A Winter Escape: Dream Edition

[BigB0882]

Enjoying your review! Surprised you kept saying that the casino on Elation was not much bigger than on Dream. It is much bigger on the Dream. Maybe you are considering the side with the long bar and small stage as part of the casino? On the Dream the area with slots is twice as big, easily. They have just as many, if not more, tables. So I have to disagree there but I love the Elation so all in all I get your points. :)

[JABrown104]

Cant wait to read the rest! We will be on the Dream in Oct

[Indytraveler83]

Enjoying your review! Surprised you kept saying that the casino on Elation was not much bigger than on Dream. It is much bigger on the Dream. Maybe you are considering the side with the long bar and small stage as part of the casino? On the Dream the area with slots is twice as big, easily. They have just as many, if not more, tables. So I have to disagree there but I love the Elation so all in all I get your points. :)

 

Glad you see where I'm coming from with the Elation. Some people seem to think the Elation is a floating motel 6 that's made of solid rust and the size of a minivan. And then they go on to describe the Dream as a floating palace.

 

Yes the Dream was a bigger, better ship, but not by that much. As for the Casino, I'm sure you are right, it's just how the area felt to us. Neither ship has an overly crowded casino, but the Elation doesn't pipe smoke out as well. We did notice that while you could smell smoke on the Dream, it didn't hang in the air like on the Elation.

[JayDeeJay]

We were on the Dream last Sept. With another couple. Loved it! Enjoyed Black Jack playing in the evenings. After three meals of late dining in noisy MDR, we absolutely relished dinner in the lido the remaining nights. Food was excellent, and you could HEAR table conversation. One of our friends has hearing aids and couldn't understand a word being said in the MDR. OVerall our Dream cruise was wonderful. Wouldn't hesitate to go again.

[BamaCruisers2011]

Really enjoying your review - we were on the Elation in December and have booked the Dream for Jan 2017. We loved the Elation and service was fantastic - hope the Dream is just as good!

[Indytraveler83]

Really enjoying your review - we were on the Elation in December and have booked the Dream for Jan 2017. We loved the Elation and service was fantastic - hope the Dream is just as good!

 

Gonna be honest here. Overall the Dream has some very very good staff members and you'll hear more about them in my review. But the Elation is a well oiled machine where nearly every staff member is on the same page. The Elation spoiled us.

[mirglip69]

Have sailed Dream twice and Elation once. Love them both for different reasons. Great review. Can't wait to read more!

[Indytraveler83]

Sea Day #1:

 

Ok, so I've got a link to this Fun Times, but didn't take a great pic. For those who want it, here it is, in a fairly large size: http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn317/campin1983/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsmfhkyu9l.jpeg

 

We woke up much earlier than anticipated, right around sunrise. After laying around for a few minutes, we headed outside to the balcony to see the sun rise over the open ocean:

 

The view was amazing, but it was without coffee, which made us cut our relaxation rather short. I glanced at the room service hangers and decided this would be rectified for the rest of the cruise. We showered, changed into bathing suits and t-shirts and made our way up to the lido breakfast.

 

It was still pretty early, and the ship was only starting to wake up. We stood in line for just a minute and then got food that was honestly pretty hot and good. I loved the salmon benedict, while Jacob enjoyed eggs and sausage.

 

Now let me tell you, if there are bacon police on cruise ships (haven't seen them yet) they certainly were napping during Dream's breakfast. The lady handing out bacon appeared to be distributing it by the pound, with each heaping load of bacon filling half a plate. I nearly lost my appetite watching one gentleman insist on three helpings of this massive bacon frenzy. When I got up to her, she offered me a pile of bacon bigger than my dachshund puppy at home, and I twice told her to make it smaller, before she offered me a sensible portion of 4 pieces.

 

Food in hand, we headed aft to eat our breakfast and drink our coffee. The views were fantastic, but we were sort of surprised to feel the same vibration that the Elation had. Nothing huge or alarming, but a certain mechanical vibration none the less. Once our food settled, we looked high in the sky and saw the waterworks glistening in the rising sun. It was time. Time for waterslides!!!

 

We were running much earlier than we thought, because the waterslides were just opening as we headed to them. We hurried up and nearly ran up the stairs leading to the slide. The wind was intense, and we chuckled as we proceeded onto the slide deck holding onto railing for dear life, while the attendant stood there with an experienced lean into the wind.

 

For a couple of northern guys escaping a snowy winter, jumping down a waterslide on February 1st was pure heaven. We giggled like little kids as we flew down the slides, splashed into the Waterworks and then sprinted back up to go again. I'm pretty sure the attendant thought we'd lost our fool minds and reverted back to 8 year olds. We didn't care. I'm not sure how long we were doing this, but eventually we noticed there was a line forming, and we were the only ones who stood taller than about four and a half feet. It was time to pretend we were adults...

