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

"Kendras self-portrait just because that's how she is."

 

This could be an ad for sunglasses -- she has beautiful eyes. I love how her makeup is perfect even after tubing and hiking and putting up with a fussy little one!

I agree!!! Beautiful girl!

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I agree!!! Beautiful girl!

 

 

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Thank you. I ended up with 2 kids with the piercing blue eyes and 2 with brown eyes.

Would you mind preparing a chart with what you liked best on NCL and what you liked best on Carnival? We, too, like NCL but have an upcoming Carnival cruise. Your review was very good, but so long with all the extra comments that I couldn't get all your points in a concise format. If you did that and I missed it (I skipped some of others' chit-chat) would you point me to it? Thanks!

Thanks for your awesome review! We loved our Dream cruise 2 years ago.

We have cruised with Royal C, Celebrity, Princess and Carnival - loved them all, but we keep coming back to Carnival for the overall experience. We keep checking Norwegian....plan to try one in 2017.

We are 65 yrs young, have been cruising for 20 years, and your review reminds us why we love cruising.

Thanks again!

We did Norwegian Breakaway as we live in NY and try to cruise out of NY whenever possible. Keep in mind, I LOVE cruising and in most ways feel that the cruise is what you make it. I'm very easy going and always try to look at the bright side, however, I was very disappointed with the ship and crew. Yes, it's huge, but the hallways are extremely narrow. The way the ship is set up, there are crowds of people everywhere, and the staff was very rude. I was very disappointed. There are only 2 pools and the adult pool is so deep, you can't stand up. We spent our time at the kids pool, no big deal. The ship goes out of NY in February and does not have a retractable roof, so you can't enjoy the lido deck until day 3 when you far enough south where it is warm. Also, as we Learned from other cruisers, they coin NCL as "no cash left" because they charge you for so many activities and entertainment. My father in law became ill and had to fly home to NY from Florida. They did allow us to use the phone on the ship to communicate with him and family members to ensure he could get home safely. Apparently, the insurance did him no good, as he had to pay for his airplane ride home. Anyway, we are sticking with Carnival and looking forward to the Dream.

We did Norwegian Breakaway as we live in NY and try to cruise out of NY whenever possible. Keep in mind, I LOVE cruising and in most ways feel that the cruise is what you make it. I'm very easy going and always try to look at the bright side, however, I was very disappointed with the ship and crew. Yes, it's huge, but the hallways are extremely narrow. The way the ship is set up, there are crowds of people everywhere, and the staff was very rude. I was very disappointed. There are only 2 pools and the adult pool is so deep, you can't stand up. We spent our time at the kids pool, no big deal. The ship goes out of NY in February and does not have a retractable roof, so you can't enjoy the lido deck until day 3 when you far enough south where it is warm. Also, as we Learned from other cruisers, they coin NCL as "no cash left" because they charge you for so many activities and entertainment. My father in law became ill and had to fly home to NY from Florida. They did allow us to use the phone on the ship to communicate with him and family members to ensure he could get home safely. Apparently, the insurance did him no good, as he had to pay for his airplane ride home. Anyway, we are sticking with Carnival and looking forward to the Dream.

I have to agree with all of your points about BA.

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When I first started reading what you were posting, I was "thinking" maybe I didn't start reading this right, as you were talking about the Norwegian ship, instead of Carnival until you got to the end. When I finished reading, I understood where you came from.

Many years ago, my friend and I did the "brand new" Star Norwegian ship. To make the long story short, for the A trim area, they had "plastic" flowers all around. I thought to myself.............how cheap can you get. Another thing that we noticed, yes cruising is for relaxing, but when we cruise, we want to be able to choose from different activities that might be going on for that day. As for choosing, there was very little to choose from. To make the long story short, we never saw/heard so many people "complaining" at the Pursers Desk, and on our flight back to Kansas City. We said we would never (unless it is free, which will never happen) do another Norwegian ship again, and in almost 15 years later, we have not done any more of their ships.

