Carnival Dream, Halloween Cruise

Day 1 – He Had Me at “Eat and Poop”

A week ago, Kristy and I headed to Port Canaveral to celebrate my 40th birthday, our 18th anniversary and, most importantly, Halloween on Carnival Cruise Line's newest and biggest cruise ship, the Dream. And kudos to them on the embarkation process as we found ourselves exploring the ship less than 20 minutes after parking the car.

First things first, lunch. And when you get to the buffet and the droves of people already in line, just keep walking. There's a second buffet area further back. Most people are so anxious to start their gastro conquest, they don't even realize it's back there. Practically no line.

Next, we explored the ship. The casino, the auditorium, the dining halls, the multitudes of bars, the hidden specialty food spots, etc.... and still with that new ship smell. It's a sweet boat.

Time to hit the deck party/send-off party and let the festivities begin. With drinks flying and people dancing all over the deck, we soon realized we were amongst about 200 line-dancers from Georgia. Now, its not that I hate country music, but I was expecting to hear something a little more,.. tropical on our first day. Okay, a couple of songs to make the Georgians happy and on to some Marley. And yep,..... they line-danced to him also.

Dinner time. Off to the Scarlet Dining Room. And the beginning to a 7-day shrimp cocktail binge. Our waiters for the next 7 days would be Ronaldo and José, both from the Philippines. Thanks guys. Excellent service all week.

After-dinner entertainment? Kristy does karaoke. Madonna's "Holiday" to be specific. And I would've posted video of her had she not threatened bodily harm if I filmed her. Too early in the week to go against her wishes.

The first day ended with the "Meet the crew" show in the auditorium. There we were introduced to the entertainment crew and the cruise director of the Dream, Josh Waltzman. We soon realized he is not your typical cruise director. First off, he is American, born and raised, with no accent. And he didn't have the typical "tow-the-cruiseline-mantra" delivery, but more of a genuine "whatever" way about him (best CD on the seas.) That's when he stated the following truth:

"For the next seven days you don't have to work.... For the next seven days you don't have to cook.... For the next seven days you don't have to clean.... For the next seven days the only thing you have to do is EAT,... and POOP."

And never a truer statement has been said.

Let the week begin.... (more later)

Photos of the cruise can be found here:

Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks for taking the time to do a review. Looking forward to reading more about your cruise. Sounds like a good start....hope it continued throughout the week.:)

Yes I also can't wait to hear more!!!!!!!!!!

Great can't wait to read more. Welcome back!

Breakfast, chilling by the pool and more ship exploring started day two. Still couldn't pull the trigger on roulette, though.

Then, lunch. And another tip: Skip the buffet/pizza/hot dog areas. At the very back of the ship is a deli and an Indian cuisine buffet called Tandoor. I enjoyed some pastrami while Kristy was in Hummus heaven. There is also a sushi bar on the Promenade deck that turns into a full-sized salad bar during lunch. And again less crowded than the buffets.

A few months earlier, I stumbled across a "roll call" forum on on this site where I began to get acquainted with some fellow passengers on this cruise. A cocktail party was set up by a member for day 2 as a meet and greet for us. Carnival hooked us up with a good deal on "refreshments" and a private club where we could meet. Good times, good people, and good "refreshments". Thanks Jerry for the good times and for the t-shirts from your company, snomangraphics.

Let the Halloween festivities begin.

The main reason we chose these dates for our cruise was to see what Halloween would be like on the seas. And it was a blast. It seemed like half of the passengers were dressed in costume in one way or another, even the line-dancers. and yes they line-danced in costume.

Kristy had the bright idea for our "couples" costume of a cow and milk maid, and it paid off. We were chosen as finalists by one of the entertainment crew and were asked to appear on the stage of the auditorium later in the evening where the top 3 and ultimately the winner would be chosen. The winners of the evening, and well deserved, dressed up as titanic passengers. Pretty classic.

Carnival had their first of 3 shows that evening. A dedication to country music.... oh joy. Again, not the country fan, I had my doubts but surprisingly it was actually a very good show.

The evening consisted of 3 highlights for me:

The lobster dinner. Or should I say the 2 lobster dinner. Yep, she liked it so much, they brought Kristy out a 2nd lobster. (Gotta love cruising)

the countless number of people taking pictures of us in costume, especially the woman that demanded her picture be taken WITH me because "I jus' luuuuuv cows."

But the single biggest highlight of the evening was at the end of show when the singers and dancers had the audience participate in a heart-felt singing of "Proud to be an American" by Lee *********. There I was, standing in the front row, singing with over 1000 other patriotic passengers "...God bless the USA".... IN MY COW COSTUME. Now that's class.

Tomorrow, Cozumel....

Wow, you look Moooooo-velous !!! Ha Ha.

