Just off Dream--Short Review and Tips

[yoyocruiser]

As I had read a lot of conflicting information about the Dream trip to Bermuda I thought I would give a few of my thoughts, but since most folks would already be booked, I will focus on trying to give you some helpful tips to make the most of your cruise. In summary we had an absolutely wonderful time, and found the staff to be very wonderful. I do not like crowds, so a lotof what I will be writing is about avoiding crowds and lines.

 

1) Boarding process: We sailed through the boarding process. I would recommend arriving between 11:30-12:00. It was smooth as could be. Take a copy of your registration in case it is lost (did not happen to me but did to someone else in the line who had a copy and therefore there was no hold up). There was a long line to give the porters bags--but don't despair--we were through the line in less than 5 minutes. From taxi to stepping into our room it was 15 minutes. Oh--and that included an opporunity to pick up a glass of champagne! (I thought the cahmpagne was very good too!) As this line is so heavily traveled by frequent travelers I would encourage you to consider the regular boarding instead of Latitudes. At the time we boarded the regular line was shorter. That is not necessarily always the case, but is worth consideration.

 

2) Sail Away: The Aft deck on 8 has a great view and few people. Obivously most people like to be at the front, but for those who wish to be outside and not in a mob, consider this alternative. Great chairs and a great view.

 

3) Quiet space: During the day the downstairs bars are fairly empty, especially if it is a nice day. The Aft deck on 8 always had available seats (as it is out of the sun and not a lot of people go here.)

 

4) Swimming pools: The Aft pool on 9 was always pretty calm early evening. Many times you could be alone in the pool. there is no bar here and after the sun goes down there are jsut not many people wanting to come here. The pool is deep and I thought was great--very relaxing.

 

5) Best food: I am willing to do a little work for good food which makes me odd in some respects. I think it is well documented here that the food is not always the greatest on NCL. But I do feel there is great food to be had. And therefore I am willing to do the research and legwork to find it. I really advise you to check out the menus and restaurants, and even the dreaded buffet. Just a few tips. The dreaded buffet has fantastic cheeses, olives and that sort of thing at both lunch and dinner. The breakfast buffet had wonderful salmon with all the accoutrements--onions, tomatoe, cream cheese, capers, lemons etc. Lunch and dinner buffet has caesar salad that is freshly prepared before you with a very good quality of dressing. There is always a carving station at the lunch and dinner buffets--twice the meat was truly fantastic (out of maybe four taste trips). For a change you might at times try enjoy sampling the different foods, rather than gearing up for a big dinner that in the end may disappoint. Just an idea. Also, one night dinner did disappoint. We just didn't eat it. We left, got some caesar salad with some meat from the carving station at the buffet, carried it to the 8 Aft deck, and had a splendid dinner. Hey, they are cooking for 1700 people and everything is not going to be perfect. So search for what truly does make you happy, and really, don't just fill up on stuff that isn't that great because you can find great food on this ship. Incidentally, our best meal (and this surprised me) was the Alfresco dining night outside with the tablecloths and candles. Other folks have posted that this was terrible, the table s messed up etc. I almost did not go. We loved it and it was a beautiful night.

 

6) Avoiding the food crowds: Seriously, despite everything we had read, we did not wait in line for more than 5 minutes. If you are eating in one of the large dining rooms make sure you time it during one of the shows--not when the show is letting out. When 400 people leave a venue at dinner time you can guarantee there are going to be lines. Read the daily and time it--you do not have to wait long. If you eat after 8:15ish you may likely not wait at all. You can avoid the omelet lines if you are willing to get up early, if there before 8 you may not have to wait (yea, I know that's early--so weigh it out!)

 

7) Coffee: Yes there is cream. There is also okay coffee and some horrid coffee. We found the okay coffee at the Latitudes lounge (outside Terraces) all through the day; but the best bet was through room service. It would come within 5 minutes usually. Terraces had the best coffee. The coffee at the buffet was not drinkable. Now all of this could change because they can change how they distribute the coffee. My point is--if you have bad coffee--go elsewhere. Your opinion could vary from mine. It is not true that everything is the same across the ship. The coffee situation is the best example of how something goes from the very worst (not drinkable) to very good.

 

8) Drinks: We ordered the bar set up and seriously we saved $500. It was great to be able to relax in the room with a drink. I did not mind going back and forth to room to make drinks. Stewards left plenty of ice. I do not like the fru-fru drinks so this was perfect. As for wine, I had two bottles and was perfectly willing to pay the corkage, went to the table to do so and no one was there and finally one of the staff told me to go ahead.

