A Vacation–No! A DREAM VACATION – Review with pictures April 2, 2011

Hi everyone! I’ve been trying to get around to doing this review since we returned on April 9th, but life has gotten in the way (Mom had knee replacement at 78 years of age, ballgames, work, tornados – you name it). Anyway, I want to do this for everyone because I gained so much information here on CC in the months prior to my cruise. All my questions were answered and even had some answered that I hadn’t even thought to ask. I hope you all enjoy and I’m going to give as much information as I can so bear with me. If you have questions, please feel free to ask!

First about us who traveled. There were 2 familes – mine with a total of 6 – Glen(47), Angela-me(45), Whitney (16), Lindsey(14), Hope(8) and Collin(6) and our best friends Ronnie (43), Lisa (43) and Andrew (18). This cruise was my family’s 2nd (except for Hope and Collin (they are new members to our family through fostering and adoption) but was our friends 1st cruise. We live in Dalton, GA and opted to drive because there was so many of us and flying would have been expensive – plus the fact that my husband is not a fan of flying. We would have to knock him out with heavy duty drugs I’m afraid.

As luck would have it Lindsey’s 8th grade class scheduled a field trip for March 30 to April 1st to Tybee Island, GA. Since we were leaving on April 1st in the afternoon and they were not to return until around 7 p.m. – we had a problem. After several phone calls to her wonderful teacher we decided as we traveled south on 75 and they traveled north we would meet up and do a “Lindsey transfer”. I’m a big planner and I was worried that even though this plan sounded great, something in the logistics would go wrong and we would have issues. It all worked out great and we had absolutely no problems with the exception of traffic. It was horrid on a Friday afternoon through Atlanta. We were bumper to bumper even way south of Atlanta.

After getting through the traffic, we cruised on down I-75 and finally made it to Port Canaveral around 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. We had made reservations at the Country Inn and Suites to spend Friday night and leave our car parked there for the duration of our cruise. Seemed like a no brainer to me - $105 for just parking or $139 for parking and an overnight stay (with free breakfast I might add).

The room was nice and clean, no complaints. We woke up early even though we didn’t get in the bed till really late. Couldn’t wait to look out our window and sure enough there she was in all her splendor – sorry – that’s another ship – Dreaminess!

Down to breakfast – it was good, typical hotel breakfast stuff. I was almost too excited to eat and it did really get crowded in the breakfast area. We were on the first shuttle to the port and I believe we left the hotel around 10 am or so. A word of advice – if you stay at Country Inn and Suites they will not put your name on a shuttle list until the day you check in. So if you are arriving late, call early in the day and they will go ahead and put your name down (I called at 12:30 am on Friday morning) because I was still up packing! They did take my name, how many passengers and which shuttle time we wanted. It was Friday check in day after all – just really early!

I'll try and do more tonight, but wanted to get this posted to see how it was looking and sounding!

Looks and sounds great so far!

We are cruising on the Dream in August with our kids who will be 16, 13 and 6.. so especially looking forward to hearing about your family adventures!

Catrin

So far, so good! :)

Sounds great so far, can't wait to read more!

Our shuttle driver was a woman and she was friendly and informative. On the short drive over to the port she gave us some info on the space center and some other advice about what we needed to do to get shuttled back to the hotel after we returned from our cruise. After giving her a well earned tip we got off and waited for our suitcases to be unloaded (all 9 of them for just my family of 6).

Whitney, Lindsey, Collin and Hope on the way to the ship!

Ronnie and Lisa too!

The porters at the dock were cutting up with all of us and were very nice. They took extra care of our suitcases and gave us some direction on where we needed to go next. Gave them a good tip also - some of my bags were really heavy!

Dropped off bags here - good picture op!

We walked right up to the door at the terminal – showed our birth certificates, photo id’s and walked right in. Next was security – all went well. We had 1 very large suitcase and nice gentlemen asked to look inside. We went over to the side and he unzipped it. It was full of our cokes, sprites, dr. peppers, water, etc. He only looked inside really quick and that was it. I told him he had nothing to worry about as we were not drinkers and weren’t smuggling anything on we shouldn’t be.

Up the escalator now and then we had to fill out our health information sheets. We were all healthy so no problem there. Next it was on to the counter to show all our info again and get our sail and sign cards and our zone number for boarding – we were zone 4. Very nice ladies assisted us there and they all commented on our matching t-shirts. We sat down where we were directed to and waited to board. If memory serves, we were already sitting down at about 10:30. It was a very quick process.

