ANOTHER Dream Review...Hope it meets the standards of others I have read

[reeree313]

Hi everyone...we just got off of the Dream this morning from an incredible week at sea. The reviews and "vacation diaries" of others that I have read on here helped so much and added to our anticipation and excitement so much, so I thought it was time to repay all of you. Hope it doesn't bore anyone too much. I'm staying overnight in Orlando tonight, so I don't have access to the cable that allows me to upload pictures, so they will be coming at a later date.

 

A little background. The week before our cruise was to leave, we had a bit of a surprise at our house. We found out that we had TERMITES. So in the midst of packing and getting the kids situated (we cruise once a year without the kids in addition to the times that we go with them so we don't feel guilty having a week to ourselves :D) we had to schedule, prepare the house and PAY for the fumigation for termites. The only day they could fit us in was Thursday and we were to leave on Friday night to drive to Port Canaveral from our house in Fort Lauderdale. To make a long long story short, when you have your house treated for termites, they tell you that you cannot get back in the house for 48 hours after the treatment. On Friday night (only 36 hours later) we met the inspector at our house and he told us all was safe and we could get back in. This was going to become extremely important to us, we just didn't know it yet.

 

We set out on our way and my husband out of the blue asks me if I had the passport for him and birth certificate for me. I had seen the bag with his passport in it and assumed that my bc was in there as well. After he coaxed me into checking "just to be sure" I realize that MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE WAS STILL IN THE HOUSE. That goodness our house had been released 12 hours early or we would have missed our cruise. We turned around and picked up the bc and set out on our way once again.

 

The weather was very rainy so traffic was murder and it took us 4 1/2 hours to make a trip that normally takes us 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

 

We checked into La Quinta Inn on A1A at about 10:00 that evening. We had bought a Park and Cruise package that allowed us to stay the night, eat breakfast the next morning, leave our car there for the week and take a shuttle to and from the port. Very worth the $110 price tag. The room was clean, although it smelled like a wet dog had slept there before we did. Nothing that a little Febreze couldn't cure. I wasn't going to let a little bit of a NASTY smell ruin my night.

 

The next morning my husband ate at the hotel while I went to have my nails done. By the way, if anyone is in need of a manicure near the port, there is a place called "Tips to Toes" right near Ron Jon Surf Shop that did an amazing job. I wish I lived closer to go there all the time. I had no breakfast, but hubby said that it really wasn't very good. I was too excited to eat so I just had some juice.

 

The shuttle (Cocoa Beach Shuttle) picked us up at 11:00 and we were off. It took about 10 minutes for us to see our new home for the next 7 days and she was GORGEOUS! I have been on 10 cruises and get just as excited as the first time every single time I pull up to the port. I'm like a little kid and hope that it's always this way.

 

We got our luggage off of the shuttle and tipped the driver and then handed our luggage to the porter. He put 2 of our 4 bags onto the cart and then I tipped him ($10). After he received our tip, he walked away and started helping another family. I had to put our luggage onto the carts because I was afraid they wouldn'[t make it with our other stuff. Needless to say, I was a little bit surprised to say the least. But there isn't a chance that this nice man was going to wipe the smile from my face...nope! I was going on vacation and HE WASN'T :D

 

In the hectic days we had before we left, somehow I left my Fun Pass at home. I thought this was going to mean that we would be in line a lot longer, but NOPE. No Fun Pass? Move right to the front of the line so they can make sure that you are on the roster, and then they send you right inside. I felt bad. We jumped probably 100 people in line. It was not my intention for that to happen. After we got into the building, we waited no longer than 10 minutes from the front door to the ding of the sign and sail card. I was on the Lido deck within 30 minutes from getting out of the shuttle. That includes the time dealing with the porter and putting our luggage on the cart. I was a happy girl with a drink in my hand and a permanent smile on my face for the next 7 days.

[chickie_mite]

Awesome! Keep it coming!

