How NCL cruisers lived The Dream: 1/5/13 Review w pics, Western Carib

[tomsuelaw]

Inside the cave we had headlamps on, blurry pic but you get the idea:

 

 

Exiting the cave:

 

 

Charlie giving us a lessons on plant life, be prepared to eat something weird (optional of course), we tried a plant with a sweet flavor and lots of water inside...good for dehydration.

 

[tomsuelaw]

Next we headed to Blue Hole (a natural sink hole and fresh water spring.) Blue Hole is basically a gorgeous tropical swimming hole. With the resent rain, the normally crystal clear blue waters were a little murky. It was still beautiful. It was a fun and refreshing swim. Again, having life vests for the kids was great as they could swim and enjoy the spring.

 

Again, the pics do not do it justice.

 

 

 

 

 

After this we headed back to port. Charlie had us back with about 2 hours to spare!! We had a full day of fun and sights though. I hope next time we are in Belize, we get to cave tube, and we will be sure to book with Charlie again!

 

Back at port

 

 

Watching Belize fade away from tenders:

 

 

Back on the ship we headed to the lido for a late lunch. We had a great day! We were 2 for 2 for good port days but our luck was about to run out!

 

[tomsuelaw]

So funny! we were on the same cruise...In fact in the picture where you mentioned the Chogs (love that term BTW) I am in the bottom right corner...black sunglasses sitting next to a man who is facing the chair next to him.

 

Paradise Beach looked nice. We did Mr. Sanchos that day. We had a TON of fun....great service. I almost booked Paradise, but friends reccomended Sanchos so we did it.

 

Oh Amy, that is funny! Thanks for being cool about it. Hope you didn't mind making a cameo appearance. :D

[wb3690]

Oh Amy, that is funny! Thanks for being cool about it. Hope you didn't mind making a cameo appearance. :D

 

haha no worries. I figure with as many pictures as I take someone will see them in one eventually!

[Cruzface]

Great review! We did Paradise Beach last Feb and cave tubing in Belize. So sorry you missed out, but what a great attitude! If you get a chance to go again, try to do the cave tubing with VIP. We loved the tubes. Very informative and relaxing. Our kids said it was the best thing they ever did.

[oncruisecontrol]

Excellent review. Glad you had a good time.

[magictam]

Hi, I've done a fast visual search and couldn't find if you've already posted this. But I was wondering if you remember which nights were formal?

Great review and loving the pictures!

[tomsuelaw]

Hi, I've done a fast visual search and couldn't find if you've already posted this. But I was wondering if you remember which nights were formal?

Great review and loving the pictures!

 

Sunday night and Thursday night.

[tomsuelaw]

Roatan/Sea Day 2 Booo!

 

We arrived at the inlet of Mahogony Bay as scheduled. The info channel was saying 80km/hr winds. As soon as I saw this I knew we were done for. We watched as the harbor pilot and captain made multiple attempts to back us up into the harbor. After multiple tries, they called it. We saw the harbor pilot exiting the ship, back to his boat as the captain came on to tell us it was a no go.

 

What a bummer, but somewhat expected considering we knew this happens from time to time. Honestly, with our track record of missed ports, I was pretty sure we would not set foot on Isla Roatan but I had kept my hopes up until this point.

 

It was a somber start to the day as we, and the rest of the 4000 pax headed to the lido for breakfast. The spirit of the ship was over all bummed. The staff tried extra hard to be extra cheerful and spin the situation positively. I appreciated their effort.

 

After breakfast, DD went to kids club while DH, DS, and I headed to the mid ship pool. It was very windy, no doubt! It was about this time that I started to recover from the morning's bad news.

 

I was determined to have fun when the captain came on again with more bad news. He informed us that extreme winds and storms were expected tomorrow in Costa Maya and that we would not be able to dock there either....oh poop, not again! But....oh the sweet sound of but....where would this but lead us...?? Nassau, on Friday.

 

Ok, I could except that. Especially since costa maya was only a half day in port (7a-2p). Nassau was going to be from 8am till 4pm. Plus, DH and I recently visited Nassau so I had some research done already with an idea of a game plan.

 

So after this, I resigned myself to back 2 back sea days, being thankful that we still had one port day to look fwd too! In addition, the weather was nice and warm despite the crazy wind speeds.

 

 

DFIL and DBIL both won the coveted ship on a stick for winning a corn hole competition.

 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was a blur. Water slides, lunch, pool. Followed by dinner, fun force interactive show, superstar karaoke and legends try-outs. Turned out to be fairly decent day in the end.

 

This was the 1st day that the larger waterslides (drainpipe and twister) closed but the Racers and kids area stayed open.

 

 

 

 

Fun Force Interactive Show: I did not personally go but my family enjoyed it. While they did that, I headed to Super Star Karaoke.

 

 

 

 

FYI: Super Star Karaoke was a lot of fun. You get to sing to a live band. The band was amazing.

 

 

DS got her face painted at Camp Carnival, she was excited to be a tiger...but now a tired tiger!

 

[tomsuelaw]

Sea Day 3 (supposed to be costa maya):

 

Started the day with Punchliners brunch. Used our VIFP free drink coupon at the end of brunch because for some reason it seemed ok to me to drink a martini at 10:50am instead of 9:45 when we 1st arrived. Haha. DH was excited to try a top shelf cognac for free.

 

DS was excited her milk came in a fancy glass!

 

 

 

After that, we committed ourselves to a full day of chilling. Dropped kids off at camp carnival and relaxed and took a nap. It was amazing. After that we picked up DS and chilled by the aft pool. It was quiet and relaxing back there. We really enjoyed it.