At a little before 11 am the announcement was made that they were ready to begin boarding – our vacation was actually finally about to begin! The first 3 zones were called very quickly and then it was our turn. A long walk down the hallway and then we had to have our pictures made (for identification purposes when you leave the ship at ports and then return back) I believe.

Once on board it was time for the picture! What a group!

After reading here on CC that we needed to make haste in getting to the Lido deck for lunch before all the crowds – that’s exactly what we did! Dragging all those carry-ons was a pain, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. We went straight to the Lido and then all the way aft and up one level to the pasta bar. We were so early, they first told us it wasn’t open yet, but then someone said, yea, we’re ready so go ahead and get their order! We all had various things – grilled chicken with alfredo, Bolognese with some kind of pasta – lasagna, spaghetti – had pretty much a taste of it all there were so many of us. It was good – not Olive Garden good, but good. I never made it back to the pasta bar – not that I didn’t think it was good enough to go back – just too much other stuff to try!

After lunch we explored the ship in shifts so we didn’t have to carry all our luggage around with us. Hope and Collin couldn’t wait to hit the water slides so we let them change into their swimsuits and hit the pools and slides.

Lido Deck

Hope on the slide on the right!

Hope and Collin cooling off! (See the clock-almost cabin time)

We checked out the Serenity area and it was nice though I knew my changes were slim on getting to spend much time there with 4 kids on board. Later in the cruise, every time I ventured through there it was always crowded.

I hope you are enjoying! I'll do more tomorrow! Worked 12 hours today and I'm done for today!

omg i feel like i am reading a book keep it coming

Great review! Our family of 23 will sail on the Dream for the first time and ALL hints are very much appreciated! Was their a charge to ride the shuttle from the hotel? How often does it run? How many passengers does it take? Thanks!

Great review! Our family of 23 will sail on the Dream for the first time and ALL hints are very much appreciated! Was their a charge to ride the shuttle from the hotel? How often does it run? How many passengers does it take? Thanks!

QUILTER06 -

Thanks! I'll keep it coming, but my boss just won't let me post my review at work today - can't imagine why! There was not a charge to ride the shuttle from Country Inn and Suites - we just tipped our driver because they have to load the luggage and all, but my husband helped our driver because she was tiny and we had some heavy suitcases. I believe the first shuttle runs at 10:00 and then maybe every half hour after that up until probably 2:00 or 2:30 - whenever the last people are supposed to be on board. They actually have 2 shuttles that run - one is larger and one smaller and I can't remember how many it will hold - maybe 16 or 20 on the larger one. Either way, they will get you there! I wish we were going again!

This is great! Keep it coming!

QUILTER06 -

 

Thanks! I'll keep it coming, but my boss just won't let me post my review at work today - can't imagine why! There was not a charge to ride the shuttle from Country Inn and Suites - we just tipped our driver because they have to load the luggage and all, but my husband helped our driver because she was tiny and we had some heavy suitcases. I believe the first shuttle runs at 10:00 and then maybe every half hour after that up until probably 2:00 or 2:30 - whenever the last people are supposed to be on board. They actually have 2 shuttles that run - one is larger and one smaller and I can't remember how many it will hold - maybe 16 or 20 on the larger one. Either way, they will get you there! I wish we were going again!

How are they at picking you up at the end of the cruise???

What a great group shot! It sounds like your vacation started out great, can't wait to hear more.

How are they at picking you up at the end of the cruise???

CAMPER49 -

It was great! They give you a phone number to call when you get back to the port and they will be there to pick you up. We did self debark and I think we stood out under the awning for maybe 5 or 10 minutes before they were there to pick us up and I didn't even call - someone else had.

Thanks for doing the review with all the pictures, I love reviews with pictures!!

The lady shuttle driver's name is Crystal and her husband (can't remember his name) drives the other shuttle. They have been with Country Inn and Suites since it opened.....they are great people!!! We will be staying there again on the 21st so I will tell them you said hello!!!

Going out on the Disney Dream this trip, but will be back in October for the Carnival Dream.

Love your review....keep it coming!!!!

(P.S. We're from Georgia too......Covington!!!)

Love the start of this review. Waiting in anticipation....

We were now ready to go to our cabin. We were in cabin 8396 – a balcony and our kids were in 8402 – an inside across the hall. We cruised on the Glory in 2004 and this cabin looked exactly like the one we had on the Glory. There was ample closet space and drawer space and lots of storage for your luggage underneath the bed. I did bring a shoe organizer to hang over the door in the bathroom and it did come in handy, but I really wouldn’t have had to have it.

