B2B Carnival Dream March 12-26 Review

[meatloafsfan]

So back last March I gave my god daughter a cruise for her 16th birthday. Jenna was super excited as was I. She had never cruised before and ironically, at that time, neither had I.

 

BTW, here's a picture of Jenna:

 

 

I don't take very good pictures, but here's one anyways:

 

 

Anyways -

 

My first cruise was set for October 2010 on the Disney Magic. That was booked back in November 2009. When I started looking at cruises though, I figured that Disney was not necessarily the best cruise for a 16 turning 17 year old teenage girl who is just not impressed with Mickey Mouse and lots of little rugrats running around. Or a teen club that is for 13-17 year olds. So I started looking around....

 

Carnival came up as this "fun ship" concept and there were so many itineraries to choose from! They had big waterslides, comfy beds, a teen club for 15 - 17 year olds, a casino (that's for me by the way, not her), no curfew, good reviews on food, and a fun, party atmosphere. Sounds good.

 

Jenna helped me pick the ship - I gave her the choice of the Dream, the Legend, the Valor or the Imagination. We were originally looked at 5-8 nights (either 1 cruise or a couple b2b's depending on the itineraries).

 

The final decision was the Carnival Dream because of the awesome pictures of their Club O2. That's right, the deciding factor was not the itineray, the shows, the waterslides or where it ported out of - it was because of the pictures of Club O2. Eh, whatever.....

 

I wanted to try out a Cove balcony balcony cabin so I priced it out. Along the way I also heard about the Porthole cabins - great price, two windows, outside for the price of an inside....hmmm. So I priced that out as well. 1 week in Cove balcony - $2200. Two weeks in a Porthole - $2500. Well, isn't that interesting? So I gave Jenna another choice - 1 week balcony, or two weeks inside room? I don't think I'd even finished asking before she said "TWO WEEKS!!!!!". And her Mom was okay with the extra time out of school, so....two weeks it was.

 

We flew out of Buffalo on Thursday March 10th. I hate to fly. I mean, hate, hate, hate to fly. I haven't flown in 16 years - hate to fly. I'll take the train for two days - hate to fly. I'll turn down a promotion because it requires a lot of travel - hate to fly.

 

But fly we did.

 

I had originally booked the train (with a roomette for sleeping) but I kept delaying booking and the price took a big jump. For the same cost, we could fly into Orlando on the Thursday, spend two nights at Disney, go to the park for 1 day and cover the costs of dining. Did I mention I hate to fly?

 

It was a new year and I decided I was just going to do it. Booked with Southwest (bought the extra ticket for myself since I am a rather large woman), booked Disney for two nights (Port Orleans French Quarter), Jenna selected the Animal Kingdom for our one day park and I booked a birthday dinner at the Rainforest Cafe for the Friday night.

 

Buffalo International Airport - gate 16:

 

 

 

[Jennfor5]

Great Start! Can't wait to read more!!

[meatloafsfan]

Okay - so flying. Wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.....

 

It was bumpy and there were times that I wondered if anyone at home knew where my updated Will was, but we made it.

 

The one thing I forgot was how Sardine like planes are. I was expecting them to pour in the oil at any time to keep us preserved.

 

Jenna on her first flight:

 

 

Sardines:

 

 

We got off the plane and onto Disney's Magical Express - well, after walking the entire length of the Orlando Airport. I think Southwest is the farthest airline away from that desk.

 

 

It was just after 8pm when we arrived at our hotel room.

 

4pm flight - 3 hours due to bad tail winds (should be about 2 hours 40 mins). Landed at 7pm and was on the Magical Express bus, on our way to the resort by 7:20pm. Arrived at the resort - no line to check in, great room assignment (very close to the main building and the food court), into our room a couple minutes after 8pm. Wow. I was hoping our luck for non crowds and good timing would last for the rest of the trip.

[meatloafsfan]

Animal Kingdom Day - Can you say "crowded"?

 

 

I usually try to visit WDW in the off seasons cause I don't like big crowds of tired, sweaty, pushy people.

 

Back off big guy!

 

 

One thing I love about Disney - the details.

 

 

It got we wondering - would I regret not choosing Disney Cruise Line?

 

Especially when late in the day, this occured.....

