Carnival Dream family cruise July 17-24 Review and Pictures!

[oakleys]

Great review thanks.

[crewsweeper]

ChaylaT, Great review, thanks for sharing your cruise with the rest of us.:)

[cruzkitty]

Loved your review and pictures. Thanks so much for sharing your experience on The Dream. I'll be sailing her in about 6 weeks-can't wait!!

[templed]

I saw a few ICEE machines... definately on deck 10 by the pool bar... there's one up by the water works... and there has to be a couple more.

 

Don't quote me on this... but I THINK... they were $2.75.

[elkaholic]

Great review and pics...thanks for sharing, but I do have to ask, what the heck is rubber chicken olympics??

 

HEY GINA! I was about to ask the same thing.

[kiraryker]

Great review! Did you eat at the steak house?

[Carolin]

Wonderful review. Thank you. I'd like to ask about the picture you posted that looked like a cook station on the outer walking deck with no over hang. I haven't see this before. Most cooking stations are in covered areas. Was this temporary or permanent? what did they server there?

[cruiseguys2009]

Love the review. We are on the Dream on October 9th sailing. I wanted to ask, how did you book your reservation for the Chefs Table in advance? I would like to to do that.

 

JW

[lovgod]

thanks for the review. will be going on the Dream in Sept

[ski_mom]

We were on the same cruise and your family - my DD and I are in one of your pictures of the atrium. We were waiting for the towel folding class.

 

I'm also hoping to post a trip report soon. We drove and got back home Sunday night. Unfortunately had to go back to work on Monday and then we have Bible School at church this week from 6-8 each night which I'm helping with, so I haven't even gotten my pictures downloaded yet.

[crewsweeper]

Wonderful review. Thank you. I'd like to ask about the picture you posted that looked like a cook station on the outer walking deck with no over hang. I haven't see this before. Most cooking stations are in covered areas. Was this temporary or permanent? what did they server there?

Carolin...that's the Lanai deck BBQ. Usually served on sea days at lunch time. They grill soft tacos, quesadillas, hotdogs and sliders. As ChayaT mentioned in her review, the hamburgers on th eLido deck are better than the sliders. But I liked the soft tacos and quesadillas and the salsa they had for them. If there's a line it moves quickly, difficulty is getting an outside table in the Ocean View area, and you have to buy drinks or soda, no tea or lemonade there. But it does give an alternative to the Lido deck lines and you can sneak around the corner for salads at the sushi bar.

[RicardoC]

Thank You for the great review!!! We're boarding the Dream on Saturday and just booked 10 days ago so the review and pics helped a lot!!! We love to try new ships and see how they're doing and even though I'm worried about the crowd that everyone talks about we are relaxed cruisers....if there's no place by the pool we wont wake up early only for it we'll just do something else....most of the times especially this one we're cruising more to get away than for anything else....so eveyrthing is a bonus ;)

 

Thanks again and I'll write my review with pics when we come back :):cool:

[CruiseCheers]

Great review, and great pictures. You have a beautiful family. I am glad to here that inspite of the rain you had a fun cruise.

 

My husband and I were on this cruise too. In St. Marten we were at the stop with you where our drivers went into the water to bring us the sea urchins to explore. We were in St Marten in May and did this tour with Bernards, we enjoyed it so much we decided to book it again!

Like you, I also was very disappointed that there were only two small pools. It truely was hard to even get your feet in the water. It was so bad that I actually went back to my room to get my camera. The people look like ants from the upper deck, standing room only.

For future cruisers that may be interested, we did the self debarkation and it was a breeze. We were off the ship before 7am.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your vacation with us, I really enjoyed your pictures. I loved the photo you of your son (I think)while he was taking a picture of the plane.

[Carolin]

Carolin...that's the Lanai deck BBQ. Usually served on sea days at lunch time. They grill soft tacos, quesadillas, hotdogs and sliders. As ChayaT mentioned in her review, the hamburgers on th eLido deck are better than the sliders. But I liked the soft tacos and quesadillas and the salsa they had for them. If there's a line it moves quickly, difficulty is getting an outside table in the Ocean View area, and you have to buy drinks or soda, no tea or lemonade there. But it does give an alternative to the Lido deck lines and you can sneak around the corner for salads at the sushi bar.

 

thank you so much for the information. :D I swear every time I turn around, they find another option for people to grab a snack. HAHAHA I know my boyfriend will like the quesadila option.

[ChaylaT]

Great review and pics...thanks for sharing, but I do have to ask, what the heck is rubber chicken olympics??