 

From there we headed to Serenity, which was just starting to fill in. We ordered two mojito's, laid back in the sun and napped the morning away. Only our empty bellies woke us. We realized the oceanside BBQ was just opening up, and eager to try it, we headed down the the lanai.

 

The chicken from the BBQ was well cooked but still very moist and the grilled veggies were very good. Again, not the best food we'd ever had, but it reminded us of a very nice picnic. We sat on the lanai, ate, then decided to head back to our room to change.

 

Getting back into the room, our towels had all been refreshed, our suitcases stashed under the bed, our shoes neatly organized by the couch, and everything was sparkling clean. These were things we meant to do,but had forgotten. Sweet! Jimmy is a mindreader! We changed, then decided to head to lido to see what was going on up on deck.

 

The Lido deck wasn't what we hoped. On the Elation, there was a DJ on deck, some people dancing, some people swimming and a lot of drink servers there to take your order. On the Dream, it was simply packed lounge chairs with people yelling at children who overflowed from the pool. Music played from the big screen TV, but it was mostly drowned out by the noise on deck. We had a few drinks from the Blue Iguana, decided we needed to get away from "The Herd" and wandered around the ship.

 

After a few laps of the lanai we donated more money to the casino, then got somewhat frustrated with the crowds on deck and headed back to our room. We had the munchies, so we decided that a meal between lunch and dinner would be just fine right? Unwilling to wade through the crowds on lido, we ordered room service. They told us it would be 15 minutes, and we were curious as to how good food could come from the kitchen to our room in fifteen minutes.

 

Sooner than that, there was a knock at the door and warm fries, delicious sandwiches and fantastic chocolate cake awaited us. I'm again not going to call it amazing, but it was far better than anything we've had at Panera or similar sandwich shops. We ate ALL of it.

 

We stayed lazy for a few hours, then got dressed for dinner. We headed up to the steakhouse and wondered exactly what to expect.

 

Well... Um. It was AWESOME!

 

We walked in to a mostly empty steakhouse (it was formal night and everyone else was gobbling up the free lobster downstairs). We were promptly seated and introduced to our wait staff for the evening. They then informed us that the free wine promotion had been extended and offered us a free bottle. Um? Free booze? On a ship? Of course!

 

They then introduced us to a plate that presented all of the main courses. They described each dish and then gave us a little time to order. We placed our orders and fresh bread arrived soon after. Each course was served as soon as we finished the last, and we didn't even dare top off our wine glasses, as the server quickly made sure each glass was at least half full.

 

Here is Jacob's Filet Mignon:

 

I had the 18 ounce sirloin, and both were cooked to perfection. We both regretted our second lunch, as the food was so good we couldn't bare to see any of it go to waste. We got through 4 courses, and then the dessert menu was placed in front of us.

 

"Oh, we don't have any room for dessert, but thank... Holy crap is that cheesecake????" Yeah. We were SUPER classy there. But how big can cheesecake be? It is usually served in tiny little slices of light and fluffy deliciousness right? Right?

 

WRONG! We were WRONG!

 

Our waitstaff, which had been the definition of formal and polite through the entire service openly laughed at me and the expression I gave when I saw the brick sized cheesecake slices arrive at our table. There was a war between my bulging stomach and my star struck tongue. "No more, please not another bite" cried my overworked stomach. "We must have it all!" cried my tongue.

 

Well I ate the whole thing. Yep. Our waitress thought our struggle was hilarious. Ok... it was. We finally hauled ourselves away from the table, thanked and tipped the staff and waddled out of the steakhouse down to entertain a hilariously lost battle to "walk off" our huge dinner on the lanai.

 

I'd like to say we've both eaten in some very nice places. We don't dine in 4 and 5 star places very often, but we have done so before. Both of our families feature some very fantastic cooks, and even we are able to whip up a very nice meal when we feel like it. But I really can't remember a time when our meal was better than this one. The steakhouse was truly awesome in every sense. It was a classy, quiet and yet still fun atmosphere, with food we must figure out how to make ourselves. (I will give anyone who has the recipe for wasabi mashed potato's the biggest hug ever if they can share!)

 

Remember how in one of my first posts I said that I had only been eating solid food for a few days, and Jacob had been eating weight loss sized meals? Well.... lets just say the next few hours weren't great to be around us.

 

Finally we stumbled down to the comedy club, once our poor bodies allowed us to move again. Our experiences with the comedy shows on the Elation weren't great, as the comedians spent half their shows hawking their CD's, and the rest repeating the same material or just making fun of audience members. We went in very cautious, and even sat by a door, in case we weren't impressed. We only gave this comedian a chance because she was billed as the "Cajun Queen of Comedy" and something about a middle aged woman from the south presenting a show called "The WHOLE truth" just seemed like it could be good.

