What do you want to know about Carnival Dream?

[nycruises]

So, as you've already read here, Hurricane-Trop Storm-Trop Depression-nor'easter- whatever-Ida meant for an odd weekend on Carnival Dream. Odd primarily because the ship's designed to be enjoyed in warm, tropical climes (i.e. no magrodome-covered pools in case of inclement weather, not all that much to do onboard and inside). And the weather was HORRIBLE. Felt for the lady I saw cowering in the corner of the Lido buffet, paper bag held-to-mouth.

 

But there were still some highlights. Among them?

 

*Chef's Art, the ship's steakhouse, served a flawless meal, good wine, fairly priced. Nice ambience (but Carnival's taking the supper club concept, i.e. a live combo for dancing and a lovely bar area away means it's just another cruise ship alternative restaurant, decor-wise, nothing special).

 

*Loved the new Ocean area, the ability to be outside and still hear music.

 

*Food, especially in the buffet area and the aformentioned Chef's Art steakhouse, was just outstanding. Dining room a tad inconsistent.

 

*Entertainment was fantastic, loved the Cuban-influenced performers.

 

*Meeting Cruise Critic members at the Meet and Mingle! Vignettes and photos to follow.

 

There were cons, too, and it's possible that the fact that 3,000-plus people on a two night cruise to nowhere in bad weather exacerbates the negatives, but:

 

*Too much stuff, from Chef's Art reservations to spa treatments, was "fully booked" by 2 p.m. on embark day. That's poor.

 

*Way too many lines EVERYWHERE. To buy a sweatshirt, get a coffee, ride the elevator, and the most egregious -- to get food. Lines lines lines. At the restaurant for breakfast. At the pizza station at the buffet. Deli station. 1 hour wait for in-cabin service. Etc. And yet at key times, Carnival didn't utilize the space it had. Indian buffet, grill, both closed at a time when demand was high. Why not keep Pasta Bar open at night? At the Scarlet restaurant, when there are 300 people waiting in line to get in why not open the restaurant's second deck? Poorly planned and not impressive. Mind you, it's a two night cruise and these offer challenges. I've sailed on a couple on NCL, both out of New York, and they were fun and not so stressful. If Carnival can't handle it, then it shouldn't offer it.

 

*How do you build a ship these days that is so lacking in noise containment? My god, I could not only hear my neighbor's television as if it were right beside me, I could hear everything everyone said walking by cabin door (and if you can hear the neighbor's tv you can, er, hear everything else). Poor.

 

*Customer service, and this is something about which I have low expectations when it comes to Carnival, didn't quite, er, meet my very low expectations. Why is it that staffers at the customer service desk, and this is consistent throughout Carnival fleet, acts as if they are doing you a favor by "listening"?

 

*Daytime entertainment was pathetic, especially in light of the fact that everyone was inside due to weather. Highlight, so to speak, in atrium: Bean bag toss. Oh my! Why not offer a movie matinee in the theater?

 

*From what I heard from many pax, embarkation was a nightmare. The ship apparently is too big to fit a NYC gangway. Er, so what, someone at Carnival forgot to check? Inexcusable that people waited three hours to board a two night cruise.

 

If you were onboard, please share your impressions. If you are a Carnival fan, please feel free to illuminate on the cons -- I'm a bit mystified, to be honest, at how the line failed to turn a bad weather weekend into a fun ship cruise.

 

Carolyn

 

From speaking with some of the crew i found out that the ship was oversold to about 120% of capacity while it is big enough to manage this amount of people to staterooms some of the other venues were a bit taxed with space concerns.

 

You have to remember this ship was designed to go to Port Canaveral not NYC so it was designed to meet those standards of that port where the terminal facilities dwarf the NYC cruise terminal center. Of course Carnival wanted to christen their newest ship in Manhattan not Brooklyn of Bayonne NJ.

 

People who were at the pier at noon were aboard this ship by 1 as were those late comers at 2pm were onboard by 3:15. Sometimes getting to the pier at 10am does nothing but ensure you are going to sit for 3 hours.

