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Carnival Dream- Aug 31-Sep 7

sparkysj

By sparkysj,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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sparkysj

sparkysj

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For those who love lots of pictures in reviews sorry to disappoint but it’s very unlikely I will post any on here because not sure even how to.

 

This was my 9th cruise w/Carnival & the only line I have cruised with. Our group was made up of my DH, one of my DS’s (19), DD (5), my dad, one of my brothers (33), SIL (24) and DS’s gf (18). This was 1st cruise out of NOLA & on the Dream.

 

We stayed at a Hampton Inn just outside of NO in Harahan. Usually love Hampton Inn’s but not impressed with this one. Lobby & common areas were nice & clean & free breakfast was good. Rooms however not so much so. We booked a room w/a King & sleeper sofa. Had an air mattress for DD too. Went in room & 1st thing noticed was smell…not a smoke smell & not sure what it was but room stunk. So did my dad’s room on 3rd floor & brothers on 2nd. The sofa sleeper looked like it was from 70’s… I always check rooms for bedbugs & found none but the “mattress” (I use that term lightly because it was the thinnest thing I have seen) for sofa had a huge brown spot under sheets! Went to desk & requested another room. They were very nice. I asked if they had a room with 2 real beds & thank goodness the lady suggested I look at 1st because the beds were sooo small. We went w/another king/1970’s sofa bed. That room had same smell but at least no stains. We got extra blankets to help pad the thin mattress.

 

Embark: We got to port about 1015- it was already crazy busy. We were parking at Fulton so were going to drop off luggage 1st. I really didn’t like this port- reminded me of Mobile. Granted I ‘m probably spoiled w/how quick & easy JAX is so take it how you want. It seemed very chaotic. Wasn’t sure who the porters were because they were in Hawaiian shirts & nothing is really marked well telling you where to go. We dropped off luggage & then went to Fulton. Was pleased w/the garage & never had to wait for anything. Parked- got on shuttle & to port w/in a few minutes. Waited in line to check in for probably 40 min but were on board by 1215 or so.

 

We upgraded from interior to deluxe OV a few weeks before sail for only $30 & VERY glad we did. Room was big & having the 2 bathrooms was awesome. DD said the one w/tub was “hers” only lol The tub was deep & actually big enough my DH could squeeze into. We had 4 closets, huge desk/vanity area & the window was so deep I could sit in w/legs fully extended (I’m 5’1”) and dd could almost stand up. We were on deck 1, midship & loved it. So relaxing at night to hear the waves hitting the ship. If you have a chance to get this kind of room DO IT!! Our room was comfortable temperature wise & room steward was pretty good. I’m an ice lover & it took couple days to get him to keep ice in buckets for us. Would be nice if they would just put ice machines on each floor. Rest of group was on deck 7- DS in interior & dad & brother in balcony. Glad we moved down because the back end of deck 7 reeked of sewage the whole cruise almost. My brother’s room was so bad it was nauseating. Noticed a sewage smell only couple other decks off & on during the cruise (5 or 6 maybe?). Only issue we had was one night our toilet quit working. Took a couple hours for them to fix- they said it was a system issue on our floor but after that it was fine. The only complaint I have about the rooms is they need a channel that plays kids cartoons that are appropriate for young kids.

 

Finish more in bit

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sparkysj

sparkysj

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Looking forward to more of your review. :) Going on the Dream Aug 2015 and can't wait! How was the a/c in each of your rooms? There have been some reviews that have had issues with a/c.

 

________________

Carnival Fantasy 2006

Carnival Destiny 2011

 

I saw reviews about the a/c as well but we had no issues in our room. We brought a fax but that is because DH has to have one even in middle of winter to sleep. All the other rooms were fine too- in fact my dad turned the his off at one time. I'll be honest- IMO this is not a very good ship for families with young kids unless you are the type who wants to put them in CC all day (not judging- but just not us). Nice and very clean & great crew but the layout is very choppy for my tastes.

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sparkysj

sparkysj

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What time did embarkation begin?

 

 

Hmm......I am not positive because we were in line for soooo long. When we first got there no one was boarding in the zones. Not sure about wedding. FTTF, etc but I saw someone with Zone 1 tag. We were giving a zone 16 tag- but by then they were boarding & it moved quickly because we only waited 5 min after checking in finally. I'm going to guess maybe 1115? But that is just a guess.

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sparkysj

sparkysj

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Room Service: Was GREAT! Probably the fastest we have ever received on any cruise. I thought since it was a large ship it would take forever but it was way faster than the small ships I have been on.

