Carnival Dream Picture Review, December 10th-17th, 2011

[italianfemmy]

I just called and upgrade to the spa room...geez! I don't think I can take anymore of your review, as you are blowing my budget:D

 

Honestly, I booked this cruise a few weeks ago, but haven't really had a chance to truly start being excited about it and to think too much about the cruise. Then I happen upon your review, and now I have upgraded from a 1A to a 4S less than 24 hours later...I might need to unsubscribe for the sake of my bank account.

 

but maybe I will hang around a little longer.........

 

Again, code name: Italianfemmy so I can start earning some rewards or something! lol! The spa room photos that I took came out really awesome considering the room was 1/2 filled with people and I shot around them. I was trying not to annoy any of them too.. haha. But yeah, the spa photos are some of my favorites that I took.. so inviting! Glad you loved them. Spending hours in the spa every day might actually SAVE you money!

 

I have something incredible coming up on day 4 that might cost more money for more people though! :-)

 

P.S. When are you sailing?

Edited December 28, 2011 by italianfemmy

[barefoot cruiser]

Again, code name: Italianfemmy so I can start earning some rewards or something! lol! The spa room photos that I took came out really awesome considering the room was 1/2 filled with people and I shot around them. I was trying not to annoy any of them too.. haha. But yeah, the spa photos are some of my favorites that I took.. so inviting! Glad you loved them. Spending hours in the spa every day might actually SAVE you money!

 

I have something incredible coming up on day 4 that might cost more money for more people though! :-)

 

P.S. When are you sailing?

 

<making note to self> Skip day 4 review:D

just changed my signature to reflect my sail date March 24th.

 

BTW I did mention the great pictorial review that made me want to upgrade...she laughed when she realized I was going from a 1A to a 4S.

Edited December 28, 2011 by barefoot cruiser

[rtfnl]

I meant second post to your thread. I gave you some love at the beginning of your review.:)

[crusinmo]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[italianfemmy]

<making note to self> Skip day 4 review:D

just changed my signature to reflect my sail date March 24th.

 

BTW I did mention the great pictorial review that made me want to upgrade...she laughed when she realized I was going from a 1A to a 4S.

 

I was kidding about mentioning me! lol. They'll be like "umm okay, whoever that is..." :-)

 

March 24th isn't that far away! I wish I had another cruise planned for that soon!

 

Working on some of my shots that I took of the dolphins.. hoping to get one more post in tonight before bedtime!

[italianfemmy]

I meant second post to your thread. I gave you some love at the beginning of your review.:)

 

Ahhhhh! And here I thought you were just trying to be clever and cute! lol.

[cuyahoga11]

Great review and pictures. I am not even planning on sailing the Dream (not a fan of the big ships) but I am hanging on every word you write.

[PrettyHazardous]

Thanks for the advice I will definitely check everything out. I don't have spa room but am considering the pass. Do you know if they have one for just a couple days instead of every day? Also I see there is a couple rate but I know my dh and gdad will not be interested but my gma and I may be. Will we be able to sign up for the couple rate if we're in separate rooms:confused: (why I think you'd know the answer to this question is beyond me... wishful thinking I guess:rolleyes:).

[iluvdoxies]

Love your pics ! Great job.

[TriciaEMTB]

Your review is amazing. Iove your writing style and I'm so jealous of your picture taking. Even on vacation you take amazing pictures!

 

You are gorgeous, too, BTW.

[mississauga]

Thanks for the advice I will definitely check everything out. I don't have spa room but am considering the pass. Do you know if they have one for just a couple days instead of every day? Also I see there is a couple rate but I know my dh and gdad will not be interested but my gma and I may be. Will we be able to sign up for the couple rate if we're in separate rooms:confused: (why I think you'd know the answer to this question is beyond me... wishful thinking I guess:rolleyes:).

 

I have read that there are daily passes you can purchase but only after they have sold the weekly passes. Then they can determine how many daily passes can be sold.