 

I really can't answer your noise comment because i was out having too much fun and not in my cabin.

 

Once again great to see Mach again and John Heald wandering about the ship and she is going to be stupendous once she gets to the caribbean

[editor@cruisecritic]

Looking cozy and cosmopolitan sitting at the bar and nursing martinis, Sorcam, the member name for a couple from New Jersey’s Wall Township, were onboard to celebrate their 10th anniversary. On tap for tonight? “Drink, rock the boat, hit the casino,” he said. “This is the ultimately quick little getaway.

 

 

Carolyn

[Time2CruiseAgain]

Wow - catching up on the reviews has me even more excited!! We embark in 181 days on the beautiful Dream and I cannot wait!!!

 

Mach - have you posted any pics yet? Where do I find them if you have?

 

Thanks for the wonderful reviews!

[editor@cruisecritic]

Right. But Carnival accepted reservations for the 120-percent capacity, right? This wasn't a surprise. People didn't suddenly show up at the gangway, handing over wads of cash and demanding to be let onboard. Right?

 

If Carnival takes your money it owes you to offer the experience it promises. I'm not frankly buying that it did give people on this two day cruise the experience they paid for.

 

Carolyn

 

 

From speaking with some of the crew i found out that the ship was oversold to about 120% of capacity while it is big enough to manage this amount of people to staterooms some of the other venues were a bit taxed with space concerns.

 

You have to remember this ship was designed to go to Port Canaveral not NYC so it was designed to meet those standards of that port where the terminal facilities dwarf the NYC cruise terminal center. Of course Carnival wanted to christen their newest ship in Manhattan not Brooklyn of Bayonne NJ.

 

People who were at the pier at noon were aboard this ship by 1 as were those late comers at 2pm were onboard by 3:15. Sometimes getting to the pier at 10am does nothing but ensure you are going to sit for 3 hours.

 

I really can't answer your noise comment because i was out having too much fun and not in my cabin.

 

Once again great to see Mach again and John Heald wandering about the ship and she is going to be stupendous once she gets to the caribbean

[TripleB]

Just returned from the 16 day trans Atlantic cruise on the Dream and we were not impressed.

 

Cabin was great (8D) deck 8 starboard. Balcony small, could use one more shelf in the closet. Room steward not so great.

 

Scarlet dining room fixed seating at 815 very good. Excellent waiter and assistant. Ken and the dancing waiters make the evening fun.

 

Food...inconsistent. All entrees were good however the kitchen does not know meduim rare from over done; fish excellent some nights others underdone. All lamb dishes were excellent. Soups lacking in taste. Deserts are poor, cakes dry, cookies dryer and greasie.

 

Lido..to be avoided unless you like being pushed, shoved and walked into by waundering lost passengers. Food not overly appealing.

 

Pasta station very good but slow service.

 

Deli...excellent and always busy. Those guys work their tails off for you.

 

Guest Services...unfortunately no one told them the meaning of service. Blank looks and slow answers if any. Ask a question they are not programed for and they are lost.

 

Sam's Club..although I am a smoker I found the air circulation here very poor. There is not venting for the smoke and by 9 at night it looks like an opium den. There is no reason in this day of modern technology why they didn't install a good venting system for this area. My sympathies to all non smokers.

 

Staffing...poor. Slow pick up of tables on Lido and Sunset deck areas. Passengers were bussing their own tables in order to sit. Also, the dining rooms are under staffed. Many are undertrained. They even brought a trainer onboard during the cruise.

 

Many engineering problems. Fumes for the funnels come back into the rooms on deck 6 aft; also fumes from the galley are sucked into the deck 6 rooms through the venting system. Air conditioning uneven in all public areas. Engineers were brought onboard to help with these and other problems.

 

If you use the men's room on deck 4 starboard near the Crimson be careful. If someone opens the door anyone walking by will see you standing there doing your duty!

 

Entertainment...well below expectations. 16 nights and two production shows! Two nights of passenger entertainment (God love 'em). One night of a female sax player who reminded many of us of the talent portion of the Miss America contest!