Great report so far, hope to see more pictures !

That would be a blast to enjoy Halloween at sea, lucky you.

Can't wait for more .....................

@joetolley, cute couple! Nice costumes. You deserved to be in the top 3.:)

Day 3 – Nothing says Caribbean like "Sweet Home Alabama"

Monday morning and our first port of call, Cozumel. What a beautiful place,... or so I've been told. I'm not sure we actually got to see it, thanks to what may be the worst excursion on the seas. Fortunately, this is the only complaint we had about the entire cruise, but it was big enough to take up this entire post. Carnival should just axe this excursion from the list. At $65 a person it wasn't worth 65 cents a person.

The Deluxe Sail, Snorkel and Beach party with Fury Catamarans.

This excursion was so bad, it was laughable. The catamaran set sail (by motor) to within 300 feet of the bow of the Dream for the snorkeling. Not exactly the coral reef I was hoping for. We then got in the water (all 50 of us) and were told to follow the guide with the white bouy. And we were told this continually for 45 minutes. The other guide had tortillas in his pocket to ensure that the fish would swarm only around him. Surprise, he also had a camera. He continually shouted, "get your picture taken!" After getting kicked in the melon about 100 times, I gave up and just waited for the the time to run out.

Finally, back on the catamaran and sailing (again, by motor) to the beach party. The drinks started flying. Beer (I think Milwaukee's Best) and Margaritas (or straight lime juice) for everyone!

The beach, also owned by Fury Catamarans, was almost real in appearance. No visible access to the left, right or back of the beach. Kind of captive to the Fury. There were water trampolines, kayaks and paddle boards at our disposal. Too bad there wasn't anywhere to actually paddle. We also had the option to horseback ride the beach,... at an additional charge. So, we grabbed a couple of floats and enjoyed the water, until our time was up one whole hour later. Fine. I just wanted to get back to the Dream by this point anyway.

After we were cattled back onto the catamaran we sailed (yep, still by motor) back to where we began. But the party continued. The beast and lime juice still poured out of gatorade barrels and the music started to pump, "Sweet Home Alabama". Marley? No. Calypso? No. Latino? No. When I'm in the Caribbean, gimme some Skynard!

But, it's not over yet. Now it's time for Jack Sparrow with the camera go around person to person to hard sell the photos he already printed out (quite an impressive operation, actually.) 12 clams each. So, that's why the drinks were free....

Alas, back to the port and back on to the Dream. And good, the line-dancers are already at it.

On a positive note, dinner was, of course, excellent (except for the Creme Brule. Not sure what that was all about.)

Hopefully, I'll get to see Cozumel the NEXT time I'm there.

As for tomorrow, zip-lining and cave-tubing in Belize. And one of the best days of the cruise.

Hope it gets better for you!

They're awesome! I've never seen the water at Roatan look like that! Like glass....wow! Great job! Beautiful composition!

Looking forward to more review and pics.

The winners of the evening, and well deserved, dressed up as titanic passengers

What does a "Titanic" passenger look like other than cold and wet?:)

Hi there !!!

We will be on the Dream in April...can't wait !!!!

What kind of camera do you have? Your pictures look absolutely amazing !! I need a new camera, and yours seems to take the best pics I've seen :)

Thanks !!

oops !! sorry :D ...I just noticed that it says in on the link to your pics.

Great pic anyways !! They are truly awesome :)

Looking forward to more review and pics.

 

 

 

 

What does a "Titanic" passenger look like other than cold and wet?:)

Yeah, I guess a photo would help.:)

oops !! sorry :D ...I just noticed that it says in on the link to your pics.

 

Great pic anyways !! They are truly awesome :)

I appreciate it. A little photoshop never hurts anyone either. :)

Love, love, love this review....... I can only imagine how cool you looked dressed as a cow singing "God Bless the USA" and totally agree about the country music and line dancing........ in the Caribbean!!!! ;)

Day 4 – Ground Control to Major Tom

Belize was the port of call on Tuesday. There is no dock in Belize city so the Dream parked about 10 miles off of shore and we were tendered in. And in some pretty rainy weather (well we were going to a rain forest.)

The have-to excursion in Belize is apparently cave-tubing. The question is, who to go with. We accidentally went with best and learned an important lesson. Sometimes it does pay to book an excursion online, out of the grasp of the cruise lines. We read on another forum here great reviews of a guy that goes by the name of Major Tom, along with his son, you guessed it, Minor Tom. Go to cave-tubing dot net (I can't get the link to work here, and it's not "dot com")

We went with the combo zip-lining and cave-tubing tour, including transportation to and from the port, and total commitment to getting us back to the ship well before the last tender leaves. At 90 clams a piece, it seemed like a great deal. And it was. But, the best part? There was only four of us on the whole tour. Sorry fellow cruisers.

