Carnival Dream Review March 10-19

[Ms Belvedere]

Here is a quick review written before I forget the details, please forgive any spelling or other errors. I'll try to get back to this later and see if there are any questions. I don't have time to scan the Fun Times, just wanted to post my thoughts and a few pics. Thanks to all who read and hope someone gets something useful out of it.

 

We arrived in Florida two days before sailing, stayed at the Dulles Hyatt on March 10, flew out of Dulles to Orlando. Rented a car from Avis and spent two nights at the Radisson at the Port in Cocoa Beach. It was cold and rainy when we left Dulles and cold and rainy in Orlando/Cocoa Beach. It cleared off later in the day on Thursday but was still chilly. We had dinner outside at Fishlips while watching the Sensation sail on Thursday evening.

 

View of Disney and Sensation from Fishlips:

 

 

Warm Brie and Bread at Fishlips:

[Ms Belvedere]

My In-laws came in on Friday to sail with us, we were celebrating my FIL’s 75th birthday. On Thursday we decided that calling Cocoa Beach Shuttle for our trip to the port on Saturday made more sense than waiting on Radisson’s Shuttle, although Radisson does have it down to an art. Cocoa Beach Shuttle charges $4.00/pp. HUGE Thanks to LHP and her wonderful husband for getting the contact info to us so quickly!!! My FIL uses a motorized wheel chair and this helped us to avoid holding anyone else up on the Radisson Shuttle while they loaded his chair and got him into the van.

 

Getting on the ship was fast and easy, by noon we were eating lunch on Lido, I had the Pasta Bar, DH had a burger from the grill. Our room was a cove balcony, 2431, we did have noise from the galley but being close to the water was great, we used the door stop to prop the balcony door open while changing for dinner in the evenings. The sound of the ocean was wonderful. In-laws were upgraded from an inside handicapped room on deck 6 to an aft balcony, 8468. They liked the added space on the balcony but there was a lot of soot from the smoke stack. We were jealous of that upgrade!

 

Our room steward, Mario, and his assistants, Alex and Iris, did an outstanding job, kept our cooler full of ice and always greeted us when we ran into each other. We had a fold up rolling cooler for cokes, ginger ale and beer. Bon Voyage had delivered two bottles to our room before we boarded. The ship was pushing the wine packages heavily on the first day and they were discounting the on-line Bon Voyage price by about 20%.

[Ms Belvedere]

We met some Cruise Critic members at the Sunset Bar after sail away. It’s always nice to meet the people you talk to on CC, they were a great group, very friendly and fun!

 

We had a 4 seat booth in the Scarlet Dining Room, first floor. Desislava, waitress, and Malhuiwar, her assistant, went over and above to serve us. Desi is moving to the Magic when it begins sailing. She seemed to really look forward to the new ship.

 

Sunday – Nassau: this was a short port day, 8:30 – 2:30 so we decided to hang out and shop, have a few drinks and just wander around. After walking to the British Colonial Hilton we sat at their tiki bar and had a drink by the pool in sight of the ships in port, then walked to the Straw Market. I got my MIL a nice two handled straw tote bag with a faux Tommy Bahama print material inlay for $20, down from the initial price of $35; we took it back to the ship then came back out to shop at Pirana Joes and some other shops. Found The Cosmetic Boutique downtown that sells MAC cosmetics and got a new lipstick, they also sell Jo Malone Perfumes. We sniffed but didn’t buy. Bought Tortuga Rum cakes at the Tortuga Rum Cake Store for 5.99 to give co-workers. This was the cheapest we found them at any of the ports, and in the Orlando Airport they were $6.99. Sunday evening was the first formal night for dinner.

[Ms Belvedere]

Monday was a sea day and the chair saving began early. At 7:00 am I had coffee and watched people hightailing it through the Lido with their beach bags and towels. By 7:30 I was getting my stuff and headed to the Lido Aft pool, put my things on a chair and stayed all day. By 8:00 am that morning, every chair at the Aft pool was either saved or had someone in it. I heard that it was the same throughout the ship. Later someone said that the pool attendants were actually removing items on chairs by the main pools to allow those looking for seats to have one.

 

We had reservations at the Chef’s Table Monday evening and highly recommend it. The price is higher than the Chef’s Art Steakhouse ($150 for two) and I don’t know if we’d do it every cruise, but we considered it to be the same as a shore excursion and really enjoyed the different courses and tour of the galley. The chef and his assistants, servers and food prep was outstanding. Our tablemates were a friendly group from Canada and we enjoyed meeting and talking to them.

