Carnival Dream - 12/10/2011 - 12/17/2011

[shootr]

This review is AWESOME! Can't wait for our turn in a couple months.

 

We booked the Isla Passion Jetboat, so that looks like money well spent! What model is your camera, that video came out great.

 

Did it look like there were any snorkeling opportunities there or just relaxing/swimming/imbibing?

[rtw68]

This review is AWESOME! Can't wait for our turn in a couple months.

 

We booked the Isla Passion Jetboat, so that looks like money well spent! What model is your camera, that video came out great.

 

Did it look like there were any snorkeling opportunities there or just relaxing/swimming/imbibing?

 

Thanks! You will not regret going on this excursion. I have an el-cheapo Kodak PlaySport EIS, picked up from Wally World for around $100.00. It uses SD cards and I brought some 16GB cards and took both video and widescreen pics (5 megapixels). It records full HD 1080i and a couple other lower resolutions too. Love that camera! Just recommend you get extra batteries and a charger (I bought some off eBay).

 

The water was pretty rough and I honestly don't know if snorkeling would have been an option if it wasn't.

[tazco]

This will be a long review with lots of pics and some videos. Disclaimer: If you dont like this type of review with details about all aspects of our trip including before the cruise, thanks for looking and God bless.

 

I will discuss some of the positive and negative things I had read about previous reviews and bring up some new things along the way.

 

A couple things I want to address right off the bat:

 

"The smell" - never noticed it anywhere. I was all over the ship and didn’t encounter it once.

 

"The crowds" - this cruise wasnt any worse than our cruise on the Fantasy in January 2011. No matter what ship you go on there will be crowds at peak timex to eat, shop, swim, etc. We avoided those crazy times and never had a major problem. Hot tubs were busy at times, but we were able to use them at various locations around the ship. Pools were busy but we were able to get in and cool off in both pools during port days.

 

"The elevators" - yes they were busy, we used the stairs quite a bit. I could see that having some having mobility issues could have a long wait at times. Worst times were on embarkation, busy evening hours, and debarkation.

 

"The food" - never had a bad meal. Service was excellent in the dining room and adequate in the buffet. Food quantity and choice was never an issue for us. Food was hot and tasty. We tried new things during the week. Ate once in the Steak House and I can’t say enough how well worth the $30 up charge (per person) was. The steaks were fantastic and properly prepared. Will have photos later of that night.

 

"Ship movement" - this is one area we noticed. Granted this was only our 2nd cruise and our first large ship but the Dream wiggles, shakes, and shimmies more than I expected. Wasn’t horrible and nobody got sick but just be forewarned, the Dream likes to boogie. We had a couple rough nights due to wind and I’m sure the length and height of the ship caused all the movement. Would it keep me from going on a dream class ship again, no, but it’s definitely a consideration for those more sensitive to motion. We slept like babies each night but on the rougher nights some noises woke us up.

 

“The Dream is too big” – ok, it’s a very large ship. It wasn’t that horribly large that we couldn’t figure out where we were going. I liked the walk-around promenade deck. I can understand how the size of the Dream class would not be everyone’s favorite, but we actually enjoyed the size and layout of the ship.

 

Ok, on with the review…

 

Traveled with myself (43), DW (46), DS (19), DD (22), SIL (24), and DN (just turned 18). Our 2nd cruise, DD and SIL 2nd cruise, and DS and DN first cruise. We booked in January after our first cruise on Fantasy to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It was a long countdown from 300+ days.

 

We only planned one excursion in Cozumel (Twister and Isla Passion) and the Behind the Fun on the last sea day. This purpose of this trip was to maximize the relaxation and we were pretty lazy.

 

We all debated about driving down and found direct flights from Cleveland to Orlando so we went for it. Our returning flight changed three times. We had directs booked both coming and going but they cancelled our 3pm return flight and we had to change to a flight through Houston and would get us back 6 hours later.

 

Word of advice - check the flights often. We were able to get booked on a 2pm direct flight at no charge a couple weeks before we left.

 

We left house in “style,” a stretch hummer limo, one of the several surprises we had in store for the kids.....

 

In order - myself, SIL, DD, DW, DN, DS

 

Then we experienced the usual security the airport. Got there early enough and got through the lines quickly. I haven’t traveled recently enough to get patted down. That was an interesting experience.

 

We also made a real effort to pack as light as possible and have no checked luggage. Amazingly we did it.

 

We left Cleveland with some snow on the ground and couldn’t wait to get to sunny Florida.

 

 

We arrived on time in Orlando. Got rental vehicle for the 6 of us and drove to Cocoa Beach. I wanted to rent a vehicle so we could do some shopping and go to dinner without having to pay a taxi service to move six of us around.

 

Here I am being a "happy driver" going on Route 528. I really want to move to Florida....

 

 

Stayed at Residence Inn Cocoa Beach and had a two bedroom suite which gave us all enough room. Very nice hotel.

 

 

 

Loving your review. Brain not working right...kept thinking DN stood for dear niece and looking at the pic thought to myself "she sure has a lot of facial hair". Made another pot of coffee and finally figured it out.

