Carnival Dream review October 23 - 30

[coolbolts]

The good and the not so good.

Let me just start by saying if you had a "bad" cruise YOU had to work hard to make it a bad cruise. Unless something dramatic happens take a couple of minutes and ask yourself if you are going to allow this to ruin your cruise.

 

Let me start with the "not so good"

 

Check in was a breeze especially being platinum but my wife broke her ankle two weeks prior to sailing and she required a wheel chair escort. The elevator situation when you first board is bad. The center elevators are tied up for baggage and a couple of the forward and aft elevators are also down for passengar service. It took us app. 20 minutes to check in and 50 minutes waiting for an elevator. We checked in around 1:00 so we hit the traffic of everyone that was going to their cabin. If you can walk it will save alot of time and burn off some calories. The same thing happened during the lifeboat drill. Hang out somewhere and let the crowd die down.

 

To quote a line from Sienfeld "the seas where angry my friend". The boat rocked and rocked for at least 4 to 5 days but again this was due to the wind and seas. I talked to one of the casino workers and he said a couple of weeks ago it was so bad he had to hold on to the table when he dealt. He went on break and went outside on deck 4 for a smoke and got drenched by a wave.

 

Nassau on a Sunday very little to do in the shopping area go somewhere or do something. Bought a bottle of rum which was siezed and lost. Carnival did offer to pay for the loss or replace the bottle at the end of the cruise (nice touch).

 

Gala midnight buffet Sorry but i do miss this. I realize a lot of the food went to waste but a lot of it was just wierd crap that no one would eat. I wish they would bring it back for the carvings and displays and just have desserts. It had to be popular with the amount of people who would line up to take pictures.

 

Monogolian barbeque was ok but change the sauces the only mild sauce was black bean sauce. Whatever happened to ginger or teriyaki.

 

Thank you to the pilots that decided Tuesday was a good time for a wild cat strike. This delayed our arrival in St. Thomas and also created a mess when it was time to gt off of the ship.

 

My only two complaints against Carnival was the "MardiGras" parade which consisted of gathering everyone in the atrium playing one song and then have everyone head off the the back of the ship for karaoke. They also threw beads and they where impossible to see with the backdrop.

The other prblem we encountered was at getting off the ship. We exited at 7:50 and 1 of our bags was missing until 9:30. Carnival had a number of people looking for it. The tag was still on it was just placed with a different group. They no longer use different color tags just numbers and the airport style way of unloading your luggage means you are at their mercy to wait for your luggage.

 

OK Enough of the not so good.

 

The dream is a beautiful ship if you can get a cabin in the middle and you will be in the middle of everything.

 

Food

Overall very good we ate in the dining room every night except Thursday when we went to the steakhouse. Our waiter was an 18 year veteran and he was incredible. I like the touch of addressing you by name very nice to go out of his way to do this.

Lunch can get crowed in the lido deck take a break and have lunch in the dining room it was wide open and great food.

Tray the pasta bar it was great.

 

Casino

I e-mailed them prior to the cruise and received a free photo coupon, fruit basket with wine, two large bottles of water, and free drinks for the week in the casino. I have sailed before and do spend some time in there so I do have some history.

 

Big screen on lido

Great place to watch football or the world series. It is funny when you first walk out there and you think 500 people are staring at you when they are looking up at the screen.

 

Entertainment, staff, and passengers

A lot of people dressed up for Halloween and it made the deck party extra special. They had the full band and the dancers out there getting everyone up and dancing. Frankenstein on stilts won the costume contest and anyone that could stand on stilts with the boat rocking gets my vote

 

Band who played mid ship

I cannot remember their name we always call this the rock band and they where ok. I have certainly heard better but with Carnival cutting back it was good to hear a live band.

 

Comics

very good. Do not go to a second show from the same comedian and expect to see a different show. Some guests where disappointed and walked out.

 

That is about it if you have any question please ask away.

[donnieandamanda]

so me and my wife play alot in the casino.we are going on our 5th cruise in feb just came off the dream that sailed oct 2nd and the sea was rocky then.So how did you get the perks of the casino.I play alot of holdem done pretty good last cruise won like 1400.and i play some 3 card poker.I never play the slots. i do spend alot of my time at the poker pro table.We loved the dream our waiter from the casino bar gave us free cokes the whole cruise we didnt have soda card.

[Shrub]

The good and the not so good.

Let me just start by saying if you had a "bad" cruise YOU had to work hard to make it a bad cruise. Unless something dramatic happens take a couple of minutes and ask yourself if you are going to allow this to ruin your cruise.

 

Let me start with the "not so good"

 

Check in was a breeze especially being platinum but my wife broke her ankle two weeks prior to sailing and she required a wheel chair escort. The elevator situation when you first board is bad. The center elevators are tied up for baggage and a couple of the forward and aft elevators are also down for passengar service. It took us app. 20 minutes to check in and 50 minutes waiting for an elevator. We checked in around 1:00 so we hit the traffic of everyone that was going to their cabin. If you can walk it will save alot of time and burn off some calories. The same thing happened during the lifeboat drill. Hang out somewhere and let the crowd die down.

