Carnival Dream, April 2nd, Western Caribbean - A Review with Pics from the UK

So, a big hello to everyone on Cruise Critic. Having just returned to the UK from spending some time in Florida, as well as enjoying a fantastic week onboard the Dream, I thought I would share some of my experiences with you, if you care to read.

I don't know if any other Brits have reviewed this ship here on CC, nor do I really know if my experiences or expectations were different to anybody else's because I am from England, however, I thought I would post a review anyway, as there seems to be a certain amount of negativity surrounding the Dream, particularly relating to this specific sailing, at the moment.

Some of it, I have to say is probably justified, but nothing that I encountered during my 7 days onboard detracted from a fantastic holiday experience, which was actually my belated honeymoon. Both myself and my wife had a great time, both onboard the ship, and during our time in Orlando and at Cocoa Beach. I will hope to provide as much info as I can, as well as a few photos, and answer any questions that anyone may have.

But just for information straight away, I didn't bring any Fun Times home (got to think about the luggage weight on those flights !!), nor did I get any pictures of the food unfortunately.

So, if you are intrigued and want to read a little more, I will continue with a little about our pre-cruise stay in Orlando.......

If you are still with me, and my thread introduction hasn't put you to sleep, then let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Paul, and I live in Cheltenham in the UK. I am originally from a smallish town called Fleetwood which is in the north west of the country, and having moved around a little, including a couple of years in Bermuda, I have settled here in Gloucestershire with my wife Michelle.

I have sailed with Carnival on 4 previous occassions, as well as NCL, RCI and P&O. This was my wife's second cruise, but I think she now has the bug as well.

I mentioned that this was our belated honeymoon. We actually got married in Las Vegas almost 2 years ago, but due to work constraints, this was the first time we were both able to schedule the holiday - it was worth the wait !!

So we drove from our home to London's Gatwick airport on Sunday March 27th, and stayed at a nice hotel ahead of our flight to Orlando Intrenational on the Monday. Parking at the hotel was included in the rate, which was probably about the same as just parking with some operators, so this was ideal. We had a pretty relaxing night, went for a walk, and had some tea and drinks at the hotel bar, before retiring, knowing that the upcoming flight wasn't going to be much fun - 9 hours stuck on a plane !!!

We awoke nice and early, and was checked in and through security with plenty of time to spare. I then realised I had lost my camera somewhere, and despite phoning the hotel, it was gone. Luckily, the memory card had been cleared before our trip, so there was nothing personal on it. But this meant a quick dash to one of the airport duty free outlets, where I picked up a pretty good Nikon camera with 4Gb of memory for just short of £100 - not a bad deal.

Not the best start to the holiday though, but I convinced myself I needed a new camera anyway, so I was pretty pleased with it in the end.

Soon enough the time came to board our flight - a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 - and with no delay we were up in the air and on our way to the USA.

The flight was very smooth, and whilst I do have a dislike of flying, was about as good as it gets. The aircraft was looking a little tired in places, but the seatback screens worked, there was a free bar service, and we landed safely - you can't really ask for much more than that.

I am not too sure how much space you can use in an individual post, so will continue in a new one with the first of the photos to test they work, as well as a brief bit about Orlando and Cocoa Beach.

Eventually we land at MCO around 5PM local time, and the much awaited, and needed sunshine had been replaced by heavy rain and strong wind. Hmmm, all that way for worse weather than we had back home ? Don't think that was in the plan !

Not to be put off by such a minor issue, we jumped into a cab, and headed to our hotel - the Holiday Inn Express nearest the gates at Universal Studios. We chose this hotel since we really wanted to explore the 2 Universal Parks, as well as the City Walk of an evening. Here goes the first photo test of the hotel

And the signage

And the pool area

Apologies for the darkness, these were actually taken in the early morning - takes a little time to adjust to the time difference.

Enjoying your review! Keep up up the good work.

The photos seemed to post OK - I prefer the larger size pics myself, hope I am not killing anyone's internet connection with them ?

Back to the review. After checking in to the hotel, we were a little tired after the flight, so just decided to go and grab a bite to eat, and get an early night. The hotel itself does not have any lunch or evening meal offerings, so we asked at reception where me may go to have a meal, and they pointed us in the direction of a small plaza area, with a Chinese\Japanese restaurant, an Orlando Alehouse, and a Golden Corral, which was about a 5 minute walk. That was just about doable in the weather, so we opted for Chinese, and it was good, as was the Bud Light !!

