Dream - never again!

[ObstructedView2]

On 5/2/2022 at 12:17 PM, nlktx49 said:

 

Waiting (over) an hour and a half (every night) for a table at Anytime Dining

 

 

On 5/2/2022 at 7:30 PM, nlktx49 said:

 

After the third night of 1 hour plus waiting for a table, and a trip to Guest Services after each, we finally had a person who apologized for the long waits and offered to change us to assigned time dining. 

 

 

 

So it wasn't an over (90 minute) wait, (every night) of the cruise. 60 minute wait for 3 nights?

 

 

[coldweather]

On 5/2/2022 at 1:52 PM, BlerkOne said:

My experience is the oldest ship in the fleet, and being scrapped later this year, Ecstasy, had more than sufficient crew, and many smiling faces. Absolutely no service complaints from me.

 

I had the same experience on Ecstacy in April.  The food was outstanding.  I never thought that pre-covid.  The crew was also more friendly, helpful and enthusiastic than I ever remember.  There was definitely MORE constant cleaning in the common areas.  The cruise was 75% full. 

[1kaper]

On 5/3/2022 at 11:49 AM, nlktx49 said:

I believe all ships out of Galveston have Dr Pepper - and I've never known of a ship other than Dream to run out of it. I think all the problems on the Dream are the result of poor management.  How basic it is to know how much food or drink to order for each sailing? Carnival needs to either get an experienced person to run the Dream or just take it out of its lineup. It gives Carnival a bad reputation.

 

I just saw a post on John Heald's page  about running out of certain types of alcohol by the end of the cruise on another ship.  He confirmed they are experiencing fleet wide supply chain issues that are not limited to the cruise industry.  
So it's not just the Dream. And may not be simply poor management. 

[ledges1]

On 5/4/2022 at 8:38 AM, coldweather said:

 

I had the same experience on Ecstacy in April.  The food was outstanding.  I never thought that pre-covid.  The crew was also more friendly, helpful and enthusiastic than I ever remember.  There was definitely MORE constant cleaning in the common areas.  The cruise was 75% full. 

I was on the cruise in April. Me and my wife enjoyed that cruise. Got a  good VIFP offer the other day and have booked again for June.

[ProgRockCruiser]

Another useless anecdote:

 

My wife and I went out for dinner to a Thai restaurant I had enjoyed in years past, but hadn't been to in a while.  

 

It was great, just as I remembered.  We asked the waitstaff about how they had been doing, and apparently they had just re-opened a few months ago after being closed for almost two years due to the pandemic shutdowns and then lack of staff.

 

And from a professional work-related anecdote: lack of supply of very specific components (silicon-based chips) is impacting the availability of the things they go into, which is causing delays on what can be delivered/installed to very important clients.  And there is nothing anyone can do about it, right now.

 

So it is surely frustrating to wait for a dinner table, but the repercussions of the last two years is a world-wide phenomenon impacting almost every aspect of our lives, unfortunately.

[scoobysnacks70]

All of Texas had a Dr. Pepper shortage for about 2 weeks--probably why they ran out

[sanmarcosman]

On 5/3/2022 at 3:03 AM, mondello said:

Sincere apologies! I should have known better. I almost didn't post it but couldn't see why you were asking if it was Conquest. Pretty obvious you'd know where the homeport was if your son was working it. It just seemed you were asking about the current reference and not the cruise from 2008.

See post 35, it was Conquest. This confused several of us I suspect.

Edited May 5, 2022 by sanmarcosman

[EngIceDave]

35 minutes ago, scoobysnacks70 said:

All of Texas had a Dr. Pepper shortage for about 2 weeks--probably why they ran out

In Central Florida, for a while, we couldn't get some of the flavored cola's, like cherry coke or cherry pepsi.

Gatorade also became hard to come by, think it still is.

[nlktx49]

On 5/3/2022 at 3:37 PM, EngIceDave said:

You have to work around this stuff. I am the most high-strung-hate-to-wait-why-is-everyone-in-my-way person there is, but one I have learned over the last two years....

 

You can't control it, roll with it.

You have to adapt and overcome. What time was it jammed up? Do not go at that time again. Go earlier or later. Go to the buffet instead. Have a back up plan. 

 

Things are get messy on cruise ships at least once it seems, and now with less staff and less face it, general cut backs, it's not what it was and likely won't be for a long time.

 

It is what it is, so make the best of it

 

 

Issues like this haven't happened on any other Carnival ship I've been on,  I guess that's why I was not happy about it, it was very "UnCarnival" - on Vista in October and January, Breeze in February. Crew did everything possible to make passengers happy, the HUB worked fine for making reservations, there were no shortages, crew was constantly cleaning, Guest Services personnel were great. So no, I'm not going to make the best of it. If it is what it is, it should be changed. Carnival needs to do some major work on Dream to have it come up to the quality of its other ships.

[pc_load_letter]

3 hours ago, 1kaper said:

 

I just saw a post on John Heald's page  about running out of certain types of alcohol by the end of the cruise on another ship.  He confirmed they are experiencing fleet wide supply chain issues that are not limited to the cruise industry.  
So it's not just the Dream. And may not be simply poor management. 

 

I dunno...on one hand, seems "supply chain issues" are the excuse du jour for anything really. On the other hand, I walk into any Costco and there are pallets of soda, booze, you name it.