 

 

[Note to self.....Leave Fun Pass at home!] :)

[reeree313]

After getting our drink on, we headed up to the Pasta Bar. We had read on here that you should do it the first day to avoid the long lines. We put our order in for Penne with shrimp and alfredo sauce and a lasagna. The alfredo sauce didn't have a ton of flavor, but a little bit of salt helped a lot. I got the lasagna, and didn't realize that it was a veggie lasagna. It had squash and spinich in it. Wasn't what I was expecting! The flavor of the sauce was good, but I'm not much for veggie lasagna, so I had to pass. I went downstairs and got some chicken and noodles from the buffet line and it was great.

 

When we finished with lunch we decided that it was time to explore. We had a spa cabin, so we wanted to see it, and see all of the amenities that came with it. Our cabin was handicapped accessible so it was set up different than other interiors. Usually when you open the door, you've got the bathroom on one side and the closets on the other and that little hallway leads into your "bedroom". With this cabin, as soon as you open the door you have the whole room. Kind of like opening up a bedroom door. Because it needed to be handicapped accessible, the door was larger and the bathroom was really big. The shower was huge as well. The decor in the spa rooms is a little bit nicer too, especially the tile in the bathroom. The only thing missing was closet space. It was extremely difficult to unpack for a week with the closet space in this cabin. There was a tiny closet on one side of the bed and another one the same size on the other wall next to the bathroom. The closet next to the bathroom had a couple of drawers, but not big enough for more than a couple of pairs of shorts in each. With so little space, I unpacked all of my things and jammed them in the closet, and my husband lived out of his suitcase except for his formal wear. :p Our room was 11207 which was the room RIGHT NEXT to the spa.

 

The spa rooms include use of the thalassotherapy pool, oriental steam room, sauna, aroma therapy steam room, relaxation room, and two free classes (spinning, yoga, pilates) throughout the week. All of the steam rooms and saunas were just too hot for me. They looked great, but that's just not my thing...I hate to be hot. The thalassotherapy pool, however, was amazing. The first day it was cool water, but every other day the water was hot. It was so relaxing. We loved it! The reason we got this room was because a PVP called me about a month before the cruise and asked if we would like to upgrade for $100, so we took it. If we had paid full price for that room (about an extra $800) was it worth it? Not to us, but for $100 it was WELL WORTH IT!!!!

 

Next we decided to go to the casino and meet the casino host and have our accounts set up to use on the slot machines. The last cruise I took we got 500 points and a free drink for being Carnival Players Club members but this time we did not get the letter in our cabin. The Casino Host was really nice and we got to talking and she said that the Dream doesn['t acknowledge their Player's Club members unless they had over 8000 points on their card last cruise. She did buy my husband and I a drink though and gave me the 500 points.

[reeree313]

One thing that we noticed walking around was that the ship is much wider than any that we've been on. Deck 5 (Panorama) goes all the way around outside. Also on Deck 4 you can walk the entire length of the ship inside. The atrium is massive. It was beautiful to just stand at the bottom and look up. It looks like the elevators go up for days.

 

We had been assigned to early seating in the Crimson Restaurant. We had requested Anytime Dining so that we could spend some alone time that we don't usually get. We were assigned Early seating in the Crimson Restaurant so I went request a change. The hostess that I spoke with said that it was not going to be possible, as Anytime Dining was filled up. That was fine, we just thought we would ask. She said that if she could arrange it for the next night, she would.

 

The boat drill was next, and it was painless and quick. We all went to our muster station, which was in the Encore Lounge, without our life jackets, and a couple of crew members demonstrated how to use them in case of an emergency and within 10 minutes, we were done and it was time for nonstop fun for the next week.

 

When it was time for sail away, we went out the "secret door" on the port side of deck 11.It was very intimate, only one other couple there, but we wouldn't do that again...it's much more fun for us to be on the deck with everyone else wen we are leaving port.

 

We had our luggage by about 5:00 but were too lazy to change for dinner. Since we were dressed in nice shorts and tops, we figured it would be ok to go to the dining room like this, seeing as it was the first night. The service was really slow this night. We waited 30 minutes before anyone even took our order. I'm sure it's just because it was the first night and things were hectic because the service was great after this. We met our table mates and thought that they were great. We ended up closing up the dining room and just about being kicked out because we were there so long. We were so happy that we had not been able to get Anytime Dining because we met a great couple. For dinner, we both had the Flat Iron Steak and for dessert, I had Creme Brulee and my husband had the warm chocolate melting cake. I have to say that this is the first cruise that I've taken with Carnival where the WCMC was just "ok". It was overcooked every single time I tried it. The Creme Brulee was delicious.