 

Well Ms. Caroline Picard... you delivered. We were in stitches the whole time, and our uneasy bellies threatened to punish us for all of the laughing. The show was well thought out, did not feature her calling out audience members, and no CD's or material was even offered for sale. She just stood up there for a half hour delivering the best live comedy we'd ever seen.

 

After a fantastic evening, we waddled back to our stateroom and crashed in bed. It took roughly 2 seconds to fall asleep. We had made the most of a fantastic day at sea.

 

But in the middle of the night I woke up to the wind howling across the balcony. I looked out, thinking we'd sailed into a storm. The water was reasonably calm, but the ship was moving fast. I never thought to turn on the TV to see how fast, but the howling wind and the feeling of the ship tearing through the water at breakneck speed made me wonder what was going on.

 

Up next: What's the emergency? Another night in the MDR, and ice cream!

[slybear]

I am so enjoying your review. The Dream & Elation are both fine ships and the staff on the Elation is the best. Y'all should join us on Halloween on the Dream this Oct 30th. Cant wait to read about the rest of your adventure.

[h_blond2]

Great review so far! I've never been on the Dream, but I have been on the Elation several times and I love it! I'm glad to hear that you still like the Elation after being on the Dream. Can't wait to read the rest!

[Indytraveler83]

I am so enjoying your review. The Dream & Elation are both fine ships and the staff on the Elation is the best. Y'all should join us on Halloween on the Dream this Oct 30th. Cant wait to read about the rest of your adventure.

 

That sounds amazing! But I'll have to take a raincheck. Jacob's dad has invited us on a "guys trip" to Hawaii this summer and you don't tell that ex-Marine no, even if you want to. (But he's paying for airfare, so um... yeah). We only get 2 weeks of vacation per year right now. So its gonna be another year or so before we get on a ship. Unfortunately....

[pirate4me2]

Your review so far is fantastic! I can't wait for the next installment, thank you for putting this together!

[Indytraveler83]

Alright everyone, I was looking at the Fun times, and realized I totally omitted something from Sea Day #1 that was worth adding:

 

We decided mid-day to attend Harry Potter trivia. We are both avid fans of the series and figured we might be competitive. Well we weren't the only ones, and struggled to find a seat at trivia.

 

Once we found a few chairs, we waited just a few minutes, and Charlie, a member of the entertainment staff got to the mic. She described herself as a blond midget from London, and insisted that cockney was the only way to speak. Therefore all references to her beloved series would be to "Airy PoTTa" and not "Harry Potter." Threats of Dementor attacks were directed at anyone who didn't speak "propA englishhhh." She then reminded everyone that cookies were as good as correct answers. Jase arrived around this time with a handful of cookies for her, which she then doled out points at random for the cookies. She. Was. Hilarious!

 

The trivia itself kicked our collective butts, and we realized that we didn't know nearly as much about the series as we thought. While people watching though, we noticed that about half the group was having a very fun time, and the other half was intensely scribbling answers as if that ship on a stick were made of solid gold. In the end we scored 4 out of 15 points, and had a blast. We felt sorry for one woman in front of us who scored 15 points, lost in a bonus round, and appeared furious she didn't win trivia. As we left, it was clear that her and a few others were going to be firmly planted at trivia for the duration of the cruise. Never understood that. It was a good 20 minute event, but not a reason to spend thousands of dollars on a cruise.

 

Anyways, now that that's out of the way, prepare for sea day 2!!

[cincicruisers]

Really enjoying your review.

[Indytraveler83]

Sea Day 2:

 

Funtimes: http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn317/campin1983/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpswk7htg5f.jpg

 

We woke up and the ship had oddly slowed down considerably. I looked outside and saw the Carnival Freedom trailing directly behind us. Looking out, we saw land coming up fast, with several ships docked. We were heading right for the dock. I was confused and rather alarmed.

 

My first thought was that something had gone wrong on the ship. Seeing another Carnival ship trailing so closely behind us and an unannounced port stop smelled like a problem with the ship. As I walked around the stateroom in a state of confusion, room service knocked on the door. Hot coffee, yogurt and fresh fruit awaited us (we usually eat a very light breakfast). I asked the man delivering the tray if he knew what was going on, and he simply responded with "no problems."

 

So we sat outside on the balcony watching as the ship grew closer to the dock, with the Freedom growing ever closer behind us. As we neared the dock, Jase made an announcement that a medial emergency had occured late in the night, and they had changed course to take someone to the hospital.

 

A mix of relief and sadness hit both of us. On one hand, we were glad that the Dream was ok, and that the issue would not further affect our cruise. On the other, how horrible would it be to look forward to a cruise for months, only to get to enjoy one day of it, then end up in a Mexican hospital?

