Dream, The multi-million pound platinum refurb

Arrival at the ship…we were shown to an outside+ cabin on deck 5

the wood panelling is still there (ours was light wood) same naked female pictures everywhere?? new carpet and curtains...but that's it guys....everything in the cabin is exactly as it was before

Nice flat screen tv, and......the remote control actually worked for once.....on next doors tv! We only found this out after they had watched 48 hours of continuous back to back safety videos with accompanying hypnotising musak

Bathrooms.....same.... plumbing...working...mostly....there were some reports of floods and i did see some industrial driers occasionally in the corridors? and the old familiar smell reappears from time to time (mostly on deck 5)

The dreaded aircon...working...mostly...there was smoke in the corridors briefly one day? but t disappeared quickly and never came back

tea & coffee making = a small kettle (attached to the wall so has to be filled from a jug and some sachets of tea/nescafe, and little cartons of milk, no biscuits....kettle takes ages... they leave you 2 tiny cups (thimbles) so your morning brew consists of a small sip from a tiny cup not enough caffeine to keep a shoelace alive so it was back to the daily morning mystery tour of the randomly programmed lift shaft??:confused:

lifts still suffering from random 'out of order' signs and an aversion to stopping at deck 5

so stick with the lido and the insulated mugs

lido

The deity table tops have gone! and have been replaced with plain tops (boring beige) in exactly the same layout as before, new carpet and blinds....grey.....grey and beige.....sack the designer!

Hurrah 2 lines in the lido, no more elbows at dawn

Nope...Sorry...Only kidding lido is exactly the same? one line as before plus a counter on the other side where they serve soup, a few salads and puddings...the counter is new but they have really just replaced the small one that was there before with anew small one

same outside, they have replaced the old counter (I think it was the pasta station?) that was there before with a new one (artificial pale marbley stone with some chrome and glass)

soups station, salady things, bread, hot food items all dotted about the buffet line as before so still no discernable way to queue? especially if you just want a bread roll?

example:

me 'excuse? Do you mind awfully if I just reach over your shoulder for a bread roll?’ (while tipping my soup down the back of your neck?)

other guy 'of course, no problem at all, please do' (and why don’t you throw that plate of salad all over my sandals while you are at it!)

Sidled out of lido clutching plates......

nice baskety wicker chairs outside on lido with scatter cushions (they are called scatter cushions because they blow overboard on sea days)...comfortable enough but really not enough space and arranged around a low table, so the only way to enjoy the cushions is to sit down in the middle of someone else's private holiday? I called it kindle corner lots of people sat around quietly reading here most of the day (feet up)....in the evenings they take the cushions away so that they become a handy place to dump empty cups/glasses/ashtrays

new tables and chairs here, basic pale beechy wood, nothing special....sack the designer

nearly forgot to mention.........

Big flat screen TV on the wall in lido, so you can watch the cruise DVD on loop 24/7 every hour minute and second of the day, everyday, forever....guys...best try to avoid those onboard photographers because if you end up on the cruise DVD people will be so sick of seeing you they may not be responsible for their actions:eek:

up above on deck 10 is smokers corner (this is where all the old tubular metal lido tables and chairs went)

the mdr

The 2 wings at the back have been made into a separate mdr so there are 2 mdr's

the 2 mdrs are identical

all new carpets, nice roman blinds, recovered chairs (or maybe new chairs?) some contemporary vases of long plastic grass! dotted about? and the same attentive waiters....its nice...food as always...good (6 light courses)....ambience...as always...pleasant, waiters seemed a little (well behaved compared to what I am used to on the destiny)...thinks they are trying to make the dining experience more 'refined'

but

horror! I saw loads of guys in jeans/t shirts and....Yes....really.... Shorts! in the mdr? even on formal night! what the???

anyway...off to the

theatre

omg! the theatre, I tells ya guys!...it needs seeing to believing!..... its....absolutely

exactly the same? no change whatsoever, at all....not even a new vase?

production shows as always, the highlight of any Thomsons cruise but (as was speculated on here previously).... a couple of concertos each week)

had to go to the casino to temper my disappointment (I wanted red & purple velvet thrones in the theatre like they have on Celebration!)