 

To quote a line from Sienfeld "the seas where angry my friend". The boat rocked and rocked for at least 4 to 5 days but again this was due to the wind and seas. I talked to one of the casino workers and he said a couple of weeks ago it was so bad he had to hold on to the table when he dealt. He went on break and went outside on deck 4 for a smoke and got drenched by a wave.

 

Nassau on a Sunday very little to do in the shopping area go somewhere or do something. Bought a bottle of rum which was siezed and lost. Carnival did offer to pay for the loss or replace the bottle at the end of the cruise (nice touch).

 

Gala midnight buffet Sorry but i do miss this. I realize a lot of the food went to waste but a lot of it was just wierd crap that no one would eat. I wish they would bring it back for the carvings and displays and just have desserts. It had to be popular with the amount of people who would line up to take pictures.

 

Monogolian barbeque was ok but change the sauces the only mild sauce was black bean sauce. Whatever happened to ginger or teriyaki.

 

Thank you to the pilots that decided Tuesday was a good time for a wild cat strike. This delayed our arrival in St. Thomas and also created a mess when it was time to gt off of the ship.

 

My only two complaints against Carnival was the "MardiGras" parade which consisted of gathering everyone in the atrium playing one song and then have everyone head off the the back of the ship for karaoke. They also threw beads and they where impossible to see with the backdrop.

The other prblem we encountered was at getting off the ship. We exited at 7:50 and 1 of our bags was missing until 9:30. Carnival had a number of people looking for it. The tag was still on it was just placed with a different group. They no longer use different color tags just numbers and the airport style way of unloading your luggage means you are at their mercy to wait for your luggage.

 

OK Enough of the not so good.

 

The dream is a beautiful ship if you can get a cabin in the middle and you will be in the middle of everything.

 

Food

Overall very good we ate in the dining room every night except Thursday when we went to the steakhouse. Our waiter was an 18 year veteran and he was incredible. I like the touch of addressing you by name very nice to go out of his way to do this.

Lunch can get crowed in the lido deck take a break and have lunch in the dining room it was wide open and great food.

Tray the pasta bar it was great.

 

Casino

I e-mailed them prior to the cruise and received a free photo coupon, fruit basket with wine, two large bottles of water, and free drinks for the week in the casino. I have sailed before and do spend some time in there so I do have some history.

 

Big screen on lido

Great place to watch football or the world series. It is funny when you first walk out there and you think 500 people are staring at you when they are looking up at the screen.

 

Entertainment, staff, and passengers

A lot of people dressed up for Halloween and it made the deck party extra special. They had the full band and the dancers out there getting everyone up and dancing. Frankenstein on stilts won the costume contest and anyone that could stand on stilts with the boat rocking gets my vote

 

Band who played mid ship

I cannot remember their name we always call this the rock band and they where ok. I have certainly heard better but with Carnival cutting back it was good to hear a live band.

 

Comics

very good. Do not go to a second show from the same comedian and expect to see a different show. Some guests where disappointed and walked out.

 

That is about it if you have any question please ask away.

 

To quote a line from Sienfeld "the seas where angry my friend". The boat rocked and rocked for at least 4 to 5 days but again this was due to the wind and seas. I talked to one of the casino workers and he said a couple of weeks ago it was so bad he had to hold on to the table when he dealt. He went on break and went outside on deck 4 for a smoke and got drenched by a wave.

 

Actually the seas were calm I was just on my Honeymoon..... Sry bout that :D

[Kstofflet]

I too was on the 10-23 to 10-30 cruise. I will also chime in... As you've stated the boat is beautiful. However, I thought that maybe Carnival would use this opportunity to really wow us. The boat (IMO) really looked no different than the Glory, Freedom, or Legend and yet cost more money ... down to the tile selection. However, the Dream is definitely not as GAWDY. The shops basically are all the same ... Spa is the same ... dining rooms ... cabins ... serentity, etc. Note on the Cabins: Be forewarned, you will not have a direct ocean view as you will overlook the Deck 5 promenade if you book a balcony. And if you are lucky like us, you will over look a jacuzzi. I did like the size and layout of the casino. The slides are a bonus IF you have kids. However, shade is limited and you must walk 2 stories to get a beverage (water, etc). I personally thought the food was NOT good. We chose to eat at the pasta bar on Sun. and regrettably ordered the "Meat Lasagna". Honestly, this dish should be on Survivor as a food challenge. It had spinach, zucchini, Pork Ribs, flat iron steak, etc...you get the picture. Order it if you dare. The burrito bar was also REALLY bad. My husband warned me, but, NO i didn't listen and had that terrible after taste for hours.

