Just off the Dream, stuck in a car, ?'s are welcome!

[frazzledrazzle16]

I'll bullet point since I'm on my phone...

 

- This was a two week vacation with my family (me-25, sister-26, mom & grandma- wouldnt be too happy if I posted their ages!). We drove down from Chicago and spent 5 wonderful days at Disney before hopping on the Dream.

 

- Itinerary was changed from western to eastern caribbean due to hurricane Rina. We knew the night before, but there were many who don't keep up with CC or John Heald & didnt find out until they were handed a slip as we were entering the port. Some were mad and expecting compensation. I was a bit bummed at first but it was nice to have an extra sea day

 

-Halloween + cruising = SO MUCH FUN! I am definitely going to have to go again next year!

 

-New menus didnt seem that different, food was just OK. Lido was disappointing. Suprisingly felt like there was a lack of choices, even with the pasta, burritos, etc. Lanai BBQ was interesting on the first day but the menu never changed. Our favorite discovery was the salad bar at the Sushi area on sea days.

 

-Ship was beautiful. Loved the layout and decor. Didn't seem that big walking from bow to stern & never had an issue finding chairs by the pool (even at 10:30/11am!), but most everywhere else seemed very crowded, especially the lido buffet and the main theater. Elevators were sometimes hard to come by, especially since a few of them were out of commission for the week.

 

-Entertainment staff gets an A+. We really enjoyed Kirk, Jamie, Gumbi, and the rest of the gang. Staff was overall very friendly, however it was the first time in 11 cruises with Carnival that I didn't know the name of my room steward. Our room often woulnt be serviced until late afternoon. I'll chalk it up to too few staff with too many rooms.

 

- Seas were pretty rough towards the end of the week... There were a couple nights we had to call it a night early because we were all feeling a little queasy.

 

-Friday was quite the action packed day... There was a coast guard chopper to medivac an ill staff member around midnight and then later around 5pm we were diverted to Nassau for a medical emergency with one of the guests. Hope everyone is ok!

 

All things considered, we had a FABULOUS time! I'm ready to book the next one and start counting down the days!

[frito58]

Glad you had a great time, figured there might be a lot of upset people with the last minute port change and all of the scrambling to find things to do.

 

Did you have nice weather?? Hope so you guys deserverd it. :)

[Scootch]

We have sailed w/ CCL 4x and on our last (08') we were disappointed to find food choices as well as quality declining. We were hoping this was just our opinion, but I seem to be finding this same opinion in several Carnival reviews. I'm hoping CCL takes note and resolves issue. Great cruise line!!

 

Glad you had a wonderful time!

 

Happy sailing~

[ahoys]

Hi Stephanie! I've been a fan of Nicole's reviews for years--thought about you guys this week with the weather and everything. Glad to hear that you had a good time. Hope to hear more details of your trip!

[MissKIA]

Now that's a balanced review! Sounds like you had a good time despite the few disappointments. The Dream is on my short list for our next cruise. Halloween would be a blast on a ship! I just don't know if I would want to chance cruising during hurricane season. Maybe one day I'll try it! Glad you had a good vacation!

[rtw68]

OP thanks for the info!

 

We are going in 34 days and its much appreciated! :D

[frazzledrazzle16]

Glad you had a great time, figured there might be a lot of upset people with the last minute port change and all of the scrambling to find things to do.

 

Did you have nice weather?? Hope so you guys deserverd it. :)

 

Yes we did. :) Sunny everyday... I think if it was crappy weather I would have been more upset about the itinerary change. We didn't end up doing much in the ports because ive been to them a handful of times but it ended up being a much more relaxing vacation than if we had gone to the four ports as planned.

 

We have sailed w/ CCL 4x and on our last (08') we were disappointed to find food choices as well as quality declining. We were hoping this was just our opinion, but I seem to be finding this same opinion in several Carnival reviews. I'm hoping CCL takes note and resolves issue. Great cruise line!!

 

Glad you had a wonderful time!

 

Happy sailing~

 

Thanks! I think at this point we're ready to expand our 'cruising horizons' and try a different line. It seems whatever changes carnival makes is just more cutbacks and nothing really new.

 

Hi Stephanie! I've been a fan of Nicole's reviews for years--thought about you guys this week with the weather and everything. Glad to hear that you had a good time. Hope to hear more details of your trip!

 

Haha well I hope you'll be happy to hear that she took notes on her iPad before bed every night, so hopefully she can find the time to post her review soon.