casino has been made smaller!!....I tells ya guys....the casino has been made smaller??? Gutted!! Made smaller but not by the casino concession, on orders from Thoms, only roulette, one blackjack table and one stud poker table....consequently the casino tables are full up all night so no chance to get on to play

ho hum....this saved me (and a few disappointed others) a wad of cash

nearby delo bar

same

sports net is still there....empty? just a basket ball rolling endlessly backwards and forwards....except for one day when it was a tennis ball

6 endless days at sea....I have noticed that a lot of people like to sit in the same place/same sunbed every day,

so, in order to meet new people you have to move systematically from one end of the ship to other each day until you find someone that you like the look of and sit down beside them

only to discover that the guys wife and your wife find some snippet of common ground between them (50 shades of grey/peter andre/rolf harris) which they then proceed to discuss endlessly for about 5 hours without taking a breath, girls, girls, why cant you have meaningful discussions about: top gear/the price of beer/black ops II? Then you wouldn’t accuse us of never listening would you? eh? eh?

anyway

the sunbed situation

sunbed rule is being enforced, you get 45 minutes for a quick loo/snack/swim/casino/whatever break, a (bartender who obviously had drawn the short straw that morning) wanders around taking notes, a crowd (clutching pickaxe handles and baseball bats) follows the poor guy around, then either:

he removes the stuff to (somewhere?) and a battle breaks out between the assembled following, or.......if you do happen to come back before your time has expired, the muttering crowd continues to follow the poor guy around like a demented conga from hell

I did see towels being removed from beds....but people still shove up all the beds so that they can have a nice large space around them in prime spots....ms magot was shoved up while she was actually laying on her sunbed??

anyhow....on with the important matters

sirens & the new themed ala carte restaurants

sirens....same

the grill was meant to be Thai and/or French? but is....the same, other than it is on the other side of sirens and has new dark wood tables and some matching dark wood, oriental style fretwork walls....its dark in there

argo, reception, library...same, same, same, same queue at reception

medusa lounge, shows include: singing for beginners! very int...ter...esting! lyrics include: la la and laaghhhhh

also ballroom dancing, some (very expert) spangly couples performing lots of quakstepping (or whatever its called?) and some flamboyant tangoing going on too....v sultry.....ms magot was impressed and insisted we have a go 'Its just like Strictly' she said

once on the dance floor she threw herself into it, and started by performing several high kicks (sparks flying off her white stilettos like tracer bullets) followed with some (demented windmill) arm waving and threw in a few ballet jumps (like hurdling).....I followed her lead....all rather painful......so I made my exit....I tried not to look back but when i did, I noticed everyone else was joining in with her.......like something out of the inbetweeners movie

anyhow...medusa is also the same, save for the recovered chairs, in mismatched colours...sack the designer

ocean bar, new carpet...that's it!

waters edge...same....empty....no change here...used as a short cut to the outside deck by the smokers

fire away, any Q's, will do my best, I know I have missed a lot out here...I left my brain in Barbados:cool:

Oh! and, nice to see you all again

....are Thomson's social media guys still on here?? Thinks I might like to have a word with them??

Thanks for the review geomagot and nice to see you back. :)

It sounds as if they've spent all the money on Dream on engineering type things and not on the interior. Looks as if they spent more on Celebration then as its refurb seems to have been more impressive.

Ellacott seemed to suggest that the Lido stations were changing into different areas, but looks like that wasn't true! And I thought they might have at least changed some of the furniture in the cabins. :(

Definitely seems it wasn't worth mentioning the upgrade them.

Thanks very much for that Geomagot. So basically aprt from a bit of reupholstering and carpeting we can expect her to look the same as when we were 1st on her in April 2010. :(

Despite that, hope you had a great cruise and welcome back to the damp and cool UK :)

Berwyn

Oh dear - that does sound a bit disappointing! :( Thought there would be more obvious differences. Oh well as long as the service and food are up to scratch I'll just have to try to ignore the designers' improvements! :rolleyes:

But thanks for the feedback Geomagot - much appreciated. :)

Not been on Dream so don,t know what it was like before,but I am interesred in whether you enjoyed the cruise? And have you a menu from the restaurant , one from memory perhaps. Thanks. :)

Hi Geomagot :) I get the impression you weren't exactly blown away then. Hope you had a very good cruise on the whole. Have been thinking of booking the Dream myself for March 14, all being well that is.

