Carnival Dream - Eastern Carribean (New Years Cruise Review!)

[Jbird81]

Decided to finally begin posting my family's latest cruise (2nd overall, and first with Carnival!) months late, but better soon then never eh?

 

Will begin posting the review shortly, just wanted to get this thread started so I have somewhere to post it for all of those who are interested! Stay tuned!

[Jbird81]

Day One - Full Day in Orlando, Florida

We decided to fly in one day early (arriving late the previous night) in order to tour a bit of Orlando, and see what is has to offer. We started the day off with a walk on the beach, and then late that morning headed off to the Kennedy Space Center for our first "excursion" of the vacation!

 

 

Rocket models

 

 

Example of an aircraft that astronauts fly in during the days leading up to blastoff

 

 

Huge engines on one of the retired space shuttles from a previous mission. The shuttle was massive, pictures can't even describe how massive it was!

 

[Jbird81]

Day One - Continued

 

After visiting the Space Centre (which was quite interesting to say the least!) we decided to go find a spot to get a late lunch/early dinner. I remembered hearing about Fislips on here, and had been an avid webcam watcher of the Dream for weeks leading up to our cruise date, so I suggested we head there! The food was excellent, and the appetizers were half price before something like 4:00pm I think! Snapped some photos of the ships docked there that day, Freedom of the Seas, Monarch of the Seas, and a Disney cruise ship. The air smelt incredibly strong with burning diesel from the cruise ships, so if you're sensitive to it, I suggest you stay inside of the restaurant, not outside.

 

The photos aren't the best, partly because our camera only zooms in so far!

 

 

 

After Fislips, we decided to go cruise downtown Cocoa Beach where we were staying, and popped into Ron Johns Surf Shop (quite an interesting place!) and a few other spots along the way, before heading back to the hotel for the night, knowing that in just hours we would be onboard the Carnival Dream.

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

Looking forward to your review! I sailed the Dream twice - that is my favorite ship to date :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Willbcruisin]

Following along as we sailed with you:)

 

Thanks for sharing!

[Jbird81]

Day Two - The Carnival Dream atlast!

 

At last it was finally time to board the Dream, after months of waiting! Woke up early and went for a walk with my mum, getting what I figured would be the last touch of exercise I would get for the entire trip! Didn't really start taking photos until the afternoon (atleast of anything worth noting) but here are some of them!

 

 

The Drainpipe onboard the ship! Incredible water slide, quite fast for sure. My record for going around the bowl during the cruise was 2-3 times.

 

 

An NCL cruise ship departing just before us in the line to exit port.

 

 

I was snapping away on one of the upper decks of the ship when somebody screamed that there were dolphins in the water! Of course I got camera ready and took a few dozen photos, although none of them turned out very well due to how quick they are, and how fast they disappeared! Still cool to see them though for sure.

 

 

This guy caught an impressive fish just as we were sailing out, and everyone began clapping and hollering at the catch!

 

Next up: New Years Eve food time!

[Oskial]

Looking forward to your review. My wife and I are looking at 2013 for this trip if all goes well. Thanks in advance for sharing.

[Jbird81]

Day Two - Continued

 

 

Desert menu for New Years Eve. If I remember correctly, I ordered the fresh tropical fruit plate, as well as the ever so famous.................

 

 

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake!!!!! (My first ever!)

 

 

It was also lobster night, so of course I had to get it! The lobster was excellent!

 

 

Fried Chicken was also on the menu that night, it looked very good! My brother ordered it, I wish I had ordered both! :)

[Jbird81]

Due to the busy day on the ship exploring, etc shockingly the entire family stayed back in the cabins during the New Years celebrations up on deck. My brother and I watched the Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper countdown which was quite good. Still wish I had crawled out of my tiredness and went up to the lido deck though!

 

Day Three - Nassau, Bahamas

 

Woke up to see the ship docked in Nassau, Bahamas! This would be our first visit (for any of us!) to the area, so we were looking forward to a day there. We decided to head over to Atlantis and mosey about there for the day since it was such a short port visit, with the ship leaving near the end of the afternoon.

 

 

Our first real view of the Dream! All others had really been obstructed due to the hustle and bustle of Port Canaveral when we boarded. Finally was able to appreciate the sheer size of her, she is an amazing ship!

 

 

Another shot of the Dream!

 

 

This was one of my first shots at Atlantis, of the bridge suite between the two of the towers there. Did you know it costs roughly $25,000 a night to stay there? Incredible suite by the looks of it, though!

 

 

 

Stunning Christmas tree just off the lobby in the hotel.

 

 

 

Shot from the centre of the lobby

[Jbird81]

 

Due to the obvious fact New Years has just occurred, we knew that the marina would be full of expensive yachts! We were ever right, the marina was packed with ships of all shapes and sizes (although mostly large in size).

 

 

After a few hours at Atlantis walking around, we decided to head back to the ship for the remainder of the afternoon. Right on schedule we pulled out of port, and I snapped a few quick photos before Nassau was out of sight.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, I had a nice pot roast on our Nassau day on the ship, topping it all off with a nice cappucino and creme brulet!

 

[bobsfamily]

Thanks for the review, will be on the Dream this Nov... got a short cruise in May to help with the wait.

[Jbird81]

Looking forward to your review! I sailed the Dream twice - that is my favorite ship to date :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

She is one of my favourite ships too, great food, service, and well organized!

 

Following along as we sailed with you:)

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

 

Awesome, glad to see a fellow NY Cruiser again! Quite the week we had eh, Id do it all over again in a heartbeat!

