1st time Carnival cruiser (DREAM) complete review & pictorial (from a NCL cruiser)

I haven't went anywhere my Epic friend. You have to give me time to type and add pictures. Profection doesn't come easy ya know. :D You may be in need of another cruise real soon for your sudden instant outburst of spasm on my thread thinking I have gone away. :D :p

 

I'll have you know that my nails have grown so long during and since my cruise that I actually sat down and cut them all off just so that I could type my review faster right before I started this. True story. :eek: I'm going as fast as I can. <3

LMAO!!! I am very excited to read your review...just in case you didn't know that!! :p I am trying to decide between Dream and Breeze. Both have the same itinerary...Grand Turk, Curaco and Aruba, both 8 days, both around the same dates (unfortunately not until 2015)...Breeze is more expensive than Dream though so I am leaning towards Dream. The cruise I want to go on is in 2015!!! I need to get planning. Time is running out!! LOL!!!:D

Thanks for bringing back some awesome memories made on that ship!! It's nice to see that they have improved some things since we last sailed her in 2011. The Atrium is beautiful, just like you said! It was mesmerizing watching the elevators going up and down during night!

That was Ocean Plaza (the blue and red colors you liked.)

I'm mad I didn't get many pictures of the ship, I wasn't on Cruise Critic back then!

I hope you went to the front of the ship at night, they turn the lights off so the captain can see and you can see all of the stars in the galaxy - Gambee if you're reading, make sure you do this on the Breeze! It's simply amazing to see all of the stars like you never have before! :)

I'm mainly a Royal fan but I would sail on the Dream class anytime!

This place was so colorful and I loved it.

A shirt they would later give to my daughter to color and then proceed to not let her color it...details on that later as well!

Their going away gift on the last night of the cruise:

It looks like a lot of stuff for them to do some drawing activities right? But my daughter does not like to participate in things like that....MORE TO COME!!!!

Ok, so Camp Carnival was not open for registration before sailing and not until hours later after sailing. Then they are not open that night AT ALL. So far not off to a good start right?

The next thing they inform me is that we have to carry around this god awful huge "cell" phone from the 1990's in order to have our kids there. Um say what? Where am I suppose to put this thing? It has no clip on it and you are forced to carry it. It didn't even fit in my small hand purse. They require everyone in the kids club, ages 2-5, to have one of these. They give you a school plastic box with the phone and the charger in it to take back to your room to charge and make you check in with it each time by giving them your number. You assigned me the phone, you wrote the number down, shouldn't you HAVE that number? :confused: Ok so this was not my idea of "fun" but guess what...I just found my new source of a way to tell time AND...... me and my oldest daughter now had a form of communication between each other when we were seperated. LOL Whenever we were going somewhere, trying to find each other, simply pick up the cell phone and call. NOT WHAT CARNIVAL? You just gave us a personal communication tool. Thanks! My daughter also carried hers to port with her (for some reason these phones stayed on ships time no matter what port we were in) and we now knew exactly what time it was all the time. My daughter also used the plastic school box they gave to her as something to put her stuff in while in the bag. It kept things from getting wet and she made it into a little carrier. HA! Take that Carnival. I was not as enthused about carrying the dinosaur phone as she was, but I delt with it.

They also require the children to wear an armband the ENTIRE cruise. Remember how mine did not like the last armband from Ron Jon and that was only on for 1 day? Well I was just informed that she would now have another armband for the entire week. Gasp. Here we go....(in the end, she only ask for it to come off for a few days and then she finally gave up and all was well, but I guarantee that when stepped foot off the cruise and she knew it was over, she ask again for us to remove it).

Well since there was nothing more that a family with children can do at this time of night (since everything consisted of bars, dancing, or casino), that pretty much left us out on anything other than going back to the room for the night (after a little snack of course).

Outside our room was our tickets for our excursion to Playa Mia (the only excursion we did with Carnival because it's a place we wanted to go and that was the only way to book it). It was kind of neat that each room had it's own little "mailbox" outside of the room. I'm use to things being shoved in the room number outside the door for everyone to see. This was kind of "hidden". I liked it. A+ Carnival.

We arrived to find our first towel animal...his name was "no feet" according to Sakari.

Our beds were together (which was something we were wondering about since Carnivals online sign in kept changing it back to separated) and Sakari's bed was pulled down from the ceiling.

We each was left a mint...another A+ Carnival. At least you still do that for the cruisers. This is something you now have to "earn" with NCL and be up the ladder to receive. Rolling my eyes out loud.