 

Self Serve Laundry: Other than $$$ be careful washing anything white. Washed brand new shirt & it came out with a yellow tint. Some other lighter items also had a tint to them.

 

Lido Deck: Loved, loved the way the pools water goes all over the deck. Saw people just laying in the shallow water. Did not like how loud the music is or the live singers. There were 2 & they both were not good. The female singer was IMO awful…never so happy to hear her stop singing to take a break!! Usually I see complaints on here about how the kids take over the pools but this cruise was total opposite. There were times in both pools that it was so full of adults just standing there talking/drinking you could barely move let alone have space for kids to attempt to swim. If you wanted to have any space in the pool pretty much had to be in it in morning because by 11 or so it started getting packed. I know adults want to enjoy the pools too but for a ship this large the pools really should be bigger so kids can too or have a kids pool.

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Rowan555

Rowan555

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Do you happen to know if anyone was able to use Cheers and still get the matchplay coupons in the casino with their classic cocktail receipts? I know this is a kind of random question, but it's something we're very curious to find out! We'll be on the Dream in 3 days.

Edited by Rowan555
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ciship

ciship

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I saw reviews about the a/c as well but we had no issues in our room. We brought a fax but that is because DH has to have one even in middle of winter to sleep. All the other rooms were fine too- in fact my dad turned the his off at one time. I'll be honest- IMO this is not a very good ship for families with young kids unless you are the type who wants to put them in CC all day (not judging- but just not us). Nice and very clean & great crew but the layout is very choppy for my tastes.

 

What deck and what part of the ship were you on (aft, forward)? I'm concerned about all I've heard regarding the air conditioning in cabins as well.

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sparkysj

sparkysj

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Do you happen to know if anyone was able to use Cheers and still get the matchplay coupons in the casino with their classic cocktail receipts? I know this is a kind of random question, but it's something we're very curious to find out! We'll be on the Dream in 3 days.

 

Sorry but I don't know. No one I know purchased Cheers :(

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sparkysj

sparkysj

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What deck and what part of the ship were you on (aft, forward)? I'm concerned about all I've heard regarding the air conditioning in cabins as well.

 

 

We were on deck 1, midship. My dad was deck 7 midship & DS & brother were deck 7 aft. All of our rooms were very comfortable. The elevators were pretty hot at times though.

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sparkysj

sparkysj

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Waterworks: Disliked this more than anything on the ship. The layout is terrible & has the most uncomfortable seating right around it. We only cruise on ships with Waterworks because of our DD. On the Fascination you can basically see the entire area from any seat on the deck. They have loungers to sit in. The Dream only has loungers on the side decks & basically out of the view for most of the slides. We love to grab a lounge chair (usually right by the small kid slides) & enjoy the sun while watching DD play on the slides w/kids & also joining in on bigger slides some. We are not parents who are ok with not having a visual on our child so on this ship you have to either sit in the horrible chairs or keep walking back & forth. Until our DD is old enough for us to be ok with not seeing her at all times this will prevent us from going back on this ship. Whoever designed this obviously has no small kids- or just doesn’t care to watch them lol

 

Drink service: It was almost non-existent on Waterworks, lido & Serenity. Waited 30 min for a drink once only to have to wait another 15 for him to bring receipt back for me to sign. Sure there are bars on lido & on the lower level of Serenity but once you have a good seat you really don’t want to get up & risk losing it. Would have bought more drinks if they had more people around. It was the same in the show lounge. When my PVP called to check on us after cruise she told me this was a common complaint because they are short staffed.

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NOLABEAUTY

NOLABEAUTY

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Thanks for sharing! I am Waiting on the rest of the review. I truly wish you had pictures to share 😩, we sail on the dream 10/26, hopefully our room is cold and drink service is fast!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited by NOLABEAUTY
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tallyho8

tallyho8

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It's so strange how people on the same cruise will have varying opinions about everything but if everyone was alike and liked the same things I guess life would be a little boring.

 

I was on this same cruise and will review it a little by the way I saw it.

 

Embarkation: You drive right inside the building where there are at least 4 people showing you where to park to unload your luggage. Many porters are standing around and they are easy to recognize because they are pushing luggage carts. Since there is only one door to go in right next to where you park, a porter will be happy to point to the door for you.

 

I got there at 10:20, went through security in about 3 minutes and then stood in line for 10 minutes to check in and then sat down waiting to board for 20 minutes and was in the buffet by 11:15.