Oh dear - that does sound a bit disappointing! :( Thought there would be more obvious differences. Oh well as long as the service and food are up to scratch I'll just have to try to ignore the designers' improvements! :rolleyes:

 

But thanks for the feedback Geomagot - much appreciated. :)

Yes thanks for that Geomagot :D

We will still enjoy the Sun and Food in March but as for tea making in morning I will have to put kettle on and jump back in bed to wait for it to boil then?:)

Thanks for that Geo, i guess we will have a couple of interesting weeks then, if i can get out of the queue! and dodge the photographers.:D

Very funny images in my mind of the dancing experience geomagot! :D But I did mean to ask you how you found the actual Transatlantic experience (apart from some of the drinks running out :eek:). Did you find the sea days a bit trying - claustrophobic/boring? I've often thought about doing the TA and of course it all depends on your personality and personal preferences but wonder whether I would go stir crazy with the cluster of sea days as opposed to any sea days being spread out a bit. Apart from the dancing (:D) did you find they tried to make the days interesting and offer a bit of variety?

Maybe have to take a couple of plastic flask cups so we can have a bigger cup in the morning :p errr maybe not

Welcome back geomagot

don't seem to be a lot of change then wonder what they spent all the money on but never mind loved the dream anyway :confused:

Thanks guys

yep, we enjoyed the cruise, as always we made the best of it....cant beat the caribbean sunshine, we loved it so much that we stayed on in barbados

we flew the kids out on Christmas eve for a week stay and then went back on the dream for this last new years week

Personally, I wouldn’t do a transatlantic again, not because of the weather because the crossing was good and the weather was good, much better than I was expecting, but simply because 6 consecutive sea days is too much for me to bear

the cruise itself was good even though I was expecting great platinum things which really weren’t that much to write home about, the dream is still a great ship just as it is/was

last week was a little disappointing....we missed out grenada due to high winds, not thoms fault, and overnighted in st lucia instead (which we hoped would be something different nightlife wise)...but nothing much to do in Castries once the cruise ships have left....like a ghost town

we arrived late into 2 other ports so only had half days in aruba and (the dreaded) margarita island, we arrived to find all the bars, the beach completely packed with locals, we couldnt get a drink in the bar (any non spanish speakers were simply being ignored) or even get on the beach (packed and most of the beach roped off)....OK so its their island....but they still took our money to port there....so pleased its being dropped

we really only visited 2 ports for full days in the entire week....but thats cruises for you

also there was very sadly, a death onboard, such a horrible thing to happen, the atmosphere was a little subdued.....apparently this is not uncommon....so heartbreaking....I wont speak anymore about this on here....its just not the right place on an open forum

What a shame. As I have speculated previously, it seems that Thomson have made a big deal out of something that every other cruise line does as a matter of course - namely putting new carpets and curtains in every couple of years. It seems the majority of the money has been spent on technical upgrades which have little impact on the customer experience. I am finding it increasingly ironic that the so called Platinum upgrade has been revealed to such a poor response at the same time that Norwegian Dream (which could so nearly have been the ship that Thomson had) sets sail on her maiden voyage as Superstar. Gemini, following what can properly be described as an upgrade.

Mr Ellacott could learn something from this.

What a shame. As I have speculated previously, it seems that Thomson have made a big deal out of something that every other cruise line does as a matter of course - namely putting new carpets and curtains in every couple of years. It seems the majority of the money has been spent on technical upgrades which have little impact on the customer experience. I am finding it increasingly ironic that the so called Platinum upgrade has been revealed to such a poor response at the same time that Norwegian Dream (which could so nearly have been the ship that Thomson had) sets sail on her maiden voyage as Superstar. Gemini, following what can properly be described as an upgrade.

 

Mr Ellacott could learn something from this.

