Carnival Dream 11/13/10-11/20/10

[dancergrl608]

After ready many reviews on this board I have decided to write my first one. We first book this cruise in February 2010 and began counting down from that very moment. We had a group of 17 which included family and friends, some who had cruised before and others who were first timers. This was my third cruise, all being with Carnival, and this was my boyfriend's first cruise, but definately not the last. :D

 

We began our journey to Port Canaveral on Thursday the 11th at about 10 pm. We were traveling from West Virginia so with stops, it took us about 13-14 hours to drive to the hotel. We stayed at Country Inn & Suites to take advantage of the park and cruise rate. The hotel was very nice and I would definately stay there again. There was a large heated pool, a hot tub, and a kids pool. Also breakfast was provided the next morning. Also this hotel is as close as you can get to the port.

 

Saturday November 13, 2010

We were up bright and early this morning due to excitement and that the ship was finally in sight. After waking up and eating breakfast we gather up our stuff and waited for our shuttle. Everyone in our group except for 3, who scheduled different times, were on the same shuttle which came at 11:00.

 

Once we arrived at the port and went through security, we were on the ship by 12:15. We had an excursion we had to book on the ship because the pre sale only had one ticket left. So once we were on the ship we went directly to the shore excursion desk and book the excursion and had zero wait. From there we went to the Lido deck for some lunch. This was the pretty much the only time we had a problem finding a table and chairs but of course we expected that since everyone on the ship was gonna be eating and waiting for their rooms. So we opted for a sun lounger at the aft pool.

Once we ate we decided to wonder around the ship until 1:30. Once the time came we went down to our rooms and they were cleaned and looking wonderful when we got there. Everyone, except for 3, were on deck 8 mid-ship. Mine and Justin's (the boyfriend) room was 8346 which was a balcony room and we were close to the elevators.

[dancergrl608]

Our room steward's name was Marco and he was very nice and had us memorized by the next day. Our rooms were done very fast and was always waiting for us after dinner.

 

After exploring around the ship, we had our safety meeting which ours was in Circle C. After that we were dismissed and went up to the Lido deck for sail away. It was roughly 4:30, give or take a few minutes, when we finally started pushing away from the dock.

 

We then went back to our room to unpack our stuff so we wouldn't have to worry about it after dinner. We had dinner at 6:00 pm in the Scarlet Dining room. We were on the upper level of the dining room and our group had two tables close to the windows. Our waiters names were Hari and Franklin. Hari was quite the entertainer and told us to call him Harry Potter. Franklin was the quiet one but was very nice.

 

After dinner we proceded to look around the ship some more and we took in the Welcome Aboard show. But before the show we were introduced to our Captain, Carlo Queirolo along with our cruise director Josh Waitzman aka Big Sexy. After the show we took in the Laser show while eating pizza on the Lido deck. We then turned in for the night because we wanted to be rested for the next day. This was our towel animal for the night.

 

Up Next 11-14-10 "Fun Day at Sea"

[hockeygirl14]

Looks great - Can't wait to hear the rest, we're going on the Dream in July

[jimbo5544]

Nice start to your review. Look forward to reading the rest.

[jrmende63]

We sailed on the Dream on 9/18/10 to the Western Caribbean. I am missing that cruise, so your review is hitting the spot!

[framerman]

Great start.........we are on the Dream 3/5/11 ......looking forward to the rest of ur review

[mikkire]

Great pics, keep them coming...we sail on the Dream in 12 days.

[SE NC]

Great review!

[manonreal]

Great reviews and Pics...Sailing 3/5/11 and Can't wait!!!!

[boaterette]

Very nice start.

[Handsome58]

where are you.........we want more!!!!!!!!

[dancergrl608]

Sorry for the delay and thanks for the replies. I am on Thanksgiving break from school this week and plan on taking the necessary time out of the week to get the review finished.

 

On my previous post i did forget to mention that during the first evening during dinner and into the night we did encounter rough waters. We were swaying back and forth fairly good. There were some who got sick and they even had the barf bags hanging up at the elevators. But once the next morning came we had smooth sailing. Also the wait staff had told us that there was a storm brewing and that was contributing to rough waters.