 

After dinner, we went to the Welcome Aboard Show. Todd was our Cruise Director and I thought he was great. The Welcome Aboard Show kind of gave everyone a sample of what was to come on future shows throughout the week in the Encore Lounge, which is the main show lounge as well as the Burgundy Lounge, which is where the Comedy Club is.

 

When the show was over, we began our nightly ritual of depositing money in the casino. The first night the casino gods treated me well. I should have quit while I was ahead, but we all know that's not the way things usually work out on a cruise, at least not for me.

 

My husband went to bed at around 11 and I followed about an hour later. Tomorrow was going to be an early day, we were only going to be in Nassau for a few short hours and I wanted to make the most of it. Besides, I had the most comfortable bed waiting for me.

[brn2crz]

Question..If you by the spa package,instead of booking a Spa room, do you get all the things you listed that comes when you book the room?

 

Great review so far !:)

[reeree313]

Question..If you by the spa package,instead of booking a Spa room, do you get all the things you listed that comes when you book the room?

 

Great review so far !:)

 

If you buy the spa package (I think it's $149 for a couple for the week) all of those things are included, except the cool slippers :)

 

Although I'm not positive about the two free classes that were offered. We didn't get to use them (I'll explain that a little bit later)

[brn2crz]

cool thanks..I thought it was 249 per couple...even better .

[reeree313]

We woke up pretty early this morning so that we could spend as much time as possible in Nassau. I had been there many times, but it was hubby's first time. We had breakfast on the Lido deck and then were off of the ship by like 9:00. We took the ferry to Paradise Island so that we could visit Atlantis. The ferry costs $3 each way and takes about 15 minutes to get there. While on the way, a guide tells you interesting things about houses that you pass and famous buildings. He pointed out where Mary Kay had a home, the house that was blown up in a James Bond movie, the hospital where Anna Nicole Smith had her daughter, and where her son died, and even showed us a "Club Med" that was changed into a Yoga Retreat. The ferry guide doesn't work for the ferry, he is paid with tips only, but he was entertaining and it was worth the money just to hear his stories.

 

When we arrived at the dock, we walked to Atlantis. It was only a couple of blocks. We walked through the casino and through all of the high end shops in the hotel. We saw some really pretty sculptures, and looked at the aquarium that is inside the restaurant of the hotel. We looked around outside, but they didn't let you see everything unless you purchased a package to go onto their beach or waterpark. The packages were all sold out on this day, plus we weren't going to be there long enough to justify what it would have cost anyway.

 

After a couple of hours, we took the ferry back to Nassau and walked to the straw market. We bought gifts for the kids and then looked around for some Conch Fritters. We couldn't find any outside so we went into the port shops and bought some. They were only $3 but I promise there wasn't any conch in them. They were good hush puppies though :rolleyes:

 

We got back onto the ship at about noon. When we got to our room there was a card saying that they had changed our dinner assignment, and we now had ANYTIME dining. Oh no...we didn't want it anymore.

 

Anyway, we put our bathing suits on. It was time to hit the water slides. There are two water slides, the drainpipe and the twister I think. The line was about 30 minutes long so we only did the twister. We planned to do the drainpipe the next day but that wasn't going to happen - only we didn't know it yet.

 

After the water slide, we had lunch at the Gathering. I had the Mongolian BBQ and my husband had a burrito and also the Monglian BBQ.

 

We went to the Lido deck for sail away and relaxed out there for awhile.

Once we were underway, we decided to enjoy the spa for a bit. The water was warm this time and we stayed in the pool for about a half an hour. When we finished there, we got showered for dinner. Tonight was our first formal night.

 

Since we didn't want the anytime dining anymore, we thought we could just go to our table like last night and explain the situation and everything would be fine. We are really not difficult people, I swear! On the way to dinner, we stopped at the formalities store to buy flowers for our table mates. Today was their 30th wedding anniversary. When we got to dinner we were informed that our seats had been given away and we now were required to do the anytime dining which was upstairs. C'est La Vie! We would enjoy dinner alone and meet our new friends for the show afterwards.