 

The cruise staff did a take off of an old Princess Cruise line song "If I Were Not Upon This Ship" and did not do it justice.

 

The saving grace for us were our table mates who were wonderful. We will have good memories of this cruise because of them.

 

This was our first and last Carnival cruise. We are not new to cruising as we have 41 under our belts. We were very disappointed in what we experienced.

 

To those of you who are die hard Carnival devotees, we say enjoy yourselves and continue sailling with them. We however will go back to Princess, HAL, Azamara and RCCL.

 

Happy Sailing......

[editor@cruisecritic]

LowTyd is just relaxin’ – one of the fun furnishing features in Caliente is a double-bed lounger. It was a pretty tempting place to recline on a low-key first afternoon onboard.

 

 

Carolyn

[editor@cruisecritic]

Waiting patiently at the bar for his wife (er, me) to stop gallivanting at the Cruise Critic meet and mingle, Teijo Niemela, onboard to write about the ship for Cruisebusiness.com, his business-to-business cruise journal, was enthusiastic. “This is the best ever Carnival ship I’ve seen,” he says. “Every single place has been improved. Carnival Dream is longer, wider, taller but still centers around the layout first established on Carnival’s Conquest class.

 

The most beautiful room? “I like the atrium, with its panels of illuminated glass. It’s the most beautiful atrium on a Carnival ship.”

 

 

Carolyn

[nycruises]

Right. But Carnival accepted reservations for the 120-percent capacity, right? This wasn't a surprise. People didn't suddenly show up at the gangway, handing over wads of cash and demanding to be let onboard. Right?

 

If Carnival takes your money it owes you to offer the experience it promises. I'm not frankly buying that it did give people on this two day cruise the experience they paid for.

 

Carolyn

 

I'm not disagreeing that they took they money to bring them to 120% capacity. But i think that the weather was a large factor the cut down some activities they did have planed, and no it's not a great excuse or even one to call a excuse because we all knew in advance the weather this weekend was going to be poor to severe. So options that people might have other wise chose on their own were nulled out mini-golf, basketball, and a few other i won't say the pool or the slides even though if it was like it was today on Saturday i would have taken it for a ride cold or not

[Socref124]

Your experience, Mach, was worth the price of admission. Amazing.

 

Carolyn

 

Mach, great pics. I can't wait to see the rest of them.:D Thanks!!!!

[*Mach*]

Wow - catching up on the reviews has me even more excited!! We embark in 181 days on the beautiful Dream and I cannot wait!!!

 

Mach - have you posted any pics yet? Where do I find them if you have?

 

Thanks for the wonderful reviews!

 

 

I'll be sorting through the pictures today and I'll do my best to have them up this evening.

I'm uploading the video I shot from my balcony to youtube and hopefully I'll have the link up in about twenty minutes.

Mind you, this was shot before my dining time, 8:15, on Friday. The seas only intensified through the night. Getting out on deck AT ALL required a stupid level of dedication and I say that with confidence. I returned to the safe, warm cocoon of the inside spaces after being lashed by 60 mph winds and rain getting three shots of the Statue of Liberty as we headed south...

:)

[*Mach*]

Right. But Carnival accepted reservations for the 120-percent capacity, right? This wasn't a surprise. People didn't suddenly show up at the gangway, handing over wads of cash and demanding to be let onboard. Right?

 

If Carnival takes your money it owes you to offer the experience it promises. I'm not frankly buying that it did give people on this two day cruise the experience they paid for.

 

Carolyn

 

 

If I may, Carolyn, the experience was diminished by extraordinary conditions and you don't market to the extraordinary, you market to the norm. Additionally, no cruise line PROMISES an experience... arrival at ports is never guaranteed, availability of excursions is never guaranteed, not even on board activities are guaranteed.

Had the weather for the CTN been as it was for yesterday's sailing on the Dream I don't think that any of this would be in question.