Ok, time to plug in that dinosaur cell phone to charge for tomorrow, the computer, and charge the batteries to the camera...wait, only 1 plug and I forgot my power strip either at home on the table or in the van left at Ron Jon. (Yea, it was the van at Ron Jon's we found out after the cruise). I would continue the rest of the cruise on a charging frenzy between all of the items. Some took priority over others and some people were a little upset about that (Camp Carnival to name one).

Thank you so much for your review. I will be on the Dream in 11 days for the first time.

I normally remove all of the items in the fridge and place in the night stands. Nothing else really fits in there. Also, room service has a really great cheesecake (at least on the Breeze and Magic).

After only sailing on CCL until this Dec when I will try NCL I am really happy to see a very balanced comparasion; thanks again for taking the time to do this!

Ruth

Nah, you're an ED nurse in the making. We are all slightly bent. I used to love getting a code at 0530 when I worked nights--it would keep me busy until the 7 a.m. crew got there. :o

 

Great review, and good luck with school--there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

I like the way you put it...slightly "bent". LOL That got a chuckle out of me.

So excited you were on the Dream! I've read your port reviews and decided to go to Chankanaab in Cozumel because of your reviews!! Super excited to follow your review of the Dream as we will be on her in July :)!! We too have cruise NCL so I like all the comparisons.

You will love Chankanaab. It's still our favorite place...even after this trip. I think it's going to be hard for us to find something that will top that place, but I keep trying. :D

Having never been on this ship, I'm really loving all the pictures!

Why thank you.

That area upstairs in the buffet is the Pasta Place Pasta the way you want it many selections too bad you missed it/

Aww, darnit. I love pasta and I'm sorry that I missed it. I wonder why it always seemed closed. Is this a paid restaurant?

I think they are only emergency lights. They were probably on because they were testing them.

 

 

Is cheesecake not on room service anymore?

Oh ok. Well I think they should leave them on all of the time. It adds to the glitz and glamor. :D

The only room service menu that I ever seen was one for breakfast. Maybe it's because we were in an interior room? I'm not sure. We don't get all of the perks (on NCL either) in the interiors like the hot meals.

So glad I'm not the only one whose schedule is dictated by nursing school. Our last cruise I had to bring my giant book with me, as we had a quiz on day 1 scheduled, and I was getting back 10pm the night before the semester started. Our next cruise is my "graduation celebration" as I'll be done December 13! Good luck to you with your studies.

 

P.S. I love all the pics you include in your reviews. Helps bring it to life.

Well congrats to you! Also lucky you!!! I hope I can afford to take one of my more "expensive" cruises when I graudate next year, but we'll see.

Oh ok. Well I think they should leave them on all of the time. It adds to the glitz and glamor. :D

 

The only room service menu that I ever seen was one for breakfast. Maybe it's because we were in an interior room? I'm not sure. We don't get all of the perks (on NCL either) in the interiors like the hot meals.

 

 

Well congrats to you! Also lucky you!!! I hope I can afford to take one of my more "expensive" cruises when I graudate next year, but we'll see.

Careful, the room service menu is mixed in with a bunch of papers upon arrival to your room the first day. You may think it is just advertisements or something. I make sure I find this and keep this upon arrival to our cabin, just in case. And yes, the cheesecake is delicious! Well worth ordering at least once during the cruise to satisfy your cheesecake craving. Also - no hot meals from room service on Carnival.

The only room service menu that I ever seen was one for breakfast. Maybe it's because we were in an interior room? I'm not sure. We don't get all of the perks (on NCL either) in the interiors like the hot meals.

So odd. Room service is for everyone. It is a pretty limited menu, just sandwiches really. But a few are really good. And it has some desserts.

Our last cruise the menu was in the bed with the first fun times. Before that it was in a little hotel type book. Maybe they tried to make it easier to throw out in hopes people won't use the service much?

LMAO!!! I am very excited to read your review...just in case you didn't know that!! :p I am trying to decide between Dream and Breeze. Both have the same itinerary...Grand Turk, Curaco and Aruba, both 8 days, both around the same dates (unfortunately not until 2015)...Breeze is more expensive than Dream though so I am leaning towards Dream. The cruise I want to go on is in 2015!!! I need to get planning. Time is running out!! LOL!!!:D

Well only having been on the Dream (so far), I can't compare other than the differences I know about. I would think they are very similar of course, but I would probably pick the Breeze if it was me booking at they are both going to the same place. I know the Breeze has the sports square which is an added plus, and they have Guys Burgers, they have the 3-4 or is it 5D theater...which would be awesome. So just my thoughts but can't compare.