 

We have had the spa cabins and love having use of the spa facilities but I would recommend that you purchase the pass on sea days when you can get the maximum use of the spa.:)

[italianfemmy]

Okay, so like I said yesterday, we hung around to watch the dolphins play, eat some food, talked to some trainers, talked to the bar staff, took some photos and videos of the dolphins swimming, playing and training. We probably spent an extra 3 hours there during which time I took about 400 photos. It was super hard for me to narrow them down because they're adorable!

 

Again, I am sorry if this is too repetitive and if you don't like dolphins, you may want to skip a few posts. But if you love them, just say AWWWWWWWW!

 

All of these photos were taken by me. :-) Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[italianfemmy]

 

Then, I took some photos of the property because the resort itself is stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

[italianfemmy]

Yay action shot!

 

 

 

And for the fun of it, I decided to take a photo of a guy that was swimming on the dolphin's belly to act like I was hired to be there for a moment. Don't get me wrong, I love photographing pin up models for publication work and I love photographing weddings. But, I really would like to go photograph dolphins for about 3 months a year. lol.

 

 

 

 

[italianfemmy]

Continuing on..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[italianfemmy]

Last shot that I chose to share here.

 

 

Still to come today, a couple photos of Latanya and I at the end of our Dolphinaris day, a couple photos of us on our way back to the ship and an ending day 3 recap back aboard the Dream.

[zabnee]

Beautiful photos and such a great narative! we've done the eastern itinerary, and will be headed out on the western in less than 4 weeks.

 

Keep up the beautiful review, and thank you so much for taking such care, detail and time for it!

[CapsR1]

Alicia,

 

1. You and your partner Latanya make a beautiful couple. Wishing you both many years of happiness together.

 

2. Your photographs are absolutely stunning; I truly have never been "touched" by photos before as I have with yours. The photos capture not only the subject matter but also for me, evoke emotions and feelings based on each individual photo. You have a gift for making photos come to life. I understand why your clients pay for you to fly to their events to take pictures; you are amazing.

 

3. To me, a good photographer is like a good cook or chef as both involve tasks which are labors of love . . . time consuming but pleasurable for the person doing it.

 

4. I have sailed Carnival four times and on every ship the water tastes like chemicals to me. Maybe my palate just picks it up, but I've tried to drink the "tap" water several times and it makes me gag. We always bring about a dozen small bottles of spring water on board and purchase more in ports.

 

5. We would like to sail the Dream someday, our next two cruises are both within driving distance from our home to cut back on airfare costs. Your photos and descriptions, however are very alluring.

 

6. It would be a blast to sail with the two of you someday; hope our paths meet in the future!

 

7. The dolphin encounter you went on is exactly the type I would like to experience someday. I'm not interested in an encounter where you get to pet and kiss the animals only. The interaction, especially the individual swim makes me want to jump through the screen to get the experience.

 

8. Carnival is crazy not to hire you to do some of their commercial shots - maybe someone on this board will be able to hook you up with the right people to make this happen.

 

THANK YOU so very much for taking the time to post this wonderful review.

[italianfemmy]

Alicia,

 

1. You and your partner Latanya make a beautiful couple. Wishing you both many years of happiness together.

 

2. Your photographs are absolutely stunning; I truly have never been "touched" by photos before as I have with yours. The photos capture not only the subject matter but also for me, evoke emotions and feelings based on each individual photo. You have a gift for making photos come to life. I understand why your clients pay for you to fly to their events to take pictures; you are amazing.

 

3. To me, a good photographer is like a good cook or chef as both involve tasks which are labors of love . . . time consuming but pleasurable for the person doing it.

 

4. I have sailed Carnival four times and on every ship the water tastes like chemicals to me. Maybe my palate just picks it up, but I've tried to drink the "tap" water several times and it makes me gag. We always bring about a dozen small bottles of spring water on board and purchase more in ports.

 

5. We would like to sail the Dream someday, our next two cruises are both within driving distance from our home to cut back on airfare costs. Your photos and descriptions, however are very alluring.

