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

[2Zornot2Z]

Just love your review,keep it coming.

[Joaljoe]

They wanted to take this big guy home with them!

 

Here we're visiting a store called Cariloha. Everything in here is made from Bamboo. It's all very light and soft! It's expensive but worth it. We will be doing some online shopping from them. We really want the bed sheets. Look for this store during your visit. It's not too far from Del Sol and on the same side of the street. They also give you a free necklace if you yell out their store name.

 

 

 

Ahh.. Del Sol. We always brought things back for them from our vacations but this was their first time visiting one. They were in the zone with everything!

 

 

It was very busy but the cashiers did a good job getting through the line at a fast pace.

[Joaljoe]

Oh great! The kids see a Mc Donald's!!

 

While we were shopping in these stores we came across some tea in one of the Souvenir shops. It's by the Metropolitan Tea Company, they come in a wooden box packaged with 25 teas around $6. We bought a Pina Colada flavour, wanted to try the others but didn't want to spend so much money on something we may not like. Well, let me tell you... this tea is amazing!! Just add some milk and sugar and you're good to go. If you're a tea drinker, I definitely recommend this! You can mail me a box too!! haha

 

Once we finished our shopping we walked over to the beach. It was crowded but beautiful. The umbrella's were $10 with 2 chairs. We told the lady trying to sell them to us that we're okay because we only have 1 1/2hrs so we'll just use our towels. So she turned around and gave it to us at $5. We ended up taking it but barely used it. It was nice to store our stuff on it I guess. lol

 

View to the right...

 

View to the left...

 

One of MANY favourite photos!!

[boaterette]

Very nice reivew and pictures. Thank you for posting. I look forward tot he rest.

[dmc414]

Wonderful review, love the pictures............keep it coming.............I sail on the Dream in Feb, 2012...........this is making me even more excited

 

:p

[Hawaii697]

Great review and thank you for sharing your pictures. I sail with a group in July and we're getting pretty excited. If you have any pictures of the Serenity deck, please post. Thank you. :cool:

[Joaljoe]

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....

 

Last week?? That's amazing! You truly are lucky! Don't forget to play Bingo on the Dream! ;)

 

Thanks to everyone else, I'm glad that I'm getting you all excited! DH and I were on here for months before our cruise getting excited just like you. It all went by way too fast!

 

Sorry Hawaii697, unfortunately I have no photos from that area. We checked it out on the first day but didn't have our camera with us. And for some reason, we were so busy all week doing other things that we never made it back there. lol

[maryanne356]

What a great review. I wrote yesterday about how much I was enjoying your review. We have 2 cove cabins for our Aug. sailing. Your children are also adorable! My three kids have been sailing since they were very small, they LOVE it! Keep the review coming, its been great and wow thats a lot of pictures. Just think how many you also get when 2dd and myself each have a camera. Lots also, but nothing better than having all those memories.

[jtmurph7]

What a great review! Sailing on the Dream in August. Can't wait! Keep your review and pictures coming.

 

 

Maryanne356,

I am sailing on the Dream in August also.. We are leaving on July 30th...When are you sailing?

 

This a great review I so enjoy reading about everyone's Cruise.

 

Happy Cruising,

 

Tammy

[Joaljoe]

Get ready for beach shots...

 

We saw a lot of people enjoying this... I think you have to rent it? not 100% sure.

 

 

Just gorgeous... I love Eastern Caribbean

 

 

It's nice having the ships so close too.

 

[Joaljoe]

Thanks Maryanne and Tammy! I too always love reading about other people's cruises. Gets you excited until the next, also helps the time go by until the next one and you can live through them! haha

 

Maryanne, how old are your children now? My son brought his camera that he just got for Christmas but was too busy to take photos. I'd remind him here and there but he'd just wave his hand and tell me he'll enjoy mine. lol Too cute...

[Joaljoe]

Forgive me, the next few photos are all about the kids! I think I took 200-300 of them on the beach alone. They had an AMAZING time!! Loved looking for seashells, writing in the sand and just playing around with the waves. There's a bit of a drop on this beach when you enter the water so they didn't go in too much. They're not strong swimmers and felt safer not going in. But had a blast with the waves. I'm sure the photos say it all. =)

 

 

 

This is my all time fav!! I love how it captured the moment of the wave hitting them. I blew this one up and framed it.