Thanks for bringing back some awesome memories made on that ship!! It's nice to see that they have improved some things since we last sailed her in 2011. The Atrium is beautiful, just like you said! It was mesmerizing watching the elevators going up and down during night!

 

That was Ocean Plaza (the blue and red colors you liked.)

 

I'm mad I didn't get many pictures of the ship, I wasn't on Cruise Critic back then!

 

I hope you went to the front of the ship at night, they turn the lights off so the captain can see and you can see all of the stars in the galaxy - Gambee if you're reading, make sure you do this on the Breeze! It's simply amazing to see all of the stars like you never have before! :)

 

I'm mainly a Royal fan but I would sail on the Dream class anytime!

No, I didn't think to go to the front of the ship at night. I'm one of those that don't stay still long. I would try to get a picture and be gone, but didn't know they did that.

I would love to try RCI again. I have only sailed with them once back in the 90's. I would love either the Oasis class or the Freedom class. Definitely on my bucket list as well.

Thank you so much for your review. I will be on the Dream in 11 days for the first time.

 

I normally remove all of the items in the fridge and place in the night stands. Nothing else really fits in there. Also, room service has a really great cheesecake (at least on the Breeze and Magic).

 

After only sailing on CCL until this Dec when I will try NCL I am really happy to see a very balanced comparasion; thanks again for taking the time to do this!

 

Ruth

You will definitely get a balanced opinion from me, both the good and the bad. I call it like I see it. But always keep in mind, everyone's experience is different and it may not be your experience. That's a rule I live by.

Careful, the room service menu is mixed in with a bunch of papers upon arrival to your room the first day. You may think it is just advertisements or something. I make sure I find this and keep this upon arrival to our cabin, just in case. And yes, the cheesecake is delicious! Well worth ordering at least once during the cruise to satisfy your cheesecake craving. Also - no hot meals from room service on Carnival.

 

YOU JUST HAD TO GO AND DO THAT DIDN'T YOU??? :p I'm officially craving cheesecake now and I'm so disappointed that I didn't find this menu. I do have ALL of the papers that they gave us the entire cruise. I will have to go back and look at all of it and see if I can find it.

The lunch room service menu is easy to miss. It's in the packet of papers you get on your bed on the first night. I always dig for it, find it, then set it aside for future reference. See attached photo of the PBJ on toast and the chocolate cake and mousse we ordered. :)

You guys are killing me, really you are. :(

I will definitely be looking for this hidden treasure menu in the future.

So odd. Room service is for everyone. It is a pretty limited menu, just sandwiches really. But a few are really good. And it has some desserts.

 

Our last cruise the menu was in the bed with the first fun times. Before that it was in a little hotel type book. Maybe they tried to make it easier to throw out in hopes people won't use the service much?

Going to check this all out. I'm really bummed now.

I think the title of the menu was something like Good to Know. Not real clear.

I won't tell you the cheesecake was good, but girl, when you graduate and start making real money, you HAVE to do the steakhouse if only for the cheesecake!!!! Just sayin'!

So day 2 comes along, our first sea day. It's time to do everything we can in one day because we won't get this chance again until the next full sea day. I love going to all the different ports, but in reality, I would rather not have such a port extensive itinerary. It's just nothing but go-go-go all the time. Having a chance to enjoy the ship a little more would be nice.

We started the day with our sloppy eggs and fighting for more bacon then decided to play a little putt-putt. This time around Sakari did better and she was actually playing the entire game with a few holes she made it in 3 putts. Good for her.

I of course won the game as always...not tooting my own horn or anything.

This was Sakari's favorite, it went in to the ship and disappeared. She was so disappointed and later cheered up that it came out the other side. It's magic she said!

Had to have one with the Whale Tail in it:

Sakari had been begging to go to the kids club to meet her new "friends" so we thought we would check it out. They had told us that they were open from 9am-10pm. We went up and once again, they were not open and it was after 9am. Hmm, me and this kids club is just not getting off to a good start on this cruise. We were then told it would open at 10am.

So, we had to cure her depression by telling her it was time to go to the water park and slides. She perked up really quick with that.

Slides, here we come!