 

6. It would be a blast to sail with the two of you someday; hope our paths meet in the future!

 

7. The dolphin encounter you went on is exactly the type I would like to experience someday. I'm not interested in an encounter where you get to pet and kiss the animals only. The interaction, especially the individual swim makes me want to jump through the screen to get the experience.

 

8. Carnival is crazy not to hire you to do some of their commercial shots - maybe someone on this board will be able to hook you up with the right people to make this happen.

 

THANK YOU so very much for taking the time to post this wonderful review.

 

Wow! What an amazing thing to say, or should I say amazing things to say! Thank you so much for taking your time to make me smile from ear to ear.

 

While it would be easy for me to say that Carnival should hire me to do commerical shots for them, I am humbled by the fact that there are MANY amazing photographers out there that shoot commercial photos all the time and have a name built for themselves in that realm. Thus far, I've only shot them for fun. I have a name for myself in the wedding photography industry though and have recently had a couple of publications in a pin up magazine which has been a thrill!

 

I know I am a good photographer but I guess that because I surround myself in networks filled with amazing photographers and because I critique my own work like crazy, I know I have so much room to grow into and so many pieces of so many greats to aspire to be more like.

[SerenityDream]

Alicia,

 

I posted a link to your review here into another cruise critic board roll call that is for sailing on the Dream Sept. 22 2012 there are some 1st time cruisers so I think they will love your reviews! My partner and I have cruised several times but I find your approach refreshing!

Thanks :) Tawny

[gunther619]

Guilty as charged...I've been lurking too :p

 

Awesome review. Like every other review..I'm usually skimming through the words quickly and waiting for the pictures and in this case the pictures are awesome. But your photographer...so obviously, they're awesome! I took a few classes in photography, so I know how much work it can be set up a good shot.

 

Keep on writing :D ...and more importantly, posting pictures! haha

[Ffej207]

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for taking the time to put them together for these posts. We're sailing on the Dream in March.

 

I don't normally comment on review threads,

[most interesting man]

but when I do, it's to thank the reviewer.

[italianfemmy]

As the day was winding down and it was getting close to time to make our way back to the Dream, Latanya and I sat by the bar at Dolphinaris, where she had a drink that I cannot recall what it was and I just smiled while watching the Dolphins, wishing I could stay there forever.

 

Gustavo, one of our 2 bartenders was so interested in my camera as he is interested in taking up photography and maybe becoming one of the photographers at Dolphinaris one day.

 

Here's a photo of Latanya and Gustavo together:

 

 

Then, Gustavo offered to take some photos of Latanya and I together. I set everything up for him except for the composition and he cropped my feet out in one. lol. Oh well, A for effort, Gustavo! (Honestly, I was just thrilled to have some photos of the 2 of us together as we rarely do that.)

 

 

 

Lol.... okay... so....I know I am not a model by any means but I was thinking to myself that it was a shame we didn't have a model with us for this beautiful backdrop. So, playing around I decided to hop up onto to the bar and have Latanya take my photo. I never planned to do anything with it but it actually came out pretty good.

 

The big thing in magazines these days is that people are trying to spot what's real and what has been photoshopped. I have no shame - I photoshopped the heck out of myself in this photo. Wouldn't you if you could? :D

 

 

And then.... I took one of Latanya too. She's so cute!

 

 

 

Sadly, we had to hug our new friends at Dolphinaris goodbye and stop watching these beautiful creatures play. We waited about 5 minutes for our included taxi to pick us up and within 10 minutes, we were back in port walking back towards the Dream.

 

We did stop a couple of times to take photos with some of the locals that were dressed up and that will be revealed in the next post!

Edited December 28, 2011 by italianfemmy

[italianfemmy]

In most ports, there are always people dressed up with the hopes that you'll stop by and tip them or take your photo with them and tip them. Often times, there are musicians. Latanya and I love talented people and we believe in tipping them. Street performers don't annoy us, they entertain us. I've heard so many people complain about the expected 1 or 2 dollar tip to take your photos with the street performers. Not to offend anyone here but seriously? People expect these people to stand out there and do this for free? And then these same people go on the ship and pay $20 or more for 1 photo with a backdrop. Don't get me wrong, I have my share of photos with a backdrop on a cruise but I love having "real" photos too.