 

Saturday November 14, 2010 "Fun Day at Sea"

Today we took it easy. We had planned on sleeping in but I woke up early to take in the sunrise then we headed up to the Lido deck to get breakfast at the buffet. Once breakfast was finished we headed to the aft pool and had no problem finding two chairs next to each other to lay out on. We soaked up the sun for a bit until we got hungry again then headed to the buffet for some burgers and fries.

 

At that time we met up with my brother and his girlfriend to eat and get a table and chairs around the middle of the lido deck. We took in the Master Mixology, Ice Carving Demonstration, and the Hairy Chest Competition.

 

The winner of the Master Mixology was a drink was from a lady called LaCrissa and the drink was named "LaCrissalicious".

The winner of the hairy chest competition was the 5th shirtless man from right to left. This as always was very funny to watch.

[dancergrl608]

After these activities, the four of us decided to walk around the Lanai to the front of the ship. During this day we pasted quite a few different ships while at sea. The seas were calm today and the weather was beautiful.

 

Another Carnival ship at sea!!

We headed to our room early to get ready for dinner because tonight was the first formal night and we wanted to go around and have pictures taken. Tonight was also the Captain's Celebration but we didn't make it to meet the Captain. Also at dinner the wait staff was going to dance but they were running late and postponed it until the next night. Also on the first night the wait staff sang for us.

 

Then after dinner we headed back to our room for my boyfriend to change (he doesn't like to be dressed up for long) and our room was already prepared for the night.

 

We headed to the Encore theater to catch tonight's show, which was "8 More Seconds". This show is a tribute to country and has some very good dancing and the singers were good too. Also the fiddle player was amazing especially during the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".

 

To end the night we headed down to catch out the Punchliner Comedy Club. We wanted to check out both of the comedians but the show for Michael Macy at 9:45 was full by the time we made it there. So we listened to some music at the Ocean Plaza and headed to check out Al Ernst at 11:00. After the comedy we headed back to the room because we had a busy day in Cozumel the next day.

 

Up Next 11-15-10 "Cozumel, Mexico"

[mommyz]

Awesome play by play. Can't wait to hear the rest of it.

 

We'll be on the Dream in April can't wait!!!

[Fancy_Goods]

MORE PLEASE!!!

 

She'll be MY Carnival Dream starting THIS Saturday! I can not wait!

[dancergrl608]

Sorry the post for 11-14-10 is suppose to be Sunday not Saturday. Now on to the next day.

 

Monday November 15, 2010 "Cozumel, Mexico"

We were scheduled to dock at Cozumel at 10:00 am but when I woke up at around 7:30 this morning we were getting closer to the pier. Today was going to be a busy day because we had an excursion booked through the ship but we still wanted to take time to shop around the port area. Once we woke up we were off to the Lido deck again for some breakfast. We were docked just a few minutes after 9:00 and then cleared to get off the ship. Our excursion wasn't scheduled to meet at the end of the pier until 11:30 but we went ahead and got off the ship to go do some shopping for souvenirs.

We docked at the Puerta Maya pier.

 

We also took this as an opportunity to take some pictures around the port.

 

[dancergrl608]

MORE PLEASE!!!

 

She'll be MY Carnival Dream starting THIS Saturday! I can not wait!

 

That is so exciting, I will definately try my best to get it done ASAP!!! Also I hope you have a blast on your cruise.:D

[dancergrl608]

We decided to do the Beach Buggies & Snorkel at Punta Sur. This was a blast and I would highly recommend it. The description on the Carnival site was very accurate. Once our whole group had gathered we headed for the dune buggies to get ready to depart. The excursion wasn't sold out because they had an extra buggy and there were two of us that had a buggy per couple.

 

Once we headed out of the port area, we drove through a bit of the city area and headed for the main road. After driving for bit we headed off the paved road onto a dirt and gravel road. Also the description on the site was not lying when it said you drive along a bumpy dirt road because it was very bumpy.