 

The rubber chicken olympics is some silly game the cruise asst. directors put on on one of the sea days. A series of obstacles with rubber chickens and the pool with 2 people on a team. My hubby and I would pass the chicken, we would throw the chicken in a crate, etc. Fun!

[ChaylaT]

Wonderful review!!! This was the first time i remember seeing and hearing about ICEES. Are they located in waterworks? Do you remember how much they were were?

Also the laser tag sounds fun. My boys would love this. Do they get to play very long?

 

Thanks again for such a wonderful positive review!

Thank you!! for the compliment! Icees were located on Lido and near the Waterworks area. I think (not really sure as I just gave them my S&S card without a thought) they were $1.75-2.50?

 

Laser tag was $5 pp for a 5-10 minute game. They advertised it as 5 minutes but it was a bit longer than that. My son, 9 years, liked it.

[ChaylaT]

Great review! Did you eat at the steak house?

 

Hi, thanks! No, we did not eat at the Steakhouse this trip. We ate on it on the Splendor and loved it though the MDR food was just as good, IMO. We did the Chef's Table this trip and that was far superior.

[ChaylaT]

Wonderful review. Thank you. I'd like to ask about the picture you posted that looked like a cook station on the outer walking deck with no over hang. I haven't see this before. Most cooking stations are in covered areas. Was this temporary or permanent? what did they server there?

 

This was where they had the Lanai BBQ. It was temporary and on sea days. The food was chicken/steak soft tacos (very spicy), hot dogs, and slider burgers. I personally didn't like it that much but I don't like very spicy foods. Give it a try!!!

[jimbo5544]

Hi, thanks! No, we did not eat at the Steakhouse this trip. We ate on it on the Splendor and loved it though the MDR food was just as good, IMO. We did the Chef's Table this trip and that was far superior.

Far superior to the MDR or the Steakhouse?

[ChaylaT]

Love the review. We are on the Dream on October 9th sailing. I wanted to ask, how did you book your reservation for the Chefs Table in advance? I would like to to do that.

 

JW

 

Hi, you will not be disappointed with this! I just e-mailed and asked for a reservation for the Chef's TABLE on my sailing date. The e-mail is:

 

DRSTEAKHOUSE@carnival.com

 

They will send an e-mail back. Good Luck!!!

[ChaylaT]

We were on the same cruise and your family - my DD and I are in one of your pictures of the atrium. We were waiting for the towel folding class.

 

I'm also hoping to post a trip report soon. We drove and got back home Sunday night. Unfortunately had to go back to work on Monday and then we have Bible School at church this week from 6-8 each night which I'm helping with, so I haven't even gotten my pictures downloaded yet.

 

How cool is that!? I cannot wait to read your report! I love reading all the reviews!:D

[ChaylaT]

Far superior to the MDR or the Steakhouse?

Chef's Table is far superior to the steakhouse...UNLESS..you want a quiet romantic dinner. The food at the Chef's Table is unbelievable.:p

[jimbo5544]

Chef's Table is far superior to the steakhouse...UNLESS..you want a quiet romantic dinner. The food at the Chef's Table is unbelievable.:p

Wow, that says a lot. Have to give it a try in three weeks....

[ydra]

THE SHIP:

The DREAM is BIG. (Except sitting next to the Oasis in port! :-)) The layout is similar to that of the Splendor except for the Lanai and Ocean Plaza. The decor is rather classy with muted tones. I loved the pool area and the Waterworks area. The Serenity Deck was gorgeous though we never used it. The Aft pool was pretty too, and yes, children are allowed. There are only two pools on the ship! For over 4000 people! The few cons I feel regarding this ship are the smaller public areas in relation to the amount of people. They need one more pool, at least. The Splendor had three pools and yet the Dream has only two and an extra 1000 people. There were people everywhere. We had to fight every night for seats in the Encore Lounge and in the Burgundy comedy club. And we would get there over 30 minutes early each time! The Encore Lounge needs to get rid of the poles that block people’s views. And there should be no saving of seats. We would constantly see people saving entire rows for over 30 minutes. We would get up at 7AM each sea day to grab a few deck chairs by the pool. One of us would always stay with our stuff and then we would rush to be there and sit all morning so we wouldn’t be complete chair hogs. By 8AM, the entire deck area would be “saved” by towels and magazines with no one around. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoke-free the ship was. Rarely smelled any smoke NOR the dreaded “smell”. It must be gone completely!

 

 

 

Hi, I noticed those clamshell lounges overlooking the water, where are they located on the ship? They look great!

[scchasgal]

Hi, I noticed those clamshell lounges overlooking the water, where are they located on the ship? They look great!

 

There are one of the Serenity areas, this pic from deck 14