 

 

 

[Ms Belvedere]

More Chef's Table Pictures:

 

 

 

 

[Ms Belvedere]

Tuesday – St. Thomas: We hustled my in-laws off the ship early and took them to the port for some shopping, it was really hot here and I didn’t want them to be dilly dallying around until the hottest part of the day in the heat.. They were looking for t-shirts for grandchildren and found some cute ones. There is a new Senor Frogs with a swimming pool at the pier, an employee was passing out drink coupons, 2 for free shots and 2 for a free margarita. After shopping for a while and having some drinks to re-hydrate at a nice bar, we took them back to the ship.

 

Senor Frogs at the port in St Thomas:

 

DH and I caught a cab to Red Hook to see a place my friend recommended, Duffy’s Love Shack. I read about it on the Ports of Call on here and thought it would be something different to do since we’ve taken tours here and have gone shopping, etc on previous cruises. The cab cost $10/pp and stopped at the Wyndham Resort to drop off another family who were going jet skiing.

 

Duffy’s was, IMO, a dump, no views, nothing to speak of, so we walked across the street to Big Bambooz. Prices here were a little high but the view was pretty and the food was good, we had wings and Conch Fritters that where delicious, you could tell there really was conch in the fritter.

 

 

Big Bambooz:

 

Conch Fritters and Wings:

[Genner]

Great stuff, keep them coming :cool:

[Ms Belvedere]

Big Bambooz rest rooms were clean and we asked if there was a beach nearby. The waitress said Sapphire Beach was walkable, ¾ of a mile so we paid our bill and headed out. I wouldn’t recommend this walk to most people, it was along a busy road and wouldn’t be an easy walk for anyone with children. We made it in about 10-15 mins, and when we got there we recognized it as a place we’d been on one of our tours before.

 

Very pretty but very crowded. I heard a cabby tell someone the trip back to the port was $11/pp and (nosed in) questioned why it was $11 when we were taken further down the road and dropped off for $10. The cabby asked which ship we were on and when I told him the Dream, he said that this guy was on a better ship than we were, to justify the cost. I said we arrived by row boat, so what will that cab ride cost? I think that the light blue towel carriers were on the Oasis.

 

 

 

[Ms Belvedere]

When we started to look for a cab back to the ship we ended up on a Sunny Liston Tour bus driven by “Elvis” who charged us $10/pp to tag along. Beautiful views on the way back but Elvis certainly didn’t slow down for any picture taking, we snapped what we could as he drove. Back at the port we ran into some Dream crew members and shared our drink coupons with them. We headed over to Senor Frogs, it had cleared out by then, one of the ships had left and we had 2 nice sized Margaritas and a big plate of nachos at a table beside the pool. The music was loud, but diverse, and people started drifting in after coming back from excursions, it was a fun time but we were ready for showers and headed back to the ship to get ready for sailaway.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ms Belvedere]

My in-laws took us to the Steakhouse for dinner, it was nice, but we noticed some cutbacks. They didn’t prepare the salad at the table, the 3 cheeses they used to serve with the bread are now 2 relishes and butter. They offer 2 choices of bread, not a basketful of different breads. The seafood bisque is nothing like the pictures previously shown on this board, it was 4 little slivers of lobster in the bowl and they poured the bisque around it. My filet was a little more red than medium rare, more like rare. Of course the live music has been long gone and there is no dance floor. Most people were dressed well, the women in dresses and the men in slacks and jackets, this was not formal night.

 

I ordered the creamed spinach and Yukon gold potatoes, they only served me the potatoes and I just let the creamed spinach go. It really looked like the Green Giant frozen creamed spinach that we can get at the grocery store. The potatoes were alright. Overall I’d say our experience at the steakhouse was a step above the dining room food. For dessert my MIL ordered the chocolate delight or whatever, it was 4 dishes of chocolate items and she said they were fantastic. I just had coffee because I was full and didn’t want to waste it. If I had a re-do I’d have ordered the cheese tray to go and saved it for the next day in our fridge. If you’ve never experienced the steakhouse before, you should go and enjoy the experience. I remember our first time there, right after it had gone up in price from $10 to a whopping $15 pp. It really was an experience then with the live music, couples got up to dance, the Caesar Salads were prepared individually tableside.

 

Midway through our meal a woman walked into the steakhouse wearing shorts and a t-shirt pushing a baby in a stroller. The staff seemed to know her and she dropped the baby off with them, she walked back to a table in the lower area. If anyone has been in the steakhouse on the Dream, there is a lower area in the center of the room with a table, I think you have to walk down a step or two. It’s hard to describe. Any how, she was there for a while then left, and of course after about 10 minutes the baby started fussing. A group came out of this lower area and very casually, while still talking, pushed the baby and stroller out. It was strange.