Was looking at Superstar Gemini's launch the other day. They've seemed to have done a good job of it. Also, Norwegian Dream was rumoured to going to Thomson through Louis, deal fell through, summer 2010 itinerary launch for their new ship delayed for three months, then Costa Europa is announced as Thomson DREAM - coincidence! :rolleyes:

Like you say, seems like they had the name Thomson Dream ready for the NCL ship, then had to delay the itineraries while they searched for another ship to put its name on.

Maybe have to take a couple of plastic flask cups so we can have a bigger cup in the morning :p errr maybe not

Great to get such a detailed review and I have to say it made colourful and good reading too. It seems the platinum upgrade is more than a little disappointing!

Any update or info on the AI particularly the soft drinks?

Glad you had a lovely time :)

Thanks very much for that Geomagot. So basically aprt from a bit of reupholstering and carpeting we can expect her to look the same as when we were 1st on her in April 2010.

 

Berwyn

Thanks for the review Geomagot. Will await the wine list :D

TBH we liked the Dream last year and as long as there is a kettle in the cabin I shall be a happy bunny :D:D and going to 6 new ports as well.

If the cups are small, just take a couple of those melamine picnic mugs with you or borrow a mug from the buffet :D

Great to get such a detailed review and I have to say it made colourful and good reading too. It seems the platinum upgrade is more than a little disappointing!

 

Any update or info on the AI particularly the soft drinks?

 

Glad you had a lovely time :)

Question answered on your other thread, thank you

Very funny images in my mind of the dancing experience geomagot! :D But I did mean to ask you how you found the actual Transatlantic experience (apart from some of the drinks running out :eek:). Did you find the sea days a bit trying - claustrophobic/boring? I've often thought about doing the TA and of course it all depends on your personality and personal preferences but wonder whether I would go stir crazy with the cluster of sea days as opposed to any sea days being spread out a bit. Apart from the dancing (:D) did you find they tried to make the days interesting and offer a bit of variety?

this was the first time for me…I too had been toying with the idea for a good while and decided we just had to try it for ourselves….and transatlantics are good value

for me personally...yes, days got a bit samey

they do put extras on, they show movies in the medusa, there’s singing classes, backstage tours, bridge visits, odd bits and pieces put on here and there a murder mystery....extra bean bag boules tournaments

we have always cruised in the school holidays...there were no children on board and consequently no young families, the demographic was (for me) very starkly different to what I am used to, mostly mature couples a few younger couples but I noticed the more sedate pace...some do relish that...but its not for me...I'm not a wild thing but evenings seemed to close up earlier, it may have just been my perception? I admit I did feel a little claustrophobic, we spent most sea days sitting listening to ipod and looking at the endless ocean.....I can safely say that it was relaxing, in comparison to new year which had a good mix of people so there was a choice you could continue to relax or party party party or mix it up a bit....I did miss the ports and was one of the reasons we decided to stay on....we just hadn’t had enough of the beaches/towns/bars/palm trees and weren’t ready to fly home

it had its benefits, by the time we hit land i was really in the zone (the stopped zone) its quite liberating really just you and the ocean, and the night sky out there....amazing!....does give you time to think and appreciate:cool:

this was the first time for me…I too had been toying with the idea for a good while and decided we just had to try it for ourselves….and transatlantics are good value

 

for me personally...yes, days got a bit samey

 

they do put extras on, they show movies in the medusa, there’s singing classes, backstage tours, bridge visits, odd bits and pieces put on here and there a murder mystery....extra bean bag boules tournaments

 

we have always cruised in the school holidays...there were no children on board and consequently no young families, the demographic was (for me) very starkly different to what I am used to, mostly mature couples a few younger couples but I noticed the more sedate pace...some do relish that...but its not for me...I'm not a wild thing but evenings seemed to close up earlier, it may have just been my perception? I admit I did feel a little claustrophobic, we spent most sea days sitting listening to ipod and looking at the endless ocean.....I can safely say that it was relaxing, in comparison to new year which had a good mix of people so there was a choice you could continue to relax or party party party or mix it up a bit....I did miss the ports and was one of the reasons we decided to stay on....we just hadn’t had enough of the beaches/towns/bars/palm trees and weren’t ready to fly home

 

it had its benefits, by the time we hit land i was really in the zone (the stopped zone) its quite liberating really just you and the ocean, and the night sky out there....amazing!....does give you time to think and appreciate:cool:

Thanks for that geomagot - you have painted a picture much as I imagined it may be like. Having considered it for so long I appreciate your perspective. I think I would need to go with the right mind-set and be prepared for the fact that it will be very different from the usual port-intensive cruise.

