Just off the Dream today.....

[flatpik6]

We just got home today from the 7 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary on the Dream. While I'm not creative enough to post an interesting and complete review of our experience, I did find a couple of things that may be of interest to others.

 

Maitre D - on ALL of our previous cruises I have been one of those who scorned at the thought of the Maitre D showing up on the last night of the trip with his hand out for a gratuity. We never saw them much less found value in what they were offering to the whole experience. Until this trip on the Dream. We dined every night in the Crimson dining room for the early seating and every single night, Drago, the Maitre D, was not only present in the dining room, but he was travelling from table to table speaking with guests. He was visibly directing activity among the wait staff...and seating guests at their tables. Additionally, he greeted the room via the microphone every night and played an obvious and critical role in the whole dining room. On the first sea day, my wife and I even ran into him on the Lido deck at the buffet while he was overseeing the flow of traffic and the presentation of the items on the buffet. I gotta tell you, this was an impressive manager. We made it a point to thank him for his role in our experience and had no reservation about providing him with a gratutity.

 

Crowds - we were a bit apprehensive about encountering overwhelming crowds on the ship. This was soley based on the various comments found on this board. The ship's staff claimed in excess of 4500 passengers and 1100 crew members due to it being spring break. I can say without any hesitation that if you encounter tedious crowds...it's simply because you don't plan your time effectively. We planned our events and took the potential for crowds into consideration. After making proper adjustments to our timing, we never felt as though we were the victim of over-crowding. Sure if you just meander about the ship without any kind of plan, you're bound to get coverred up with people, but if you're adverse to such things, we found it really easy to work around.

 

Food- no complaints with the food quality in the dining room, just one observation. It's my OPINION that the presence of the Chef's Art Steakhouse on the Dream, may have resulted in a less impressive dining room menu. As I relate the dining room experience to our most recent trip on the Destiny in July, it just wasn't as impressive. I am assuming this may be due to the presence of the Steakhouse on the Dream. Now mind you, the dining room food was very good and none of the four of us went hungry while on board.

 

As for the itinerary - I have a new favorite port. St. Maarten. This may get a fly in visit at an AI resort for the wife and me.

[KMSnevit]

We just got home today from the 7 day Eastern Caribbean itinerary on the Dream. While I'm not creative enough to post an interesting and complete review of our experience, I did find a couple of things that may be of interest to others.

 

Maitre D - on ALL of our previous cruises I have been one of those who scorned at the thought of the Maitre D showing up on the last night of the trip with his hand out for a gratuity. We never saw them much less found value in what they were offering to the whole experience. Until this trip on the Dream. We dined every night in the Crimson dining room for the early seating and every single night, Drago, the Maitre D, was not only present in the dining room, but he was travelling from table to table speaking with guests. He was visibly directing activity among the wait staff...and seating guests at their tables. Additionally, he greeted the room via the microphone every night and played an obvious and critical role in the whole dining room. On the first sea day, my wife and I even ran into him on the Lido deck at the buffet while he was overseeing the flow of traffic and the presentation of the items on the buffet. I gotta tell you, this was an impressive manager. We made it a point to thank him for his role in our experience and had no reservation about providing him with a gratutity.

 

Crowds - we were a bit apprehensive about encountering overwhelming crowds on the ship. This was soley based on the various comments found on this board. The ship's staff claimed in excess of 4500 passengers and 1100 crew members due to it being spring break. I can say without any hesitation that if you encounter tedious crowds...it's simply because you don't plan your time effectively. We planned our events and took the potential for crowds into consideration. After making proper adjustments to our timing, we never felt as though we were the victim of over-crowding. Sure if you just meander about the ship without any kind of plan, you're bound to get coverred up with people, but if you're adverse to such things, we found it really easy to work around.

