are scanning your card while taking the portraits. This is very new and buggy as hell. Scanning your card at photo stations worked well. Facial recognition failed miserably. They relied on FR when exiting the boat in ports, dining room photos. Places where if they scanned your card, it would have slowed things down too much. Random people kept coming up on my screen. Another downer... Our six took several group shots. Only the person that had their card scanned gets to see and purchase. They had no ability to add other card scans to the photos. Once they get the bugs worked out, it'll save us and Carnival time. Until then, expect lots of bugs.

 

Day 0

We got to our rooms by 1pm or so, bags arrived by 2. The room had a rank odor. Smelled like the last group in here had left a bunch of wet salt water clothing laying around. Our room steward promised to spray us down that afternoon. It didn't help too much. Room was warm while hallway was very cool. Room smelled all week but we eventually got used to it.

 

In my previous six cruises, I've always brought a bottle of my favorite tequila. This time they confiscated it and left me a note. No biggie as I got it back the last night. They did leave my sugar-free margarita mix in there thankfully. I won't go into details on all the creative ways people would tell me they smuggled aboard but suffice to say, people are very serious about bringing their own hootch on board!

 

I did learn a new trick. I called room service and ordered a bottle of 1800 tequila and it was delivered to my room immediately. Mostly, I've experienced where if you buy booze from one of the on-board shops, they don't bring it to you until the last night. Since these shops are independently owned and operated, Carnival makes them wait. But a quick call to room service and I had my tequila. It set me back $55.00. That's a lot more than my local liquor store but I had my sugar free margaritas. For comparison, the ship's room service sells Patron silver for $70 and a Margaritaville brand for $40. So, I'm happy to have booze in my room and Carnival gets their cut. Hit the main dining area about 7pm for our anytime dining. I love this option. But tonight, the food wasn't very good and the service was terrible. Came back to our balcony cabin and it still hadn't cooled off, so we called maintenance. Ugh..

 

 

Day One

 

So, we wake up on our first full day and we are coming into Nassau, Bahamas. Nassau turned out to be sort of a waste for us as we just wandered about and bought some trinkets. I think Carnival would be better off skipping Nassau and giving us an overnight stay in St. Thomas or Maarten. So, off we sailed at 2pm (actually we sailed 30min late). Two Dream guests didn't get back in time and were left. Ouch, that's gotta hurt. I always wonder what happened that folks miss the departure. I'm pretty anal about making sure we are back with plenty of time to spare. First formal night this night and we skipped it. Didn't want to blow another 2.5 hours for marginal food. Came back into the room that afternoon and the AC wasn't cooling again. Now we had left our curtains closed all day figuring it would help. But, paying for a balcony and subsequent view gets defeated quickly if you have to close your curtains to keep things cool. Maintenance was called again and they said they fixed it. Not really.

 

Food

 

The real stars on this ship are the places that prepare food fresh as you stand there. Examples would be the Pasta Bar, the Burrito Bar, Wasabi bar (full salad bar during the lunch), etc. The Gathering Buffet was hit or miss this week. For lunch, very good food overall. For dinner, the buffet seemed to encourage one to go the main dining! The coffee shop was outstanding from the product to the delivery to the deliverer. Don't miss the carrot cake! Search out the various lunch spots. You'll thank me. Outside on deck 5 near Wasabi, the put on a BBQ buffet that everyone raved about. By the back pool was an Indian Food spot and also a Deli Sandwich shop. I’m not much on the Indian food, but the Deli was outstanding. As always, Deli/Pizza/Burgers were available for many hours during the day. Downer for us was they seemed to add many more anchovies to their Caesar dressing on the ship than we prefer.

 

Day Two

 

Our first full day at see was Monday. Breakfast (food) in the main dining room was so so. Service again was just not very good. We went up to the Serenity area up in the bow area, high up above the spa area. This would have been excellent, but the wind was just too much. So we headed aft and hit the pool above the stern area. This back pool area is laid out well. Lots of chairs, not too difficult to get a spot with a wee bit of patience. The ship is laid out a lot like the Conquest I've been on twice. But the pool area in back of the Dream and the adult Serenity area up front are clear upgrades. So, Monday evening was our Steakhouse reservation night (we went formal), we came back to the room after lunch to let my wife get a nap and time for me to hit the gym. Yep, you guessed it...AC not cooling again. This time I got the pursers desk on the phone and complained politely but sternly. I asked to speak to the Hotel Manager. Those two words got the attention of the person on the other end of the phone. She asked cautiously why I wanted to speak to him. I told her that three days in a row with warm room was a first in my seven cruises. Within 15 min, I had maintenance as well as a junior officer in my room. They ended up opening up my vent to the point where it cooled fantastically. Remember those words 'hotel manager'!

