Finally my DREAM Review w/photos!! Feb 12-19th

[Joaljoe]

I know the feeling, I'm only 31 and sometimes feel much older. haha

 

Here are some towel animals we got the first couple of days. Kids loved them but we had no where to store them this time around. No space when you add on two kids with all their stuffed characters! LOL Didn't matter, they'd break them within the first few mins most of the time anyway!

 

 

[Joaljoe]

Day 3 - St. Thomas

 

I could not wait to go back to this Island. I absolutely love it!! I ended up waking up early for some reason (I like to sleep in) but I stood up, went to the washroom and on the way back to bed peaked outside. It was just beautiful!! We were coming up close to St. Thomas, the sun was up and right beside us I see Oasis of the Seas. I grab my camera, wake up hubby and out we go. The view was just amazing, the warm morning air and the ocean sounds were a great start to the day. About an hour later we finally woke the kids up and made them come enjoy the view with us. Here are a few photos from that morning.... it's so hard to choose what to post. In total, for the 10 days we were gone I took 2660 photos. We just got a new camera before Christmas so I had loads of fun with it.

 

 

 

Celebrity Constellation docked at the other port.

 

Love that the Cove balconies are so close to the water..

 

 

[Joaljoe]

We got ourselves together and got some breakfast. DD loved going to the omelet station and ordering her own, the cooks were always really nice to her and she loved being independent. Once we ate we were ready to get off the ship, I must say.... I was a little nervous with the heat. This was my first time travelling since being diagnosed with MS and with many people the heat makes the symptoms worse. I wasn't sure what to expect! We purchased cold water before leaving the ship and the kids filled up their water bottles they got in their Bon Voyage packages. So glad we had all that water, it was HOT, HOT, HOT and we LOVED it!!

 

Our first destination - Paradise Point! We purchased our tickets through Carnival, it's just a tad cheaper. After being stopped by a few taxi drivers we finally made it across the street. We got our wrist bands and started making it up the stairs, then out of no where this gate opens up half way up and a guy walks out asking if we need a taxi. LOL We tell him we're going up to PP right now and he responds by saying "Oh, you're going up there? Okay then, maybe on the way back". Kind of a weird guy too! And if I wanted a taxi, I think I'd feel more comfortable going back down to the street instead of going behind this fence with you.

 

Once at the top, the view was incredible. They had little shops, a place to eat and had a live band playing. The atmosphere for us was just perfect. We did a little shopping, enjoyed the views, took many many pictures and slowly made our way back downstairs. Skipped the taxi guy and did some more shopping at Havensight before going back on the ship for lunch. We went back to the Pasta Bar figuring it wouldn't be too busy since most people were off the ship. Once again, our food came really fast....another great experience in the Pasta Bar. Although, I don't think we'd come back to the ship for lunch again. We thought it was smart to bring our souvenirs back and to save on food but it took too long. It's a good thing we were in port until 8pm that day.

 

 

My favourite view!!

 

 

 

 

I love the path back to the ship.

[cuted126]

Great review! What kind of camera do you have?

 

I love that you kids didn't know what the walkman/cassettes were. Reminds me of the time when my dh picked up DS in his work van. The work van has the manual handles to roll the windows down. DS saw the handles and asked what are they and what do they do?:p

[mom2lillirissa]

Great review! What kind of camera do you have?

 

I love that you kids didn't know what the walkman/cassettes were. Reminds me of the time when my dh picked up DS in his work van. The work van has the manual handles to roll the windows down. DS saw the handles and asked what are they and what do they do?:p

 

I know off topic, but THAT reminds of the time, not too long ago, when my remote control to open the car doors was dropped in water and no longer worked. How in the world was I going to get the doors open. Oh yeah, use a key. Duh!!!

[hlb76]

I am enjoying this review!!! Thanks for sharing and the pics are great too.

 

I'm torn on if I want to ever sail on Dream... I'm not sure I want to sail a ship THAT big. Or should I say w/ THAT amny guests. I kinda like my smaller classes. But your pics are starting to make me think about it a little more.

 

I'm glad you like Butch.. I feel in love w/ him last year on Liberty!! He was a ton of fun as a CD prob my favorite thus far.

 

Guess he is just another reason to consider Dream

[Joaljoe]

cuted126 - Thank You! We have a Canon 2Ti, just perfect for us. We also bought an extra lens for those close ups I always wanted!