 

 

The "too cool for characters" teenager getting her picture taken with a giant Rabbit - actually - two of them!!!! Horrors, horrors, oh the horrors, what have I done?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meh. Whatever. We get on the ship tomorrow. She got her character pictures and I got a new catch phrase "Don't hurt the bunnies Jenna, don't hurt the bunnies". Bhahahahahahaha....

 

Dinner was good. Loud but good. For dessert we got the big, special dessert with brownies, ice cream, etc. Jenna made me promise not to have them do the birthday song. Our server still stuck a candle in it for her so she could make a wish.

 

 

That's the end of our Disney day. Next day - on the ship.

 

Wait, how are we getting there again???

[meatloafsfan]

Leavin' on a fun ship......

 

So, our vacation was a total of 17 days. :eek: Here's what 17 days worth of luggage looked like:

 

 

Two carry ons, two rolling suitcases and a large shoulder bag. Not too bad if I say so myself. The one suitcase was half empty so that there would be room to bring home souvenirs.

 

Jenna telling me she thinks she sees our town car. (No not the minivan).

 

 

We used Interplex Transportation. The car was nice, clean and a smooth ride. They didn't get lost and got us to port on time. Pick up was nice too. Our driver on the way there was a little odd though (for a driver). We were sitting on a bench waiting at the front of the hotel. He pulled up ahead of where we were by about 3 car lengths and then waited for us to bring our luggage over to the car (he didn't come help with the luggage at all). I've never had a driver (towncar, taxi, etc) who didn't help with the luggage. Anyway - Jenna and I brought the luggage over to the car, and put it in the trunk and away we went.

 

Jenna in the town car:

 

 

We're almost there!!!!!

[nanuak]

Great start, what a lucky young lady :D

[LBumb]

good start ready for more

[AndrewD65]

Great review keep it up.

[pafam4]

Can't wait to read more!

[geezersgirl]

What a great birthday gift you gave her. Those memories will last a lifetime and I am sure you have given her the travel bug. Looking forward to more!

[rae.holmes]

cant wait for more!

[im4clowns]

Great start. Can't wait to read more!!!

[brazilgirl]

Am eager to read the rest !

[meatloafsfan]

cant wait for more!

 

Great start. Can't wait to read more!!!

 

Am eager to read the rest !

 

Thanks for reading! I'll be writing more very shortly!

[meatloafsfan]

What a great birthday gift you gave her. Those memories will last a lifetime and I am sure you have given her the travel bug. Looking forward to more!

 

cant wait for more!

 

Am eager to read the rest !

 

Coming right up! Thanks for reading.

[meatloafsfan]

Am eager to read the rest !

 

More coming up but I think it's going to take me a bit to finish the whole thing!

[islandgirl71]

Oh, Please come back!!!! Great review so far!!

[APDMOM]

Patricia, you have a great sense of humor! Keep us laughing. :D

[meatloafsfan]

Is that it? Is that it!?!

 

Um, no - that's not it.....

 

 

I see a Funnel!

 

 

There it is! Whoo Hoo!

 

 

 

 

So we arrived at the port just before noon.

 

We got out of the car and gave our luggage to a porter (tipped him $5 for the 3 checked bags just to be sure). Said good-bye to our driver and headed over to the port building.

 

The sun was hot and our car had pulled into the farthest spot away from the building so we had a couple minutes walk over to the building.

 

It wasn't very crowded but there was a short line for security. They also had cups of water outside (I'm guessing for the hordes of spring breakers they were expecting). When we approached the line, the Carnival employee looked at me and said I already looked hot and a little out of breath so she waved us into the VIP line as the passport check was outside the building and in the sun.

 

Once we were inside the actual building waiting to go through the scanners we moved into the regular line (my choice - once out of the sun, I saw no reason to bypass the rest of the line. I am very fair and my natural hair colour is strawberry blonde - or icky orange, as I often refer to it - so I burn super easy, which you'll see in a bit. Any chance I have to get out of the sun is a welcome one).

 

Anyways, going through security Jenna had an open bottle of Fuze juice in her bag which she ending up throwing away. The security guy thought she should just chug it down but she was not having any of that. I had a couple of bottle of sealed diet coke and coke zero in my purse and there was no problem with those - just the open juice.