 

We took our showers, and while I was taking mine, the ship began final maneuvering toward the dock. This combined with a very slow shower drain resulted in a small flood. As the ship listed ever so slightly during a turn, the 2 inches of water in the shower pan flowed over the lip and into the bathroom. That water in turn rushed toward the door to the stateroom, and I flung myself out of the shower and began tossing towels onto the ground.

 

When someone designed a multi million dollar ship with state of the art navigation, a luxury spa and all sorts of other expensive and advanced systems, how did they get away with this bathroom floor design? The shower is THE highest point in the entire stateroom. Once water makes it past the lip, it flows downhill into a bathroom that has no drain, and then onto a carpeted stateroom floor. I spent the rest of the cruise wondering what fools approved that design, and how no one has ever thought changes might be beneficial.

 

Anyways, after soaking ever towel in the stateroom, we both got showered and headed up toward the waterslides (after stopping at guest services to mention the bathroom drain), where we again slid down them like fools until kids greatly outnumbered us. At one point, several very young children pushed past the rest of the line and tried to jump in front of us as we prepared to use the slides. It left us feeling very awkward, as it was our turn, but we were also adults, and these were fun loving little kids. What was the appropriate thing to do? Apparently the slide attendant had already dealt with them, and he grabbed them and lectured them about line jumping. We were thankful he was taking charge, because it otherwise would have been a very weird situation.

 

We then retreated to Serenity like the day before, and I shot a few pictures of the Freedom, since she now was sliding up right next to us. My favorite is this angled shot of the Freedom's funnel against the sun:

 

And then Serenity got awkward. We were laying on loungers, when a couple of women asked us if we would mind trading with us, so they could lay next to their friends. This wasn't a big deal, and we traded. But the group grew and grew, and pretty soon they were re-arraigning the entire Serenity deck, grabbing every empty chair or lounger they could find, creating a weird brick of loungers and circle of chairs and couch pieces. Furniture was lifted over us, and this group grew louder and louder. The staff didn't seem to care, and eventually the sounds of dragging chairs and cackling women ruined the "serenity."

 

We headed out and looked for a good spot on lido. We tried the pools, but kids kept running into us, even kicking us. We got out and tried to find spaces on lido, but it was absolutely packed with bodies. The aft area was much the same. We then tried our hand at mini-golf, which should have been fun, but the group in front of us was letting their kids run amok on the course, and twice nearly hit us with clubs.

 

The Fun Times offered us little help either, as all of the mid day activities were seminars and sales pitches ("but don't forget to purchase fine art for greatly discounted prices" Jase's voice reminded us on announcements). The lone activities we might be interested in were the far too intense triva contests and making donations to the casino. And visiting the casino while already frustrated is a bad plan.

 

We ate on Lido, but Jacob spent an eternity waiting for a cold hot dog, and my Tandoor tasted like it had been made the day before. We ate very little of lunch, and then went to the lido restaurant to get ice cream, only to find most machines with a long line and the other occupied by a large woman filling a salad bowl with ice cream. She didn't just fill the bowl, but filled it way over the top like an ice cream cone. Great use of a SALAD bowl. The machine struggled to even fill it. We left without any ice cream.

 

To be honest, this was the low point of our cruise. There weren't very many kids on board, but this day they were all on the decks, all under little or no supervision, and all running, screaming and running into people without any consequences. We were frustrated, even angry. We didn't pay to get on a ship with other people's unruly children slamming into us at every turn. We were just about at the point of shouting at random parents, and I even outwardly swore on the golf course that if one of the kids actually hit me with a golf club, I'd be returning the favor (terrible idea I never would have actually followed through with, but I was hoping the parents would overhear it and reign in their children).

 

I think this is the point in which some people say "my cruise was ruined!!!" and then let the rest of the trip get destroyed by repeating the same things. We instead went back to our room and decided to make a few rules.

1) Lido and Serenity are off limits from noon till 6.

2) Visit adult only areas of the ship more often

3) Make generous use of the balcony we'd paid extra to enjoy.

 

We then ordered room service, since we'd had very little of our quite awful lunch. Thankfully they showed up in less than 10 minutes, which was probably because everyone was filling salad bowls with ice cream on lido, leaving them with little to do. Jacob ordered a reuben sandwich, which arrived hot and delicious. I ordered a BLT, and received a BBBBLT. Again, the bacon police were nowhere to be found. The chocolate cake was a welcome relief as well. We watched a movie on the TV and ate in bed. When we were done we cracked open a bottle of wine and relaxed on the balcony for a few hours.