 

Funny about the window handles, it kind of threw me off last summer going into my sister's jeep. When you have power locks for so many years, it's kind of weird! lol

 

mom2lillirissa - LOL... yes, the key was a good idea! ;)

 

hlb76 - I don't know, I never felt like it was over crowded. It was a little big and I think there are still spots that I never made it too... and got lost pretty much right up until the last day. lol But it was an adventure everytime we went somewhere. The only place we had no problems going to was Camp Carnival and the Ice Cream machines!! haha With that said, I loved the ship and would recommend it to anyone at least once.

 

We hope to do the Magic next, just not sure on the intinerary and port. We prefer the Pride's or Splendor's for next April. We shall see.... either way, we'll have a great time.

 

As for Butch, he made my kids feel special everytime he saw them. They absolutely loved him and wish he could be on our next cruise. It's been a month and they still talk about Butch!

[Joaljoe]

After lunch we decided to go to Magen's Bay. There was only 1 taxi standing out in front of the ship at this time. So I guess she thought we'd get in no matter what price she gave us. She told us she wanted $10/pp, so I politely said no thank you and told her we found some cheaper ones out a bit further. She didn't seem impressed, and said "Fine, then it's $6". What a jump down! I was expecting the $8 that everyone else was asking for. After talking to her for a couple of mins we ended up getting into her van. She told us that she did say $8 at the beginning, but I know what we heard and know what she was doing and why. We just left it alone though and told her we heard wrong. LOL In the end, she ended up being a very nice lady. She was very informative during our drive and was very pleasant. Just trying to make business. =)

 

The drive over the mountain was very pretty. It was weird driving on the other side of the road though, and I find that some of them drive a little too crazy for my liking. There was a little fee to enter Magen's Bay, which I'm sure most of you know. I hope I'm remembering this correctly, the kids were free to get into this beach and we (adults) paid $4 each. The beach was not overly crowded that day (we also got there later in the afternoon) and the water was nice and cool for this hot day! I wasn't a big fan of all the little fishies we were feeling around our feet. My DD kept saying they were nibbling on her toes. LOL I don't think I could ever snorkel....

 

For these beach photos, I used our waterproof Olympus camera. I was paranoid to bring the new one.

 

DS stepping on Caribbean sand for the first time. lol

 

All the fish in the water.

 

Really beautiful surrondings on this beach.

 

Drawing in the sand.

 

We had the moon on one side and the sun on the other, very cool.

[mama_2_boys]

LOVING your review! Can't wait for the rest of it. Your kiddos are too cute...they look like they have great little personalities.

[Mike&Shell]

Awesome review.. I can't wait to sail her:D

[Joaljoe]

By the time we got back to the ship, it was almost dark. We took a quick shower, got dressed and went for dinner. We didn't make it back for our early dinning so again we went to the buffet at the Gathering. We wanted to be on deck for sailaway but decided to go to the Encore Lounge to get seats. Tonight was the Dancin' in the Street show which we heard is amazing and tough to get seats. We made sure to be there early for it, ended up getting good seats off to the side. It was a full house that night!! The show was just as great as people described, you do not want to miss this one. DD & DS were very entertained as well and loved all the dancing, costumes and props. You will not regret going early to get good seats. Of course I have no photos since we're not allowed to take any. Although, I saw people taking them anyway.

 

 

Time to get back on the ship.

 

 

Everyone waiting for the Dancin' in the Street show.

 

After the show we head for some ice cream...mmmmm

These machine's were our bestfriends!

 

[Joaljoe]

mama_2_boys - Thank you, glad you're enjoying it. :) They really do have great personalities!! They made this vacation a complete different experience for us, we loved having them there and will always take them with us on each cruise we go on. I don't think they'd have it any other way. haha

 

Thanks Mike&Shell as well. You'll LOVE the Dream!! :D

[mama_2_boys]

mama_2_boys - Thank you, glad you're enjoying it. :) They really do have great personalities!! They made this vacation a complete different experience for us, we loved having them there and will always take them with us on each cruise we go on. I don't think they'd have it any other way. haha

 

We are taking our boys (ages 2 and 4-almost 3 and 5) on their first cruise in May. Even though they are quite a bit younger than your kids I think we won't ever want to go back to cruising just us (well maybe every few years) either. They have great personalities too and even though they are a handful (b/c of their ages) we can't wait. They are counting down the days...well we all are! ;) Ok back to your fabulous review... :D

[JaniceB]

Great review! I love your picture of the cove balcony, it is close to the water.

[Senoj84]

Great review! I miss the Dream, that was my fave ship so far. :)

[Joaljoe]

Senoj84 - Thanks! We miss the Dream too!! And I love your siggy... we don't know where the next one will be either but it will be somewhere!!! And hopefully soon!