We said we would never (unless it is free, which will never happen) do another Norwegian ship again, and in almost 15 years later, we have not done any more of their ships.

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You have to pay the gratuities on the *free drink package.....6 of one and half a dozen of another in comparison

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You have to pay the gratuities on the *free drink package.....6 of one and half a dozen of another in comparison

 

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57.50 per day for Cheers versus 14.22 per day for gratuities does not equate to 6 of one and half dozen of another, unless you enjoy paying four times as much per day.

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No that was in reference of which line is better....something's are better on NCL and something's better on Carnival

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No that was in reference of which line is better....something's are better on NCL and something's better on Carnival

 

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Who did you book LFK excursion with? Also approx cost. Do you think this could be booked from a private tour & not through Carnival? Cant wait ti hear back from ya! Also tour name & price for the cave tubing in Belize please.

Would you mind preparing a chart with what you liked best on NCL and what you liked best on Carnival? We, too, like NCL but have an upcoming Carnival cruise. Your review was very good, but so long with all the extra comments that I couldn't get all your points in a concise format. If you did that and I missed it (I skipped some of others' chit-chat) would you point me to it? Thanks!

Sorry, as much as I would love to, I just don't have time for preparing charts at the moment. Between schooling, my normal job and running 2 business plus family life, I haven't even been able to completely figure out what I'm doing at each port on my upcoming cruise in 38 days. :o

To me, a cruise is what you make of it. I can have a good time on any cruise. There are good and bad things and awesome things and not so awesome things of each line. To me, both cruise lines are somewhat similar and the only thing off the top of my head would be the entertainment is better on NCL IMO.

Who did you book LFK excursion with? Also approx cost. Do you think this could be booked from a private tour & not through Carnival? Cant wait ti hear back from ya! Also tour name & price for the cave tubing in Belize please.

Directly with LFK online. They have several packages to pick from and they are listed on their website what each includes.

As for Belize, we have used cavetubing (dot) bz both times we went and have had an excellent experience with them and would highly recommend them. :)

Does it seem odd to still get replies from your review after all these years?

I just wanted to extend a thank you. I use to read your reviews on NCL all the time - and planning our first CCL for next year - so I was tickled to see you did one on the Dream.

Nice comparison. :) I LOVE all the pics of the Dream. She looks amazing.

Does it seem odd to still get replies from your review after all these years?

 

I just wanted to extend a thank you. I use to read your reviews on NCL all the time - and planning our first CCL for next year - so I was tickled to see you did one on the Dream.

 

Nice comparison. :) I LOVE all the pics of the Dream. She looks amazing.

Haha, no not really. People reply to old threads of mine all the time. I'm just glad that they help others out (or at least give them some entertainment ;p).

Thanks for reading my reviews (both NCL and here on CCL). I'll be on RC up next. So I'm jumping to another part of the boards I haven't been on yet. :D

Hi Kim!

Just got off the Dream and I had a wonderful time! Thanks for letting me tag along.

I have cruises on the Freedom in March and the Vista in September, going to whine a bit and try to get a Dream trip in between 😉

I'm off to your next Carnival cruise which I believe is on the Pride. Eventually I will check them all out but Carnival and Royal Caribbean come first ( that's all Galveston offers right now and hubby doesn't give me hell about driving there).

Hugs

Nicki

Hey again Kim,

Looks like the Pride review wasn't 😞 , looks more like of an Epic review which I'll get back to another time. So I'm jumping ship and I'm off to the Breeze!!

Hugs

Nicki

On 9/23/2020 at 2:58 PM, princess76021 said:

Hi Kim!

 

Just got off the Dream and I had a wonderful time! Thanks for letting me tag along.

 

I have cruises on the Freedom in March and the Vista in September, going to whine a bit and try to get a Dream trip in between 😉

 

I'm off to your next Carnival cruise which I believe is on the Pride. Eventually I will check them all out but Carnival and Royal Caribbean come first ( that's all Galveston offers right now and hubby doesn't give me hell about driving there).

