Carnival Dream Review -- with our 2 children

[brookeq]

I loved reading reviews before our cruise. So I am going to try and write my own review on here. This is my first so be kind :)

 

Some background info: I am a 36 year old stay at home mother of 2 and part time soccer coach from Pittsburgh, Pa. DH is 36 also and works in the computer industry. We had been on 4 cruises before this one. (Carnival, Norwegian, Costa, and Celebrity). We took our 2 kids with us. My son Hayden who is 5 and our daughter Amelia who is 2 almost 3. This was our first cruise with our children. So we were not sure what to expect.

 

Also on this cruise were our friends and there 5 year old boy.

 

We went on the Carnival Dream on January 18th. 7 days to the western Caribbean -- Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Costa Maya. We did book a little late So we didn't have much time to plan as I would have liked.

 

I chose this cruise because we had never been to the last 3 ports and I wanted to try to see some Mayan Ruins again (we have been to Chichen Itza and Tulum). It turns out our daughter was too young for the ruin excursions on the ship. I like to book ship excursions when travelling that far out of port. I will use outside tour companies, but not for ruins that are further away. It just makes me too nervous and I wouldn't be able to relax and enjoy the tour.

 

Anyways I am rambling... so onto the official review

Edited January 29, 2014 by brookeq

[brookeq]

We arrived in Orlando the day before the cruise. We had to leave our house at 4:15 am.

 

It was after 8am when we arrived in Orlando and it was only 34 degrees. We had just left similar temperatures so that stunk. It did warm up to about 60 degrees later in the day.

 

We rented a car from the airport avis. They let you drive it to the avis by the port and then will shuttle you to the ship. We rented from them both ways. Very convenient and cheaper then the cruise transportation.

 

We stayed at the Hyatt Place near the airport. We used our Hyatt points. The room was clean and it had a free breakfast. It was near plenty of restaurants and a grocery store which we used to get some soda (pop as we call it here!) and some last minute items. I would have loved to have gone to Disney world but we were just there and we took this time to visit my sister for the evening. We ate at the Ale house and everything was very good.

Edited January 29, 2014 by brookeq

[brookeq]

Wow my pictures are huge. I will try to make them smaller. I have tried editing my posts but they are still big.

[cruisecraze96]

Following, we go on the Dream in just over a month and this will be my kids first cruise 4 and 11 :)

 

I agree with the transportation, I use National for work so I had several free days so I used 1 to go to the port and 1 to return. Of course we are flying in and out of Tampa due to price and family nearby.

[Bobkat26]

Great start!

 

Kathy

[KPfromCT]

Great start to the review!!!!

Noooooooooooo! The pictures are FINE!!!!:D:D The bigger, the better. lol

[riclop]

Lovely family.

[Gingee]

Keep it going. I love reviews with pictures.

[christmas]

Great start! We are thinking of the Dream for Sept or Nov. The bigger the pictures the better!

[brookeq]

Day 1 --Time to board the ship!

 

The next morning we got up and had our free breakfast and drove to the avis rental car place. It was an easy drive and was the first exit after port Canaveral. We didn't wait long for a shuttle and got to the port around 11 am. We got thru security with no lines and then waited in a short line to check in. We were given a card for zone 20 and sat down. They started priority boarding and zone 20 came very quickly. We were on board before 12:00.

 

(Our first day was a little stressful so I don't have many pictures. I will have more pictures as the review goes on)

 

 

So, We headed to the lido deck and it was a mad house. The lines were all long and there wasn't much room to walk around with 2 kids and luggage. We did get lunch and found a seat. I had a chicken burrito from the burrito bar. DH had indian food and he enjoyed it. He really liked the butter chicken. He went there most days. I enjoyed the fresh naan bread at that station.

 

Our room wasn't going to be ready until around 1:30 so we had time to kill. It was only going to be a high of 50 degrees so no swimming. Kids were bummed. We had some breakdowns and it was stressful in the crowded areas.

 

 

 

Finally our room was done and we had kids take a nap. We were in stateroom 1344 on the Riviera deck. It is an ocean view room. We chose this room because it was larger then a regular room and also had small bathroom with a tub for the kids.

 

Here is a picture of the main bathroom. It had plenty of shelf space near the mirrors on both ends.

 

Our shower had good water pressure and the water was plenty hot enough.

 

 

The room had 2 beds pushed together that DH and I slept in.

[brookeq]

Then a couch that turned to a bed for our little girl. And the top bunk that came out of the ceiling for our son.

 

 

There was also plenty of closet space. We had 4 closets and some drawers by the desk/mirror area.

 

 

This room was the largest room we have had for a cruise. It was great for the 4 of us. The kids loved the window. I didn't notice any sewage smell that some have complained about. The only downside was it was above the gangway. We were up before we docked at all of the ports so it wasn't a big deal to us. But there is some noise when you arrive early for Costa Maya (7 am arrival) and when you return to Port Canaveral.

 

We only saw electric outlet in the room. Luckily we brought a small 3 spot outlet to plug in.

 

I mentioned it was an ocean view room. The kids enjoyed sitting up by the window each day.

 

 

I don't remember our room stewards name but he was friendly and did a great job keeping our room clean (it sure gets messy with 2 kids) and always had towel animal for the kids and incorporated their toys in with the towel animals. They loved it.