 

My husband and I both had the Lobster for dinner. In fact, we each ate two. Oink! Oink! We tried the WCMC again, but again we were both disappointed. But hey, if this is the biggest disappointment of our cruise, we['re doing great! The dining room staff did their first song tonight, That's Amore! We like that cheesy stuff, so we were thrilled!

 

After dinner, we went to the show in the Encore Lounge. It was called Another 8 Seconds, I think. It was a country show and since I'm a country music fan, I was in heaven. Once the show was over, it was back to the Casino for me. I wanted to go dancing, but decided to wait until another night. Had I known what was going to happen on Tuesday, I would have gone while I had the chance.

 

Tomorrow is a day at sea! (My favorite kind of days)

[reeree313]

cool thanks..I thought it was 249 per couple...even better .

 

I could be wrong. Since I didn't have to pay for it, I really didn't pay attention. But I'm pretty sure I read on here that it was $149.

[CarribbeanTina271]

Loving your review so far!! Can't wait to read more and see your pics!!

[acecombatmom]

great review. I enjoying reading about others adventures.

[reeree313]

Since this was our day at sea, I fully intended to sleep in. I guess my body wasn't in vacation mode like my mind was, because I was up, showered and ready to go to breakfast by 7:30.

 

We went up to the Lido deck for breakfast and had the usual stuff that the buffet lines have for breakfast. Nothing spectacular, except for the sausage gravy. That was fantastic. Yummy!

 

After breakfast, we strolled around the ship again, seeing things that we had previously missed. We found the arcade (the Warehouse) and the Library. My husband loves to play the piano, and we found a baby grand in the Chambers. He asked one of the crew members at guest services if he could play it, and they told him that it was not a problem. This was a real treat for him...it certainly sounds better than the old piano we have at home.

 

We went to a cooking demonstration at the Steakhouse and got to sample some of the food that was served in there. I loved all of the samples, but my husband didn't like ANY of them. I was in trouble because I had booked us for dinner there tonight! Uh Oh!

 

We went to the disco dance class in Ocean Plaza. It was a lot of fun and we learned how to do a really great dance. It was kind of boys against girls, and I have to say...We Girls Rocked!

 

When that was over, we got a snack on the Lanai. We had a pork taco and chicken quesadilla and some sliders. We hit the casino for the gaming lesson (my husband wanted to learn how to shoot craps. I've tried to teach him, but he understands better when someone else explains it). I read for a little bit on the Serenity deck and then took my time showering and getting ready for dinner.

 

We chose this night to do the Steakhouse. Our reservations were at 6:00. This way we could enjoy a leisurely dinner before heading off for the show.

I was really nervous because Mark didnt like any of the samples from the steakhouse, but I was pleasantly surprised. He loved his dinner! He had the crab cake for a starter. It was full of crabmeat. Even though I like the crab cakes served in the main dining room, this one was 10x better. I had the lobster bisque, and it was awesome. Next we both had caesar salad. It was similar to the one in the dining room, except the leaves weren't all cut up for you, and you had the choice of anchovies on them. (no thanks)

For his main course, he had the 24 oz Porterhouse, and I had the Surf and Turf. The Surf N Turf was a 6 oz lobster tail and a 4 oz Filet Mignon. It was fantastic!!!!!!!!! For dessert, I had the chocolate sampler and Mark had an apple pastry. Both were really good, but we were stuffed. We walked around the ship some and missed the show altogether. Oh well, the casino was calling our name anyway. After we did some gambling, my hubby went to the Lido deck to have a snack and I went to bed.

 

Tomorrow we are in St. Thomas...and the fun begins!

[brn2crz]

Sorry,full of questions..what is the cost of the Steakhouse.

[reeree313]

This was the port that I thought I would love the most, so I was so excited. I ordered room service this morning and had a blt and cheesecake for breakfast! I swear it sounds like all we did this week was eat, but really, we did do other stuff too. Really, we did!

 

After breakfast, we got dressed and watched as we pulled into St. Thomas. I had done research on here and couldn't decide what to do so we figured that we would play it by ear. I knew I wanted to go to Paradise Point and Magans Bay, but besides that, I wasn't sure. Whenever we go on a cruise and don't have an excursion planned, we usually rent scooters. In Grand Cayman and Cozumel ALWAYS. We love to explore on our own, and my husband loves riding scooters, so...