I'm loving your review! Looking forward to reading more! :D

We started off slow at the water park/kids area:

Sakari and my grandson Brayden on the "mini" slides;

It was just a whole lot of fun going on today:

What happens when you get thirsty? Sakari is willing to help you out.

so far it looks like you were having alot of fun with some minor bumps in the road. I cant wait until Friday to head down to our hotel and hop on the Dream on June 1st. This will be the second time sailing on her. We always have fun on any ship we go on. Thanks for the review its bringing back great memories. :D

Time to move on up to the bigger slides and race.

Yep, tall enough for this! Excitement in that face I tell ya!

Trial run with daddy (you notice the arms up in the air already?)

Then my oldest (Kendra) and Brayden decided to race...

Then on to the big dog...

I tried the funnel first. We really had a blast on the Epic and the "toilet bowl" and was looking forward to this again. Away I went...I was not told that you are suppose to lay down, so I went sitting up. BIG mistake. As soon as I came out of the bowl it threw me back, I hit my head and twisted...ouch. I didn't go but one other time on this funnel and made sure that I was laying down. It still kind of whipped you around and wasn't too pleasant to me. When my little one went down, she also got hurt and hit her head and never wanted to return again. I can't say I blame her. It was the devil.

I have to admit, I was a little scared to try to Twister. Not scared as in it scared me, scared as in I was concerned that I would get hurt. I have the tendency to get hurt on cruises including but not limited to broken bones. So I didn't try it that day. Sakari did and loved it and went several times.

After awhile we decided once again to try the kids club and this time it was open. We checked her in, they ask to show proof that we had our cell phone with us and informed us that we needed to pick her up at 2pm. Um, it's already almost 1pm WTH??? Why do we have to pick her up at 2pm??? Then she said, no I mean 3pm. Why at 3pm?? Well, we close from 3:45 until 5pm. Um ok. First it's 2pm, then 3pm, but you aren't actually closed until 3:45pm. I don't like you already! Seriously!!!

Off we went to the Casino for our first gambling experience on the Dream.

I managed to find my favorite game...woo hoo! Cave King has always treated me right. Well, not this time and it would continue to treat me badly the entire cruise. I traded this game in for a different one that I enjoyed and did quite good on.

No sooner than we got here, it was time to leave and pick up Sakari from CC since they were closing at 2pm. I mean 3, or whatever their story was at the time.

Now one thing I want to discuss about the casino. I'm a smoker, I'm a considerate smoker. If I'm sitting by someone who's not smoking, I make sure it's ok. I don't blow smoke in someones face, even if they are a smoker. I wave it away. I don't like the smell of smoke, I will even fabreeze myself or put on body spray to not smell it. But since I'm a smoker, I might not always smell smoke the way previous smokers or non-smokers do. When you got anywhere NEAR this casino, walking along the hallway there it smelled like striaght smoke!!! Really bad. And this is coming from a smoker. I have NEVER witnessed the smoke smell on any of the NCL ships. I don't know what they use, but it has never been like this. I just wanted to point this out.

Also, on the day we were in port, they did not allow any smoking anywhere other than in the casino prior to pulling out. They said they were fueling up and there was to be no smoking anywhere else. There were no ashtrays out. However, you did see people sitting up on the deck smoking away and who knows what they were using as an ashtray. I sure the hell hope it wasn't the ship! The other odd thing was that where they told us we could smoke in the casino was the NON-SMOKING part of the casino. Um...o.k. weird. Why not smoke in the smoking section? It just didn't make any sense at all to me.

I would find throughout the cruise that ashtrays were a hot commodity. They were very few and far in between. They did have the standing ashtrays along the way, but to sit down at a table with an ashtray was hard to do.

Ok, done with my ash mouth talk for the cruise.

Fast forward some to food talk. It was time to get all dressed up AGAIN and head to dinner. It was finally lobster night and I was excited. We get down to the MDR and it wasn't open yet. The time on the display outside the MDR said it opened at 5:45, but they didn't actually let anyone in until a little bit after 6pm. A line formed, people were blocking others that were trying to walk by while shopping. It was a weird location I guess to have the entrance. But we were some of the first in line and I was anticipating my lobster and wasn't leaving. (I was in the doorway area, not out in the hall being a "blocker").

We were seated and time to order. I went straight for the kill and ask for the lobster dinner. I ask if I how many came with it and they told me only 1. (NCL gave you 2). So, I ask if I could have 2 lobster tails. The waiter replied, well you can only order 1 at a time. So once you are finished with your first plate, we will bring you another. Um ok. Wouldn't it just be easier to slap 2 lobsters on there and be done with it and move on instead of running back and forth? Ok, well whatever. So they brought out the bread and it was good. They ask if I wanted something else to start with. At this point it had been a busy day at the pools and I was starving so I order something called Octopus something or other and some kind of fritters. I was a little leery but I'm game for trying anything. It was pretty good.