 

Steakhouse food was phenomenal. Up to that point, my best meal on the ship was the Burrito Bar. The steakhouse is mandatory for one night in my opinion. Everything was delicious, service impeccable. Yes it is a $30pp upcharge, but worth it to me. I know tip is included, but we tipped a bit more.

 

 

 

Hurricane Igor

 

Tuesday was to be St Thomas, Wednesday St Maarten, but the captain announced that due to Hurricane Igor, we were reversing the days. Well that sounded fine, but our St Maarten excursion booked thru Carnival was cancelled. Luckily, an email to the sailboat we booked on St Thomas was answered that they could still accommodate on the next day. So, if you cruise the Caribbean in September, you just have to be flexible. Stuff always happens on cruises...4000 people on a a large boat. Stuff happens. Expect it, keep a positive attitude.

 

Day Three

 

We booked a snorkel trip, but they cut the rate and offered a booze cruise. The swells from Igor were making scuba and snorkeling near impossible It was a nice boat ride. We did swim a bit, but the boat and crew were forgettable. And I did. I did go back and look at a photo and the boat was named Swept Away. The guy that sold us on taking it promised they’d take us down to the airport so we could get a photo or two, but the crew refused. So, I’d skip “Swept Away” if I were you. Headed back to the ship and gave the anytime dining a try again. We timed it about 6:15. Nathaniel was a perfect waiter. Friendly,funny and kept the courses moving on time. But, as desert got to us, they sort of forgot about us again.

 

Room Locations

 

We were mid-ship, deck 8, room 8315. I love balcony rooms, but be advised. If you get one on Deck 6,7,8 or 9, you do not have the privacy you have on other ships. Deck 5 juts out so much that folks sitting in the hot tub below our room could see pretty well onto our balcony. Just something to think about if you like privacy. Once again the cigarette smokers on the balconies were intense and it was something I had to deal with. I sure wish they’d make one side of the ships balconies non-smoking. I think the Cove balconies will give you more privacy if that’s your thing.

 

Day Four

 

In St Thomas, we booked the Treazzure sailboat for snorkeling to St Johns. Captain Joe, Danielle and Jack the pirate cat were great hosts! The Treazzure is a 63' sailboat, beautifully maintained. Danielle arranged for Mitch the cabbie to pick us up from the ships. $20 per person cab ride, round trip. The Six hour trip on the Treazzure was roughly $130 pp when we arrived at the marina, Joe meet us in a dingy and zipped us out to where the Treazzure was moored. Danielle and Jack met us with mimosas, breads, pastries, etc. They do a great job, rate was reasonable, bring your tip money as they will earn it. We saw turtles, rays, deer on a beach in St. Johns, all sorts of fish. Two snorkeling stops with a nice lunch in between. When we got to the boat, Danielle had prepared pastries, fruit and mimosas for us. The Treazzure featured an open bar all day. Music of our choice. Great stories on the local scene. Joe has so many years experience here. We motored out to St. Johns and that gave us more time to snorkel compared to the other boats that just sailed. We were there an hour before any of the rest! On the way back, Captain Joe hoisted the sails and we got the real sailing experience. And, of course, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies on the way back. It was a great day. Mitch was waiting for us when we got back. Off we went back to the Dream. Perfect day.

 

Day Five & Six

 

Two FULL Days at Sea to wind down the trip. I really liked that. On all our other cruises, we only had one final day at sea after our last port day. Having two really allows me to decompress and just flat out relax with nowhere to be, no time schedule to keep. I loved it!

 

Day Seven

 

Boo, we have to leave. ☺ Port Canaveral has their act together in comparison to my only other debarkation experiences in Galveston. In PC, you go thru customs prior to getting your bags. In Galveston, you have to go get your bags and then schlep the entire gang and bags thru Customs. In PC, the put your bags on a carousel like at an airport. Much smoother. In Galveston, they load out your bags in a warehouse and group the in areas. I liked the PC way much better. We were off the boat and back to the airport in what seemed no time at all. We had a 2:30 flight and probably could have booked a noon flight. But, as soon as I booked a noon flight, something would have happened.

 

Final Thoughts….

 

Any time dining… not sure but I think we overall got much worse service using this option. I am guessing but I’m sure the automatic tips for the Your Time dining folks goes into a pool and are split out evenly to those waiters. Since those tips also go to many other wait staff that never gets tips, I have no issue with that. But, let’s say I had pulled my tips. It really wouldn’t have affected those dining room waiters that much. So, I think most of them just don’t pay the same attention as they do when you have an assigned table. This is my 2nd cruise where I’ve used this dining option and can honestly say I have gotten lousy service overall.

 

The food overall on the Dream was first rate. But, the buffet at night was forgettable. Small station food spots were the true stars.

 

Very Cool Stuff --- Watching the Cowboys-Redskins game on the Jumbotron over the pool one of those first nights. Fans for both teams were rowdy and it was a very good game, although I’d have preferred the Cowboys had won it. But an amazing experience for a football fan. I can only imagine booking the Dream for the Superbowl. I might do it. It’s the only way to watch the game.

