Cruising Our Way - Dream Review July 22-29

Thanks for the review!

Loving reading your daily report. Appreciate your time spent. We are on the Dream in September so now gaining as much information as possible. We have a few days in New Orleans before the cruise so going to be pretty busy. This will only be our 2nd cruise, first was NCL Escape a couple of years ago when we had to dodge Hurricane Matthew, both ways too. Hope it doesn't happen again this time !!

Really enjoyed your day to day activities review. Hope to read more as were are booked on the Dream next spring.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Forums mobile app

Looking forward to reading your post. I am doing the exact same cruise with teenagers for Christmas. Thanks!!!

I must apologize for going a week since the last post. Instead of reviewing our last cruise, I've been work out how to get back on the ship! DW and I will be back on the Dream in September, 2019, sailing out of Galveston.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program....

DD2 Review of the Circle C

As a new cruiser, I had nothing to expect. On the first night I went to the club just to see if I would like it and want to come back. I sat down and within about 5 minutes, I started talking to people and meet a group of 5-8 people to hang out with. The club director was very energetic and just wanted to make this fun for us.

When you walk in, there is a big dance floor, nice seating all around, a little bar (not available to get drinks), and in the back there are computers to have some tournaments with friends.

Throughout the week, the club was around the ship doing fun activities such as a movie afternoon, karaoke, golf tournament, and wiiU tournaments! During the day the club was just open for people to stop by and have “U-Choose” time. I personally used this time to dance on the dance floor and run around the ship with my friends. My favorite thing to do was ride the Glass Elevators. The club was open every night from 8:30-1:00 am. On the Sea Days, the club was also open throughout the morning for a nice place for 12-14 year old’s to hangout.

Excursions!

We opted to pre-book our excursions through Carnival for several reasons:

• We have never traveled out side of the country and did not know what to expect
  
• I like to have as much of our vacation "pre-paid" as possible
  
• We did not want to worry about the possibility of returning to the ship late
  
• We are able to plan all three shore days at once, making sure we get to do the things we want
  

Our choices:

For Montego Bay, we chose the Ocho Rios & Dunns River Falls with Lunch excursion. My parents climbed the falls 30+ years ago and though it would be fun to follow in their footsteps from their first cruise.

While in Grand Cayman,we chose the Dolphin Swim & Turtle Center excursion. The DDs have wanted to swim with a dolphin since they were little.

And, in Cozumel, we chose to compete in the Amazing Cozumel Race to do something out of the ordinary.

Up Next, Jamaica

Great review! Any pics of the menus by chance?

DD2 Review of the Circle C

 

As a new cruiser, I had nothing to expect. On the first night I went to the club just to see if I would like it and want to come back. I sat down and within about 5 minutes, I started talking to people and meet a group of 5-8 people to hang out with. The club director was very energetic and just wanted to make this fun for us.

 

When you walk in, there is a big dance floor, nice seating all around, a little bar (not available to get drinks), and in the back there are computers to have some tournaments with friends.

 

Throughout the week, the club was around the ship doing fun activities such as a movie afternoon, karaoke, golf tournament, and wiiU tournaments! During the day the club was just open for people to stop by and have “U-Choose” time. I personally used this time to dance on the dance floor and run around the ship with my friends. My favorite thing to do was ride the Glass Elevators. The club was open every night from 8:30-1:00 am. On the Sea Days, the club was also open throughout the morning for a nice place for 12-14 year old’s to hangout.

Your daughter's review of the Circle C may be my favorite review I've ever read on this site. :) She did a great job describing her experience and made this sound like a ton of fun!

Jamaica

At our first stop, those passengers with Carnival Excursions met in the Crimson Dining Room at 8AM to be sent on to the gangway by the excursion. We got up early to have breakfast of burritos or buffet up on the Lido before waiting to go ashore. Be sure to bring your patience. We waited in the Crimson for about 30 minutes before they started sending groups off the ship. We waited for the group to form up to get on the bus. We waited for ‘those people’ who did not show up at the designated place at the designated time to finally show up. Then it was off to the River.

The bus ride was enjoyable. Our guide was enthusiastic and informative. We got to see both the Urban and Rural Jamaica on the way. Everything from gated communities to half completed houses among scrap material shacks. We stopped somewhere for people to purchase water shoes, grab a snack, restroom break and get a souvenir or two.

We arrived at the Falls at the same time as a rain shower. Oh, well, we are going to get wet anyway. Our bus load of people worked our way through the grounds to where we pick up a guide for the Falls. We were split up into groups of 20-25 people with the guide and a photographer then headed to the beach.

Now, 30+ years ago when my parents were here, they went up the falls with one or two other couples. The train of 20+ people we were in started up with about 4-5 other groups at the same time. Other than the crazy amount of people, we had a blast. Once you start up the Falls,you stop noticing the crowds and enjoy the experience with your family. If you want a CD of the pictures/video taken on your climb, it is $40.

You have to run the gauntlet of vendors to get back to the bus. The key word being RUN. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not answer anyone’s question. I made the mistake of thinking a vendor was being friendly by asking my name as I was walking by. Next thing I knew, he was presenting me with a personalized carving. Ended up with true Jamaican trinkets for all of us.

Lunch was next. It consisted of Jerk Chicken, rice and beans at an ocean front hotel in Ocho Rios. Not much to say about it.

The ride back to the port was another adventure in aggressive driving. We were setting close to the front, so we got a good view of the craziness on the roads. We made it back right at 4:30, but there was a line to get back on the ship so being that close to the return time was not a problem.

Back on board, we rushed to get ready for dinner. We did not do anything after dinner since we were to have an earlier start to our day in Grand Cayman. We wandered through the shops and looked for our pictures before heading to bed.

Next Stop, Grand Cayman

DD1 Review of Club O2

I’m in high school and this was my first cruise, but personally, I wasn’t a fan of the Club O2. There wasn't much to do but sit around while music was playing. Most of their activities seemed like they were intended for middle school kids rather than older teens. In my free time, I hung out with a few other teens who I met the first night, They didn’t go back to the club either. I really enjoyed the library because I could play games, such as monopoly and clue. I also enjoyed getting to choose what I wanted when I wanted, rather than being stuck on a set schedule with the Club O2. Lastly, no one decide to participate in the club theme nights while I was on board. I think it was good for meeting people to hang with the first night but otherwise, I’d recommend doing your own thing.

Thank you for the GREAT detailed report...loving it! We are not first time cruisers, but our first time on the Dream is now only 63 days away!!! WOO HOO! It can't come soon enough!

Loving your review. Will be on he dream 10/7 and wanting to know what to expect.

Enjoying your review, we’ve been on the Dream too. Our second time sailing from New Orleans. The first time sailing from there we stayed 3 nights at the same hotel, La Richileu, as you did. We stayed in the Paul McCartney suite. Loved it! Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Yvonne,

Sorry for butting in on this thread but just wanted to send you a message. Come on over to our informal roll call for the Oasis of the Seas for February 24th! I've posted the link to the roll call below!

BTW, I will also be on the Oasis before the 24th with my bff, namely February 10th, and will be staying in your room #9600 that week, and will be able to let you know how it is!;) DH and I will be on the week of the 24th in BW balcony #8329, farthest AFT.

Looking forward to possibly meeting you!:cool:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2497621&page=17

Great review, thank you very much.