We unpacked and then headed down to the muster drill. Ours was in the Scarlet dining room at the aft of the ship which is where our table for dinner was also. It was painless, no life jackets, etc.

As soon as the muster drill was over, it was time for sail away. We decided to go up on the Lido deck to watch instead of staying in our cabin.

DOLPHINS!

We got to see the dolphins playing as we were leaving and caught a glimpse of a couple of the NASA boats they use for recovery. The Norwegian Sun sailed right before we did and the Disney boat was still anchored when we left.

After sail away, we went back to our rooms to finish unpacking and get ready for dinner. We had early seating, table 646 – a round top for 9 on the upper level of the Scarlet dining room. Our head waiter was Jaco from South Africa and our assistant waitress was Chonthicha from Thailand. Both were super friendly and efficient about their jobs at hand. Once we introduced ourselves, Jaco immediately started calling us by name. I had the fish on this night and it was delicious. Glen had the flat iron steak that night and several others and was always well pleased. Needless to say, the chocolate melting cake was wonderful. Collin had a banana split EVERY night for dessert and loved them. We had some great times at our dinner table – wonderful memories of our vacation. I’ll tell you more about those later.

After dinner Glen and I went with Hope and Collin to the family disco party for camp carnival. It was in the Caliente Dance Club and it was a blast. I don’t usually get up and dance, but the kids loved it and it was contagious. It was nice to be able to “let your hair down” and know that no matter how much of an idiot you looked like – it didn’t matter because no one else knew who in the world you were and we didn’t know them either! It was a lot of fun, but wore this old woman out!

HOPE AND COLLIN WITH FUNSHIP FREDDY!

After the dancing, we wandered around for a while and then went to the Welcome Aboard Show. The show was good – not as good as on the Glory, but we were very lucky to have John Heald as our CD on that cruise and you just can’t compete with that! Our CD Butch was very entertaining and we did enjoy cruising with him. We normally went to the theater about 20 – 30 minutes ahead of show time just because there were so many of us and we wanted to sit together. It was very crowded on the first night and also the night of the Dancing in the Streets show. After the show we turned in – everyone was exhausted from the drive down and the very little sleep we got on Friday night.

great review, looking forward to reading more! Thanks!

SUNDAY – SEA DAY

We started out our day with breakfast on the Lido deck. Can’t recall exactly what time we went down for breakfast but I know it wasn’t real early. There were crowds, but not too bad. The omelets as always were great and the sides were good also. Glen and I tag-teamed and one of us would stand in the omelet line and the other would get our other items. Bacon was plentiful as were potatoes and just about anything else you could think of!

Hope and Collin went to camp carnival for a while on Sunday morning to give me a chance to spend some time out in the sun without having to supervise kids. They loved camp carnival, but they are used to being around other kids at school and such and aren’t the type of kids to be upset in new surroundings. Since we hadn’t been in a hurry to get up and get going, we weren’t able to find any chairs we wanted around the Lido deck but we did to go Deck 5 – Lanai and found some great chairs close to a hot tub and a shower which was great for cooling off because it was really hot.

We decided to go to the shopping talk even though we know they push Diamonds International to the max.

We weren’t planning on doing any shopping other than the regular souvenir stuff, but boy did that change. More on that later! Our shopping hosts were informative and it turned out to be a good idea on my part to go. I ended up winning a bag of stuff from Del Sol valued at over $200.00 – t-shirts, Frisbee, hair barrettes, nail polish, all kinds of stuff.

Today was Elegant night as Carnival calls it now so we all went back to the cabin to get some rest and get gussied up for dinner. We did a few pictures before dinner and then went on to dinner. Dinner was great! Prime rib, lobster, all kinds of good stuff! I think they had crème brulee’ tonight and Whitney and Lindsey were in heaven! Don’t be ashamed to ask for more than one of something if it’s something you really like! Never be ashamed to ask for more than one dessert – after all, life is short! Live it to the fullest!

Oh my gosh - I almost forgot to tell you about the strawberry bisque soup. Sounds awful, I know - that's what I thought. I tried it for an appetizer though and my sweet little son took it away from me. He LOVED it! He ate all of mine, Jaco brought him another and then he had another bowl for dessert. Poor little thing asked for it every night after that, but they didn't have it again!

Collin enjoying his strawberry bisque!

We dress up pretty good for country folk, don't we?