 

It was Thursday night so our last Elegent night. We got dressed up, got a family photo done, which turned out well so we purchased it. Dinner tonight was especially good. The Chateaubriand was amazing!

 

 

 

Once again hit the 8:30pm family comedy show. It was really good. I can't remember the guys name but he was really funny. After that, we made our way into The Song Lounge for some karaoke. It was a little lame that night but I do like to sing.

 

 

 

We picked up DD from Camp Carnival and she said she was hungry. We headed to the lido where we found Monsters Inc playing on the big screen. We ate pizza and ice cream and enjoyed the sea side theater. DD loved it.

 

[Georgiagolfer]

Really enjoying your review. Bummer about the missed ports, but it happens to all of us. Glad you were able to make the best of things.

[Buckett]

Thanks for your review and the pictures! I'm sailing on the Dream for the first time in March and this is really getting me excited! :D

[Title39]

Great review, looking forward to our August cruise. Love looking at all of the island and beach pictures. Did I forget to mention it is 14 degrees outside right now.

[SMSACE6]

Thanks for your review and photos. Your kids are adorable!

 

Also thanks for the CCl vs NCL comparisons. After 5 Carnival cruises ( all very good ) Im going back to NCL for my next one.

 

Thanks again for your review, I would love to sail one day on the Dream.

[tomsuelaw]

Friday, Nassau: finally another port day!

 

Pulling into port.

 

 

 

As I said before, we recently visited Nassua and in my past research I heard about the Sheraton Beach Resort selling day passes. We decided to make that our plan along with DSIL and her fam. DFIL and DMIL decided on doing the Adastra Gardens and City Tour offered thru CCL.

 

We ordered room service (which came successfully this time, yeah!). We got off the ship right away at 8am without any problem. We walked thru the terminal and straight to the taxi's. The driver told us it would be $5pp each way. We hopped in the shared taxi van (jitney) and we were on our way.

 

Upon arrival to the Sheraton, we were directed to the front desk where we bought our passes. They were $25 pp, the lils were free.

 

The resort was amazingly beautiful. 3 pools, 1 heated with a swim up bar, 1 not heated with a zero entry point (great for kids), and another not heated with waterfalls, all with beautiful landscaping and palm trees. The beach was really nice with 100s of loungers and even a few hammocks. It was a great place to relax and play.

 

 

 

 

We ordered lunch at the restaurant on scene by the central pool. A bit $ but very good. There was a live steal drum player that came later after lunch. It was a great day, but cloudy at times. A bit chilly so the heated pool was really nice.

 

 

[tomsuelaw]

Hammocks on the beach.

 

 

From the beach we watched other cruise ship arrive into port. Here is the Norwegian Epic.

 

 

 

All in all, it was a great way to spend a day in Nassau.

 

When we were ready to leave, there was a taxi van ready to take us back for the same price. We got back to port with plenty of time left for a little shopping. We got back on the ship with 15min to spare.

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

Thanks for taking the time to post this fabulous review! Looking forward to the rest of it

[tomsuelaw]

While we were having fun, relaxing at the sheraton, DMIL and DFIL went on the Adastra Gardens and City Tour through CCL and then walked around Nassau afterward. Overall, they seemed to like it but I think they felt it was too short (2.5hours). They felt rushed thru the gardens. Here are some pics from their day.

 

Adastra Gardens:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[tomsuelaw]

They walked around Nassau, Found some cool churches and walked to Junkanoo Beach for pics of the ships.

 

Fort and water tour was part of their tour, I believe.

 

 

 

View from water tower, I believe, could be wrong since I wasn't there.

 

 

 

Churches they stumbled across while exploring the city on their own.

 

 

 

View from Junkanoo Beach.

 

[tomsuelaw]

Once back on the ship we watched Nassau drift away from our balcony which had a temporary break from its "water park" state since there was no sea spray while we were in port. It stayed dry long enough for us to watch Nassau disappear in the distance.

 

Obligatory Atlantis Shot.

 

 

Pulling away from the Epic.

 

 

Farewell Nassau.

 

 

 

We had one last lovely dinner in the MDR. It was bacon Mac and cheese. It was yummy.

 

After dinner we again did the 8:30pm comedy show. It was also very funny...hilarious. After that we went back to our room to start packing to leave :(

[tomsuelaw]

Disembarkation Day: waking up from our Dream.

Got up, got ready, and headed to a busy Scarlet MDR for breakfast. It was good and more effecient then normal.

 

With FTTF you decide when you want to get off. You can opt for priority disembark tags to get off early. Or you can pick your own time and get the corresponding tag number from guest services. We picked a 8:30 time.

 

We finished breakfast just before 8:30 and our number had already been called for disembark. We went to the atrium, skipped the line, and walked right off the ship around 8:45.

 

And that was it, just like that our Dream was over, we awoke to the reality of port Canaveral. It was an easy transition though to reality. A porter helped us with our luggage and we sailed thru customs. We walked out to the shuttle area and found a Park n Cruise shuttle waiting for us. It was great. We were backed to our cars and ready to pull out but 9:30am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was great week. In the end, I came away a CCL fan. I think I slightly prefer CCL over NCL. But DH and his parents both still like NCL a little better. We all agreed that next time it will come down to itinerary and price! Game on. :p

 

Now, what to do next year? :cool:

[trickaby]

Thanks for your review, loved your pictures! Getting excited to sail on her in April, 89 days to go! :)

[kellyrnh]

Great review! We leave in just a few weeks so I was really excited to read about your trip. Glad you had a great time!

[travlngrl1996]

Now I'm really excited to get this party started :D. Very good review. I appreciate the work that you put into this.