Carnival Dream B2B Cruise Review

[sarahbeth476]

Really enjoying your review! We'll be on the Dream in October.

[NWACruiser]

It was the first day of the second week. Today was a brunch day, so we headed to the Scarlet Dining room. Vladimir was no longer on the ship, so we had a different crew. After breakfast, we went to the Warehouse Video Arcade to play some skeeball and air hockey.

 

There was a 60's trivia contest that I was interested in. DW wanted to go to the shopping seminar, so we went our separate ways. I did OK on the 60's contest.

 

Three Day Team Trivia

 

When it was over, the three day trivia team contest was starting. I was interested in joining. As teams started to form, I joined one. We introduced ourselves to each other. Some of the team was a group from Las Vegas. Another group was from Louisiana. The teams had to come up with a name. We came up with Saints and Sinners.

 

The trivia game was simple. Each team would roll a die made up of a worn out box, with the numbers 1, 2,3, 4, 5, and 6 on a side. The first roll determined which of the five categories will be used.

• World Geography

• Entertainment

• History

• Sports, and

• Wacky Whack (a general category).

 

The second roll determined the point value. If you notice, there are five categories and six sides to the die. If you rolled a six, then the point value was doubled. The team that rolls gets to answer the question. If they miss it, each team gets a chance to answer (in a sequential process). If a team answers correctly they get to steal the points.

 

 

 

After the first day, was over, our team felt good, but not sure how well it was going. We were surprised to find out we were in first place.

 

Tandoor for Lunch

 

DW and I met up and headed to lunch on the Lido deck. We decided to try Tandoor today. We do not know much about Indian food, so we experimented. I guess we found something that was good.

 

 

 

 

 

We spent the afternoon relaxing on the Serenity deck for a while before heading to dinner.

 

Tonight was formal night. We took some time to have our photos taken by the professional photographers before dinner. Then we headed to the Crimson Dining Room to meet up with our wait staff again. Once again we were welcomed to our table by Berny, Edgar, and Zubin. We were disappointed to hear that Kendall was reassigned to the Scarlet Dining Room this week. We had to train a new wine steward. Other than that, everything was back to normal. By this, I mean we did not seem to have table mates again. I guess we are not popular.

 

We slipped into something more comfortable before heading to the Promenade deck. There was a new band playing in the Ocean Plaza. The Blackjack Band was now on the ship. They are a Country band that plays some Mainstream music also.

 

I also noticed that Kendall was working the Ocean Plaza instead of the casino. This meant there were three waitresses working for my tips there.

 

After Blackjack Band finished, the Show Band came on stage to play 90's music. Most of the band knew we were on a back-to-back cruise. Courtney (the female lead singer) almost fell when she saw me. She thought I was pulling her leg about the second cruise. When the set was over, she came up to give me a hug. The band was happy to see their promoter still on the ship!

 

Well, it was getting late, and we had to be nowhere tomorrow, so we tried to close the ship. The towel animal was happy to see us when we finally crawled into bed.

[NWACruiser]

We made it back to the Caribbean finally. It was a beautiful day to be at sea!

 

 

Passengers were out early to catch some sun.

 

 

 

 

Today we hit the Lido deck for breakfast. I had my usual 2 eggs over hard and DW had her omelet. I had to head down to the Ocean Plaza for round two of the trivia contest. DW went to the future cruise show.

 

The Saints and Sinners had the lead, but we were not sure how far ahead we were. A new team (from Ohio) joined the contest. They were ahead of us in the rotation. They were good. They made several steals, before we had a chance. They finished the day in third place. Our team was still in first, though. But the competition was going to be tough on the final day Saturday.

 

It was funny because the team from Ohio sat at the table next to us in the dining room.

 

Since we were right by the Oceanside BBQ, we had that for lunch.

 

 

[NWACruiser]

I took a break to snap a few photos of the ship,

 

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

I came back in to catch the final leg of the Dr. Seuss Parade.

 

 

 

 

I caught up with DW to see what she was up to.

 

We decided to do Bingo next. We had our usual luck… is was Bing-Not us. We actually were never close to winning. It turns out one of the Saints and Sinners trivia team members did win.

 

After Bingo, we decided to try Tea Time in the Scarlet Dining Room. Tea Time was interesting. They had hot water for your tea. Basic tea was free, but for an additional cost you could get a name brand. They came around and served you hors d'oeuvres and some cakes with your tea. We planned on doing it again, but never made it back.

 

While walking around the ship, we saw some photographers shooting with a Dr. Seuss muslin for the backdrop. Dr. Seuss books never had a straight line anywhere. Therefore, we decided to cut this up and pose ourselves. We did it by bending and stretching. The photographer had a blast with that shot.

 

We made it to dinner only to find out that we still did not have table mates. It seemed like they were never going to show, so we just had a blast with Zubin, Berny and Edgar. We also chatted with the rival trivia team at the table next to us.

[tm32561]

Excellent review! I love your spunk and energy! My DH and I vacation just like y'all - you can find me in the casino and he is the social butterfly. We meet up for dinner and a date, hit the sack, wake up early- repeat.

[NWACruiser]

Carnival created their own port on the island at Mahogany Bay. The bay has a narrow channel for ships to enter. It is difficult for a ship the size of a cruise ship to turn around inside the bay. With the current cruise ships and their amazing ability to navigate tight channels, cruise ships and enter and leave the bay, but they cannot turn around. Therefore they either back into the bay or back out of the bay. Early in the morning, from our balcony. we watched the Carnival Dream back into Mahogany Bay and dock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

We had time to eat breakfast on the Lido deck before meeting the shuttle to West Bay. We gathered our gear and headed out to the shuttles.