We were at Pier 88 less than an hour before sail away and people lined the Lido and Panorama Decks experiencing the conditions that we had all hoped for on our cruise.

Mach

[WestTxCruiser]

I'll be sorting through the pictures today and I'll do my best to have them up this evening.

 

I'm uploading the video I shot from my balcony to youtube and hopefully I'll have the link up in about twenty minutes.

 

Mind you, this was shot before my dining time, 8:15, on Friday. The seas only intensified through the night. Getting out on deck AT ALL required a stupid level of dedication and I say that with confidence. I returned to the safe, warm cocoon of the inside spaces after being lashed by 60 mph winds and rain getting three shots of the Statue of Liberty as we headed south...

 

:)

Welcome Back Mach!! Can't wait to hear more and see more....!!!!

[teach21566]

It's so interesting to hear everyones take on the Dream and Carnival. I will be taking our 6th cruise on the Dream in April. We have also sailed Princess twice, all in the past 5 years. I like both lines. I actually found the food on Carnival a little better than on Princess. I do like the fresh water pools on Princess. I like the cabin layout for 4 on Carnival better. Princess does not have the couch, so both 3 and 4th passengers are in uppers, and makes it harder to walk around. Would I go on Princess again...hell ya...or RCI or Norweigan I'd like to try them all.

 

I am totally looking forward to the Dream, I do hope the lines for food won't be too long. I would love to try the pasta and monogolian stations.

 

What was up with room service. An hour and half to get a cup of coffee??

[*Mach*]

It's so interesting to hear everyones take on the Dream and Carnival. I will be taking our 6th cruise on the Dream in April. We have also sailed Princess twice, all in the past 5 years. I like both lines. I actually found the food on Carnival a little better than on Princess. I do like the fresh water pools on Princess. I like the cabin layout for 4 on Carnival better. Princess does not have the couch, so both 3 and 4th passengers are in uppers, and makes it harder to walk around. Would I go on Princess again...hell ya...or RCI or Norweigan I'd like to try them all.

 

I am totally looking forward to the Dream, I do hope the lines for food won't be too long. I would love to try the pasta and monogolian stations.

 

What was up with room service. An hour and half to get a cup of coffee??

 

 

I ordered room service twice which is pretty much twice as often as I do on a seven day cruise so I suspect I may be a part of the problem.

I CAN tell you that as I wandered the passenger decks I saw STACKS of used dishes from room service at perhaps 20 percent of the doors, but I suspect it was more.

On both times that I ordered room service I was told to expect 45 minutes to have my order fulfilled. We both thought that was an amazing long period of time but they did deliver within the mentioned window.

Do I have an answer... no. Can I offer speculation... yep. It seems to me that the room service staff was overwhelmed with requests. I certainly could be wrong but that's just how it appeared to me.

[LHP]

I would like to offer one more "wrinkle"....

 

I don't know why it is.....but the cruises that sail from New York (even on the very same ships) do not get as good a review as when they (these very same ships) sail from Florida.

 

I watched it for years happen on several ships the Legend, Victory (before it went to San Juan) and Miracle.

 

Same ship...different embarkation ports...Florida embarkation cruises get MUCH higher reviews. Things that make you go....hum????

 

 

 

MACH....I agree that any business plans for the "rule"...not the exception.

I am sure that the Carnival officers were "promised the moon" when they wanted to dock in Manhattan. I can hear the conversation now from the Manhattan operations center now...."sure, it will fit...no problem."

 

This ship was obviously designed for Florida sailings. And it is unfortunate that it had to deal with the remenants of Hurricane Ida. People always "say" that the cruise line is not at fault when bad weather intervenes...but they always let it color their experience.

 

 

Glad you and Stitch had a great time....

[grovesteve]

My wife and I will be on the Dream on the Jan 30 sailing. We have a cove cabin, my only question is where can I pick up a Popeal pocket fisherman, when you need it. The cabin looks like it is so close to the ocean you can reach out and touch it.

