Dream Review: 04/17/2010 Western Caribbean

[Bhauser7]

Navybaby1113, i know im a little late to this forum but hopefully you see if and can help. we are considering staying at the radisson as well. how was it in your opinion?

[sunnidayz]

Navybaby1113, i know im a little late to this forum but hopefully you see if and can help. we are considering staying at the radisson as well. how was it in your opinion?

 

 

Not Navybaby, but I can offer my 2 cents about staying at the Radisson. We've stayed there for each of our 4 Cruises out of Port Canaveral. The fact that we keep going back says it all.

 

Negative: it's older, cracks, stains in the halls, and always something that seems under construction and the gym stinks (not literally, just small).

 

However....pool...fabulous, (and there is a nice bar right by the pool area, restaurant as well)... beds...well I dislike all beds except my own and Carnival;), but DH loves sleeping there. We have usually booked suites, especially when we've cruised with the kids. Always clean, great rates online if you book non-refundable. I always get excited because they always have "still in theaters" movies that I never got a chance to see. I'd say less than 10 minutes to the Port. We always drive ourselves as we always pack way too much to want to subject other shuttle passengers to:p, but I have friends who have used their park package and said it was great...just reserve a shuttle early on if you want to get on the ship early (I hear spots book up fast. If cruising in an off season, probably no problem.) Buffet in the morning has looked good, but the lines were always too long by the time we got there (good sign, but I think it's pricey). Dunkin Donuts right up the street and McDonald's right across the road (which is wonderful for the kids because we usually get in late and they can still get their favorite food group:rolleyes:).

Sorry, I'm always long winded...but we always enjoy our stay. Already reserved our room for our January cruise on the Dream.:D

Have a great trip, whatever you decide:)

A

[PaCUfan]

Embarkation Day Continued

 

 

After the Welcome Aboard show was done, they started a deck party on the lido deck at 9:30pm. The entertainment staff taught some line dances for the first 30 minutes and then they had two different laser shows. We stood on deck 12 for these and I think it was a lot better view than those that were standing on the Lido.

 

 

Why did they have the pools closed?

[erinzma]

That night we ate in the MDR for one last time. This was the most disappointed I had ever been in the dining room on a Carnival ship. Service took forever. We waited 30 minutes before we got bread or had our order taken. Then we didn't get our apps for another 30 minutes after that. There was also a really drunk guy at the table behind us making loud and rude comments and no one said anything to him about it. Sadly, the food was that good tonight either.

 

We appetizers, I had a Ceasar salad again and my DH had the Fetoush salad. Neither salad had much dressing on them at all.

 

 

For our entrees, I had the panko crusted shrimp and my DH had the prime rib. Again, the prime rib was really fatty (don't have a picture of it this time).

 

 

For dessert we each had the Grand Marnier souffle, which was absolutely amazing. I will definitely be ordering that again.

 

The Grand Marnier Souffle is by far one of the best desserts that Carnival offers. I'd order it every night if I could!

 

 

 

When we got back to our room, they had cleaned up and turned the bed down, but we didn't have a towel animal waiting for us. :-( They also took all our personal stuff out of the mini bar and put it on ice and locked the cabinet to the mini bar.

 

 

The Grand Marnier Souffle is by far the BEST dessert that Carnival offers. I would order that every night if I could!

[kaclmay]

Hi Ashley -- I hope you will get a notification that I have added a reply to this thread...

 

To everyone else... even though this is an older thread, this is an awesome review of the Carnival Dream, Western Caribbean cruise!!

 

I found your review when searching for our cabin # here, hoping someone had some pictures of it --- and woohooooo, you do! It was so neat to see exactly what our cabin will look like - so thank you for that! We're sailing in just a few weeks and getting SO excited! Even more now after reading your review!! Loved all the pictures!

 

Question for you: Regarding the 'Steakhouse Cooking Demo'.. that was held on the first day at sea right? Do you recall around what time of day it was held? AND... was that event listed in the FunTimes? I don't want to miss that for sure - had no clue about it until I read your review and now I really want to do it, but afraid I'll forget about it if I don't see it listed in the FunTimes. Of course I know it's now 2yrs after your sailing and they may not offer that demo anymore, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed they do.

 

Thanks so much!

 

** Just reread your post about the date/time -- First Sea Day at 11am. Cool.

I've subscribed to this thread, just so I can go back to your pictures a million times in the next couple weeks.... lol!

[Captain Carnival]

Belize

 

..We were scheduled to go on the Goff's Cay Snorkeling excursion...They called our tour name...

 

Just curious as to which excursion tour (company) you took?

[navybaby1113]

Just curious as to which excursion tour (company) you took?

 

I'm not sure who the company was. We booked it through Carnival.

