My "Dream" Double Birthday Cruise September 22-29, 2012

[KrystalWaters]

Oh yeah towel animal from night #1...the infamous

Nassau-I woke up bright eyed and bushy tail for a day spent in Nassau. I was going back and forth with whether or not I was even going to get off the ship. Well the humidity did it for me. I checked the temperature for the day it was like in the high 80s with the humidity being in the high 80s. The weather I will see later on would be the theme for the cruise. My Mom looked where the Dream was parked on the pier and decided she didn’t want to walk in that heat. So we decided to stay on the ship. It paid off because Mom and I entered one of the Trivia games and won and “Ship On A Stick”! She got one and I got one!

My adventurous husband, on the other hand, decided to go and see what’s good. I sent him off with a shopping list and the camera. He came back with a conk shell, bracelets, and tons of pictures. Apparently Nassau was celebrating The Women’s Suffrage Movement during our stop. Nassau was uneventful but I will leave you with these beautiful pictures he took.

Our View from our Balcony(Monstrosity of The Seas aka Oasis of The Seas)

 

 

 

 

It seems i must stop here..Photobucket isn't showing the rest of my pictures to add to Nassau.:mad: I'll try again later. Sorry

[dst]

LMAO about the steamer - you realize your mother will never let you live that down :D

 

Loving the review!

[KrystalWaters]

LMAO about the steamer - you realize your mother will never let you live that down :D

 

Loving the review!

 

I know right! I was just on the phone with her telling her i'm working on the review. She was like, 'why you got to put that in there?' I thought it was important because for those of us who are...let me say...not adhering to the prohibited list may want to leave their luggage unlocked. Well at least in Port Canaveral. We did bring the 3 bottles of Moscato on board. I packed them in one bookbag and 2 12pks of soda. We each went through security seperately and they didn't even blink an eye at the wine. I could have easily brought 2 more bottles of wine. Though my mom did bring a 12pk of small water and they shook those babies like a "polaroid picture". I guess they were looking for bubbles. :rolleyes: I explained to mom through her actions may help another cruiser. hehehehehe:D

[tomsuelaw]

I literally laughed out loud (the kind where LOL does not do it justice) about the steamer. Great story!

[KrystalWaters]

 

 

 

 

Women's Suffrage Tribute in the middle of the square

 

[KrystalWaters]

 

 

 

 

 

[KrystalWaters]

The Straw Market

 

 

 

 

 

On his way back to the ship he took this picture

[kittycrusin08]

Great review, need more, more, more. We leave on 10/13 so we want to know all about the updates during the drydock. Loved the story about your mom's steamer. Thanks for sharing the Birthday Cruise. ;)

[san4u2]

Great review can't wait to read and see more.... we will be on board in 9 days!!!

[Coolcruise02]

Great pictures!

[jules815]

Great pictures, and really enjoying your review! A little over 2 weeks for us and we'll be doing the same itinerary on Dream. We're also staying at the Residence Inn. We haven't stayed there since 2010 and look forward to that too!

[mephistoles]

This was our view from the starboard side at the pier and on our way out to sea.

 

I am LOVING your review! We're planning to cruise Dream next August. DS is trying to get us on (ahem) that "other" ship (shown in your pic) that's also docked at CC. He's going to be sooo excited when he sees it (provided it's still leaving from CC at the time we cruise). Anyway, looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

[teethtoclean]

I love your pictures and posts Krystal... So funny Can't wait to hear more ! We leave on the Dream Oct 20 .. CAN'T WAIT!!:p

[KrystalWaters]

So I mentioned Mom and I stayed on the ship that day to stay out of the heat.

Here is a pic of Mom.

After Gerald got cleaned up from Nassau he had to quickly get ready for the Mixology Contest. My hubby who has been known to mix a few “good ones” entered the Mixology Contest on Saturday. When he signed up on Saturday he had to know the name and contents of the drink at the time of sign-up. Carnival would then choose 3-4 Finalists based on info they received. The actual contest was set to take place on Sunday. Saturday night they left a message in our room mailbox letting us know Gerald was a Finalist. He was so excited! He drink was called "The Floor Magnet".

Hubby is in orange shirt:p

Unfortunately, Hubby did not win. :cool: It was rigged. LOL j/k BUT everywhere we went on the ship and even while in port, cruisers would come up to him and say, "hey you were on the Lido Deck!" or "You were in the Mixology Contest!" or "Floor Magnet, right?" My hubby did make an impressive. When mixing his drink he stood on the pool and shook it, alright.

[KrystalWaters]

Great pictures, and really enjoying your review! A little over 2 weeks for us and we'll be doing the same itinerary on Dream. We're also staying at the Residence Inn. We haven't stayed there since 2010 and look forward to that too!

You have made a wise choice in the Residence. My mom is still talking about that place. It is very conducive to families. I didn't know until later but they do have a nice 2 bedroom suite that has 2 king size beds as well as a pull out queen sofa bed.

Oh I forgot to mention there is a Burger King that's also "in the parking lot" of the Residence. The nearest liquor store did require us to drive so that was good that we had our rental car.

TIP: Publix grocery store liquor was actually cheaper than the local liquor store. It may just depend on what we were looking for but the local liquor store didn't have the type of Moscato i liked so we ended up settling. A good settle but settling. Later on we ended up going to Publix for my Mom's water and hubby noticed they had my type of Moscato and the prices were slightly cheaper.

[KrystalWaters]

Tonight were “Cruise Elegant Night” and my first time eating in the MDR and Lobster Night. If you happen to see this at your table when you sit down, you are in capable of hands.