 

Isla Roatan is a hilly jungle on an island. There are few flat areas on the island and we were not at that spot. The drive to West Bay was beautiful. I could spend a lot of time going around the island and just take photos. It took about 45 minutes to get to the bay.

 

We checked into Tabyana Resort and was given a brief overview of what to expect. Then we were led down to the beach to spend the day.

 

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

The beaches are public, but the resort is private. Vendors can stand on the beach and sell their wares, but could not step on the property or even push their products to anyone except on the public areas. There were several guards around the resort that made sure of that.

 

 

 

 

Nice location:

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

We took our snorkel gear down to the reef on the west end of the island. I have read the snorkeling there is good. So we checked it out. Rumor has it, if you go out far enough on the reef, you will reach a dark line where the shelf drops off suddenly. We did not go too far out, but we did see some fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

We spent the rest of the morning relaxing on the beach and swimming in the sea. The water was a little chilly to get in, but was not bad once you were in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

Since we were in port until late in the afternoon, and our tour did not include lunch, we decided to head back to the ship. After showering, we went to the Lido deck. DW hit Mongolian Wok, and I tried the Pizza. Mongolian Wok was excellent, of course. I was surprised at how good the pizza was.

 

We wandered into Mahogany Bay to shop for a bit.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2016 by NWACruiser

[NWACruiser]

We decided to head over to the beach, so we took the gondola lift to the beach. We saw some people riding the last of the zip lines over to the beach. It ends up above the restaurant/bar on the beach. DW wanted to zip line, so we inquired about it. We decided not to go this time, but we will do it next time we are here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

 

 

 

 

We rode the gondola back across to the port to head back to the ship.

[NWACruiser]

We stopped at the bar to have a cold one. As much as we would like to stay there, we decided to head back to the ship before it left port.

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

We headed to the dining room expecting our private table. It appeared to be accurate… for about 5 minutes. T and S from Green Bay ruined it. They showed up, finally. They turned out to be a fun bunch to dine with.

 

While we were eating, Abel, a close-up magician, was entertaining tables. He performed a few tricks, such as changing a dollar bill into a five-dollar bill, levitating a bill, and a few other tricks.

 

The best one was the coin through the table. I was the victim here. Abel handed me four coins. I had a good idea of what the trick was, so I evaluated them closely. They seemed to be legitimate. He took two out of my hand. I folded my hand tight and I placed it under the table. He put the other two on the table above my hand. Then he took a glass from the table and placed over the coins. He talked for a second, tapped the glass, and one coin disappeared. He took the glass off and there was exactly one coin. I pulled my hand out, opened it, as I expected I had three coins. He never touched my hand after placing the two in there. I never felt anything strange going on, and we all saw the one coin disappear.

 

After dinner, we wandered the Promenade deck for a while, finally settling into the Ocean Plaza. DW decided to hit the casino for a bit. I stuck around for the Guess that 80's Song with Brandon. This was not a trivia type thing. The song was started and the audience yelled out its name. After the last song, Brandon selected "volunteers" to do something with each song. I was his first victim, I mean volunteer. There were 3 of us that tried to get the audience pumped up to Starship's "We Built This City". All participants got a medal for their ability to make a fool of themselves for everyone's enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

 

Brandon, the Cruise Director having fun while working. What's wrong with this picture???

 

 

He gets paid to take a vacation...

 

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

Before the end of the volunteering, DW was back to see what was going on. I had to show off my medal. The Carnival Dream Show Band finished the evening with 80's songs. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. After the show, we headed to the casino for a bit.

 

 

 

 

Brandon having too much fun.

 

[NWACruiser]

Dalton and Courtney could keep the party going. Dalton had an amazing voice. His range was unbelievable.

 

 

Joel hamming it up.

 

Courtney was a great complement to Dalton's singing.

 

[DutchCruiseFan]

Really enjoying the review!!

[NWACruiser]

The Dream sailed into the waters around Belize City a little after sunrise. The reefs around the city prevent large ships from entering the port. Therefore we had to tender today. We had our normal breakfast in on the Lido deck. We gathered up the snorkel gear and headed to the Caliente Nightclub to catch our tender. When it was our turn, we headed to Deck 0 to board the tender.

 

 

For this excursion, our tender was the excursion boat for the trip. We headed straight to the reef to snorkel. Since DW was with me, and she was a little unsure about snorkeling, we headed out with the last group.

 

 

 

 

We were out there about 25 minutes before DW was done, so I explored a bit on my own.

 

[NWACruiser]

In the meantime, we saw a small ray, some fish and an eel.

 

 

 

 

I finally went back to the boat to check on DW (at least it was my excuse.) We put the snorkel gear away and got ready for the trip to Starfish Island.

 

 

 

[NWACruiser]

Starfish Island is a man-made island. They have put shops, a restaurant, and a small area to swim. Since the area is protected, they do not allow swimming outside of the designated area.

 

 

 

We found a spot to relax in the sun. The sand was fine and comfortable to walk on. We went into the water. It was not very clear, but that was probably due to the amount of people in the water kicking up the sand. (As a side note, the water around the island was much clearer.)