 

9) Dealing with staff: Frankly, I saw a lot of people being really rude and demanding to the young staff. We simply were polite, we provided extra tip to the room steward staff throughout the cruise when we requested things (we were asking for more ice constantly and they were great about getting it)--but I don't really think that got us better service, I think our stewards gave excellent service to everyone anyway. I politely sent some food back and politely left some meals when the food was not so good--I did not blame the staff.

 

My opinion and just my opinion--

On F2 updates: They have made a great effort. The champagne on arrival is a nice touch. Darn if I know where the lobster was, maybe someone had it. The bedding was fine for me, but I don't think has been updated. For me the bed was great, but others have certainly documented that it is way too hard for them.

 

On having a balcony: Well well worth it. The best perk was that they served breakfast to balcony and suites folks in a separate dining room. There is a note on your bed on the first day telling you where and what times. Hey, this was fantastic to me as breakfast is the hardest meal to have in peace. They may also have been serving high level Latitudes breakfast at Le Bistro--but not for the balcony people. We were in an aft room on deck 8, had the great aft area to sit, had the pool up one deck as well as the Terraces restuarant there for breakfast. Perfect. Other perks with balcony: There were robes and ours were neither dirty or ratty as has been reported here, but I am not a robe person. There was an iced bottle of champage upon our arrival--I had no idea we would get this and I was thrilled!

 

On entertainment: On this cruise The Fat City Band was a real highlight. They are a Boston based band and that is the reason we actually selected this cruise. So this experience put it over the top for us. As for the regular entertainment--I really laughed at the comedian. The show band is great. But where sometimes I think NCL gets really strange is with some of the entertainment. It cracked me up that the "party" band was a duo called the Hennings that would put anyone to sleep. They were great for the outdoor dining alfresco night, good dining music. But for sailaways and deck parties we have always had steel band music or something upbeat. It was jsut strange. But then again, there were probably an equal number of people saying "Thank God, they did away with that steel band music and gave us something nice."

 

Yep--it's all opinion. And my opinion is that if you are on one of the two remaining Dream cruises, you are up for a great time.

 

Hope this is helpful to anyone preparing to go, I am ahppy to answer questions.

[Cruise from Boston]

Hi Yoyo..I was glad to find your review. My husband and I are taking our first cruise on Dream's last trip to Bermuda. Do you have any recommendations for things not to miss in Bermuda? How about any suggestions for first time cruisers?

Thank you;)

[dforeigner]

Thank you for taking time to write a review.

[biker@sea]

Very good review:D Thank you for sharing your experience.:)

[macdays1]

Leaving Sunday on the Dream. It was nice to hear a good last minute review. Thanks so much.

[ConnecticutFlamingo]

Thank your for your positive review.:)

 

We are leaving on Sunday for a cruise to Bermuda. You mentioned that you have the "bar" set up in your room. What did you mean by this?

Thanks!

[Tiger55]

Fantastic review!!! We have many of the same thoughts as you. We too were on the on deck 8 AFT when we left Boston, so we must of been sitting right near you. It was a great spot throughout the cruise, we went to that location frequently during our stay our the ship.

 

Food was great, we found something to our liking all the time. The Sports Bar isn't as bad as others have made it out to be. The hamburgers are not the best thing in the world, but did the job for the late night munchies.

 

Dinner, we were in and out in under an hour every night. We never waited to be seated. We planned to be at the restaurants at 5:30, just to beat the dreaded wait others have talked about. We heard others complaining around the ship about the waits, but hey, you go at 7-8pm, you wait...It worked out great for us, cause we would eat, go back to the room change into our bathing suits and have the hot tub to ourselves. Two nights we had no one else in them with us, since most were eating. Le Bistro was great, we ate there the first night. Ate at the 4 Seasons twice, and Traittora once. Never went to the Terrace since it had the same menu as the 4 Seasons.

 

Our room stewards were GREAT. Our TA had a bottle of wine for us when we got to our room, and we had no way to open it. We left our stewards a note, and bam there was a corkscrew shortly there after. Had 4 towel animals over the 7 days. The also layed my GF's nightie out on the bed all cute. The beds I thought were alright, I had no problem sleeping. The bed spreads are old, but we always took it off like they made the rooms up at night.