 

Steve

[*Mach*]

My wife and I will be on the Dream on the Jan 30 sailing. We have a cove cabin, my only question is where can I pick up a Popeal pocket fisherman, when you need it. The cabin looks like it is so close to the ocean you can reach out and touch it.

 

Steve

 

 

Hehehehehee... I used the same comment when I called in on Todd and John's morning show.

John asked what kind of cabin I was in and I responded 'A Cove'. He asked what I thought about the proximity of the cabin to the water line and I told him I had brought along my Popeil Pocket Fisherman. ;)

Time after time I'd stick my head out of the balcony to watch the waves surge down the side of the ship, rolling over the windows of the Ocean View cabins belows us.

I think the cabins are brilliant and, good news, when you sit on the foldable, stowable chairs on the balcony you can still see the sea!

 

:)

[LOWTYD]

LowTyd is just relaxin’ – one of the fun furnishing features in Caliente is a double-bed lounger. It was a pretty tempting place to recline on a low-key first afternoon onboard.

 

 

Carolyn

 

 

LOL! that was MR. Lowtyd playing with his new phone! One can usually find him in that position at home too! :D

[LOWTYD]

I posted this on the Roll call but I will post here also. One thing I also want to agree with that I did not put in my post was how you can hear everything. I know I was above a dance floorso I can underrstand that to a degree but I could her the neigbors, the neighbors phone, the people in the hallways at 3 AM screaming and laughing as well as the stewards getting ready for their day at 6 am talking nornally. Bad isulation job IMHO. anyway, her is my quick review I did this morning.

 

Embarkation was fine for us. Quite a bit of a walk and though tit strange that we boarded on Deck 0 but now that I read the explanation earlier I know why.

Food.: We were pleased with Carnival food. We ate in the Crimson at anytime dining and the wait staff we had was good the first night and great the second night. One complaint was that they made 9 (I am not exaggerating here) an (Friday night) It was very very annoying and I can’t believe they could not do this through a two way to a supervisor and let them handle the communications from there. It was very unprofessional.

There must have been some complaints because day two there wasn’t any.

Saturday night we had Michael form Indonesia and Antonio,, can’t recall where he was from, but they were great.

I cruise NCL also and the one thing they do good is the buffet lines. Carnival lines are atrocious compared to theirs. My DH is usually pretty calm and laid back was pretty annoyed by this. . We noticed this on our Triumph cruise in August as well. Also there were some very rude folks in the lines. Cutting and reaching pushing, bumping. I believe a fight broke out a t one point from what I hear.

Activities./ Entertainment: We participated in some activities since the weather was so lousy. We did want tot play mom gold but it was very windy and rainy when we wandered up there. All I could think of was then priest playing golf on Caddyshack! My sister and I did trivia and the Digital scavenger hunt where you got a list and had to go take pics of the items on the list. It was actually really fun and we ended up winning. (of course they gave us just one medal for the two of us) She did the golf clinic and my DH met me in the Atrium and we chatted with Mach and Stitch for a bit. We did spend time on the casino. We left with nothing and my sis was up a couple hundred. We missed the Dance show since we got of dinner around 9:30 and lost track of time in the casino but I ended up going to the 11:45 R rate comedy show. I thought it was very amusing but I could see some people getting uncomfortable at the last routine.

I was in line to add cash to my account and there were many people down there complaining about one thing or another. I didn’t really hear what people were saying but they did not look happy at all. Three times while I was there, two women in robes came down to the Platinum line. Not sure what the deal was with them, but three times in one half hour ? (that is how long I was on that line!)

Spa: DH got the two day spa pass and used it a lot! He was disappointed the pool was not open, but they finally opened din late Saturday. Otherwise he had good things to say about it. He also had his hot stone massage but it was delayed to the delay muster drill etc…

Cabin: We had an inside on deck 6……right above the dance floor at the Lanai. Music stops about 2:00 am if you needed to know that. Our cabin steward Xavier was wonderful. I do like that Carnival cabins are larger than the ones on NCL. We had three people and were able to not get in each other’s way too much. Of course the bedding is wonderful.