[rtw68]

12-13-2011 - ISLA ROATAN

 

I had hoped that we would be able to make this port, given the Dream's size and the way the wind affects it. Fortunately, when we woke up on Tuesday morning, we were starting the spin around to back her in. :p

 

 

 

I could see why they have issues getting into port, its NARROW! As you can see from the pics, there have been accidents in the past and the last thing I would want to see is the rusted hull of the Dream sitting there! :eek:

 

 

[rtw68]

Not very deep here either!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rtw68]

 

 

SIL noticed that the lights on that little pole were used to help them back in. Completely missed that! Once they got into position, the lights went out.

 

 

 

We all got ready and got off the ship. We were going to hang out at the beach for the day and enjoy the ocean.

 

 

[rtw68]

 

 

 

 

 

[rtw68]

 

We were also in port with a Princess ship also.

 

 

 

 

 

[rtw68]

 

Hey, this looks familiar:

 

 

After relaxing on the beach and having some lunch, we went back to the ship. They were testing some of the lifeboats out.

 

 

 

 

[rtw68]

 

 

 

Had to throw in a whale tail. :D

 

 

[rtw68]

Princess was late leaving, so we couldn't go until she left.

 

 

 

Off we went

 

 

 

We went and ate in the buffet, and wanted to catch the "Dancin' in the Streets" show. It was very good. I'm always amazed how they can dance and keep their balance while the ship is moving.

 

 

[rtw68]

Here was the towel animal for the night. I guess I did have a shot of our cabin, at least the bed :p

 

 

It was another great day! We hit the hay tired and ready for a relaxing day on the ship.

 

12-13-2011 - BELIZE

 

DD and SIL were planning on taking a tender into Belize, but we were going to be lazy and take advantage of the pools/etc.

 

We watched the tenders from our balcony while enjoying our room service coffee. Man, I miss room service. Can't get the menu to come up on our TV at home to order anything....

 

 

 

 

[rtw68]

We all went to the lido for breakfast before DD & SIL left for Belize. Ahh nothing like morning food porn... :p

 

 

 

 

After breakfast, DW and I went around the ship taking more pics

 

 

[rtw68]

 

 

 

 

 

[rtw68]

 

 

 

 

 

[milor99]

Thank you for the review, looking forward to reading the rest...we do this cruise September 2012, it will be our first ever cruise :D:D

[rtw68]

 

 

We also took advantage of the aft pool and enjoyed the "sun" :rolleyes:

 

 

One other thing DW and I planned on doing was taking the kids out for steak night at the "Chef's Art." I can't tell you enough how enjoyable it was. We probably looked like a bunch of goof balls dressed up taking food porn pics, but thankfully we weren't the only ones that weren't "sophisticated." ;)

 

We got all cleaned up, dressed up, and went for our great dinner. Ok, now for some great Steak House food porn!!!

 

[rtw68]

To start out the dinner, we had several items compliments of the chef

 

 

The bread was fantastic and they had salsa, mango salsa, and butter.

 

 

 

The Escargot was out of this world

 

 

Large shrimp

 

 

Lobster Bisque

 

[rtw68]

Outstanding Crab Cake

 

 

Salad course, of course!

 

 

 

 

The Steaks were UNBELIEVABLE!!!

 

 

 

Between the six of us, we ordered the 18 ounce prime rib cut or the filet. Everyone was pleased! I didn't get a picture of it, but the Yukon Gold Mash with Wasabi and Horse Radish was very good.

[rtw68]

The next thing (hard to believe we had room) was the deserts.

 

The cheese cake was so large it made the ship list to one side:

 

 

The Chocolate Sampler was outstanding:

 

 

The fruit was DD's more sensible choice

 

 

Dinner was excellent! When we made our way back to the cabin, here was our towel animal:

 

 

Hey, somebody missed this spelling mistake...

 

 

OOPS #1!!! I forgot back on Tuesday evening that we went to see Smilin' Joe Wiley in his adult comedy show. Very funny!! He had to leave the ship on Wednesday due his grandmother passing away. I'm sure he is on Facebook and is well worth the time to listen to. Hilarious guy.

[rtw68]

The "old farts" went to bed, and the kids stayed up for the deck party

 

 

 

 

Even though we didn't venture off the ship, we really enjoyed the day in Belize!

[rtw68]

12-14-2011 - COSTA MAYA

 

Sorry we didn't do very much in terms of going on excursions or going farther into the country, but we really wanted to make this a relaxation vacation and the ship was the destination for us.

 

Costa Maya was another example of that. We just went off the ship and shopped around, which I know isn't really visiting the country, but it was ok for us. We bought more stuff for family at home and ourselves, and went back to the ship to enjoy it again.

 

The following are some pics throughout the day

 

 

 

Norwegian Star was in port as well:

 

 

 

 

[rtw68]

 

The bar stool pics are always funny:

 

 

 

 

This was a little intimidating:

 

 

Waiters dancing:

 

[rtw68]

They held the dolphin excursions right off the pier:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rtw68]

We made our way back to the ship, the water was really rough and the ships were moving up and down