 

The only problem we had the whole cruise was that the air conditioner in our cove balcony did not work well so we asked for and got a fan right away and were comfortable with it the rest of the cruise.

 

There have been complaints of "sewerage smells" because the air conditioner blows fresh air into your cabin and the air exits into the hallway through a vent at the bottom of your door. With "free" food available 24 hours a day, many people eat much more than usual and this leads to a gassy smell in their cabins that flows out the vent into the hallway. This is a very localized area and it could be by any cabin in the ship at any time.

 

My only complaint about the TV was that it had too many kid channels and not enough adult channels. There were 3 kiddie channels and usually one of the two movie channels had a kids movie while the only adult channels other than all the news channels were TBN and TNT.

 

I loved the waterworks. It was much better than on the other ships I have been on. They had 2 slides for kids and 2 of the best slides I have seen for adults and older kids. The kids slides were where you could easily watch them.

 

The Lanai deck on the Promenade was my favorite part. It is a large deck with many chairs and tables and they barbeque out there and have great food with smaller crowds than when they BBQ on the Lido deck by the pool on other ships. They also have 4 spas sticking out over the water with great views that always had vacancies while we we were there.

 

The Serenity areas on decks 14 and 15 were great too. The gym is also large and very well equipped.

 

Don't miss the Brunch on sea days, it is the best meal of the cruise. I especially liked the filet mignon and eggs. And the lobster and grilled shrimp dinner was better than on my other cruises and my prime rib was perfect.

 

It was a great cruise and I can't wait to sail on the Dream again.

Edited by tallyho8
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Bamamom1916

Bamamom1916

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Thanks for your point of view review, tallyho8. You are correct, in that, two people can go on the same cruise and experience it totally differently. I am soooo looking forward to my DREAM cruise in Aug 2015!!!

 

____________________

 

CARNIVAL FANTASY 2006

CARNIVAL DESTINY 2011

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NOLABEAUTY

NOLABEAUTY

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It's so strange how people on the same cruise will have varying opinions about everything but if everyone was alike and liked the same things I guess life would be a little boring.

 

I was on this same cruise and will review it a little by the way I saw it.

 

Embarkation: You drive right inside the building where there are at least 4 people showing you where to park to unload your luggage. Many porters are standing around and they are easy to recognize because they are pushing luggage carts. Since there is only one door to go in right next to where you park, a porter will be happy to point to the door for you.

 

I got there at 10:20, went through security in about 3 minutes and then stood in line for 10 minutes to check in and then sat down waiting to board for 20 minutes and was in the buffet by 11:15.

 

The only problem we had the whole cruise was that the air conditioner in our cove balcony did not work well so we asked for and got a fan right away and were comfortable with it the rest of the cruise.

 

There have been complaints of "sewerage smells" because the air conditioner blows fresh air into your cabin and the air exits into the hallway through a vent at the bottom of your door. With "free" food available 24 hours a day, many people eat much more than usual and this leads to a gassy smell in their cabins that flows out the vent into the hallway. This is a very localized area and it could be by any cabin in the ship at any time.

 

My only complaint about the TV was that it had too many kid channels and not enough adult channels. There were 3 kiddie channels and usually one of the two movie channels had a kids movie while the only adult channels other than all the news channels were TBN and TNT.

 

I loved the waterworks. It was much better than on the other ships I have been on. They had 2 slides for kids and 2 of the best slides I have seen for adults and older kids. The kids slides were where you could easily watch them.

 

The Lanai deck on the Promenade was my favorite part. It is a large deck with many chairs and tables and they barbeque out there and have great food with smaller crowds than when they BBQ on the Lido deck by the pool on other ships. They also have 4 spas sticking out over the water with great views that always had vacancies while we we were there.

 

The Serenity areas on decks 14 and 15 were great too. The gym is also large and very well equipped.

 

Don't miss the Brunch on sea days, it is the best meal of the cruise. I especially liked the filet mignon and eggs. And the lobster and grilled shrimp dinner was better than on my other cruises and my prime rib was perfect.

 

It was a great cruise and I can't wait to sail on the Dream again.

 

 

Thanks for taking time to write this!!! 😁

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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lostdart1

lostdart1

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So let me get this right.......people eat too much on their cruise.....this causes them to become gassy ............and this gassy odor gets into the hallway.

 

Carnival needs to take note........and not allow farting in the cabins!!

 

:eek::eek::p:p:D:rolleyes:

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