 

We took a taxi downtown and then realized that we waited 15 minutes for them to fill up a van and charged us $4 each to drive us like 1/2 mile. We looked around there for just a few minutes and then walked right back to where we started from. A taxi driver told us it was going to rain and we should take a taxi to Magens Bay and not a scooter, but we were stubborn. We found a scooter rental place that had new looking scooters and helmets that were decent. Let me explain that we usually get scooters in Cozumel that are either on the verge of breaking down, or they do just that. The last time we rented there, the key fell out and was lost, WHILE WE WERE DRIVING IT! So we were pretty stoked to find a place that had these awesome new rides.... we were gonna be stylin!

 

We rented the scooter for $50 and took the insurance (at my insistance...just in case) for an extra $10. The owner of the scooter rental store gave us a map and told us how to get to Magens Bay and we were on our way! Now, if any of you has ever been to St. Thomas and the Magens Bay, you'll understand why THIS IS THE STUPIDEST THING THAT WE COULD HAVE DONE! TAKE A SCOOTER UP A MOUNTAIN where they drive on the wrong side of the road and the roads are twisty and turny and very sharp turns and when you get high up on the mountain...you must now come DOWN THE MOUNTAIN! By the way, it started raining at this point.

 

Needless to say, on the way down the mountain, it was extremely difficult to control the scooter. My husband had to have the brakes on constantly so we didn't go too fast down the mountain as we were turning on the sharp turns on the wrong side of the highway and...you guessed it! He lost control. He got too close to the guard rail and my leg was smashed between the guard rail and the bike. It was a mangled mess! I start screaming and he stops the scooter. We can't just stop there though, because we are just making a sharp turn, and we would get slammed into if anyone else comes around the bend. We go to the other side of the street, where there really isn't anywhere for us to stop. I'm hysterical, he's scared and I realize...I'm going to have to get BACK ON THAT SCOOTER and continue DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!!!! With my mangled leg. Fun Times!

 

After a few minutes, I decide that I was already more than half way to Magens Bay, so we might as well continue. I didn't want to ruin our day. My leg has immediately swelled up like a big over cooked sausage that is ready to explode and there are actually dents in it. My ankle is missing and the pressure of gravity is making it throb like mad. But off to the Bay we go anyway.

 

I make him drive like 5 miles per hour and we eventually get there. We pay the admission, but my leg is hurting so bad, all we do there is put some ice on my leg and head back to return the scooter. At this point walking is not really an option, and I['m not sure how I'm going to get back on the boat. He drops me off as close to the ship as he can and goes to return the scooter.

 

I get in the spa pool while he goes to return the bike and pay for the damages. Thank goodness the man only charges us an extra $55 for the damage to the bike. My helmet had also broke, but he didn't charge us for that. I'm expecting a charge on our credit card to show up for that when he realizes it. And the insurance that I insisted on? It only kicks in after a $500 deductible. Oh well...

 

After the spa, I ate something, but I don't remember what and then went to the show. There was a comedian/magician that was pretty good. My leg was throbbing though, so I couldn't wait for it to be over so that I could go and ice my leg and get into bed.

 

I went to sleep while Mark wandered around and ate some more I think.

 

Tomorrow is St. Maarten and I was hoping that I'd be able to get off the boat. Walking was just a little bit difficult at this point.

[jrmende63]

Sorry,full of questions..what is the cost of the Steakhouse.

30.00 per person...well worth every penny!

[reeree313]

Sorry,full of questions..what is the cost of the Steakhouse.

 

The steakhouse is $30 per person, plus gratuity. The food was great, the service was excellent and even the iced tea was totally different. It wasn't any better than steakhouses we have at home, but sometimes you get tired of the "canned" menu in the dining rooms. I'd definitely do it again.

[brn2crz]

Ty !

[hoopsielv]

Your review has been wonderful and I'm anxious for more! I hope that your leg is okay!

[Shelbyjane56]

I could be wrong. Since I didn't have to pay for it, I really didn't pay attention. But I'm pretty sure I read on here that it was $149.