We finished up and retired for the evening, as the weather forecast had good weather for the next day, Tuesday March 29th.

We were ready to hit the parks after a good nights sleep, and decided to buy a 3 park pass that gave us access to Universal Studios Resort, Universal Islands of Adventure and Wet and Wild Water Park.

For the Tuesday we hit Universal Studios Resort

I have wanted to visit this place since I was a kid, and the reason ? Well even though there are many new and modern attractions, it was the Jaws ride that had grabbed my attention for many reasons.

We got to the park at around 9:30, and Jaws didn't open until 10, so we made our way round to the SImpsons ride, and it kicked things off well - even Michelle liked it, and she isn't too keen on the Simpsons.

But then it was time for the ride that I had waited many years for - Jaws.

If you have been on it, you may have been underwhelmed, but for me, even though it was cheesy as hell, both Michelle and I loved it.

We spent the rest of the day strolling round, enjoying ourselves. They have a really good Blues Brothers tribute act which is worth watching as well.

That night we were again a bit tired from walking round the park, so we hit the Orlando Alehouse, and thoroughly enjoyed it in there. Good food at good prices, and deals on pitchers of beer - happy times !!

Keep them coming neighbor, you've got eyeballs in France ;-)

After another early wake up, having still not adjusted properly, we had a good breakfast at the hotel. The usual stuff, cereal, toast, muffins, bagles, even something that resembled an omelette, which was OK as a freebie.

Today was Wednesday, and the sun was still shining, but forecast was for a rough day on Thursday. We therefore decided to hit Universal's Islands of Adventure, as we had heard great things about the Harry Potter attraction. Neither of us are actually big Harry Potter fans, but had heard it was worth seeing. It was just amazing walking around the place - Universal have done a great job with it.

Now I am a little scared of heights, even the Simpsons ride made me feel a little dizzy, and that is animated !! There are more roller coasters at the Islands resort, so we just kind of walked around a little, did a couple more attractions. We then had lunch a restaurant on site, before we decided to leave and lie out at the hotel pool.

We decided to hit the City Walk that evening. There are quite a few bars and restaurants, and the atmpsphere down there was really good. However, there was only really one place I had to go -

Yep, Margaritaville. I love these places, and the pulled pork sandwich is just delicious. I know a lot of people don't like this themed eatery thing, but having visited several Margaritavilles, I just love them - wish they had one here in the UK. I love the music, the food, and the Landshark beer is pretty good too (you may have guessed that I do like a little tipple on my holidays).

We stayed in there for a few hours, before going to the Hard Rock Cafe for a bit, before deciding to call it a night.

You can easily walk to the hotel from the Park, but at night, we thougt it safer to take a cab, especially after almost stepping on a snake earlier that day. Bit of a bargain at $5.

Thursday March 31st was a washout. The weather forecast proved accurate, and we had heavy wind and lots of rain - even tornado warnings, so we missed out on Wet and Wild.

View from the hotel window

We kept ourselves busy during the day though - lots of decent stuff on the TV to watch in the US, and managed to hit the Alehouse again that night. With the promise of better weather, and a short drive down to Cocoa Beach on Friday, we wen to sleep again pretty excited that the cruise was getting closer.

Enjoying your review! Keep up up the good work.

Thanks - I am hoping to get through the whole thing today, as am back at the dreaded work tomorrow !!!

Keep them coming neighbor, you've got eyeballs in France ;-)

Bonjour, Ca Va ?

Nice to hear from someone so close by !!!

As promised, we woke on Friday April 1st to warm sunny skies. Apart from a few tree branches, and some tales of minor damage on the news, you would never have known the weather was as bad as it was. Anyway, thankful for small mercies, today was the day we were heading to Cocoa Beach for a pre-cruise stay in the Hilton hotel.

I was able to arrange car hire through the reception at the hotel with Enterprise. They gave me a good deal on a Chevy Impala $82 all in for a one way hire, and they came and picked me up from the airport to collect the car from their office just off Universal Boulevard.

Having only ever driven on the right side of the road (the wrong side ;)) a couple of times before, I was a little nervous, but soon got the hang of it, and returned to the hotel to pick up the bags, and of course the wife, and by 11 AM we were on our way.