 

I’m excited that Galveston will be getting the Dream’s new sistership next year. I want to try the Cove Balcony rooms next.

[Hogladyrider]

We were on the Dream with you and had a cove balcony and LOVED it...very private, shady and sunny, nice and cool.

 

We had the best room steward in 13 cruises with Carnival, he was amazing.

 

We also had anytime dining and we love it, though we only ate in the dining room the 1st night, and up at The Gathering or elsewhere the remainder of the week. We did not do the Steakhouse, this cruise.

 

We enjoyed the shows and the comedy club. Overall it was our best cruise vacation and we loved the ship.

 

There were so many different places to eat we just couldn't hit them all.

 

The weather was just amazing and we too had a private excursion booked in St Maarten and thanks to the onboard internet we were able to notify them of our port change and they were able to accommodate us.

 

We too went to St. John, but on our own, and it was the most amazing day.

 

I was hesitant pre cruise after all the "poor" Dream reviews, but again, the time of year one cruises plays a huge role in the passengers on board. We try to cruise each Sept after Labor Day when the youth are back in school or college.

 

Sorry you had such a poor experience with the AC in your room. This was the first cruise that I was actually cold!

 

The Dream is a beautiful ship and we look forward to sailing her again next year. We loved the lanai deck 5 that goes all around the ship and all the extra outside seating areas other than the mid ship or aft pools.

 

When it was too windy in the Serenity area we were able to move to deck 5 and still have towel service, great chairs and hot tubs.......and oh the spa on the Dream is just AMAZING!

 

Back to reality.....ugh :-(

[boaterette]

Thank you for the review. I am trying anytime dining for the first time on my upcoming cruise. Hope it is better.

[Scott_F]

Thank you for the review. I am trying anytime dining for the first time on my upcoming cruise. Hope it is better.

 

I just don't think the waitstaff have any dog in the hunt. I'm not sure how to improve it. I did love the idea of just going when we wanted and never had to wait. That was excellent. After we encountered Nathaniel on the 2nd night, we requested him again the next night but was told it'd be about 2 hours before we could sit with him.

 

The Gathering buffet was so limited at night, it was certainly such so they encouraged you to go to the Main Dining. But I'm not much on spending 3 hours in the main dining like we did that first night and third night. 2nd night was right at 2 hours. I certainly believe 90 min is all it should take.

[pe4all]

Thanks for the well-balanced review. Can't wait till our Christmas/NYE cruise. We have balcony cabins 8319 and 8323. (8319 is right next to the cabin you were in.) We were hoping to be off to the side of the hottub. Were you directly over it? We know we will make the best of it, either way! Do you mind me asking how you got to the port from Universal? We will be coming in a day early, and staying at the Radisson at the Port. (we just got back from Disney/Universal 2 weeks ago, so no need to visit them again) Will probably hire a shuttle, not rent a car. Thanks so much for taking the time to write the review.

[Scott_F]

I'll get the name and number of the transport guy from my brother in law. He was great and pretty cheap. I think it cost the six of us $70 a couple plus I tipped him $20. That was round trip in a nice new Ford Van.

 

Yes, your balcony is right over the hot tub. Well, mine was. And you're right next door. Good news is your cabin steward, Jay, is pretty good. There was no noise issue for me, it was more a privacy thing. Most of the folks in the tub never bothered to look up to be honest with you. I was getting some good fun watching them at times. I'll leave it at that.

[Scott_F]

http://www.ambiancetransportation.com/

 

Be sure and tell them you want Keith as your driver. Great guy, amazing attitude.

[Lib0007]

thanks for your review of the Dream. We'll be sailing her in Nov. What football games were shown on the big screen .. just Sunday night game? or also Sunday day games and Monday night too?

 

Thanks!

[pe4all]

I'll get the name and number of the transport guy from my brother in law. He was great and pretty cheap. I think it cost the six of us $70 a couple plus I tipped him $20. That was round trip in a nice new Ford Van.

 

Yes, your balcony is right over the hot tub. Well, mine was. And you're right next door. Good news is your cabin steward, Jay, is pretty good. There was no noise issue for me, it was more a privacy thing. Most of the folks in the tub never bothered to look up to be honest with you. I was getting some good fun watching them at times. I'll leave it at that.

Thanks for the info, and the name of the transport guy will definitely be appreciated - that seems like a great price! As for the hottub issue, I guess I won't need to bring binoculars!:D

[Scott_F]

thanks for your review of the Dream. We'll be sailing her in Nov. What football games were shown on the big screen .. just Sunday night game? or also Sunday day games and Monday night too?

 

Thanks!

 

It was just the Sunday night game that I saw.

[jjb415]

Thanks for the review !! :)