 

We did not do the list of items in order they were suppose to be done because our tour guide told us there was a large group behind us so we did everything in reverse. The first stop was the beach for lunch and the snorkeling. We opted out of the snorkeling part and just lounged on the beach. They had hammocks hanging up for you to use, along with a shop area, massages, henna tattoos and beach lougners. The food was very good. We had tortillas with salsa, quesadillas, fruit, pop, and water.

 

[dallas52]

nice review, enjoying it very much. wont be long till we get to go.

[daisy7113]

Nice review. We are going on the Dream in January and I love reading reviews and seeing pictures of where we are going.

[dancergrl608]

From the beach we got back into the dune buggies and headed for our next stop, which was the lighthouse. The climb to the stop was rather warm and a tight fit to get out in the open air at the very top but the views were well worth the 133 step climb.

The next pictures are from the view at the top of the lighthouse. It was so relaxing just standing there watching the ocean and viewing the land around us.

 

 

 

As we were getting ready to leave the lighthouse area, we noticed a vistor in the pathway off to the side just chilling out.

[dancergrl608]

nice review, enjoying it very much. wont be long till we get to go.

 

Your turn is coming up quickly. You will definately enjoy the Dream.

[dancergrl608]

Nice review. We are going on the Dream in January and I love reading reviews and seeing pictures of where we are going.

 

Thanks. I also love reading up on the places we're going and the pictures are my favorite because I like to know what to look forward too.

[dancergrl608]

Once we left the lighthouse we travelled back up the road towards the Mayan Ruin and the Crocodiles. We were told the ruin was used like a lighthouse with the smoke signals and also as hurricane warnings. It was interesting to hear about the history of the little ruin, I could only imagine going on a Mayan Ruin excursion (I want to now do this on our next cruise).

The crocodiles were located right across the road from the ruin. We crossed a wooden bridge and walked along a circled platform to view the crocodiles. There was a platform with sets of stairs but we chose to not climb to the top of that. We saw some a couple of small crocs along with the biggest one who was named Max.

One of the small crocs.

This would be Max.

After the crocodiles and before we got back into the buggies to conclude the excursion, the guides had use fill out a short review form that rated the different aspects of the excursion.

As we were leaving Punta Sur, we came to a stop for people to come to each buggie and cut off our wristbands and we looked over to the right and we saw another visitor but this one was sunbathing. Once leaving this area we travelled back down the same road to come into town and head to the port area. This excursion stayed within the time constraints because we were due back at 4:30 and we were getting out of our buggies right on the dot. One thing i liked about the dune buggies and wasn't aware of before we got there is there is a small trunk in the back to put any items in. We left our items in there for all the activities except for the beach area because we needed it for our towels and swimming stuff.

 

These were our tour guides for the excursion.

[dancergrl608]

Once our excursion was finished we did some last minute shopping at the pier before we headed back to the ship around 5:00. We weren't due back on for another 30 minutes but we had early dinner and needed to shower and get ready. We had no wait when getting back on the ship we went right through security and got right onto an elevator to head up to our rooms.

 

After dinner we headed back up to our room so the boyfriend could change out of dinner clothes. And yet again our room was ready and waiting for the night.

 

I can't comment on tonight's show because we did not attend. It was "Variety Showtime" which included juggling and comedians. Instead we headed to the arade to play some games while we waited for the Fun Force Acrobatic Show.

 

 

 

The Fun Force show was so much fun. It took place in the Atrium and there were the 3 break dancers. Throughout their show, the dancers showcases each ones talents and it was so much fun to watch. The dancers then picked people out of the audience to participate in creating a wave. After they went through and did the wave a couple of times, the dancers picked two of the people in that group to do a dance battle. At this time the dancers said they needed some style and rolled up the pants legs and shirt sleeves. This whole entire show was full of energy and was a ton of fun. People were lined up along each floor around the Atrium to watch. I would recommend checking this one out.

 

Up Next 11-16-10 "Belize"