The dining room is the same as other ships if you've been on Carnival. The Dream certainly does have a lot of options for food. Albeit, it is lacking just a bit. The steakhouse was great as always. We ate there twice. Also, the captain's dinner was good as always. (Caribbean lobster, not Maine... Legend had Maine last Nov and Freedom had Maine in May. I dont eat it so I don't care). So 3 meals were wonderful. As stated above the strike did play a factor in St Thomas. We still made the best of it. (This affected every ship out there). We found no issues shopping in downtown, Nassau on Sun. It seemed every shop was open. But, we didn't debark til around 10AM. Not sure if it is the time of year or not, but Monday was extremely rough at Sea. No pools were open for the majority of the day and only select jacuzzis. Not Carnival's fault and all other ships on our journey experienced the same (Oasis, Sun). I really thought they did a GREAT job with the internet stations. I loved how these were dispersed thoughout the ship. Also, the scanning of the S&S for all of the pics is a huge bonus.

[coolbolts]

I agree about the meat lasange the one i ordered had the short ribs of beef. The burrito bar was marginal. I did like the ribs out at the barbeque.

[coolbolts]

I e-mailed them prior to sailing and the gifts where waiting.

[manmtnmike]

I e-mailed them prior to sailing and the gifts where waiting.

 

Coolbolts,

 

Haven't heard of that before...

What was the content of your email??

 

Thanks!

 

Mike

[coolbolts]

I told them when I would be sailing my booking number and cabin number. If youi nlcude the same information from your previous cruise they can "look" up your previous gambling history.

 

I also mentioned I was looking forward to hitting a jackpot.

[manmtnmike]

I told them when I would be sailing my booking number and cabin number. If youi nlcude the same information from your previous cruise they can "look" up your previous gambling history.

 

I also mentioned I was looking forward to hitting a jackpot.

 

Thanks much!

 

What was the email address you used?

 

Thanks again!

 

Mike

[WNcruiser]

Another just off the 10/23 sailing. Overall we enjoyed ourselves (5 years since last Carnival cruise), but disappointed with the food and our balcony directly over the whirlpool. Embarkation/Disembarkation were quick and easy.

 

We were in 8379. For anyone going on the Dream, the whirlpool was exactly right below our balcony. No privacy and you almost always heard kids playing/screaming in there or people having loud conversations. We also had smokers on the sides of us so had to go in when they were out. I just prefer a quiet balcony with nothing but sea views.

 

The only food we thought good was the pasta bar and the ribs at the lanai bbq. I was excited about the burrito bar, mongolian wok, deli and tandoori, but very disappointing. Dining room was okay, but nothing was great.

 

Arriving late in St Thomas was not a big deal to us at all. Only an hour late and no fault of Carnival. I did not think the ship rocked that much at all, except Monday where it got a little rough. We have definately been in worse seas.

 

Like I said, we enjoyed ourselves lounging at the pool, and watching football on the large outdoor screen, but we will stick with other cruise lines. For us, we would rather pay a little more for a better experience.

[Kstofflet]

Another just off the 10/23 sailing. Overall we enjoyed ourselves (5 years since last Carnival cruise), but disappointed with the food and our balcony directly over the whirlpool. Embarkation/Disembarkation were quick and easy.

 

We were in 8379. For anyone going on the Dream, the whirlpool was exactly right below our balcony. No privacy and you almost always heard kids playing/screaming in there or people having loud conversations. We also had smokers on the sides of us so had to go in when they were out. I just prefer a quiet balcony with nothing but sea views.

 

The only food we thought good was the pasta bar and the ribs at the lanai bbq. I was excited about the burrito bar, mongolian wok, deli and tandoori, but very disappointing. Dining room was okay, but nothing was great.

 

Arriving late in St Thomas was not a big deal to us at all. Only an hour late and no fault of Carnival. I did not think the ship rocked that much at all, except Monday where it got a little rough. We have definately been in worse seas.

 

Like I said, we enjoyed ourselves lounging at the pool, and watching football on the large outdoor screen, but we will stick with other cruise lines. For us, we would rather pay a little more for a better experience.

 

 

My husband and I talked about our experience on the Dream. We too, overlooked the whirlpools (6395 and 6401). We heard every conversation with NO privacy. And we saw every body type! When we booked, we had no clue as the ship was so new no one was aware. When we called the Carnival PVP (in Feb to book) we SKIPPED the cove balcony for this and paid 300.00 more. I really think this is what is pushing is to a different cruise line. (After 8 Carnival Cruises) Again, nothing noticeably different then the other Carnival ships and we paid so much more. We agree with you... I thought the food was below marginal. My husband claims he gained 5 lbs, where I actually lost 3 1/2. Again, the same food as the other Carnival cruises. We were just VERY disappointed. I will agree, Carnival made it a point to put a Football game on Sunday and Monday and the the World Series on the rest of the week KUDOS! and thank you Carnival! Both the food and balcony were a HUGE disappointment for sure. Yet, we still managed to have a great time on this cruise. I wouldn't trade working for that week of vacation vs the cruise and money spent for 1 minute! Although, we were in awe of the OASIS at every port. What a marvel of a ship. However, maybe I will ease our way up starting with the Jewel of the Seas (which just started it's rotation in Tampa, FL.), then Freedom of the seas and then maybe Allure/Oasis...Celebrity also seems to have some really cool itineraries to Aruba, etc... So who knows. Variety is not a bad thing.