 

This is the point we realized something about cruising. We love it, we really do. But the packed crowd on lido is not at all for us. We hate the environment, we hate the noise, and we absolutely hate the unruly children. However, we had paid for the balcony, room service is free (plus a small gratuity) and the atrium bar was just one flight of stairs and a very short walk above us. The lanai was still mostly empty, and offered 360 degree views of the ship, including the wonderful view of the wake and the always fun opportunity to stand in the wind at the front of the ship. By the time evening came around, we had shed our funk, and instead were back to having the fun we should have been.

 

The ship seemed to be picking up speed through the day, likely an attempt to make up time from the Cozumel stop. At one point the wind got pretty intense, so we ventured to the front of the ship and Jacob stood stable into the wind at quite the interesting angle:

 

Now on the Elation we so despised the shows that we twice walked out of them. Sorry... but they were truly awful. During morning announcements Jase had said that the "Dancin' in the Streets" show tonight is the best he's ever seen, and repeated that over and over through the day. We decided it was worth a try, and weren't dissapointed.

 

The trampoline act was a little old to us, but the rest of the show was very well done. The acrobatics would be impressive on dry land, but on a moving ship, the displays of balance and precision were awesome. The show was very well thought out, and the singers were great. I don't want to give away the show to those of you who haven't seen it, but I will say this: Jase's advice didn't let us down. It was very good.

 

From here we rushed to dinner, and arrived just in time to get seated. The gentlemen from New Orleans appeared friendlier, and the girls were talking our ears off, asking about the steakhouse. This seemed like a good dinner...

"We'd already have our food on the Conquest," we heard, as the older couple made their way to the seats. GREAT.

 

The dinner service was fair, but at one point we got this great exchange:

Woman at our table: "The french onion soup is great tonight"

Older man: "It was much better on the Conquest."

His wife: "My soup was very good too, I'm not sure what your talking about."

Older man: "Yours had more cheese in it. They wouldn't make them different on the Conquest."

 

I wanted to pour his soup right over his balding head. He proceeded to tell us that the Conquest was almost the exact same size as the Dream, but the Conquest only held 2,000 passengers, while the Dream held 4,500. Um... really? Because the Conquest actually holds just under 3,000 and the Dream holds 3,650. The Dream holds more, but not twice as many.

 

He then went on to make other wild claims about his dear beloved Conquest. We all ordered dessert, and I was getting impatient as Caroline Picard's comedy show was about to start. I wasn't any happier when the dessert arrived. Our New Orleans residents had ordered 6 desserts between them, and the rest of the table had all ordered 1 each. The assistant waiter carried 3 huge trays one at a time from another room. What was our head waiter doing? He was resetting menus for the next day. We were the absolute last table to be served, and he was already getting a jump on tomorrow, instead of making us feel important in any way. AWESOME.

 

Dessert arrived and we began eating it.

"This would be better on the Conquest!"

DONE. ABSOLUTELY DONE. We both stood straight up from the table and walked out mid dessert. Our day hadn't gone well for the most part, and we were sick of both this dining staff and this irritating man. This was our final visit to the MDR for dinner. We had simply had enough.

 

We ran to the comedy club, and got in just in time before they closed the doors. Thankfully the club is huge and we still got seats. Drink service was prompt (we needed it!!). Caroline Picard took the stage and sent us into another bout of laughter that we couldn't control. Alcohol eased our irritated souls and pretty soon we had forgotten our roughest day of cruising yet, and were relaxed in our booth drinking cocktails and laughing. On our way back we patrolled the outside decks, only to find that everyone was gone. Even the dive in movie only had about half the chairs full.

 

 

We packed our bags for Mahogany Bay and went to bed fairly early, in the hopes of resting up for our first port day.

 

Summary: I realize I've complained a lot in this entry. It truly was the worst single day of cruising we've ever had. It was a day that we admitted we understand why some people criticize Carnival so harshly and abandon it for more "formal" lines. The Dream did not show her best side this day, nor did her passengers. But we also realized something else. We love our Funships. The water slides, the inappropriate comedy shows and the general laid back attitude. We don't want to give that up. The simple fact is, that ships like the Dream offer tons of places to go and things to do that are away from the chaos of the main group. Just because you don't enjoy lido or the tiny pools doesn't mean you don't enjoy the ship. In fact, our balcony and room service were a high point of the day. We decided from now on to make cruising our experience, and not the experience everyone else was having.

 

Up Next: Mahogany Bay, goofy pictures and "hang me downs"

[Indytraveler83]

Mahogany Bay Pt 1:

 

Fun Times: http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn317/campin1983/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsizk7vzea.jpeg

 

We woke up early, excited for our first port day, and just a tiny bit ready to get off the Dream for a bit, after the previous day's nonsense. Room service arrived shortly after, and we enjoyed coffee, juice, yogurt and fruit while watching Roatan come into view. Taking turns in the shower, we realized this hadn't been fixed yet, but the ship wasn't docking, so we turned the water on and off, and it worked out ok.