We did not have a bad time, but it was not one of my best CTN experiences. I think the ship may be too big for my liking and the lack of officers being visible was on my negative list. I also thought that they should have had a representative at the Meet and Greet.

Which bring s to the M&G. It was such a pleasure to meet all of you who were there and thank you Melissa for the parting gifts. The dry snack looks fabulous but I didn’t want to ruin the flavor of my Pomegranate martini so I did not indulge!! Thanks for putting that all together.

Disembarkation was very confusing.. We got to deck 2 and the elevator would not go to deck 0, Got off 2,walked down to one-Dead End! Elevator opened on deck 1 got it, started to go up. Got off on 2 again, walked to front of ship and down two flights of stairs to deck 0 and waited in a along line (what a surprise) to get off.

If I had to rate my whole experience, I would say 7 out of 10. I did have a good time and it is what you make if it. You can’t do anything about the weather, but I think Carnival has some tweaking to do as far as the flow goes.

Hope I get to meet you all again in the

[momofsamandeden]

I can just see all the fishing lines cast on the sides of the Dream:D

Personally I will go to the diningroom for my fish lol

[*Mach*]

Here's the link to the video I posted on YouTube.

I was grinning like a fool the entire time I was shooting this!!!

 

:D

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Here's the link to the video I posted on YouTube.

 

I was grinning like a fool the entire time I was shooting this!!!

 

 

:D

 

Mach - given your description of the conditions, I can appreciate the ANGRY seas you must have witnessed. Unfortunately the video can't capture the intensity. I have enjoyed similar conditions... and that was one LONG day! :eek:

 

Thanks for the onboard reporting! Can't wait to jump aboard (in hopefully calmer conditions)!

 

Tom

[jimbo5544]

Mach - given your description of the conditions, I can appreciate the ANGRY seas you must have witnessed. Unfortunately the video can't capture the intensity. I have enjoyed similar conditions... and that was one LONG day! :eek:

 

Thanks for the onboard reporting! Can't wait to jump aboard (in hopefully calmer conditions)!

 

Tom

Tom, not to steal the thread, but when we were on for the TA portion on Thursday into Friday AM, we wandered around on Friday morning and checked out the AFT wraps. All were open and being worked in advance for the 2 day CTN. Smart move on changing away from the 8th floor. 7th was somewhat better and the only ones we would stay in (and we did switch to) were the 6th floor.

 

Jim

[LOWTYD]

 

Food.: We were pleased with Carnival food. We ate in the Crimson at anytime dining and the wait staff we had was good the first night and great the second night. One complaint was that they made 9 (I am not exaggerating here) an (Friday night) It was very very annoying and I can’t believe they could not do this through a two way to a supervisor and let them handle the communications from there. It was very unprofessional.

 

 

I must have hit something and erased part of message becuase I just saw this and it and it made no sense. It shoud read:

 

Food.: We were pleased with Carnival food. We ate in the Crimson at anytime dining and the wait staff we had was good the first night and great the second night. One complaint was that they made 9 (I am not exaggerating here) announcements to the wait staff about getting second seating ready by 8:30. (Friday night) It was very, very annoying and I can’t believe they could not do this through a two way to a supervisor and let them handle the communications from there. It was very unprofessional.

There must have been some complaints because day two there wasn’t any.

Saturday night we had Michael form Indonesia and Antonio,, can’t recall where he was from, but they were great.

 

Sandy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Tom, not to steal the thread, but when we were on for the TA portion on Thursday into Friday AM, we wandered around on Friday morning and checked out the AFT wraps. All were open and being worked in advance for the 2 day CTN. Smart move on changing away from the 8th floor. 7th was somewhat better and the only ones we would stay in (and we did switch to) were the 6th floor.

 

Jim

 

(and excuse the OT reply :) )

Yep - it was obvious early on (after people started sending pics back) that deck 8 corners included a SUPER MINI interior space, and as you said, it appeared to get better as you went to deck 7 and especially 6. Somehow we will manage in 7454 (it was too late to change to anything else).

 

Tom