Sorry guys, but after a month all my days are running together. I can’t remember what we did after dinner other than go to the show that night. It was called 8 More Seconds and was kind of a western themed show – I think. It was good, but nothing like Dancing in the Streets!

We were up early today – had to get ready for Cozumel. This was a big day for us as we had a Dolphin Swim planned for Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab Park.

Getting ready to dock!

We ate at the buffet and everyone met in the hallway to get ready to get off the ship. Needless to say everyone wants off as early as possible, so there were lines waiting to get off.

Finally got off and walked into the port area. We wandered around some and did some shopping and sightseeing. Checked out some of the jewelry shops. I found a beautiful sapphire and baguette diamond ring that I wanted really bad. A year or so ago I had a sapphire and baguette ring stolen and never thought I would find one to replace it. The price was great, but…. I just couldn’t decide if I wanted to spend that kind of money on something that I would really only wear on special occasions. I stood strong and walked away! Whew – it was close!

We had snacks and some smoothies at Pancho’s Backyard. Nice atmosphere, but it was kinda pricey I thought.

Pancho's Backyard

Now it was time to take a taxi to Chankanaab and do our dolphin swim. We were all doing the swim except for Glen and our admission into the park was included. We found a coupon for a $2.00 discount online for him – mycozumel.com or cozumelinsider – something like that. Anyway, his admission was $19.00. Upon entering we were greeted by a man who worked there and said he would do a guided tour for us – no charge. We didn’t have a lot of time, but we told him we would like to do a quick one.

He took us through the park and showed us the gardens, the natural lagoon and we went to the sea lion show. It was cute – the kids liked it! He then took us to the beach and we hung out there until our dolphin swim. The water was beautiful although the current was kind of rough.

Me and Lindsey

The Dream and the Radiance of the Seas from Chankanaab

!

Now it was time for our swim. Whitney, Lindsey and I had been waiting to do this since our Glory cruise in 2004. Had it scheduled for Western – went during hurricane season and needless to say our itinerary got changed and we didn’t get to do it. All I can say is that it is AMAZING! I would strongly recommend everyone doing it at least one time. We had booked directly through Dolphin Discovery and not through the ship and saved quiet a bit of money. I think for all 5 of us it ended up being about $380 or so. We did the boogie board ride, the belly ride, got kisses and all kinds of stuff. After the swim we also got to get in with the manatees and a shark. I wasn’t sure about the shark part but they said it was a nurse shark and was harmless. We were running out of time so we bought some pictures of our dolphin swim and grabbed a taxi back to the ship!

LINDSEY ON THE BOOGIE BOARD BEING PUSHED BY THE DOLPHIN

COLLIN DANCING!

HOPE GETTING A KISS!

THE FACIAL EXPRESSION SAYS IT ALL!

We have to wait until December for our turn on the Dream so I am reading all the reviews I can find. Our family of 9 will be in 3 cabins - 2 balconies and 1 inside across the hall. We are from Ellijay - so excited to get the point of view from some ordinary country folks like us!!

wow...sounds like you guys had a great start to your vacation. We are also booked at the country inn and suites. I cant wait until it is our turn. It will be just me and hubby on this one. Some much needed alone time :D. Come on countdown clock please move a little faster!!!!

I'm loving your review!!! We really enjoyed our Dream cruise a year ago, which is why we're going back in November. I also missed out on Cozumel in 2004 (9-11 sailing) because of Hurricane Ivan. It was over Cozumel while we were at sea. I was on Celebration, and Holiday joined us and followed us to Progresso & Veracrus, then to Galveston instead of NOLA. Were you on one of those ships at that time? This Colin (me) also loves the strawberry bisque. It's one of my favorites!!! I need to start ordering 2 or 3 of it the night they have it. We had also done a dolphin swim (the Royal one) at Chankanaab on our Dream cruise. That was an amazing experience!!!

We have to wait until December for our turn on the Dream so I am reading all the reviews I can find. Our family of 9 will be in 3 cabins - 2 balconies and 1 inside across the hall. We are from Ellijay - so excited to get the point of view from some ordinary country folks like us!!

GAMTNMOM - OMG - I can't believe you are only a 20 mile ride away from us. You will love it! It's a beauty - but boy is she big! There were 9 of us total in the same configuration of cabins you will be in! What are your cabin numbers? I'm just telling my experience, I hope I'm not writing too much! I have tons more pictures if you're ever over in the Dalton area! Would love to share them with you!