We had to pass through 3 toll plazas, with the price going up each time the further you got away from Orlando which I thought was a little weird, but the journey itself was very straightforward, and just about an hour later, we rolled into the Hilton car park.

Check in was straight forward, and after another hour or so, we were on the pool decked area, enjoying - you guessed it - icy cold Bud Light and Corona.

The Hilton was a nice enough hotel - a little dated perhaps, but the pool area was done really nicely, reasonably priced, and the beach was maybe 50ft away via a short wooden bridge.

We laid out in the sun most of the afternoon, finally getting some rest after the hassles of work, the walking around the parks, and the journey across the pond. This is what coming on holiday is all about !!

That night we strolled down Atlantic Blvd for a while looking for something to eat, and came across a place called Mambo's Bar and Grill. The Hilton is quite a way down Atlantic from the Port end, and so there isn't too much around. We had a couple of sandwiches and a drink, and went back to the hotel. Mambo's was OK, but it wasn't great if I'm being honest. It felt a little unclean and the service was pretty bad, but the food was alright.

After our meal, we headed back to the hotel, very excited now, as tomorrow was embarkation day !!!

Great stuff so far! It's always fun to read a review from a non-American's perspective :) Can't wait to see more!

The day we were most excited about was finally here. For a few weeks prior to coming on the holiday, I was barely off Cruise Critic, trying to find out as much as I could about the Dream. The reviews I had read were mainly positive, but a fair few with mixed experiences, and a handful that just seemed to dislike the Dream completely.

Both of us having sailed with Carnival before kind of knew what to expect in terms of entertainment, food, buffet lines, etc, but as this was a different class of ship, we wondered how it was going to be. I will go over my findings as the review progresses, but please feel free to ask any specifics if there is anything I haven't yet covered. What I did discover a long time ago is that a holiday is definitely what you make it. There will be things that happen that are out of your control, that you don't necessarily like or agree with. It's how you deal with these situtations that govern your enjoyment of your hard earned holiday time.

Back to the review. We got up around 8 AM, and headed over the road to Dennys for breakfast. We had a mix of toast, pancakes, cereal, juice and coffee. We returned to the hotel about an hour later, packed up, and checked out.

We dropped the car off at the Enterprise office on Atlantic Blvd, and jumped onto one of the regular courtesy buses that ferry you to and from the Port. As we got closer, we saw the unmistakeable whale tail for the first time, and the excitement built.

We arrived at the port just after 11 AM, and they were already boarding Zone 3 if I remember correctly. So it had started even earlier than I expected. We were through security and at the checkin desk within half an hour or so, and received the sail and sign cards. Now we are very close. We were assigned Zone 13 - was this a bad sign ? Not a chance, another half hour and we were onboard at long last.

First impressions are always very important, and as we entered into the atrium for the first time, she didn't let us down. Everything was in pristine condition, and looked fantastic. The piano on a platform on the stairway was a nice addition, and was regularly used throughout the day.

But we didn't hang around. Conscious that the ship was filling up fast, and very conscious that this was Spring Break, we headed straight for the Serenity area, and was pleased to discover at this stage that we had the pick of the clam shell style seats on the starboard side of the ship, right next to one of the hot tubs. This was to be the only time we had the luxury of choice !!!

We put our carry on bags down, got changed into appropriate poolside clothing, and ordered our first shipside drinkies

The case with the butterflies on is the wife's - honestly !!

Over the course of the afternoon, we just relaxed in the clamshell, enjoying the sun and watching the ship fill up with our cruise mates for the next week. It doesen't get any better than that first day onboard

I didn't realise I had quite so much to waffle on about - I'm sure I will run out of steam before too long !!

Anyway, we were in port that day with 2 other ships - NCL's Sun, and I think it was the Disney Wonder

Not many better views than this

Around 2PM we decided to check out our home for the next 7 days, Stateroom 8472, an Aft balcony cabin, directly overlooking the backend of the ship. Like the Jaws ride, having an Aft balcony is something I have always wanted, and though it did cost a little more, it was entirely worth it. I don't know what it is about just sitting or standing there watching the wake of the ship, but it was simply amazing. I had heard some stories about soot coverage. What we did find were a few flakes from the smokestack, but not the covering I was worried about. They were possible cornflake sized, and not very many, but I did stand on a flake, and it was a pain in the backside to clean off my foot. But that is one of the negatives I would have to say I found. The other was that the shower overflowed a little into the main bathrooom floor, as it didn't drain quickly enough. Not a problem though, as the actual bathroom floor also has a drain in it, just don't leave any clothing lying on the bathroom floor, or it will get wet.