[cruiseclues]

Love your food photos and descriptions of the cruise food. :)

[workin to cruise]

Let me preface this by saying that we just got back from our honeymoon on the Carnival Dream and had a fantastic time. Yes, there were a few things here and there that bugged me, but nothing that would completely ruin my cruise.

 

The ports of call we stopped at were Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, and Costa Maya. In Cozumel, we took a ferry over to the mainland (Playa del Carmen) and went to Xcaret. In Roatan, we just stayed at Mahogany Bay and spent a little time on the beach and ship. In Belize, we did the Goff's Cay Snorkeling tour. And in Costa Maya we went to the Chacchoben ruins.

 

I left my journal at home, so let me start you off with the albums of all the pictures we took. I'll be including a lot of pictures in the review, so you don't have to look through all of them if you don't want.

 

Ship

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2840451&id=5230340&l=14e4cf8e6c

 

Cozumel/Playa del Carmen

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2840487&id=5230340&l=6a816930f3

 

Roatan

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2840496&id=5230340&l=8e9c55e021

 

Belize

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2840499&id=5230340&l=04321c0185

 

Costa Maya

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2840507&id=5230340&l=37fcdc7d79

 

Food

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2840578&id=5230340&l=78b296d682

I see you have been on Carnival Freedom and Carnival Dream. Wife and I are going on our second cruise this December which is on the Dream. Our very first cruise was last year on the Carnival Freedom. Which ship did you like the most? I am sure our itineraries will be different so this question is in regards to the ship only. Pro's, Con's. thanks for your time!

[navybaby1113]

I see you have been on Carnival Freedom and Carnival Dream. Wife and I are going on our second cruise this December which is on the Dream. Our very first cruise was last year on the Carnival Freedom. Which ship did you like the most? I am sure our itineraries will be different so this question is in regards to the ship only. Pro's, Con's. thanks for your time!

 

We loved the Freedom. Definitely our favorite ship so far in the Carnival fleet. The layout was really easy to navigate. The ship was large, but not very felt too big. The entertainment staff were great and always had something going on around the ship. The food was delicious!

 

The Dream was fantastic too though. It was a lot more crowded than the Freedom and sometimes felt a little too big.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to post them and I'll try my best to answer.

[workin to cruise]

We loved the Freedom. Definitely our favorite ship so far in the Carnival fleet. The layout was really easy to navigate. The ship was large, but not very felt too big. The entertainment staff were great and always had something going on around the ship. The food was delicious!

 

The Dream was fantastic too though. It was a lot more crowded than the Freedom and sometimes felt a little too big.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to post them and I'll try my best to answer.

I do have a few questions in regards to the Dream

 

1.) did you go out to the front of the ship at night much? If so, which decks can you go out? We are on deck 7 close to the front. We were on deck 9 on the Freedom 2nd room from the front I loved going out above the bridge at night to feel the breeze and have a drink.

2.) we plan to utilize deck 5 on the Dream every morning to walk a few laps. I hear this is popular to do but do you know if it is packed in the morning with lap walkers/runners? Strange question but I was curious...

3.) I have read a couple posts about the side to side rocking of the Dream. I love the rocking back and forth myself but not sure about the side to side. I know this will depend on sea conditions but people were even saying they can feel rocking in smooth seas.

 

Thanks!

[navybaby1113]

I do have a few questions in regards to the Dream

 

1.) did you go out to the front of the ship at night much? If so, which decks can you go out? We are on deck 7 close to the front. We were on deck 9 on the Freedom 2nd room from the front I loved going out above the bridge at night to feel the breeze and have a drink.

2.) we plan to utilize deck 5 on the Dream every morning to walk a few laps. I hear this is popular to do but do you know if it is packed in the morning with lap walkers/runners? Strange question but I was curious...

3.) I have read a couple posts about the side to side rocking of the Dream. I love the rocking back and forth myself but not sure about the side to side. I know this will depend on sea conditions but people were even saying they can feel rocking in smooth seas.

 

Thanks!

 

1. We didn't really go out to the front of the ship much at all because we had a balcony, so I'm not much help with that.

2. Deck 5 was never really busy at all.

3. I did feel more rocking on the Dream than I felt on other ships.

[workin to cruise]

1. We didn't really go out to the front of the ship much at all because we had a balcony, so I'm not much help with that.

2. Deck 5 was never really busy at all.

3. I did feel more rocking on the Dream than I felt on other ships.

Thanks! I hope the rocking doesnt affect my sleep. I am on Deck 7 so I guess the higher up the more you feel it so it could be worse. I do not get sea sick and neither does my wife so we should be good. We tend to get tipsy on several occations so THAT might be an issue. I bounce off of hallway walls as it is withOUT the rocking. uh oh - haha