 

I know nothing of logistics but I often take was JH says with a stink eye.

 

*Funny story, I was on our last Alaskan cruise (pre-covid) and they were out of a number of alcohols. I had ordered a Guiness and it was out. Bartendar indicated that they had a bunch of Brits on their repositioning cruise that drank so much, the ship ran out. He went on to tell me they needed staff to go to local grocery stores at port to buy booze and such.

[1kaper]

5 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

I dunno...on one hand, seems "supply chain issues" are the excuse du jour for anything really. On the other hand, I walk into any Costco and there are pallets of soda, booze, you name it.

 

I know nothing of logistics but I often take was JH says with a stink eye.

 

*Funny story, I was on our last Alaskan cruise (pre-covid) and they were out of a number of alcohols. I had ordered a Guiness and it was out. Bartendar indicated that they had a bunch of Brits on their repositioning cruise that drank so much, the ship ran out. He went on to tell me they needed staff to go to local grocery stores at port to buy booze and such.

 

 

I mean, a couple of people have confirmed that there have been supply issues they have seen in the area not on a cruise with Dr. Pepper and other types of pop (soda?)

I have personally seen supply issues with certain types of alcohol in other places.  I don't think it is wild to believe. 

Aside from that, whatever the reason is, I don't think it is the Dream being the stepchild.  Other ships having the same issues.  

As for the cleaning and rude staff - I was on the Dream last month.  I saw staff constantly cleaning. I couldn't believe it when I came back to my room around 8pm and my cabin steward was washing down the hallway.  I felt like he had a really long day.  I noticed it in other places. 
I did not have one single rude employee experience my entire trip.

I will say the Hub app had it's issues.  

[BlerkOne]

11 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

I dunno...on one hand, seems "supply chain issues" are the excuse du jour for anything really. On the other hand, I walk into any Costco and there are pallets of soda, booze, you name it.

 

As a frequent shopper at Sam's Club, Costco, etc., these they often run out of certain specific brands, items, etc. Usually just for a short period, but it is a fine balancing act to try to get the right amount of product to the right store. or ship.

 

They may not have at my preferred stores, but if I check other locations, if I want to drive far enough, I can often obtain.

 

There was recently an egg shortage - maybe still is, because avian flu forced farmers to kill millions of chickens. If it isn't one thing, it's another.

[dan4182]

On 5/2/2022 at 1:23 PM, 1kaper said:

I saw your post on John Heald's page.  

I sailed the Dream the end of March and had none of your issues. 

 

We certainly didn't wait an hour for a table at anytime dining.  Although one night the app wasn't working and after waiting in line for awhile to get signed up we "heard" through other people the wait was over an hour.  So we went to the buffet. 

If the Hub app is working don’t they send you a notice that your table is ready and you have 10 minutes?

[1kaper]

2 minutes ago, dan4182 said:

If the Hub app is working don’t they send you a notice that your table is ready and you have 10 minutes?

Yes. 

[satxdiver]

On 5/2/2022 at 11:17 AM, nlktx49 said:

Returned Sunday, May 1, from an 8 day cruise on the Dream. From waiting over an hour and a half every night for a table at Anytime Dining, to a message at 5 am from the Art Auction to not miss the Lightning Auction at 1 pm - which when I complained to guest services and the person asked to see my phone, said he saw no evidence of this post on it, basically calling me a liar! -  to no bourbon, no Pepsi, no Dr Pepper by day 3, to rudeness from crew to other passengers, to a dirty cabin - the list goes on and on. ...

 

We were on the Dream for a b2b in April.  On our cruise they ran out of bourbon although it is sold in the store aboard which when I pointed out received an indifferent look.  We had 6:00 fixed dining with same table/staff and of course had no problem.  MDR service was really good per usual.  We found the staff aboard to not be terribly friendly or even helpful and yes it seemed they were short of staff.  Our cabin steward did keep our cabin clean as well as the ice bucket full.  We did have a good time but plan to never cruise on the Dream again.   

[ProgRockCruiser]

21 hours ago, pc_load_letter said:

I dunno...on one hand, seems "supply chain issues" are the excuse du jour for anything really. On the other hand, I walk into any Costco and there are pallets of soda, booze, you name it.

I see "supply chain issues" everywhere - at the grocery store (as noted, Gatorade seems to be hit or miss, and cat food in general), at the pool supply store (seen the price of chlorine pucks recently?  They've almost tripled), and in work-related stuff (certain silicon-based chips are simply not available, affecting the final assembly of circuit cards for a myriad of things, including cars/trucks).  Just some examples off the top of my head.

 

Even though you may come across a local glut of items it doesn't mean there aren't issues elsewhere.  And of course, with Costco the specific products they put out are always varying, so maybe they are just putting out everything they can get, vs what they would have preferred to get.

[ober134]

On 5/2/2022 at 2:52 PM, BlerkOne said:

My experience is the oldest ship in the fleet, and being scrapped later this year, Ecstasy, had more than sufficient crew, and many smiling faces. Absolutely no service complaints from me.

Same with Elation in April.... Only time we had to wait was first night in MDR. Other than that, happy and accommodating crew.

[Retiredmedic]

18 hours ago, dan4182 said:

If the Hub app is working don’t they send you a notice that your table is ready and you have 10 minutes?

If it is working, my Vista Cruise 3-26 the Hub didn't work for the first 2.5 days.