We sat around again waiting on our food. They give the kids a menu that you can color on. I found it weird that they sometimes gave you a crayon and other times a pencil??? Really, you are suppose to color with a pencil?

My lobster came. It wasn't as long of a wait as it was the night before. I think probably because we were one of the first in the MDR. The lobster was not the best and definitely not as big or as good as what we have had on NCL. But it was ok and it did the job.

The shrimp was suppose to be "blackened shrimp". It was just plain shrimp and didn't have much of a taste to them. The waiter came out and ask if I was ready for my next lobster and I told him sure. So instead of bringing me out another lobster, they brought me an entire second plate. Yikes! I can't eat all of that. All I wanted was a lobster.

I also tried the stuffed mushrooms. They were actually very yummy. See I told you I was hungry.

Now I have to mention, today was Mothers Day. It was also our anniversary. They were coming to the tables and passing out pink carnations to all of the ladies. It was a very nice touch. A+ Carnival.

We were on the deck later for our late night snack and another lady was passing out more carnations. That's how I ended up with 2 of them.

We decided to head to a show tonight and see just how crappy the entertainment was as others had said.

Here is the Encore theater (I personally think it should have some type of Safari name to it because it looked like a zebra fabric in there).

The show started and it was a country show with country music. Hmmm, I'm not a country fan so I was a little torn between liking or not liking the show. I can tell you that the dancers were very talented and the props were amazing and it made for a decent night. We didn't stay for the entire show and I did notice several people leaving. Normally I will not get up and leave a show in the middle of it and feel that it's rude. However, my little one had to use the restroom, so we would have to get up anyhow to take her and since it wasn't a show that we were extremely enjoying due to the music, we decided we would go ahead and leave.

The one thing I liked about this theater compared to NCL was the room and the space there was. There were actual TABLES in front of the chairs which gave you a place to put your drinks (and even a few times we ran up to the Pizza place and brought down some pizza and ate and watched a show) and this was nice!!! Way to go Carnival. I don't know if all of the ships are like that (or at least the Dream class ships), but I really enjoyed that. It also had plenty of room for people to walk around you in the isles without stepping on your toes.

We headed up to the buffet to see if anything was happening...of course not. However, something must have went on prior because they had a MOM ice sculpture in there still.

How nice.

It was raining outside again, but they were still playing a movie on the big screen out at the pool. People were along the sides out of the rain and watching the movies. On NCL, they are always putting away and stacking chairs...it seems like a non-stop business. I always wonder why they do this over and over. Some times you are sitting in the chairs on the deck and they are stacking them up and before long everything around you is stacked. You feel out of place and finally you move. They charge in to grab your chair and stack it. On Carnival, I really didn't notice any chair stacking. Of course they left the chairs out on the deck since they were always playing movies and people would need to sit down. I liked the non-stacking!

On our way back to the room, we found these neat chairs (which reminded me of all the neat and weird chairs that you will usually find on NCL) and I just had to have my picture taken.

We made it back to the room to turn in, once again another towel animal and Sakari was happy about that but wanted to know what happened to "No feet"

Also, more mints on the bed...this would continue to be a nightly thing during the cruise. A+ Carnival.

We new we would be in Cozumel tomorrow and we were going to Playa Mia. We were excited and I was busy packing for that day and ready to call it a night.

Well it's after midnight now and I have clinical tomorrow and then homework to complete after that. I will try to get back to my review some time later tonight if possible. It will be our day at Playa Mia in Cozumel. :D

Thank you for everyone that is following along and I hope you are enjoying my review and pictures.

Until tomorrow....goodnight. :)

Great review! I know you probably don't want to hear it again. Lol but if your room doesn't have a room service menu just tell your steward or go to guest services. They usually have a stack laying on the counter there. And yes it is free for all guest. Great for getting a grilled cheese and chocolate cake for an after midnight snack. Lol

Enjoying your review and looking forward to more!

Sorry you missed out on the cheesecake - we were on Fascination the same week you were on Dream and we had (some type of) cheescake just about every day - only once (or maybe twice) at dinner in the MDR, but there was a different type of cheesecake on the dessert table at lunch on Lido every day we went there. (When we sailed on Princess several years ago, cheesecake was on the dessert menu every night in the MDR. :D )

Really looking forward to reading about your day at Little French Key.