 

Looking forward to your review. My wife and I are looking at 2013 for this trip if all goes well. Thanks in advance for sharing.

 

Hope you are able to book the Dream for next year, I am sure you would be quite impressed by the ship! :)

[navybaby1113]

We saw dolphins when we sailed out on the Dream too. Only port we've ever seen them. Coolest site ever!

 

Loving your review!

[Jbird81]

Thanks for the review, will be on the Dream this Nov... got a short cruise in May to help with the wait.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise in May! Wish we had booked a cruise to break up the waiting period, but then again I guess you'd have two cruises to wait for, which could be more exciting!

We saw dolphins when we sailed out on the Dream too. Only port we've ever seen them. Coolest site ever!

 

Loving your review!

 

It was the first time I've ever seen them at a port too, so it was quite cool! Thanks for the comment too! :)

[bobsfamily]

Love seeing the dolphins, we see them quite a bit. We have to cross a bridge no matter what to get to the barrier island we live on so chances are we will see some.

More Review!

[palmtree12345]

Love all the photos you took,really made me feel that I was right there too!!! Can't wait to sail the Dream April 21 2012....thinking of booking the Breeze for next year for 8 day Southern Caribbean Cruise,she will have her first sail this June I believe..... Thanks again for sharing your pics......

[palmtree12345]

Oh BTW I have been reading way toooo many negative things about the Dream...This is our 1st time on her but our 9th Cruise all total...the comments range but mostly the comments were about the swaying of the ship and how sea sick everyone gets....I am not one prone to motion sickness but our 42 year old Son and Daughter in law (this is their 1st Cruise that I talked them into) think they will get sick.....I have always kinda thought if you take your mind off the worring you will be ok....lol I am bringing Dramamen and the patches ,just to be on the safe side ,I have always brought a drug store it seems... just to cover minor sickness....lol

 

sorry I hit the send button to fast on my above post.....

[Jbird81]

Oh BTW I have been reading way toooo many negative things about the Dream...This is our 1st time on her but our 9th Cruise all total...the comments range but mostly the comments were about the swaying of the ship and how sea sick everyone gets....I am not one prone to motion sickness but our 42 year old Son and Daughter in law (this is their 1st Cruise that I talked them into) think they will get sick.....I have always kinda thought if you take your mind off the worring you will be ok....lol I am bringing Dramamen and the patches ,just to be on the safe side ,I have always brought a drug store it seems... just to cover minor sickness....lol

 

sorry I hit the send button to fast on my above post.....

 

It could be possible yeah, we only had one rough night because the ship was speeding up to get to St. Thomas early for a medical emergency (arrived approximately 2-3 hours early). The rest of the days were fine for roughness, the ship handles it quite well. I'd take the patches for sure, and the Dramamen to be on the safe side.

[Jbird81]

Day Three - At Sea

 

Today was our first Sea Day, which we were quite ready for. Wish Nassau had been at the end of the cruise, as a sea day before would have been quite preferable for us. Today we slept in, and crawled on up to the breakfast buffet a bit later than we would've liked to, buy hey, we're on vacation!

 

 

I decided to hit the afternoon tea on the first sea day, as I had heard how excellent it was from members on Cruise Critic. It was incredible, I really enjoyed the assorted sweets they had on the trolley. Had an amazing chocolate cake with fruit on top (gotta keep it healthy on vacation ;)), and a nice cup of tea. Would definitely go to this event again on a future cruise, no doubt about it!

 

 

 

 

This is my meal from that night, starting off with a nice french onion soup. It was very good, one of the best I've had. For my main course, I had a meatloaf; it was okay, but not the best I had ever had. For desert, I had a tasty cheesecake, which I poured the strawberry sauce over, along with a cappuccino. For some weird reason cappuccinos on cruise ships taste way better than the bitter ones back here in Ontario!

 

 

I took this photo that evening, after the Cruise Director, Gary Brierley announced there as a passenger on board who was experiencing a medical emergency, and that the ship would increase it's speed to arrive into St. Thomas earlier for them to be taken care of. The wind that night became incredible, the television in my statement showed that it was nearly 84 km/hr winds in the peak of the night! The ship did rock during this time, but not nearly enough to make me sick.

 

I think we also hit a comedy show that evening, which got us hooked on them for the rest of the cruise. They were hilarious; the comedians Carnival booked were very popular with most of the passengers. I even went back to one of the shows twice, and found the same punchlines and jokes just as funny the second time around.

[Jbird81]

 

After the evening's entertainment, I headed back to the room for the night to find a towel animal, a seal! It took me a moment to realize what exactly it was (partly because I was considerably tired), but liked it!

 

Unfortunately I didn't really take many photos that day, which I regret now! I guess I just got too busy on that day at sea! Up next is St. Thomas!

[Jbird81]

Will post the review of St. Thomas tonight. :)

[Rhitson88]

Awesome review so far. Excited to finally read a review of the Eastern as the majority of reviews are of the Western which are good to look at the ship, but considering I am going on the Eastern aboard the Dream in May it does me no good. So can't wait to read the rest.

[KrystalWaters]

Good start...looking forward to the rest:)

[Jbird81]

Awesome review so far. Excited to finally read a review of the Eastern as the majority of reviews are of the Western which are good to look at the ship, but considering I am going on the Eastern aboard the Dream in May it does me no good. So can't wait to read the rest.

 

I found that too when I was looking for reviews of the Dream, and was one of the reasons why I finally decided to do the review!

 

Good start...looking forward to the rest:)

 

Thanks!

[gelo7]

Great start...