Freedom Of The Seas vs Carnival Dream

[livingitup]

Need help with this one. Planning a family cruise for Jun 2013, cant decide which ship to go with. Need honest feedback, Freedom Of The Seas or Dream? Please share as much input as possible if you have sailed on both of these ships.:confused:

[Clarea]

Need help with this one. Planning a family cruise for Jun 2013, cant decide which ship to go with. Need honest feedback, Freedom Of The Seas or Dream? Please share as much input as possible if you have sailed on both of these ships.:confused:

Check out this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1674693

[dacsmom]

That question was posted on both the Carnival and Royal boards. The overwhelming response was for the Freedom of the Seas, even from those on the Carnival board.

[lglancy]

I haven't sailed the Freedom yet (though we are booked for September 9), but have sailed on most of the Voyager class. After sailing Carnival Triumph, and Carnival Freedom, I said I'd never take another Carnival cruise. We decided to give them another chance last year and try the Dream, because there were no Voyager class ships that were at all affordable, plus the Dream itinerary had ports RC doesn't go to, and frankly we are tired of the same St. Thomas/St. Maarten or Grand Cayman/Jamaica routes that seem to be all RC offers these days. So, I'd have to say the Dream is the closest ship we've been on to compare to RC Voyager class, but even at that, it still doesn't measure up. Their ships just lack the beauty and "wow" factor of RC ships. We liked the Dream very much, and would sail it or the Magic or Breeze if we found another great price, but it is definately not an apples to apples comparison to what I think the Freedom is going to be. Even at that comparison, RC Voyager class would be the Honeycrisp apple, and the Dream is the Macintosh that's been in the fridge for a few days. Still nice, and MUCH better than any other Carnival ship we've cruised, but just not up to the RC standards. The ship was in great shape, service was great, shows were good, I love the Serenity section on Carnival, love the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake in MDR, DH loves that he can get a gourmet cheeseburger for dinner in MDR. The majority of the dining, however, is terrible. Carnival has the worst buffets I've ever seen. I'm not one to food bash on cruises, but seriously, we found ourselves ordering room service for lunches because the buffets were that bad. Breakfast and lunch were terrible. MDR food was very good. We had trouble with cabin noise on the Dream, specifically with doors slamming. The cabin doors are very heavy and do not close slowly, so all day and night we would hear the doors down our hallway.

 

So, long story short, we did purchase the next cruise voucher from Carnival, so we enjoyed the Dream that much at least. We hadn't sailed RC for about 2 years prior to our Dream cruise, again due to RC price and itinerary, so we really enjoyed our week on the Dream, except for the buffets. Then, this March, we went back to RC on the Voyager, and we were reminded just how much better RC is. In answer to your question, here's my plan: I always check RC first. If the price is close, I'll go with them every time. If the price difference is huge, as it was last year ($350 pp difference), and the ports are better

( Carnival took us to Belize, Honduras and Costa Maya. COME ON RC!! Get some better ports too!), then I'd go back on the Dream class.

 

I have reviews of the Dream and the Voyager class ships we've been on, if you'd like even more details. Whichever you choose, have a great time!

[time4u2go]

What's the price difference? That would be a factor, at least for us.

[2thesea]

We have sailed onthe Dream twice, we were not happy the first time and sailed the second time to give her a second chance and was still not happy with the over experience. Th people's are way too small and way too few. Service lack luster and food cutbacks very apparent. So we will be sailing on the Freedom in December for the first time....we paid more but based on e review we have read we made a good choice. :D

[CHAMPDDS]

We have done both...Dream was less expensive....Freedom has MUCH better layout/design...Dream is not as nice to go from one end to the other...I did like the water park on Dream,but it didn't make up for the other things....We are doing Freedom again...won't do Dream again...

 

David:D