 

We got upstairs to the check in desks and by the time we got through the maze of ropes, we were directed up to a desk to check in. Gave the agent our passports and my credit card and a minute later had our cards to get on the ship.

 

We got in the short line to get our security photos done and then around the corner, up the escalators and got our pictures taken for the facial recognition (not that it mattered cause we didn't get our pictures done on the cruise - neither Jenna nor I are big on having our pictures taken).

 

Finally we entered the gangway and a hop, skip and jump and we entered Deck 3 and boarded the Carnival Dream!

 

There was a Carnival Employee on the right as we entered who had some papers about the kids clubs (including Club O2) so we spoke with her for a minute and got some paper about the meet and greet for the first night for Jenna. It was nice that we had stepped over to the right because I heard another Carnival Employee stating that the Crimson Dining room was open for lunch and there was no waiting!

[meatloafsfan]

I've posted these on another post but I'll repost here and this is when I was still taking food photos......

 

I was very happy about the dining room being open because I was a little intimidated by the ship. It seemed so big and I really had no idea where I was going. The Crimson Dining room was RIGHT THERE where we entered and it was open and empty....

 

Here is the Lunch menu from the dining room

 

I wasn't too hungry (truthfully my nerves were a little on edge because the first cruise I did I got very seasick the first day. I had taken extra strength 12 hour gravol before leaving Disney this time but I still had that rock in the pit of my stomach feeling) so I ordered the Tex Mex Burger (no appetizer).

 

 

It was very good - a little spicy and very juicy. Loved the guacamole and the curly fries.

 

Jenna had ordered the chicken Ceasar salad but didn't like it because it tasted "fishy". I tried it to see what she was talking about (I thought, "really - how much anchovie paste could they have used in the dressing?") and it was truly very fishy. It tasted more like they had mixed tuna fish into the salad than anything else.

 

 

She was looking through the lettuce leaves to see if there were any without dressing on them. I told her that all food was included on the cruise so she should just order something else. She said there wasn't much else on the menu she wanted. Sigh.......

 

How about a burger? She said she didn't like all the stuff that came on it. I flagged our server and asked if she could get the burger plain and the server was happy to get her one. When it arrived, it was plain except there was cheese on it. For most that would be okay but Jenna's lactose intolerant. Luckily the cheese just peeled off so we were good to go.

 

After the entrees we tried dessert. We both ordered the vacation sundae. I have to say, "Meh". The reason I ordered this is because being leaving there was a thread on cruise critic raving about this dessert. It was okay but I wished I ordered something else.

 

 

After lunch there was still about 15 minutes before the rooms were ready so we waited in the lounge on Deck 3 by the guest services desk. I ordered my first drink of the cruise - a Funship Special.

 

 

It was very strong and took my a long while to finish it. As it was delivered by the server, it was 1:30pm so we headed down to see our home for the next two weeks......

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

Loving this review. Can't wait for the rest. That Tex Mex burger looks delicious :)

[meatloafsfan]

Oh, Please come back!!!! Great review so far!!

 

Patricia, you have a great sense of humor! Keep us laughing. :D

 

Loving this review. Can't wait for the rest. That Tex Mex burger looks delicious :)

 

A little more review coming up shortly. Thanks for reading along!

[meatloafsfan]

Wow - what is that!?!

 

 

Upon entering the room Jenna was in for such a shock! I had ordered the Birthday decorations for the cabin and they were up and they were gorgous!

There was a big hanging decoration in the middle of the room, 5 star / present hangers placed around the room, “Happy Birthday” wall banner on the wall, rows of blue stars leading to the centre of the room and then a stand up decoration on the desk.

She was surprised and I was very pleased.

 

The decorations stayed up for the whole two weeks. We brought home the centre hanging piece, the desk decoration and the "Happy Birthday" banner. We left behind the rows of stars and the little individual hangers.

 

It gave the room a very festive look. The decorations were nice but fairly unobtrusive after you got used to them. They are good quality and I can see being able to use them year after year. I kind of wish we'd brought home the stars but I can see that they would have ended up crushed and would not look as nice after trying to store them.

[Noreno]

I cant wait for more I loveeeeeeeee it

[ToesntheSand]

Awesome review! Can't wait for more, it makes me so excited even though I don't sail for 7 more months!!