 

 

 

 

Okay, that's it with the kid beach shots. LOL

[Joaljoe]

Little by little, people started leaving the beach. It seemed like we were one of the last ones but the kids were having so much fun we didn't want to leave. But the time came, we had to go back and get ready for our 6pm dinner. We've already skipped 2 nights, don't want to miss another. Our waiter will worry! haha

 

 

We're about to board the water taxi... pretty empty now. I felt bad for all the ladies trying to sell me stuff on the beach. I just kept telling them that I've already done all my shopping but thank you for asking me. They'd walk away with a smile and were really nice. If I were rich, I'd buy something from each.

 

 

We're back on the other side and I decided to take a pic of this, I knew I'd forget the prices by the time I'd get home.

 

 

Have to enjoy a coconut smoothie before going back on the ship. These kids just love everything. I didn't even really like the smoothie. LOL

 

 

 

Oasis of the Seas leaving just before us...

[Joaljoe]

Before going out to dinner we captured the beautiful sunset. I've never been able to see such a clear sunset, everytime I had the chance there clouds everywhere so I really enjoyed this one.

 

 

So fast and it was gone...

 

 

And now we are ready for dinner... kids love their bunny ears!

 

[dangerousfem]

What agreat review.. I love seeing your pics. We will be sailing on the Dream 9/17.. its our first cruise... and we are super excited.

[Joaljoe]

DS and DD had these fruits pretty much every night as their starter. My DD doesn't eat much though so she could never finish her dinner. They are adult portions too.... I think next time I may just order 1 for them to share, they got the same dishes for the most part.

 

 

Hubby's meal - Flat Iron Steak

He really enjoyed it, cooked just the way he likes.

 

I forget the name of this dish but it was somekind of Seafood medley in a Lobster Sauce. The kids and I had this dish. Very deeelish!!

 

Hmmm....this was the Bitter & Blanc, but we didn't get the white sauce on top of it. Wonder why? But it was still very good, too bad I could only eat half of it. LOL

 

Well, that's it for tonight. I leave you with food pics just before bed. haha

The night was just beginning for us, after dinner we still had hours and hours of fun. Not sure how the kids made it up so late! I'll be back with the details tomorrow... I told ya St. Maarten was a long day!

 

Goodnight All! :)

[trvlexprt]

Awesome review and pictures! Your children are adorable. I am loving this as we are on the Dream in 2 weeks. Hope to give a review as good as yours when we return :)

[Elmo31]

Im having a hard time waiting for more.......we will be sailing on her in october.....its such a long long long wait!! Glad you guys had a great cruise

[2T4me]

Joaljoe FANTASTIC Review or should I say DREAMTASTIC Review :D. It looks like you and your family had fun. :)

[mebecindi]

Excellent review.... and I love the pics of your kids on the beach. They always look so happy, do they get along really good?

[mebecindi]

One more thing, do you have any more pics from your cove balcony. We are booking a cove balcony on the Carnival Magic for next year. We have never cruised so i would love to see what they look like.

[gapearl]

Still loving your review and your pictures! You've gotta post at least 1 of you. :)

[jtmurph7]

Before going out to dinner we captured the beautiful sunset. I've never been able to see such a clear sunset, everytime I had the chance there clouds everywhere so I really enjoyed this one.

 

 

This is an amazing picture!!!!

I am loving your review...

 

This is off topic but, how do you get the pictures to show up so big in the post? I have only been on this site for a week or so and I'm just learning how to get around on it. I posted some pictures on one of the other forums but they were not big like yous are...

Thanks,

Tammy

[5waldos]

Great review- we leave tomorrow for our cove balcony and eastern Caribbean cruise on the Dream. Hard to believe that in just over 48 hours we will be starting off on the same adventure! Can't wait!

[Cruzface]

Really great review. I love how you haggled the driver in St. Thomas. last year we were there on the Glory and haggled a guy down to $6 as well. We took his cell for a ride back from Magen's Bay, but he never showed. We went to another driver and told him that we would only pay $6 to go back since that is what we paid to get there. He said the fare is set by the taxi authority and it is illegal to lower the price. :rolleyes: They put on a good show by having some guy in a uniform come over and question people about how much they paid. Your experience just proves what nonsense it all is.

 

Love your pics. Why was Magen's Bay so empty?