 

Food- no complaints with the food quality in the dining room, just one observation. It's my OPINION that the presence of the Chef's Art Steakhouse on the Dream, may have resulted in a less impressive dining room menu. As I relate the dining room experience to our most recent trip on the Destiny in July, it just wasn't as impressive. I am assuming this may be due to the presence of the Steakhouse on the Dream. Now mind you, the dining room food was very good and none of the four of us went hungry while on board.

 

As for the itinerary - I have a new favorite port. St. Maarten. This may get a fly in visit at an AI resort for the wife and me.

 

We sailed the Dream Jan 1 this year and had the exact same experience you had! Glad you liked Drago as we did as well. Although, we were very impressed with the dining room menu but we are cruise novices and don't have much to compare with past experiences.

 

Def. agree on doing an AI resort on St. Maarten - by far our favorite port

[flatpik6]

Nearly forgot. The Pasta Bar is no joke. Eat there early and eat there often. On the advice of others, we went there as soon as we boarded the ship and had our pick of tables. Food was terrific and by day #5, everybody else had discovered it too!

[WES143]

I had a great time. This may have been my favorite cruise in a long time. I agree that the ship didn't seem any more crowded than any other ship i've been on. The pasta bar was delicious. I ate there every day but the day we were in st maarten. The last sea day the line was very long, but other than that never a problem if you timed your visit just right. I was not impressed with the lanai barbeque though. I had a great waitstaff. While i have never paid the cruise director any attention, cruise director butch and staff were the liveliest i have seen in a while. They work well together.

[NYCheleNY]

Hi, I'm sailing on the Dream in May 2011. I've been reading the rave & not so rave reviews about the ship. One area of concern is the severe rocking of the ship. I've been on many carnival cruises & only got sea sick once but that was enough for a lifetime. Can any one please comment of their experience regarding the rocking motion of the Dream ship? Is it severe? My room is on the main deck in the 2400's - cove. Thanks so much

Michele

[Lidolounger]

As to rocking on the ship - we sailed in Jan, no noticable rocking at all - and we sailed B2B so we were on it for 14 days. Obviously weather and the deck your cabin is on will make a difference. We had a cove balcony on deck 2.

[4evertink]

Hi. I am on the Dream in May. What nights were the formal nights at dinner? Was there just 2 of them? Thanks

[dhkhth]

Thank you Flatpic6 for your review. I am sailing on the Dream May 7th. I can;t wait. I am one that figures if I am not cooking and making my bed. There is no such thing as a bad vacation. Thank you so much It is giving me more excitement leading up to my cruise!!

[scante]

Hi, I'm sailing on the Dream in May 2011. I've been reading the rave & not so rave reviews about the ship. One area of concern is the severe rocking of the ship. I've been on many carnival cruises & only got sea sick once but that was enough for a lifetime. Can any one please comment of their experience regarding the rocking motion of the Dream ship? Is it severe? My room is on the main deck in the 2400's - cove. Thanks so much

Michele

 

We also just got off dream, my daughter was seasick last year on liberty and was worried, we were on deck 11 but definitely more rocking than liberty, sensation and imagination. Not a problem for me and my other daughter but the other one was seasick the whole time. Did try patch but made her vision blurry - one of the side effects so we took off. Bonnie did work she just slept a lot. Good luck!

[brazilgirl]

Thank you for your nice review...we´ll be on the Dream in January. Glad to hear crowds can be avoided. Can you offer tips on how?

 

Thanks.

Kim

[shabcruzn]

Did the Dream last year and going back this year! First time my fam and I going on the same ship twice, but loved it so much.

[tinlizzy]

We sailed with Butch as the CD on a cruise last year. Does he still do the morning show on the big screen? I enjoyed the show but did miss CNN a little in the morning.

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

You just got me all excited!!!! I sail the Dream in August!!!!!