[balcony bound]

I said we arrived by row boat, so what will that cab ride cost? I think that the light blue towel carriers were on the Oasis.

 

LOL!!! Thanks for the giggle:)

 

We considered Sapphire last week, sorry to hear it was crowded. We ultimately went to Coki, it got crowded after around lunchtime, too.

 

Hope you liked the Dream and had a great cruise.

[Ms Belvedere]

Wednesday – St Maarten: I woke up feeling sick so instead of our original plan of going to Orient Beach we walked to the beach closer to the pier. In the ports of call thread there is some controversy about this beach being polluted, but it was very beautiful overlooking the waters and ships. There were jet skiers and the different vendors were renting two beach chairs, an umbrella and 5 beers for $20. We stopped at a restaurant and ordered breakfast, I wish I had written the restaurant name down, it was something like Oki then some other letters, it had outdoor seating and comfortable padded seats overlooking the beach. I had tea and toast and DH had a delicious breakfast of bacon, toast, 2 eggs, a bowl of fruit, cup of mango juice and coffee. We never read a menu, just ordered the regular breakfast and when it came we expected the bill to be about $25.00. Turned out to be $15 total, it was a nice surprise for all the items we had and being in a tourist area!

 

 

 

 

[Meyer2]

Great review so far!

[LBumb]

good review so far.

ready for more.

[Ms Belvedere]

More pics of beach in St Maarten close to the pier:

 

 

 

 

 

View of the Pier in St Maarten:

[Ms Belvedere]

Downtown shopping in St Maarten before the crowds arrived:

 

 

[a,j,&fam]

great start

[Ms Belvedere]

We shopped downtown and got some deals then took the water taxi back to the ship to drop things off. Caught a cab to Maho Beach to go to the Sunset Bar and Restaurant and watch the planes come in low. Their pizza here is very good, thin crust and they burn the edges just a little. It was really crowded and hot but we found seats inside close to the edge with a decent view of the incoming planes.

 

 

 

[DOTTE]

Great review!! More please!!!

[Ms Belvedere]

Maho Beach Plane Watchers:

 

 

 

Some more pics of planes coming in:

 

 

 

[Ms Belvedere]

After the Air France plane arrived we headed back to town and did some more shopping, then walked back to the pier where we sat at a bar, I had a coke and DH had a few beers as everyone came back to their ships. Sail away was fun with a lot of horn honking from all the different ships, everyone loved it. We were docked next to the Oasis and as they pulled away everyone was hollering and waving back and forth.

 

And then we saw this on a balcony on the Oasis: :eek:

 

[Ms Belvedere]

The last two days were at-sea and it was a good time to relax and enjoy the sun and ship. Friday night was the Fun Farwell Party in the Burgundy Lounge. We had all the drinks we wanted and the band played fun songs, it ended with a conga line led by a Tennessee college student.

 

Over all, I met great people on this cruise, enjoyed the ship and ports, the food was good to outstanding. The time spent with my In-laws was nice and I know that we all had a great vacation.

 

Good:

- Great service from all employees on the ship

- Chef’s Table was excellent, there were two held on this sailing and it was worth the time and price.

 

Not So Good:

- Jet Blue Airlines treatment of luggage, zipper tabs ripped off. When we got our luggage in Florida it was all wet. They let it sit in the rain either in Washington or Florida, fortunately we always pack our clothes in dry cleaner and zip lock bags; we’ll avoid Jet Blue in the future.

 

Some random thoughts:

- I’ll buy suntan lotions in Florida, if staying extra days, to cut down on baggage weight and Liquids. It cost the same in Florida as at home.

- We used neon zip ties on our luggage getting on the ship, didn’t get called to the Naughty Room and they were not cut.

- We used zebra print Duct tape from Staples on our luggage and it stood out for finding our luggage at both the airport and the ship.

- I’m done gambling on the ships, I swear to that, honest, no really!!!!!

- Practically everyone we met or ran into on the ship were fantastic. Lots or Canadians and Mid West US travelers.

- Lots of small kids in the hot tubs and pools, saw teens hanging out, sitting on the stairs. Didn’t really bother me, but it was happening.

[Ms Belvedere]

Here are some random pictures that I thought readers might enjoy. Sorry if any are dupes, I'm running through this pretty quickly. :)

 

 

 

 

 

[Ms Belvedere]

 

 

 

[scrapgal4228]

Very nice review. You gave me some good ideas on what to do in in st maarten. DH can't wait to go to the beach to watch the planes. Question do you recall what time the downtown shopping area got crowded? Would you recommend go to the beach early to get a good spot to watch the planes?