The layout of the cabin was good, nothing was cramped, and as others have said, lots of storage space. The in-room TV service was excellent. A flat screen TV from which you could review your sail and sign account, book shore excursions, and even order room service. I last sailed with Carnival on the Liberty in January 2009, and this was definitely an upgrade on that.

Nice to see another review from a Brit- we are definitely in the minority on Carnival

finger tapping on desk ;) - anxiously awaiting more...............(refresh, refresh). Thanks!

We headed down for Muster drill to one of the restaurants, I can't remember which, at around 3ish I think. Those early beers were starting to take there toll.

We then stayed on our balcony for sailaway - we brought onboard a bottle of champagne each in our carryons - no hassle with that through security. We then had our own little private sailaway party with music from our iPods on a small docking station we had brought with us.

As an added bonus as we were sailing away, there were several dolphins accompanying the ship down the channel, which was a delightful sight. Neither myself nor my wife have seen dolphins in the wild, and I really don't like seeing them in captivity, so this was a real treat.

I must admit the day now gets a little fuzzy for us both, especially after I went to the Pool bar to get another couple of bottles of bubbly, so here's a few more pics of sailaway

Good Bye Port Canaveral, Cozumel here we come !!!

We decided that a little nap was in order after we got into open water. This of course turned into a properly deep sleep, from which we would not wake up again until the next morning.

However, we had a great time during sailaway, and spending it on the balcony was definitely preferable for us. I must admit I do enjoy watching all the people doing the electric and cha cha slide, and the cupid shuffle, but maybe this was my first warning sign that I was feeling that, just perhaps, I have seen all this before though, and maybe it's time Carnival tried something a little different ? It's not for me to say really, I suppose if it isn't broke don't try and fix it. Plus I did notice a heck of a lot of blue sail and sign cards, so this would have been their first Carnival experience, and I know that it was this sort of thing that I really enjoyed watching on my first Carnival cruise. Maybe it's just that seeing the same format 5 times out of 5, I was happy to do something different, and having our own little private balcony party was just what we wanted.

Next up, a "fun" day at sea.............

Nice to see another review from a Brit- we are definitely in the minority on Carnival

Tell me about it - there always seems to be more of the crew that are Brits than passengers. I spoke to one other Brit passenger onboard, but he lives in Malta, so not sure if that counts !!

I notice you have written a recent review also from your signature - don't know how I could have missed that. I will check it out a little later to see how your experience compared with ours.

Thanks for reading.

finger tapping on desk ;) - anxiously awaiting more...............(refresh, refresh). Thanks!

Ha ha, I'm going as fast as I can !!!! More coming up shortly, just need to give my eyes a little rest, and take onboard some coffee.

Due to our excesses the previous day, we both woke up a little tender, and a little early, I think it was around 5AM. Breakfast isn't served until around 6:30, and even then it is the basics, until full breakfast starts being server at around 7AM.

We decided that coffee was in order so got showered and went to The Gathering to find the coffee machines. We both had a good cup, mine was OK, but Michelle had the decaf and wasn't too impressed, but it was hot and strong enough to give us both a bit of a kickstart, so we decided to take a walk around the mostly deserted ship.

I loved walking about the ship when it was deserted, it really is a different place. Quiet, yet still alive because of the crew members still dutifully carrying out their jobs, disciplined and so, so polite.

Ahh...this is the same area where most of our CC group congregated for sailaway. If I recall, the vent pictured was pretty noisy and exhausted hot air (from the laundry dryer if I remember the scent correctly). Still a great area to enjoy a Funship special during sailaway, though.

Love your review so far and looking forward to seeing the rest. The Dream was our first cruise and we absolutely loved the ship.

We decided to get some breakfast, shower, change and look to see just exactly how busy the ship was going to be. We saw from the in-room TV that there were over 1300 kids onboard, which is the most I have ever sailed with before, so wasn't sure what I was going to make of it. I had no idea that Spring Break lasts for such a long time because so many different schools, colleges, etc have them at different times.

