Dream Review 7/16 quite dreamy!

[sofaman61]

The Dream is named correctly. It is quite a dream...a very nice dream that I hope to have again soon.

 

My wife & 2 boys (12&15)were on the cruise. We didn't book the trip until 2 weeks before sailing. That was a first! I usually plan way into the future but I was I was busy with my Boy Scout troop in June backpacking at Philmont in New Mexico. We knew the dates we were going somewhere, but did not book until I got back from Philmont.

We live in south Georgia so the drive down was only 3.5 hours and very easy. My main recommendation if you are driving to Canaveral is to use Park and Cruise. Very easy. They are on the left side of the road & very easy to find. We drove up into the little building. They meet you at your car & help get your bags out. By the time I paid & parked the car, my family was already loaded & waiting in the little bus. From the time we drove up & the time we pulled out for the short ride to the terminal 10 minutes or less had gone by. Now that's fast & easy. Cheap too, half of the price you pay at the parking lot at the cruise terminal & then you would have to lug your bags across the lot. Like I said ...easy.

 

The line outside the terminal was real long, but it took maybe 10-20 minutes before we were upstairs & checking in & on the ship. Our rooms were great. We had 2 side by side deck 12 rooms on the spa level deck. We wanted adjoining rooms, but none were available at that late date. The dividing wall on the balconies was opened up by the room steward and it was very close to having adjoining rooms with the extra large two room balcony. Being that we booked at such a late date We thought we were going to get some deeeep discounts...we did, but we were kind of hobbled by the need to have side by side rooms. If it were just the 2 of us & needing only one room...yes, there were great prices floating around for a single room here or there with only 2 weeks to go before setting sail. We got a great rate for the great rooms we purchased, for we would have never lined up spa level if we would have booked six months ago.

 

The ship is easy to get around in. Gone is the typical purple fabrics & neon and glitz of other carnival ships. It was a little more subdued which was very nice. There was no problem ever waiting on an elevator. The front elevators were even faster for there were the glass ones as well as the regulars ones. Our rooms were near there so we used both frequently.

The main show room looked nice, but we are not the vegas style show fans so the only time we were in there was for bingo and the lifeboat drill.

We did hang out in the bar mid ship on deck 5. I believe the name is the ocean lounge. The band Cooper's Run played there just about every night. We really liked them. We had late dining, so we would catch them before dinner & after. I'm no country fan, but I really enjoyed their music. It was their very first cruise and Carnival is fortunate to have them.

 

Yes the pools were kind of crowded and you could get a lounger if you were persistent. I swam a couple times & yes it was a little cozy. The water slides were great. My 12 yr old stayed on them as much as he could. He convinced me to take a ride down each of the two large ones. Once was enough for me...they are gooood slides. They have a couple toddler slides too, as well as some other water dumping devices that the little kids looked to be having fun on. I liked this area, for it was up one deck from the main pool deck. it was still right there beside the main pool & its jumbo-tron TV so parents could still be in on whatever was going on at the main pool. That's a nice touch. It wasn't too long ago that we were in the toddler business. They were segregated yet parents were still in on what all is going on. Nice

 

There is a putt putt course with 18 holes. We played once. It was fun & nothing shabby about it. It's on top deck in the middle of the ship just under the funnel.

 

Our favorite place to lounge outside everyday that we were not in port was on deck 5. It goes around the entire ship with plenty of available lounge chairs. PLENTY OF THEM. If you just want to find a lounger in the sun or in the shade, just head to deck 5. We prefer shade over sun, so as soon as the sun started beating down on us, we would just move to the other side of deck 5. It is heavily patroled by the wait staff, so you will not go thirsty.

 

Casino was fun. Not too loud. Not too smokey. I like blackjack. My wife found out on this trip that she likes it as well as I do. I had a blast with her playing. It was the first time that she had ever played & she did very well. Carnival does have something that I have never seen before on the blackjack tables. At first, I thought it was just a "sucker bet" but, turned out fantastic for me. "Fun Pairs" is an additional bet you can make on each hand on whether you will get a pair dealt to you or not. It pays 5 to 1 if you get any pair. The payout goes up big time if your pair is same color, even more if identical. I did not not start playing Fun Pairs until my last day & it paid handsome dividends for me the last day. Try it if you pay blackjack. It's a game within the game at only $1 each hand.