Perhaps........... but it really would be a matter of loading up the eReader methinks and going realising it will be a chill out time - I get better and better at that as time goes by! :rolleyes: (I reckon the chocolate workshop could be tempting to me but it will contribute even more to the calorie intake - another disadvantage of being on board so much - I'd find it very hard not to keep eating!! :eek:)

At least the change from this awful wet, dank and grey winter weather we seem to be subject to these days would be very welcome. I'll let DH read your comments which are very interesting and thought provoking and we'll add that into the equation and give it some more serious consideration. :)

The pics guys

apologies the quality isn't too great, i just went around snapping with my mobile phone:o

some of the rooms are a bit dark, maybe you can sharpen them up a bit:cool:

and sorry, but I completely didn't take any pics of the mdr? bit odd considering I spent so much time in there? mind must have been elsewhere

may find a few more pics once I have sorted them out a bit

menus and wine lists to follow

http://postimage.org/gallery/al1t3jbs/

Glad you enjoyed the cruise but I must admit that I thought there were more changes than you listed but agree that many may have been expecting more changes than there were !

Did the new furniture arrive on Deck 9 ( sofas ) in the Xmas week that was being installed by Trimline who did the refit ? it was supposed to go on in Lisbon but they could not get the container open on a Sunday and it literally missed the boat !

have you got any pics of the cabins geomagot

Thanks for the pics geomagot - they are very good (the photos that is!). Not so sure of some of the decor - the Grill looks rather austere and I agree with you there was nothing wrong with the table tops in the Lido - the replacements look very much less interesting! Still it's definitely freshened up some areas. Good to actually see some images though.

this was the first time for me…I too had been toying with the idea for a good while and decided we just had to try it for ourselves….and transatlantics are good value

 

for me personally...yes, days got a bit samey

 

they do put extras on, they show movies in the medusa, there’s singing classes, backstage tours, bridge visits, odd bits and pieces put on here and there a murder mystery....extra bean bag boules tournaments

 

we have always cruised in the school holidays...there were no children on board and consequently no young families, the demographic was (for me) very starkly different to what I am used to, mostly mature couples a few younger couples but I noticed the more sedate pace...some do relish that...but its not for me...I'm not a wild thing but evenings seemed to close up earlier, it may have just been my perception? I admit I did feel a little claustrophobic, we spent most sea days sitting listening to ipod and looking at the endless ocean.....I can safely say that it was relaxing, in comparison to new year which had a good mix of people so there was a choice you could continue to relax or party party party or mix it up a bit....I did miss the ports and was one of the reasons we decided to stay on....we just hadn’t had enough of the beaches/towns/bars/palm trees and weren’t ready to fly home

 

it had its benefits, by the time we hit land i was really in the zone (the stopped zone) its quite liberating really just you and the ocean, and the night sky out there....amazing!....does give you time to think and appreciate:cool:

Thanks for your thoughts on the TA - you have highlighted some of things I imagined might be the case. We're fans of port intensive itineraries so have always been a little unsure of a TA. I supppose to an extent it's an attitude of mind - you have to go knowing it will be very different and with plenty loaded onto the eReader! Mind I'd certainly be a taker for the chocolate workshop although that would seriously impact on the calorie intake! :eek: (And that's another temptation when you are on board all day - eating far too much!)

But it certainly would be an opportunity to relax and at least hopefully enjoy some better weather than the damp, grey and wet weather which seems to be a feature of our winters these days. I'll share your comments with DH and we'll have another good think about it and weigh up the pros and cons ..............perhaps we will try it out! ;)