 

Janice - Yes, being so close to the water was really nice. It's such a different experience. My son kept looking for sharks. LOL

 

Mama_2_Boys - It'll be a nice experience with the kiddos. It's so nice that they have the Camp Carnival service. Gives them something fun to do and a break from their parents. Gives you some "You" time as well, and we all need that! Have a great cruise. :)

[im4clowns]

Really enjoying your review. Very detailed. We are going in sept with our 2 year old dd. Will be her third cruise. Love vacationing with her.

[Joaljoe]

So once we all got our ice cream, we went out to the Lido deck to enjoy it since they were having another laser show. It wasn't a big thing though, hardly anyone showed up. I think they were playing Pink Floyd music on the big screen. They let out too much dry ice and we ended up leaving because I was having trouble with my breathing. I guess the place to be that night was at the atrium at 11:30pm instead. They were having the Mardi Gras Fun with Butch, the Fun Patrol (dancers) and the band. I don't know how we missed that....but the kids we too tired, it was late, so we just ended up going to bed, need our rest for St. Maarten!

 

 

Tonight we enjoy ice cream under the stars and moon, talking about all of our friends back home who are sleeping and have to get up early for school in the morning. AND get to wake up to snow!! lol

 

Always so pretty at night...

 

Here comes all that dry ice...bad photo of the lasers. Sorry!

 

 

 

Goodnight our new friend.

[ssatterly]

Keep it comming we are driving to fl now for the dream... almost to I 95

[Joaljoe]

Keep it comming we are driving to fl now for the dream... almost to I 95

 

Lucky!!! And CONGRATS on winning your cruise! Maybe we should try playing Bingo more than once per cruise. LOL

 

Enjoy! :) I am working on resizing more pics now before cooking for this hungry bunch.

[ssatterly]

Lucky!!! And CONGRATS on winning your cruise! Maybe we should try playing Bingo more than once per cruise. LOL

 

Enjoy! :) I am working on resizing more pics now before cooking for this hungry bunch.

 

Thanks..we were on the fantasy this time last week. We are going from the smallest oldest ship in the fleet to the nestest and biggest....

[Joaljoe]

Your daughter is very lucky im4clowns. I had to wait until I was in my 20's for my first cruise! haha

[Joaljoe]

I enjoyed the Fantasy, and that was before she got fixed up. But the Dream is just so different. We're thinking of the Pride for our next one but after being on the Dream we're just not sure anymore. LOL

 

Okay, more pics....

 

Day 4 - St. Maarten - What a looong but beautiful day!

 

All I have to say is that I have way too many pics from this day. So hard to choose what to share! I decided to carry around the Canon camera today with the extra lens. Oh boy, did I ever have fun!! Now I don't know what to print out, I want them all!! LOL

 

We started off with a nice breakfast. DD back at the omlet station! DS and I went for some french toast. He told me mine was better... Awww..! Thanks! =)

We hurried off the ship, today we have less time in port. It didn't take us long to get off but once we were off... holy people! It was really busy, there were 6 ships in port. Today we were just going to spend the day at the beach that is right there (Phillipsburg) and do some shopping. We had been here 2 years ago so this time we just wanted to stay put. I thought the lines for the water taxis would take forever but to my surprise they went pretty fast. They can fit a lot of people on those boats.

 

Hello St. Maarten!! My son looks overwhelmed with the size of the ship. lol

 

 

 

Look at those lines!

[Cupcrazy]

Kids: What is that?

Us: A walkman

Kids: What's a walkman?

Us: That's what we used to listen to music. You put a cassette inside.

Kids: What's a cassette??

 

LOL... it was quite a funny conversation....

 

 

Best quote right there. I used to have a walkman that looked just this.

Great pictures all around. Looks like you guys had a great time

[Joaljoe]

So did my hubby!! lol I just showed the kids your post, they're chuckling and still want to see what a cassette looks like. I'll have to go through my packed up things and look for one now. =)

 

Cont...

 

The gentlemen make sure to help everyone get on and off the water taxi, which was nice. The ride over is enjoyable but we went down to the bottom part and didn't get a good view so try to go to the upper back part if you can. They give you a little speech during the ride and politely ask for a little tip. Mainly to write a comment on a dollar bill. lol So make sure you have those dollar bills handy. =)

 

 

See, the back of the boat is much better for the views. =)

 

Inside of the water taxi...

 

My DS doing his part, he loved the tipping.

 

Okay Mom and Dad, we're ready to SHOP!!

 

Every store was pretty busy. It was hard to shop so as soon as we bought what we wanted we stopped and just headed to the beach.