 

 

 

I think that is it about the room.

 

The muster drill was painless. It is so nice to go to a room and sit without the life vests. Kids were getting antsy to do something fun at this point. Lots of waiting around for them.

 

Later that evening we met up with our friends and let the kids play mini golf since it was too cold to swim. I thought it was a nice course. They had plenty of clubs and balls and we didn't have to wait. I did pass on a sea day and there were a couple of people waiting for a club.

 

 

They also have 2 foosball tables up there.

 

Edited January 30, 2014 by brookeq

[brookeq]

We had anytime dining so we decide we would all meet at the entrance at 5:45. We waited until 6:20 and our friends weren't there. We didn't have their room number either and cell phones were now roaming so they were turned off. Our kids were starving and started to have a meltdown so we were going to go eat without them, but now people were being given pagers. So there was a wait to eat. Our kids would never make it. We went and ate at the lido deck. The food at the buffet was not good at all and I even went with low expectations. I was a little upset because the day was not going so great. I was worried that the whole cruising with kids was a bad idea.

 

(I did not really take any food pictures this cruise. Sorry about that. )

 

We ended up getting sandwiches from the deli (the kids got grilled cheese). The food from the deli was always good. We also tried the pizza. We were very surprised with how good the pizza was and we took the kids every night for a little snack.

 

 

And of course we had to get soft serve ice cream as well. Most nights they had chocolate and vanilla ice cream and frozen yogurt. Sometimes they had strawberry frozen yogurt.

 

That evening we took the kids in the hot tubs by the aft pool since the kids didn't get to go swimming. They were not particular hot. Like luke warm bath water. But the kids were happy.

 

 

We also did the kids club orientation in one of the theaters. It was quick and easy. Later after 8pm we went up to the kids club and got our cell phones since we had kids in camp carnival. These phones were great to have because our friends also had one and we could call each other on the ship. No more miscommunications!!!

 

I will post the kids club schedule at the end of my review for those who may want it. I think I also have all of the fun times. If I get a chance I will post those later if anyone wants to see them.

 

I think that is it for day one. Thanks for reading so far and Stay tuned for more! I should be able to post about Cozumel tomorrow hopefully.

If you have any questions I will try to answer them.

Edited January 30, 2014 by brookeq

[Granny1]

Good start brookeq, we will be on the Dream after it moves to New Orleans this summer so will be anxious to read all that you write about the Dream..We are from Clarion, north of Pittsburgh. Hope you all had a great cruise and waiting for more..:p

[wrigley80]

Very nice start to your review. We will be on the Dream on April 5th for the 9-day repositioning cruise.

One question for ya.... Were the golf clubs and balls at the mini golf course or a separate location

[brookeq]

Very nice start to your review. We will be on the Dream on April 5th for the 9-day repositioning cruise.

One question for ya.... Were the golf clubs and balls at the mini golf course or a separate location

 

They were in a bucket by the first hole.

[LREcruise02]

We are on this same cruise with 2 kids, 5 and 3, at the end of March! Very excited to read the rest of your review and see the camp carnival schedules if you post them! :) your kiddos are adorable!

 

 

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[jdjr74]

Looking forward to hearing the rest :-)

 

 

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[brookeq]

Good start brookeq, we will be on the Dream after it moves to New Orleans this summer so will be anxious to read all that you write about the Dream..We are from Clarion, north of Pittsburgh. Hope you all had a great cruise and waiting for more..:p

 

There were lots of people from Pittsburgh in the ship. We saw tons of steelers, pirates, and penguin shirts.

 

In Roatan the person I charge of our tours had a street hat and jacket on. :)

[brookeq]

We are on this same cruise with 2 kids, 5 and 3, at the end of March! Very excited to read the rest of your review and see the camp carnival schedules if you post them! :) your kiddos are adorable!

 

 

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Thanks. You will have a great time. Wish uncoils go again!

[brookeq]

There were lots of people from Pittsburgh in the ship. We saw tons of steelers, pirates, and penguin shirts.

 

In Roatan the person I charge of our tours had a street hat and jacket on. :)

 

Steelers hat. Darn iPhone.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Thank you so much for this review. My wife and I will be on the Dream in 16 days and we are also sailing the Western Caribbean. I cannot wait to here more of your review. If you have them available could you please upload any of the daily FunTimes that you may have?

[RTravisW]

I'm doing on the Dream with my boy in November who will be 4.5 at the time. Could you give your opinions of Camp Carnival when you get around to it? Wife and I have cruised before and our son stayed with grandma but we're nervous taking him.

[brookeq]

I'm doing on the Dream with my boy in November who will be 4.5 at the time. Could you give your opinions of Camp Carnival when you get around to it? Wife and I have cruised before and our son stayed with grandma but we're nervous taking him.

 

I have to upload my day at sea review tonight when husband gets home with the laptop. I talk about camp carnival in there and then is several other posts.

But we had a good experience.

 

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

[brookeq]

Thank you so much for this review. My wife and I will be on the Dream in 16 days and we are also sailing the Western Caribbean. I cannot wait to here more of your review. If you have them available could you please upload any of the daily FunTimes that you may have?

 

My scanner is acting up. I hope to have the fun times up by the end of the review. If not I will take phone pictures of them.

[flcruiser08]

Going in march with our lo enjoying your review so far:)

 

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