 

Our excursion was set to meet at the end of the pier almost immediately after docking. We rushed downstairs and stood in line, waiting for clearance to debark the ship. It was granted quickly, and the Dream began flooding Roatan with passengers eager to step on dry land for the first time in 2 and a half days.

 

Boy it was HOT. The high was set to be 89 degrees, but there was barely a cloud in the sky and the intense Caribbean sun beat down on us. What a change from the snow and wind from just 4 days ago!

 

Our excursion was a beach and snorkel day at the private Maya Key Island. I was second guessing my decision here, as the beach at Mahogany Bay is free, and Maya Key isn't exactly a cheap place to go. We were walked away from the pier, around toward the beach and onto a tender boat. The boat took us back across the nose of the Dream and down the shoreline. The first thing to come into view was the NCL Dawn, which had followed us here. The NCL Jade was already docked, and looked absolutely tiny in comparison to the Dream and Dawn. The boat slowed and took a wide path around the reef, finally docking on the back side of the island.

 

We had truly arrived to paradise. Now there is a ton to do at Maya Key. They have sea lion shows, swimming with sharks and rays, various animals and all sorts of birds. If we were there for a whole day, we'd have visited all of these things. But since the excursion was a half day (likely to keep the island from getting too crowded) we headed straight for the most beautiful part. The beach:

 

We sat for a minute, then headed out on that long pier to try out the snorkeling. We both were apprehensive. Jacob is scared to death of sharks, and I wasn't in the mood for another 15 minute hand held snorkeling excursion. After the previous day I'd say both of our moods had soured slightly, despite the incredible setting.

 

We got to the end of the pier and they had everyone sit down and briefed us. They told us to follow the rope in the water to its end, and from there to go left or right.

"Will you be guiding us?" someone asked.

"Not if you don't want us to," came the reply.

"Can we dive down?" another person asked.

"Sure," came the reply.

"How far can we go?" they asked.

"How far do you want to go?" came the reply.

 

I was ecstatic. They went on to explain that they would be more than happy to guide you, give you a tour and accompany you through the reef. But they also made clear that if you didn't want them to guide you, you could run wild, as long as you didn't touch the reef itself.

 

We followed the rope out, and saw plenty of sea life on the way. The reef was gorgeous, and we took our time getting out. We really weren't prepared for what we saw next. The reef dropped out from under us at the end of the rope. For just a little bit it leveled off, maybe 30-40 feet deep. And then, the abyss. All you could see was blue in every direction, including down. The ocean floor just disappeared. There we swam, right at the edge of a beautiful reef and the great blue beyond. Right in the middle of it. Jacob forgot about his fear of sharks, I forgot about everything. We just swam, up one side, then down the other of the reef, gazing at the fish, the coral and the stunning beauty of the drop off beyond. We swam until our sinus's filled with salt water, ignored the sting and swam some more. Time seemed to stop as we just stared at it all.

 

I sound starstruck, because we really were. For some of you reading this you probably think "Oh, I've been there, I'm sure its better in blah blah island, or on this reef we were on." And you are probably right. But for two guys who can barely afford a vacation, and can rarely even make it to the ocean, we were in a whole different world. It was nothing we've ever experienced before and nothing we'd ever seen. As far from everyday life as it gets. For a little while, it was just us and this magnificent reef. Of the five hours we were on that island, we spent well over 3 of it in the water. We just couldn't get enough.

 

Once the burning of the saltwater was too much to handle, and we realized our backs were both badly sunburned from floating face down in the water for hours, we finally headed ashore. We stood in line for lunch, which was a rather good selection of rice, chicken or fish and some delicious baked banana chips. I was surprised as we lounged on the beach that there was bar service right there oceanside. I happily ordered a margarita (which was priced about the same as on the ship) and we spent our last half hour on the island half asleep, digesting lunch and sitting back in wonder of our morning so far.

 

On our way back to the boat, we stopped at an enclosure where we could see something swimming in the water. As soon as we stopped, one of the giant creatures swam right to us, jumped out of the water and sat right on the other side of the fence. It was the biggest, fattest sea line we'd ever seen. Jacob fumbled to get his camera, but he only sat posing for a moment, before jumping back into the water.

 

We got back on the boat and headed back to Mahogany Bay. It was just a short ride, and the dropped us off by the beach. We started walking and I captured the perfect picture of the Dream (I swear this isn't from a Carnival brochure!)

 

We walked for a little while, then decided to actually get back on the ship to change into dry clothes and real shoes (we had only brought water shoes off the ship). Perfect views of a tropical paradise surrounded us as we walked. Mahogany Bay really is beautiful.

 

Up next: Part 2 of Mahogany Bay.

[BigB0882]

Loving your review! I understand the frustrations with unruly children and aggravating adults. Glad you didn't let it ruin your entire cruise!!