 

Hugs

Nicki

Thanks so much. Glad you had a good time. 🙂

On 9/23/2020 at 3:14 PM, princess76021 said:

Hey again Kim,

 

Looks like the Pride review wasn't 😞 , looks more like of an Epic review which I'll get back to another time. So I'm jumping ship and I'm off to the Breeze!!

 

Hugs

Nicki

What do you mean by the Pride review wasn't 😞 ?  I'm confused about the Epic?

2 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

Thanks so much. Glad you had a good time. 🙂

 

 

 

What do you mean by the Pride review wasn't 😞 ?  I'm confused about the Epic?

When I click on the Pride I get the Epic 😞

On 5/27/2013 at 4:01 PM, mitsugirly said:

We have arrived. Let's get this party started and time to explore.

 

My initial thoughts...WOW, simply wow!!! This ship was beautiful. I have never seen so much glitz and glamour. Everything sparkled, had glitter, mirrors or lights. The atrium was to die for. It's just like an atrium is suppose to be. It was stories tall, glass elevators and all of the lights on everything constantly changing colors. I had found paradise. I don't know what the rest of the cruise was going to be like, but so far I'm impressed for sure.

 

 

 

 

I have enjoyed reading your review. I wasn’t on CC back in 2013 so this is the first time I have seen this review. Thanks to whoever resurrected it. I agree 100% with your comments about the atrium. The vaulted atriums with glass elevators have always been my favorite part of Carnival ships. The lack of the vaulted atrium/glass elevators on Vista class ships was a huge letdown/mistake in my opinion. 

6 hours ago, princess76021 said:

When I click on the Pride I get the Epic 😞

On my website? I just checked it and it takes me to the Pride. Hmm I'm not sure what's going on.  CARNIVAL SHIPS CLICK HERE

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have enjoyed reading your review. I wasn’t on CC back in 2013 so this is the first time I have seen this review. Thanks to whoever resurrected it. I agree 100% with your comments about the atrium. The vaulted atriums with glass elevators have always been my favorite part of Carnival ships. The lack of the vaulted atrium/glass elevators on Vista class ships was a huge letdown/mistake in my opinion. 

Aww, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. You can find all of my reviews (including the land one's in Aruba and my recent 2 week stay in St Thomas) on my website. MITSUGIRLY'S WEBSITE WITH ALL REVIEWS AND LINKS

3 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

On my website? I just checked it and it takes me to the Pride. Hmm I'm not sure what's going on.  CARNIVAL SHIPS CLICK HERE

 

 

Aww, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. You can find all of my reviews (including the land one's in Aruba and my recent 2 week stay in St Thomas) on my website. MITSUGIRLY'S WEBSITE WITH ALL REVIEWS AND LINKS

I figured it out!  It's your old signature!  When I click on the Pride it takes me to the Epic review, your new signature brings me to the Pride!!  After I come off the Breeze I'll check out the Pride!  

Thanks again for doing this.

Hugs Nicki

35 minutes ago, princess76021 said:

I figured it out!  It's your old signature!  When I click on the Pride it takes me to the Epic review, your new signature brings me to the Pride!!  After I come off the Breeze I'll check out the Pride!  

 

Thanks again for doing this.

Hugs Nicki

Welcome. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Enjoy

Loved your review, brings back memories, we sailed twice on the dream ,and also once on the magic and 

twice on the breeze with a cruise scheduled for Nov on the Breeze and also a Mar 2021 on the Breeze,

we love the dream class ships and the cove balconies.

8 hours ago, hurricane0226 said:

Loved your review, brings back memories, we sailed twice on the dream ,and also once on the magic and 

twice on the breeze with a cruise scheduled for Nov on the Breeze and also a Mar 2021 on the Breeze,

we love the dream class ships and the cove balconies.

Thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed it. I love the Dream class ships too with the Breeze being my favorite.