[flatpik6]

Hi, I'm sailing on the Dream in May 2011. I've been reading the rave & not so rave reviews about the ship. One area of concern is the severe rocking of the ship. I've been on many carnival cruises & only got sea sick once but that was enough for a lifetime. Can any one please comment of their experience regarding the rocking motion of the Dream ship? Is it severe? My room is on the main deck in the 2400's - cove. Thanks so much

Michele

 

We were on deck 8 with balcony room #8339 and inside cabin #8337. At times we did travel through seas from 4' to 5' and did feel some slight movement due to the conditions. It was not severe though and caused no noticeable problems. Experience has taught us that anytime we are travelling on the water, we take the precaution of using motion sickness pills starting the day before departure and continuing everyday of our trip. For those who have spent much time on large bodies of water, you know that ANYONE can become seasick and once you've felt it, you become motivated to take precautions. We like pills because the side effects are much less noticeable. If they make you feel drowsy, take them at night before bed.

 

In all I would say that the motion of the ship was absolutely no worse than what you would expect on any ship in windy conditions with 4 to 5's. Once the weather had improved there was no motion at all.

[flatpik6]

Thank you for your nice review...we´ll be on the Dream in January. Glad to hear crowds can be avoided. Can you offer tips on how?

 

Thanks.

Kim

 

Hey Kim,

 

Of course your experience will be different depending on your preferences. For us...we always ordered a small morning snack from room service. This allowed us to sleep as late as we wanted and then be able to wait until the morning rush had passed for breakfast. By the time we were ready for breakfast the rush had passed. On 4 mornings we chose the breakfast in the Scarlett dining room. No crowds and we enjoyed the table service. Even on the mornings when we chose the "Gathering" buffet, the crowd was minimal because we waited until the (:00 am rush had passed.

 

As for lunch, we always waited until about 1:00 to have lunch on the Lido deck. Poof! Severe crowd problem solved. If you go between 12:00 and 12:45 you will have lots and lots of friends to eat with. Wait another 15 minutes and things will be much less crowded. If you need a snack before then, you can always have something light delivered to your room. Then you can take it with you out on the ship.

 

As for lounge chairs...I travelled with my wife and 2 teenage daughters, (15 and 18). Sure the area right around the pool was always crowded and covered up with people. Easy solution. There are places all over tht ship with lots of lounge chairs. Just find an area that you like and there'll be chairs. They usually chose deck 5. Even if there aren't chairs in the exact are you want, people come and go frequently so you can move when a better spot opens up.

 

There are several enteretaining shows which you really should take advantage of including the productions in the Encore Theater and the family friendly comedy in the Burgandy Lounge. For the Encore, the first couple of shows we arrived 30 to 45 minutes early so we could get the best seats on the main floor. So did everyone else. We had good seats but it turns out that the main floor is not the best view. It took us a while to discover that the seats in the balcony on deck 5 offered far better views, much greater comfort and lots less people. Trust me....the style of seats up there are much more comfortable and the view is balcony style so you don't have to worry about seeing over the people in front of you.

 

The comedy shows will fill up so even if you prefer to see the comedian for the late show, you need to be at the early show so as to get a seat for the late show. Many people arrive late, end up standing at the back of the theater for the show and complaining about the crowd. Just get there a bit early and you won't have to stand.

 

Just keep in mind that you need to be reasonable EARLY for things. I wouldn't say you need to be excessively early, just use good judgement.

 

One other thing of interest....we own a fairly large business in Florida and needed to be able to check in via email daily. I was down in the Funhub area on deck 5 at the Ocean Plaza each morning between 7:00 and 8:00. I swear there weren't more then 2 other people there and I was always able to connect with very adequate speed. Similar to broadband speed. It's not cheap but being able to check in for emergency messages really eased my mind about the business. Now I suppose if you wait until later in the day when every spot is in use and various crew members are also using the signal, it's probably much less fast. Just don't wait too late in the day to log on.

[brazilgirl]

Excellent tips , really appreciate them!

 

 

Kim

[LBumb]

great job

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

Glad to hear your experience on the Dream was great. I sailed her last year & will be going again this June. My family & I can't wait. And I agree that the Pasta Bar is a must!!! :)