Anyway, we managed to get another clamshell in the Serenity area, so we settled there, and am really glad we got there when we did. Another half hour later, around 9:30, there was not a spare lounger to be found. Certainly not in Serenity, not on the Lido deck by the pool, or any of the decks overlooking the pool. The pool area at the back of the ship was similarly busy. The only places I noticed spare loungers was on the Lanai, which actually was not a bad place to be. There are 2 cantilevered hot tubs on either side of the ship on the Lanai deck, and on sea days they have the BBQ there, so to be honest, I wouldn't have minded being down there myself. However, I think a lot of people missed out on chairs, and were understandably pretty grumpy about it.

I didn't see the 30 minute rule being enforced whereby if a lounger or chair is not occupied for 30 minutes or longer, then the crew will remove the items from that chair and keep them at the towel station until the owner comes to retrieve them. This was despite the fact that the rule is clearly stated on the big screen overlooking the pool. Personally I think that if the rule was enforced, then 30 minutes is a little harsh. It can take that time before you get to the buffet, sandwich station, pizza station, etc, get your food, sit down to eat it, or even queueing for the water slides takes a long time with so many kids onboard on a sea day. But it wasn't enforced anyway, and there was certainly loungers seemingly "reserved" for well ove an hour, sometimes what seemed like half a day.

Getting busy

I am not one for simply lounging in the sun all day, and with it being a Sunday, hoped they would be showing football in the sports bar in the Casino. And I mean proper football, not the one with a funny shaped ball and helmets :D

So this is where I spent a few happy hours recovering from sailaway, dringking iced water, and keeping cool while Michelle "got her tan on"

The reason I put the word fun in quotes earlier, is because I looked at the Fun Times for the days activities, and had another feeling of deja vu. I did watch the hairy chest contest that day, because I always laugh at what the guys have to do - I couldn't do it in a million years - but even this was exactly the same format as every other Carnival cruise I have been on. Again, if it isn't broke don't fix it, but I didn't really see anything original, which I had kind of hoped for with this vessel being Carnival's current flagship, so was definitely left a little disappointed with the activity schedule.

The cruise director was Butch Begovitch (sp). Both Michelle and I agreed that he was pretty good, but found he had a way of over pronouncing his words sometimes. What I did like was that he was fairly restrained in what some people call the hard sell. Other Carnival cruises I have been on, the CD has been on the ship's loudspeaker system seemingly every 5 minutes advertising bloody Bingo, jewellery sales, shopping talks, etc. Butch seemed to me to do this a lot less, but maybe it's because I wore my ipod a lot ?

He was OK for me though. The assistant CD though for me was awful. Baby Butch they called him, and as he was a Brit you would think I should have some affinity. Nope, he just didn't do it for me I'm afraid, didn't see too much of him - other entertainment staff were much more visible, and he sounded like he smoked 100 cigarettes a day. Maybe I ma doing him a disservice if he had a sore throat or something, but didn't think he was up to it.

Having said that, the CD or assistant CD don't really have too much of an impact on my cruise holidays, if we see an activity we like, we will go and see it, regardless of wh organises or presents it, so again no big deal for me.

Tonight was the cruise's first of two elegant evenings. I had brought my Tux with me, but stupidly forgot to bring appropriate shoes. I therefore went to hire a pair from Celebrations, and they cost me $13 for the rest of the week - pretty good deal I thought. They were OK, a little uncomforatble, and patent black - very shiny, but for 13 dollars, I wasn't complaining.

We decided to do make a reservation at the Chef's Art Steakhouse for this evening, and as many of you know there is an additional $30 charge per person to eat in there.

In my opinion, it is worth every penny. Right from the moment you enter until the moment you leave the service, and to my mind more importantly the food, is exceptional.

Each member of staff who served at our table was knowledgable, polite and had a smile on their face, even when I mentioned that as I am very sophisticated, I would like a bottle of beer with my meal, as opposed to any wine. Not a hint of snootiness, in fact the sommelier actually said it was a good choice, and it would compliment my filet mignon very well - which I have to say, it did !!

So on to the food, for starter I had the crab cake, and Michelle I think had soup, mushroom, unless I am mistaken. We each then had the Caesar salad, and both had the filet, cooked exactly how we had asked - medium to well done. Just the right amount of char, with enough tender meat - it was so good.