11 zip-lines, the longest over 400 feet and the highest over 125 ft from the forest ground with beautiful views of the canopy. An no, I didn't wet myself,... much.

After a 12-foot jump off of a rock into the water and a 20 minute hike through the forest. We put into the water and straight into the caves. Stalactites, stalagmites, a bunch of bats and a book-full of Mayan history, as told by Minor Tom, all while floating on our backs through a lazy river. There are worse ways to spend a morning.

Some local BBQ chicken and rice & beans and its another hour back to the terminal, and in plenty of time. Thanks to Toms Major and Minor.

The rest of the day was typical. Great dinner, great drinks, great show (this one a dedication to hip-hop with some pretty sick dancing) and of course more line-dancing to observe (do they leave the ship?)

Tomorrow Roatan, Honduras and hanging out with a local,... from West Virginia.

 

"For the next seven days you don't have to work.... For the next seven days you don't have to cook.... For the next seven days you don't have to clean.... For the next seven days the only thing you have to do is EAT,... and POOP."

 

And never a truer statement has been said.

 

I think he forgot one thing...Drinking! ;)

Never seen the disco so busy....

Thanks for the great review. Your pictures are wonderful.

It's good to hear someone that can make the best of a not so great situation (Cozumel excursion) and even find some humor in it. The cow suit and story gave me a gut laugh.

Keep up the good work, I can hardly wait to hear the rest.

We leave in 2 weeks for Western on the Dream so I'm loving the reviews of the excursions. We haven't booked anything so I'm still looking. What cabin were you in?

Thanks for the great review. Your pictures are wonderful.

It's good to hear someone that can make the best of a not so great situation (Cozumel excursion) and even find some humor in it. The cow suit and story gave me a gut laugh.

 

Keep up the good work, I can hardly wait to hear the rest.

 

We leave in 2 weeks for Western on the Dream so I'm loving the reviews of the excursions. We haven't booked anything so I'm still looking. What cabin were you in?

Cozumel still beat sitting at a desk.

We had the cheapest cabin. interior, deck 2. And probably the best cabin we've been in. Dark an no ship movement. Sometimes cheapness pays.

Day 5 – Roatan our Way

Day 5 – Roatan our Way

We awoke Wednesday morning to a gorgeous sunrise while pulling into Mahogany Bay in Roatan, Honduras. And this was going to be an adventurous day. First breakfast on the Lido deck, then off the boat to find a taxi. We were going to do Roatan on our own.

Our first lesson of the day, get out of the port. $50 round-trip taxi for both of us was the going rate. So, we walked a bit. Just outside the port area was a slew of taxis awaiting the more adventurous people. Score, the going rate was down to $20 each each way for both. By the way, no speed limits on the island.

We grabbed a taxi and were off to see an old friend. That's right, as luck would have it, an old fraternity brother moved here about seven years ago. He would be our guide for the day

He is one of the founders of Sol International Foundation which was established to help better the education of children on the island through after-school programs, scholarships and sports programs. Kind of a keep-them-off-the-streets program. Please check out their site and click on the “visiting Roatan” section if this is ever on your itinerary.

So we hung out on his dock to just catch up and relax. His dock is less than a quarter of a mile from apparently some of the best scuba on this side of the globe.

Then he let us borrow his scooter and sent us over to the West Bay to tour around, see the sites,.... (me in a motorcycle helmet, Kristy in a batting helmet. I wish I had a photo of that) Unfortunately, it's the rainy season and we got caught in a bit of a monsoon at the top of the mountain, so after getting a lay of the land (and a tad bit wet) we headed back. Passing canopy zip-lining, botanical gardens, the zoo, etc. You name it, it's there.

Lunchtime and off to one of Dave's local hangouts, the Blue Bahia for some BBQ and spectacular scenary. Walking back to his place we passed the Dolphin training facility and met the owner on the property of Anthony's Key Resort. Yeah, that settled it. We'll be back in 2011.

Say "Bye" to Dave and get a taxi back to the boat. Oh, and now that we're no where near the port, $3 for cab fare.

We were late getting back on board so we opted out of dinner with our friends Ronaldo and Jose and grabbed a salad at the buffet. No main show tonight but a magician/comedian instead. My reco? Don't skip out on the "fill-in" shows. We didn't go see him much, but while wondering around we caught the tail-end of his act. Pretty frickin' hilarious. He had me in tears in those 10 minutes. I'm sorry I missed it.

Up to the Ocean Plaza bar to see that the line-dancers made it back all right, a leisurely stroll through the casino (still no guts to lay down any cash) and off to bed.

Last stop, Costa Maya and the port I had the least amount of interest in.

Forgot I had this. This pretty much sums up the $65/person excursion aboard the Fury Catamaran.