They were THE BEST wait staff EVER! Would I do “Your Time Dining” again? On the Dream-yes. Now here is where I started hearing complaints about the ship. I’m the type to smile and strike up a convo, ask "you how your day is going?" and "your cruise?". Well it would seem every time I asked someone how’s their cruise I received nothing but complaints. The complaints seem to focus on the MDR service. What I did notice is that about 99% of the MDR service complaints were from cruisers that had a set dining time i.e. Early or Late Seating. It got so bad that towards the end of the cruise I was scared to ask anyone how was their day and how was their cruise. Let me tell you the lines at Guest Services was constantly loooong.

That night we went to see our only show of cruise, "Get Ready". It was good. When then followed up with some 18+ comedy in the Burgundy Lounge. Al Ernst was featuring and he was HIL-LAR-IOUS!!! I must have busted a gut or two during his show. Although it was an 18+ show he use of profanity was very very mild. It was more adult humor or jokes only an adult would understand. He was so good we saw him on Monday night..woah i'm getting ahead of myself here with Monday. Al's show was different each time. If you are lucky enough to see him in your Fun Times make sure you make a point of going.

 

We ended the night and walked in our room and saw this on our bed.

 

Recap:

"Get Ready"-8/10

Al Ernst Comedy-10/10

Anytime MDR Service-10/10

 

 

Up Next...Sea Day,CC Formal Meet & Greet, Chef's Table, and then St. Thomas

[tomsuelaw]

I love all your pics, feel like I am on vacation with you. You guys seem like fun people to cruise with :D

[KrystalWaters]

Monday-9/24 Sea Day

Today was pretty much a laid back day. I woke up to this view.

That’s the “Monstrosity of The Seas” following us.

A few more snap shots from my balcony that day.

This is my favorite shot. Hubby really really loved his balcony. I believe I have a “balcony snob” on my hands. LOL

There were a couple of things on our agenda for today. Our Formal CC Meet & Greet was going to be held today. Thank you to SuzyPayne for setting up everything. Everyone who signed up for the Meet & Greet showed up on time and we had a wonderful time chit chatting and drinking it up. Those drinks were STRONG! I loved meeting everyone and putting a name to a face. I'm sure I've made some life-long friends. The Meet & Greet ended a little after 4pm. I know those Roll Call members that joined late and missed the cut off we had set up to get their money to SuzyPayne wanted to have an informal Meet & Greet at this place

right after the Formal Meet & Greet.

At 4:30pm. Gerald and I had to get ready for the Chef’s Table, which started at 6:30pm, so we weren’t able to go up to the Red Frog Bar to continue the party. I heard they had a blast. Sorry I missed it.

[KrystalWaters]

I love all your pics, feel like I am on vacation with you. You guys seem like fun people to cruise with :D

 

Thanks, tomsuelaw! You should see us after a few drinks.:eek:;):D

[KrystalWaters]

I love your pictures and posts Krystal... So funny Can't wait to hear more ! We leave on the Dream Oct 20 .. CAN'T WAIT!!:p

 

Thank you, teethtoclean! Also Welcome to Cruise Critic! I'm happy to see your 1st post was on my review..aaaaaaaah.:p:D If you have any questions feel free to ask. You are going to have a fab-u-lous time on the Dream. If you have Anytime Dining make sure to ask for my favorite wait staff.;)

[teethtoclean]

Krystal ... LOL you're great :D... We did pick anytime dining.. I wrote down the names of your wait staff..(I have my tidbit document that I keep adding too) Did you ever feel crowded?? Keep it coming . My kids love looking at your pictures.

[KrystalWaters]

Krystal ... LOL you're great :D... We did pick anytime dining.. I wrote down the names of your wait staff..(I have my tidbit document that I keep adding too) Did you ever feel crowded?? Keep it coming . My kids love looking at your pictures.

 

Well get ready for a treat with "Alexi" that's what i call him. Feeling crowded..only on 1 night but my "table mates" were great. They sat us at one of those 1/2 booths 1/2 chair set up. Mom sat in the booth and hubby and I sat in the chairs. We had Alexi on our 1st MDR night which was on Sunday for us and we kept requesting him. Only 1 night we didn't have them. They put us in the wrong spot once after specifically asking for Alexi. Boy, did it show. They weren't terrible but it wasn't as smooth as Alexi, Iwayan, and Csilla.

 

Also, by the 3rd night the hostesses and maitre'd knew our names and table preferences. We felt like Rock Stars. Hostess would say to my mom or me depending on who checked in, "Ms. (first name) will Krystal and Gerald be dining with you. Would you like Alexi again tonight?" It was great! They even knew our room number before we told them. Scary!:eek:

 

Anytime worked well for us because if Mom wanted to go to dinner by herself, which she did while we went to the Chef's Table, should could. Mom did state that when she went by herself that 1 night they did put her in the corner (not Alexi's section) and she felt like the waitstaff forgot about her. This was our only complaint about Your Time Dining. IMHO, Your Time Dining is PERFECT if you have 2-4 people in your party. I saw larger groups handled pretty well..but i personally would select that dining option if there are more than 4 people in your group.

[teethtoclean]

We have 2 families . 4 adults and 5kids .. Went on the Legend 2 yrs ago and had anytime seating and always asked for our fabulous waiter everytime .It's nice when they see you and remember everything.. . But it worked for us with kids because never when we would be ready for dinner.. I think we ate in the dining room every night! Loved the food ...

My son (who is 6) is our count down clock. It is so cute .. :p

[theavonb]

Krystal, What a great review you are doing, thanks for sharing your memories and the pics are fabulous. We are going on our 1st ever cruise on the Dream in a cove balcony and are so excited. I love the big pics, it almost makes you want to jump right in them. Can't wait for the next segment and I hope you have a big pic the ship itself.

[RuthlessBoss]

Bump. Someone was looking for this review:D