 

The boys had a great time every night. My older hung out in the O2 club for 15-17 yr olds. My 12 yr old realy did not care as much for his club C3. He mainly loved the video arcade. He drug me down in it to play some games with him a couple nights. A good arcade with a plethora of games.

 

The food & drink was fine. We had the 8:15 late dining the the Scarlet MDR. Pavel, our waiter on table 431, who was from St Petersburg Russia was a true delight. He was great to our boys & he really exceeded our dining expectations. I'm sure this may happen at every table, but he would already have my boy's sodas waiting on them at the table every night. Nice touch. Pavel is a excellent asset to Carnival. I'm sure everyone's waiter is fantastic, but something about this guy put him over the top in our eyes. Of course he and his assistant got extra envelopes from us on the last night. I love to tip extra when extra attention is paid to us.

 

The bars were all good. The bartenders would remember my name before I would order...nice touch. I am a beer drinker and a beer maker so needless to say that I like my beer. They had the normal buds, coors,etc domestics. Imports were the heinys, stella, dos eq, fosters, etc. My only complaint was that they should serve an IPA or some type of microbrew style like a Sierra Nevada...something with a bit more hops. They do pour down on deck 3 at the atrium bar a Carnival original beer Thirsty Frog red. It and Bud light were on tap there. It was OK at best. I drank the bud lights when I was there.

 

The shops on board seemed to have very good prices. I got very interested in a couple nice watches in the shops. It must have been shortly after my visits to the atrium bar! I did not buy one, but I did compare in some shops on St Martin and the ship's store was lower priced.

I do know the Ray Ban sunglasses were lower than anything I've seen lately.

 

Bahamas...well we got off for a couple hours. My youngest proposed that we take a horse carriage ride. I'm glad we listened to him for it was great. Too short but great. Not too much to do there unless you want to pay through the nose & other orifaces to do the Atlantis thing. I guess they have to pay for all that nationwide advertising they do on TV back in the states.

 

St Thomas. A great port! We honeymooned 17 yrs ago on St John so we took the ferry over from Red Hook to Cruz Bay St John. Rented a jeep and drove all over the island showing the boys our little island. It was a little hectic at first because we missed the ferry by 5 mins & had to wait 55 more mins to the next. Got to Cruz Bay and the first 3 rental companies had nothing, but the 4th did. Once we got out of town everything turn good. Trunk bay was nice to swim at & its sheer beauty is just about breathtaking. Drove all over the place having fun and of course the roaming donkeys on the back side of the island were fun to pet through the jeep window. I guess they do not pen their livestock there. We will be back.

 

St Maarteen was our favorite. We had no real plans in stone. We kind of planned on finding a beach for a while & then go over to Maho beach to have the jets come over your heads landing. Well that was the plan.

We got off the ship & asked at the information booth where my sons could do a little snorkeling & beach. She steered us to the right place. A $4 pp cab ride that was maybe 10 minutes to Little Bay. I had no idea it was Divi resort at Little Bay. There was a lady in a little booth hawking day passes for free with food if you would just look at one of the new condo timeshares...we just kept walking and cruised out on the beach & rented some loungers & umbrella for $5 each and parked it. An absolutely beautiful beach. The Divi resort had a nice bar & grill Gizmo's right there on the beach named after the resident Macaw parrot. He walked around the bar looking for snacks & entertaining the customers. Very cool.

There was a beach hut there renting snorkel gear & jet skis. Not a fantastic reef there, but a couple small rock beach groins that held plenty of fish for my boys to enjoy all day. Yes, we were having such a good time that we all decided to stay the entire day there. A fantastic day in paradise with my family.

 

I did get on the Roll Call board for two weeks before our cruise. We met up at the sunset bar after the lifeboat drill. I had never done that before, but Hotelfixer & all his friends seem to be a real fun loving group and interesting people. Fyi I think they all met a few years ago off of a roll call board! I would have loved to spent some more time with them, but to tell you the truth I did not run into them again except on one time before dinner. I guess hanging out with my family and dining at different times than when they did caused us to be in different areas of the ship. If you want to read a very well written review of this same cruise, look up hotelfixer's review. I think he posted it this morning. It is excellent.