 

We put the card on our door at night for Room Service on two mornings. Everything was at our door on time, warm/cold as requested. It was great getting a quick bite before heading out for the day in Bermuda.

 

The drink prices on the boat were fair I thought. We went to the White Horse in St George, and it was more expensive to drink there than on the ship. For a bucket of Coors Light was only 22.71 including tip. We went to the Swizzle in and spent 56 on a jug of Rum Swizzles, nachos, and bacon cheese burger. We did the Rum Runners, and had no issue with them. We only touched one of them, and ended dumping out 1 of the 32oz ones before we left. Drank more bar drinks than what we brought. Also brought 2-12packs of water, 12 pack of sprite zero, 8 pack of diet mountain dew in our rolling cooler. It was a piece of our checked luggage, and they took one of our sprite zeros since it was not package like the water and dew. Always had a full ice bucket in the morning and evening for our cooler. I know people frown on the rum runners, but it did come in handy for our pre dinner Malibu and Sprite Zero drink. Perfect for waiting on the other in the shower.

 

We never had a problem finding a chair. On sea days, we were up on the deck by 9am, and it was free for the picking. When we sailed out of St.George we were on AFT deck 9 pool area, and didn't have a problem getting a chair. Got some really good sun there too!!

 

We spent a couple nights playing Scrabble outside the internet cafe/Le Bistro area. It was relaxing playing a game, having a coffee drink, and doing people watching!!

 

Sat. evening before the sun went down we saw a whale and a BUNCH of dolphins off the left side of the ship. Vernon, one of the ships employees pointed it out to us. Asked if he could have my camera, and took photos of my GF and I. We talked to him for about ten minutes, and went right down to reception to fill out a card for him.

 

Friday evening around 11pm there were HUNDREDS of small birds flying above and around the ship. Had no idea where they came from. One lady we spoke to said she got pooped on:eek:.

 

Our only complaint was when we got back to Boston, and our battery was dead in the car. Road Side Assistance couldn't find the garage. The parking attendant on duty jumped the car(gave him a 20), had to shut the door to get by his car. Low and behold, we have a car which is now running with the doors locked:mad:. Called road side assistance again, played phone tag with them for 30 minutes. They too had no idea where the Black Falcon Terminal was in Boston, or Drydock Ave. Went back to the parking attendant, got a metal clothes hanger, and spent the next 1hr 15mins attempting to hit the power lock or power windown button. GOT IT, and were out of the terminal at 12:10pm.:eek: Then on 93 north, we almost got side swiped by some boneheads who decided they didn't want to take the Tobin Bridge exit, and pull back into 93 traffic. Locked on the brakes doing 65, and had to go in the next lane. Thankfully there wasn't a car in that lane our I would of hit them. Ahh, welcome back to the real world. I wanted to turn back around, and get on the cruise that was leaving at 4pm!!

[yoyocruiser]

Tiger, great review and SOOOO sorry you had such a bad return home. We were fortuante and literally walked off the ship, into a taxi, and onto commuter rail. We were home by 10:30!!

 

Connecticut, the bar set-up has to be ordered at least a week in advance. Sorry. But you can order bottles of whatever for your room--expensive--$60 a bottle--but in the long run a huge savings. I am not one at this point to try to smuggle stuff in.

 

Cruise from Boston: Yes, one great recommendation for what to see in Bermuda, and one that is not often mentioned here. At the dockyard there is a museum of maritime history--it is fantastic. However, the part that I did not know about is a "Swim with the Dolphins" program that is located within the compound of the fort where the museum is. I expected a museum--and I also got a good two hours entertainment by dolphins. It was unbelievable--not like your usual show. These are very trained people who do work and testing with the dolphins. I greatly enjoyed this.

[SNicksed]

Thank you for the reviews and tips! We look forward to our turn on the 19th! :)

[yoyocruiser]

One thing I did forget. Balcony rooms on the Dream can order from an extended room service menu. Each morning I used my breakfast room service order form and ordered coffee (it always arrived hot and on time). Midway through the week I noticed that the breakfast room order forms on the other doors were a different color and when I looked they were a more complete menu (hot eggs and omelets for example). So I went to the reception desk and asked for the correct form. We only ordered breakfast in the room one day but it was great. Just something for you to be aware of if you are in a balcony room.:)

[brokenarrowhd]

Glad to read about people enjoying themselves on the Dream. I know I did in June and thats why I going again in less than 2 weeks.

 

Your spot on with the tips you give.