For dessert, I had the cheese selection, which was interesting and unusual. Apart from Roquefort, I hadn't tasted any of the other cheese before, including a very tasty piece which was actually infused with ash - this turned out to be my favourite.

After we had finished up, probably about 1/2 an hour before the allocated 2 hours was up, we managed to squeeze out of our chairs, and went down to Sams Bar for the first time to check out Justin, the piano entertainer.

Just before I move on from the steakhouse, we originally requested a table for about 7:30. That was earlier the same day, so when the lady responsible for seating stated that the steakhouse was full up at that time, we agreed to go a little later at around 8:30. However, on arrival, we found the place maybe half full, which begged the question why we weren't allowed our preferred time of 7:30. I am just guessing, but I think it may have been a staffing issue, rather than a space issue, but this is just an observation. As it happens, we probably preferred the later seating.

So we headed on down to Sams Bar for what we hoped would be an evening of sing a long songs and good fun. It was pretty busy in there, but just found that it wasn't to our taste really. We actually enjoyed the band that was playing at the Lanai bar instead, so really didn't make any difference to us. We just figured we hit the piano bar on a night where it just wasn't happening.

We had a couple of drinks at this bar, listened to the bad for a while, before deciding to call it a day. After all, tomorrow was Cozumel.........

Monday morning saw us arriving nice and early into Cozumel. As was turning out to be the norm, we were up nice and early, so I went to get some pics of us pulling into the docking pier.

Once we arrived, it didn't take too long to tie up the ship, and announce the ship had been cleared and people were able to make their way ashore.

We had booked a Carnival excursion for Cozumel. A trip to Isla Pasion, via motorised catamaran. We debated about booking externally with a private tour company, but in the end, my innate fear of being that person running along the dock as the ship pulls away gave out.

We had to be on the pier at 9:30 AM to catch the Catamaran, and as we started making our way to the gangway at about 8:45 we thought we would have plenty of time.

Wrong. The queue of people trying to get off at the Deck 0 forward gangway stretched up to deck 4 or 5. We had been cleared to disembark for over an hour at that point, so I couldn't quite understand why there was such a long queue. Anyhow, we made it through the crowds to the end of the pier just on time, and were quickly shown to our catamaran, and on our way. The catamaran was simply like a ferry, not the type that has a sail and a "trampoline" strung across the front of the ship. We were a little surprised at this, but there was plenty of space on the upper deck, so we settled there.

The journey took around 3/4 of an hour to get to Isla Pasion, a small island, and the seas were fairly rough, which I really enjoyed. A couple of people had their heads in their hands along the way, but nobody suffered from any severe sea sickness that I saw. We also saw some flying fish on the way out there.

The island itself was very nice, with a complimentary bar and complimentary food included. The food wasn't great - they advertised chicken, but it was very definitely something else. I would guess at pork, but it wasn't particularly good. They also had fruit, salad, nacho chips, guacamole, etc. The free bar served draught beer, some kind of rum punch, and soda. There was also a cash bar from which you could buy a better variety of booze.

We didn't have a great deal of time on the island, maybe 3 hours or so. We just took the time to relax in hammocks and on the beach, and generally enjoy being on our honeymoon together.

It was whilst led in my hammock, that I discovered my first experience of some teenage kids enjoying spring break. Obviously we are aware of spring break in the UK - so many films have it featured, however, this was the first time either of us had seen it up close and personally.

I happened to overhear a small group of teens, probably no older than 16 talking about hitting the bars back in Cozumel when we returned. They had already been on the lash on the island from what I was hearing.

A few pics from Coz and Isla Pasion

8472 is up there in the middle

Next up - Fat Tuesdays Cozumel, Spring Break style.

Ahh...this is the same area where most of our CC group congregated for sailaway. If I recall, the vent pictured was pretty noisy and exhausted hot air (from the laundry dryer if I remember the scent correctly). Still a great area to enjoy a Funship special during sailaway, though.

 

Love your review so far and looking forward to seeing the rest. The Dream was our first cruise and we absolutely loved the ship.

Thanks - I agree about the vent, it was a little noisy, but didn't find it too intrusive. I'm glad you enjoyed the ship too, my wife and I had a really great time also.