 

The spa and gym were top notch! The use of the spa came free with our room so my wife & I used it everyday when we were not in port. Nice! Steam room, a little less hot steam room and even a lesser hot steam room. Three steam rooms. A tepid room with very warm tile loungers and a large mineral spa. My wife did get a package massage & facial that they offered & she said that it was very good & that she enjoyed it. The gym was rather good with good equipment & the ample rack of dumbell free weights too. 12 - 15 treadmills , 8 - 10 bikes & 8 or so eliptcals.

 

Yes we would go back on the Dream again. We would even go back to the eastern carib over the western carib. It goes to both, there's just so much more on St Thomas & St Maarteen to see & do that we have not done yet. The Dream far exceeded our expectations. The staff were great. There were over 800 kids 12 yrs old & up on the cruise yet it did not feel like it. Now if you would go down to deck 4 where the kid's clubs & arcade are at, well it was a lot of kids, but that was "their" area.

The beds & pillow were very comfortable. As a matter of fact I wanted to ask to see where I could buy some of the pillows, but I forgot to do so.

The flatscreen TV in the room with the interactive part where you could look up your S&S account, room service , etc was nice.

The coffee was good. Much better than on past cruises. If you like coffee like we do, take a travel type coffee cup with a top. One of us would go down each morning & bring back java to drink on the balcony. We room serviced a couple times too with the coffee on the balcony.

We may do a northern european cruise next year. We are all getting the itch to see europe. Not sure if carnival does the northern euro thing or not...I hope so for we all were very impressed with carnival!

Feel free to ask any questions, I'll do my best.

 

Mark

[Cruise Team]

Thanks for the wonderful review. We have 108 days to go before we sail on the dream. We are going to the western car. I could really picture st. thomas reading your review, we love it. thanks again!

[itsalljimmysfault]

We loved the Dream too! You can buy the pillows (or the entire bed for that matter) at carnivalcomfortcollection.com. We have the pillows and love them!!

[jennim]

Really nice to see a positive review on Cruise Critic for a change, especially when it comes to the Dream.... I'll be on her in 115 days, and although I am reading all the reviews I am not letting any of the negative comments influence my opinion. Great review :)

[brooklynfc]

Did you just get off the boat and find the carriage ride in Nassau? Was it like a 30 mins ride through town? How much?

 

Thanks, this is my second time on Dream and third time in Nassau......I just wanted something quick and easy as my friend has never been to Nassau (or on a cruise) before.

[crewsweeper]

Nice review Mark. I think you covered the bases. Thanks for taking the time to write it. Glad you had a great cruise.:D Sure beats lugging a backpack in the heat, huh? We've Dreamed 3 times already. Need another Eastern to even it out.:rolleyes:

[xplor97]

Great review...we had a spa cabin on the Dream Eastern Oct 2010 and have booked again, Dream Eastern spa cabin Oct 2012. You are right about the ship and the ports.

[sofaman61]

Did you just get off the boat and find the carriage ride in Nassau? Was it like a 30 mins ride through town? How much?

 

Thanks, this is my second time on Dream and third time in Nassau......I just wanted something quick and easy as my friend has never been to Nassau (or on a cruise) before.

 

yes the carriages are right there as soon as you come out of the building that they make you walk thru. It was $50 for about 30 mins. Yes a little pricey but it was nice & glad we did it. It is the only thing we did there.

[sofaman61]

We loved the Dream too! You can buy the pillows (or the entire bed for that matter) at carnivalcomfortcollection.com. We have the pillows and love them!!

 

thanks for the heads up on the website! I will buy some of those good pillows!

[tiger belle]

good review, Mark...thanks

[brooklynfc]

yes the carriages are right there as soon as you come out of the building that they make you walk thru. It was $50 for about 30 mins. Yes a little pricey but it was nice & glad we did it. It is the only thing we did there.

 

Thanks!

[sofaman61]

yes the carriages are right there as soon as you come out of the building that they make you walk thru. It was $50 for about 30 mins. Yes a little pricey but it was nice & glad we did it. It is the only thing we did there.

 

 

It was $50 for the 4 of us. Regular price is $15 pp, so if it was just 2 of you it would be only $30 , The 50 was a group discount is guess.