 

I am also happy to read how much you enjoyed the Steakhouse. We made reservations on our upcoming cruise for the first night. Can't wait.

 

Did they mention anything about having a promo of bottles of wine being 50% off in addition to the free bottle? I heard this was something they did the first two nights in the Steakhouse. It makes the bottles of wine affordable at 50% off. And did you get the free white or red? Was it tolerable?

Edited February 15, 2016 by BigB0882

[Indytraveler83]

Loving your review! I understand the frustrations with unruly children and aggravating adults. Glad you didn't let it ruin your entire cruise!!

 

I am also happy to read how much you enjoyed the Steakhouse. We made reservations on our upcoming cruise for the first night. Can't wait.

 

Did they mention anything about having a promo of bottles of wine being 50% off in addition to the free bottle? I heard this was something they did the first two nights in the Steakhouse. It makes the bottles of wine affordable at 50% off. And did you get the free white or red? Was it tolerable?

 

Yes, they did mention the sale on the other wines. I'm not sure how often the sales are extended into the second day. I know they always do it departure day, and I've heard sometimes they extend it (as in our case). They listed all the wines available for the sale, and it was quite a list, but we really didn't intend to pay more when the complimentary wine was available.

 

They offered one free red and one free white. Both were the "house" wine. We chose the red as we can usually tolerate any reds, but not a bad white wine. The wine was decent, it was dry and had flavor, but was obviously not high quality. Probably something you'd play less than $10 for on land. But it was still worth drinking, and free is free!

 

On another note, a gentleman dining near us also got the free wine. He only wanted to drink one small glass. They recorked it for him to use on other days, even though it was the free wine. My guess is he enjoyed several meals with that!

[duncmelsmom]

We've only been on 1 other cruise, Elation. This is a perfect review as we made reservations yesterday. I can't wait to read more! It sounds like the Steakhouse is a must. :)

[Yvonne]

I am so enjoying your review and photos, can't wait for the next installment!

 

Yesterday morning we had no plans to book another cruise anytime soon, today...we are booked on the January 8, 2017 sailing of the Carnival Dream out of New Orleans!!! :)

 

We had cruised on the Paradise last year, with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter to celebrate her college graduation. They all (along with granddaughter's boyfriend) want to cruise again, and last evening they invited us to go along so we spent the evening looking at different cruises, ports, prices, etc. and put a courtesy hold on the Dream.

 

We all booked it earlier this morning, so now I'm super excited!!!

 

We cruised once before out of New Orleans (3 years ago) on...the Conquest. ;) Sorry. :) Please don't let your disgruntled tablemate taint the Conquest. We had a wonderful time on her. We had an aft balcony stateroom, had never had one of those before and I loved, loved, loved it! It was so much fun being out there while we cruised down the river several hours to get out to sea. And just to sit out there and read, I could hardly pay attention to what I was reading as I just wanted to watch that beautiful wake. :) To be able to see from side-to-side was awesome and I hope we can get another aft balcony sometime. But for this cruise it will be a regular balcony. I don't mind an inside room for a 4-5 night cruise but for a WEEK I prefer a balcony. I am like you, and enjoy some peace and quiet away from the masses every day. And my absolute favorite thing to do on a cruise is enjoy a room service breakfast on my balcony!

 

I agree with you about unruly children. I'm not a child hater, we have two grown ones of our own and 7 grands. But some parents think they can just cut their kids loose on a cruise, then they just end up annoying other people. So I sure understand where you're coming from. We try to stay away from them as much as possible, and frequent the adult areas as much as we can. Glad to hear the comedy club has ample seating, that's one of our favorite things to do at night. We tend to hit the "family friendly" shows plus the "adult shows" later too.

 

We have only been to New Orleans once, we spent 3 nights there prior to our cruise but after eating raw oysters and being deathly ill from them (later I found out that because of the bacteria, a diabetic shouldn't eat them...they were delicious but I will never eat another!) I couldn't fully enjoy the city so I'm looking forward to going back to do some more exploring. We stayed in the French Quarter, at La Richlieu in the Paul McCartney suite. Beautiful, old boutique hotel. :)

 

But anyway, can't wait to read more of your review!!

[Indytraveler83]

I am so enjoying your review and photos, can't wait for the next installment!

 

Yesterday morning we had no plans to book another cruise anytime soon, today...we are booked on the January 8, 2017 sailing of the Carnival Dream out of New Orleans!!! :)

 

We had cruised on the Paradise last year, with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter to celebrate her college graduation. They all (along with granddaughter's boyfriend) want to cruise again, and last evening they invited us to go along so we spent the evening looking at different cruises, ports, prices, etc. and put a courtesy hold on the Dream.

 

We all booked it earlier this morning, so now I'm super excited!!!