 

Anyway, as we were walking back to the ship, these guys were playing their instruments and I told Latanya to jump in the shot with them. They were quite talented and posed for several photos for us but I am just going to share 1.

 

 

A little closer to the ship and there were drummers and african dancers with face paint and cool headresses. (sp?).

 

 

Latanya got to play the drum. We have a jembe at home that we had hand carved for her in another country although I cannot recall which one. She's actually very good and people thought she was part of the act and started taking photos of her. I also shot a short video on my DSLR but haven't converted any of the video files yet.

 

 

I can see the Dream now! Even though I am sad to be leaving Cozumel, I am happy to be headed back to my paradise at sea.

 

 

Day 3 isn't over yet though because we've still got an entire evening! Getting back on the ship was smooth sailing. I don't have any more photos for Day 3, the rest will just be words. Sorry!

 

Once we got back on the ship, we immediately rinsed off and headed to the spa. We spent about an hour in the spa (usual routine for me... Thalassotherapy pool, Bamboo round room). Usual routine for Latanya, Thalassotherapy pool, Bamboo round room, hot wet sauna steam room, end in Bamboo round room with me.)

 

By day 3, I can tell a big difference in my skin from using the Thalassotherapy pool. It is softer and feels healthier. The minerals are actually working! Also, my back which has tons of issues and always bothers me hasn't been bothering me much during this cruise, even though I've been pretty active. The combination of the Thalassotherapy and the hot stone chairs are really doing a great job on my body and I am starting to realize how sad I will be when I no longer have access to the Cloud 9 spa.

 

A check of the watch and we slowly make our way to the locker room to get our stuff to head back to our room and get dressed for dinner. We meet up with Steve and Kim and get our table for dinner. Tonight, we have 2 awesome wait staff members, Suppatra and another one who has a difficult name and since Latanya isn't here at the moment, it'll have to wait. They both spent a while talking to us and making us laugh. I was once again very pleasantly surprised by how attentive and amazing the staff were in the dining room on the Dream. Again, I am sorry that I didn't keep a journal and write down what I ate each night. I don't remember what I had this night but it must have been good or I would definitely remember that!

 

At the end of dinner, Latanya and I headed to the Encore Theatre to watch the main show this evening which was an Action Comedian. His name was Michael James. We almost didn't go because we've watched Action Comedians on other ships and really weren't impressed. I'll say that I didn't feel Michael was overly funny but his stunts were crazy impressive. I won't post about what he did incase he's on anyone elses's cruise. I will just say that he is VERY worth going to watch. I am an adrenaline junkie and I have seen loads of stunt shows. He's very good. We left the Encore feeling rather entertained.

 

After the show, we headed all the way Aft to the Ocean Plaza area to get Latanya signed up for the Michael Jackson dance off. She kind of had an advantage since she had just participated in a MJ Thriller flash mob on Halloween. And, she did win. I love watching her dance and sing.. it gives me great pleasure. In general, I love watching people do things that they're good at. The world can never have too much talent!

 

Ironically enough, they followed the dance off with a thriller dance class teaching people authentic moves from the music video. Shane (one of the dancers) was the teacher for this class. This is when we got to talk to him for a few minutes. He is from Hawaii and is such a sweetheart. He was called away from us because he was needed somewhere else on the ship but he seemed so interested in conversing with us. I love when you can tell that the people you're talking to care about talking to you even though they see thousands of people every week.

 

Finally, we were all worn out and decided to head up to the room to get some good sleep.

 

Day 4, Tuesday would be the port of Mahogany Bay (Roatan) and we had to get up early!

Edited December 28, 2011 by italianfemmy

[mara93]

Not even sailing this itinerary or the Dream but I'm subscribing to your thread. Keep up the great work!