 

 

We also have the spa cabin on the dream, I do believe its 249.00 and not 149.00..we will know for sure next Saturday, even though we didnt have to pay extra

[willyguy]

Thank for the review.

[reeree313]

I made a mistake. On Tuesdy night was not the Comedian/Magician. Tuesday was the "Dancing in the Streets" performance. It was AMAZING. If you only make it to one show, make it this one. I loved it. My husband doesn't really care all that much about the shows and goes just to make me happy - and he loved it as well.

 

Also I forgot that Monday afternoon was the past guest party as well. The drinks were flowing and they were FREE. The servers walked around with trays of drinks. You had a choice of rum punch, blue martinis, champagne, wine or mimosas. There were also some non alcoholic drinks for the kids.They made some announcements about getting the raffle tickets to win the free cruise at a discounted price for past guests and introduced the Captain. This was his last cruise before his vacation started. They also showed the movie with all of the different ships and everyone had to clap when they had been on a certain ship. Fun Ship Freddy was there also. I think if I was a kid that would scare me...he just looks weird.

[momofmatt]

Loving your review!!!:) Looking forward to the rest of it along with pictures if you post them. Also, wondering how your leg is.

[islandcruisersnc]

After getting our drink on, we headed up to the Pasta Bar. We had read on here that you should do it the first day to avoid the long lines. We put our order in for Penne with shrimp and alfredo sauce and a lasagna. The alfredo sauce didn't have a ton of flavor, but a little bit of salt helped a lot. I got the lasagna, and didn't realize that it was a veggie lasagna. It had squash and spinich in it. Wasn't what I was expecting! The flavor of the sauce was good, but I'm not much for veggie lasagna, so I had to pass. I went downstairs and got some chicken and noodles from the buffet line and it was great.

 

When we finished with lunch we decided that it was time to explore. We had a spa cabin, so we wanted to see it, and see all of the amenities that came with it. Our cabin was handicapped accessible so it was set up different than other interiors. Usually when you open the door, you've got the bathroom on one side and the closets on the other and that little hallway leads into your "bedroom". With this cabin, as soon as you open the door you have the whole room. Kind of like opening up a bedroom door. Because it needed to be handicapped accessible, the door was larger and the bathroom was really big. The shower was huge as well. The decor in the spa rooms is a little bit nicer too, especially the tile in the bathroom. The only thing missing was closet space. It was extremely difficult to unpack for a week with the closet space in this cabin. There was a tiny closet on one side of the bed and another one the same size on the other wall next to the bathroom. The closet next to the bathroom had a couple of drawers, but not big enough for more than a couple of pairs of shorts in each. With so little space, I unpacked all of my things and jammed them in the closet, and my husband lived out of his suitcase except for his formal wear. :p Our room was 11207 which was the room RIGHT NEXT to the spa.

 

The spa rooms include use of the thalassotherapy pool, oriental steam room, sauna, aroma therapy steam room, relaxation room, and two free classes (spinning, yoga, pilates) throughout the week. All of the steam rooms and saunas were just too hot for me. They looked great, but that's just not my thing...I hate to be hot. The thalassotherapy pool, however, was amazing. The first day it was cool water, but every other day the water was hot. It was so relaxing. We loved it! The reason we got this room was because a PVP called me about a month before the cruise and asked if we would like to upgrade for $100, so we took it. If we had paid full price for that room (about an extra $800) was it worth it? Not to us, but for $100 it was WELL WORTH IT!!!!

 

Next we decided to go to the casino and meet the casino host and have our accounts set up to use on the slot machines. The last cruise I took we got 500 points and a free drink for being Carnival Players Club members but this time we did not get the letter in our cabin. The Casino Host was really nice and we got to talking and she said that the Dream doesn['t acknowledge their Player's Club members unless they had over 8000 points on their card last cruise. She did buy my husband and I a drink though and gave me the 500 points.

 

Great review reeree!

We were at the pasta bar embarkation day also since we had read here to go there and we found lots of empty tables. What time were you there? We were there around 12noon.

[islandcruisersnc]

I just read the part about your leg, I hope it is all well now!

Looking forward to more of your review.:)