 

We cruised once before out of New Orleans (3 years ago) on...the Conquest. ;) Sorry. :) Please don't let your disgruntled tablemate taint the Conquest. We had a wonderful time on her. We had an aft balcony stateroom, had never had one of those before and I loved, loved, loved it! It was so much fun being out there while we cruised down the river several hours to get out to sea. And just to sit out there and read, I could hardly pay attention to what I was reading as I just wanted to watch that beautiful wake. :) To be able to see from side-to-side was awesome and I hope we can get another aft balcony sometime. But for this cruise it will be a regular balcony. I don't mind an inside room for a 4-5 night cruise but for a WEEK I prefer a balcony. I am like you, and enjoy some peace and quiet away from the masses every day. And my absolute favorite thing to do on a cruise is enjoy a room service breakfast on my balcony!

 

I agree with you about unruly children. I'm not a child hater, we have two grown ones of our own and 7 grands. But some parents think they can just cut their kids loose on a cruise, then they just end up annoying other people. So I sure understand where you're coming from. We try to stay away from them as much as possible, and frequent the adult areas as much as we can. Glad to hear the comedy club has ample seating, that's one of our favorite things to do at night. We tend to hit the "family friendly" shows plus the "adult shows" later too.

 

We have only been to New Orleans once, we spent 3 nights there prior to our cruise but after eating raw oysters and being deathly ill from them (later I found out that because of the bacteria, a diabetic shouldn't eat them...they were delicious but I will never eat another!) I couldn't fully enjoy the city so I'm looking forward to going back to do some more exploring. We stayed in the French Quarter, at La Richlieu in the Paul McCartney suite. Beautiful, old boutique hotel. :)

 

But anyway, can't wait to read more of your review!!

 

Thanks for the kind words! And congrats on the reservation!

 

I work retail management and get to see the worst of people, especially parenting. I wouldn't call myself a child hater per say, but irresponsible parents drive me crazy. It just didn't feel like anyone was utilizing the kids clubs, where on the Elation all the kids disappeared into the clubs during the day.

 

The Conquest is unfortunately a running joke now. Jacob will make dinner. I'll take a bite and say "It's better on the Conquest."

 

As far as Dream balconies go, I'd recommend either a cove or a spa balcony. The cove is very quiet and private while the spa balcony would give you access to the Cloud 9 suites (something we want to try next time).

 

I love cruising down the Mississippi, and doing it on the Dream is quite the sight. That ship just dwarfs everything on the river, even most of the buildings.

 

I'll try to post pt 2 of Mahogany Bay tomorrow if possible. Until then I'll answer any questions or comments you guys have!

[NOSaints1]

Where did the Dream shine and needs improvement was there enough dining options, can't decide between Carnival or either the Anthem or Oasis Class.

 

 

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[Indytraveler83]

Where did the Dream shine and needs improvement was there enough dining options, can't decide between Carnival or either the Anthem or Oasis Class.

 

 

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Well my vote would be Carnival. They won't sail you into a hurricane! (Just kidding!!). In all honesty RCI doesn't much appeal to me so I don't know much about their ships firsthand.

 

As far as the Dream goes here's the extremely quick breakdown:

Pro's: Entertainment, piano bar, specialty restaurants, water slides and stateroom.

Cons: jam packed lido, tiny pools, food was either really good or really bad, and staff was inconsistent, either really good or very "meh"

 

Honestly, this is a ship for people who like the specialty stuff. The Dream wholeheartedly delivers on entertainment with awesome live music, good shows and great comedians. The people who used the cloud 9 spa raved about it, the steakhouse was amazing and what it has of the 2.0 stuff is well done.

 

But if you go with the crowds and sit on lido, swim in the pool and eat at the buffet, you can do far better than the Dream.

[Yvonne]

In all honesty RCI doesn't much appeal to me so I don't know much about their ships firsthand.

 

May I ask why Royal Caribbean doesn't appeal to you very much?

 

We've done 3 Royal cruises (a 4-night Monarch of the Seas, and two 7-night on the Mariner) and loved them.

 

Actually, the next cruise I wanted to book was either the Oasis or Allure. But they are more expensive than Carnival, and with our family members wanting to do Carnival again we went along with that just to be able to spend time with them. :)

 

I think Royal ships have nicer decor, love their promenade, and they do offer hot items for room service breakfast that Carnival doesn't, among other things.

 

But to get the most bang for your buck Carnival is probably the best. And we do enjoy their cruises too, well, we just enjoy cruising period! :)

[NOSaints1]

Reason why we want to book RC next time is Carnival you book in US dollars where as RC you can book in CDN dollars, our last cruise on the Valor out of PR my DW thought that there wasn't enough activitys, the food stations didn't have enough variety and lack of restaurants and food venues.

 

 

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