Our Thomson Dream review.

[gizzie4]

Finally got round to this. Hope it's not too long winded. It is only our opinion, and not having been on the Dream before, we can only write it as we saw it.

 

Will do a little bit on the intineraries in a seperate post.

 

We set of for our cruise, with an open mind, determined to enjoy ourselves. The outbound flight, which i was concerned about, went very smoothly, food was reasonable and the transfer excellent.

The embarkation felt like we were being herded like sheep through a shed, but we were soon on the ship and were quickly shown to our cabin.

 

The Cabin

First impression were good, it was spacious and clean. The bed was comfortable and our cabin steward, Ujang was lovely. Noticed that the tea & coffee facilities, only had cream to use for tea, but we filled a cup with milk from the lido and put it in the fridge. We found out that the mattress was too small for the metal bed base after i hit my shin on the corner of it. After reporting it, makeshift padding was applied to each corner,in the shape of a flannel and masking tape, and i was left with a cut and bruising to my shinbone which remained with me for the duration. The shower was powerful but confusing and took a while to get use to. We also found that some of the metal skirting was coming away and around the headboard, there were quite a few splits in the wood, which had been filled with white filler, which looked really unsightly. A bit of vibration, and also the ceiling panels rattled quite a lot, we found wads of paper had been wedged around the entire panelled area which was strange. So although the cabin was comfortable it was a bit tatty.

 

The Lido.

 

The waiters in the Lido, were generally a friendly bunch, was not keen on the layout, it was a little cold at times, but clean and bright. Food choice was reasonable, though at breakfast, toast was always cold and hard and the beans and bacon, barely warm. Tea and coffee ok, and people were filling water bottles from the machine.

 

Sirens.

 

We found a some of the waiters in the bar at Sirens to be rather surly and slow to serve. However, the food was better and hotter than lido and we commented that we enjoyed the cowboy pie, which resulted in it being cooked especially for us on another day. The Jacuzzi was nice, didn't use the pools. Was hard to find a seat when it got busy. It was not too hard to get a sunbed on any deck if we wanted one, though towels were left out.

 

Orion.

We ate here most nights and the food on the whole was very good. Service was often slow as they got very busy, but we did enjoy it.

 

We did not use the grill.

 

The drinks

 

We purchased a drinks package. The drinks were not very good, The coke was nearly always flat, the lager was not too bad, the cocktails tasted different depending on which bar you were in, and 2 different waiters insisted that Black Russian does not have coke in it. Usually too much ice in the drinks so i started having my cocktails without. One of the waitresses got rather stroppy with me when i mentioned my coke was flat and she took it away and banged the glass and tray on the bar! I suppose the long hours they put in don't help.

 

For the smokers.

 

Smoking allowed on Deck 9 and 12 starboard side and at the back on deck 7 & 8. Quite cosy on decks 7 & 8

 

The entertainment.

 

We went to a lot of the shows in Broadway which were fairly good, but not the best we've seen. The CD got on our nerves saying arrrr at the end of each sentence and a lot of people commented on this.

 

Top Men, very good versatile band catering for everyone. Would have liked to see people up dancing, like they did on Celebration, but this is not the band's fault.

 

Elegant touch- Ocean Bar. Nice easy listening to be had in here and a few people were up dancing. Seemed quite popular.

 

Island Wonder. Aaargh, my head. The female singer was awful, we only stayed for 2 songs. They also appeared outside in Sirens, and we gave her another chance but had to move decks after her screeching gave me a headache.

 

The entertainment hosts.

Aimie, Adam, Mark and the others. Worked very hard to keep everyone happy.

Mark (who i wasn't keen on at first) turned out to be a very comical character.

 

Crew show.

Excellent Well done all! loved crew cuts and Hazel has a lovely voice.

 

Last day.

We were told to be on deck 4 for 3.55pm we were asked to stand outside for a while,whilst the bus arrived to pick us up, which turned into about 40 minutes. Transfer to airport ok. The flight home was a bit bumpy and the food not very nice. We had a rather bumpy, swervy, landing.

 

All in all we enjoyed our Cruise, mainly due to the people we met on the ship, and not really the ship itself. Although it looked nice in parts, there was a lot of shoddy repairs, with white filler appearing in all sorts of strange places. Hubby said toilet fitting was loose and i noticed trim hanging off and screws sticking out of the toilet cubicles. Having been on the Celebration last year, we didn't think it was any better, despite Thomson classing it as platinum. We would not agree with this. For us we preferred the Celebration, the atmosphere, layout, crew and drinks were far better. Was lovely to meet Joe Holiday and his wife, we had a lovely trip with Cosol Tours, which i will mention in another post. Think i have covered most things and hope i haven't

[gizzie4]

sorry some words missing should say hope i haven't bored you all with our review :D

[davecttr]

Cabin number?

 

It does not sound like a platinum cabin :(

[gizzie4]

Cabin number?

 

It does not sound like a platinum cabin :(

 

cabin 5104. deck 5

[Stevio]

Thanks for your detailed review… I seem to remember previous complaints about outside cabins at the centre of the ship being overly creaky, with bits of padding wedging noisy panels. I recall a theory that those cabins that lie in the previously “stretched” central area of lengthened ship were particularly prone to it… Perhaps we will see a pattern forming on Sailaway’s cabin comparison list?

Anyhow , thanks Gizzie4 for your well thought through review. I appreciate all your effort, & hope your shin has recovered.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I have noticed that complaints about the Dream often seem to involve deck 5. We have only stayed on deck 7. Both cabins were fine and we have booked deck 7 again for next time.

[gizzie4]

Thanks for your detailed review… I seem to remember previous complaints about outside cabins at the centre of the ship being overly creaky, with bits of padding wedging noisy panels. I recall a theory that those cabins that lie in the previously “stretched” central area of lengthened ship were particularly prone to it… Perhaps we will see a pattern forming on Sailaway’s cabin comparison list?

Anyhow , thanks Gizzie4 for your well thought through review. I appreciate all your effort, & hope your shin has recovered.

 

Recovered nicely thank you :D

[Tizzy]

Thank-you Gizzie4 for your very detailed reveiw. I had been watching out for it.

It is always best to be honest and tell the whole story. It doesn't help anyone if you say everything is wonderful when some things are not.

There do seem to be some problems on Deck 5.

I hit my knee on the side of a bed in a Hotel and it really hurt. I am glad you are feeling better. Thanks again for the review. I enjoyed reading it.

[gizzie4]

Thank-you Gizzie4 for your very detailed reveiw. I had been watching out for it.

It is always best to be honest and tell the whole story. It doesn't help anyone if you say everything is wonderful when some things are not.

There do seem to be some problems on Deck 5.

I hit my knee on the side of a bed in a Hotel and it really hurt. I am glad you are feeling better. Thanks again for the review. I enjoyed reading it.

 

You are very welcome Tizzy

[Doc2410]

Thanks for the review. We always pre book on deck 5 as we always enjoy that deck & haven't had any problems. We have an outside plus & have booked the same cabin for our next two cruises. Such a shame you didn't enjoy the ship but glad you had a lovely holiday :)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[kruzseeka]

Bit of a mixed bag then gizzie. Sorry that it didn't live up to expectations and that you found the ambience on Dream disappointing after such a good trip on Celebration. Not good to hear about the less than usual excellent service from some of the crew either.

 

Hope that didn't spoil you holiday and that you enjoyed your break and the ports of call though - and of course seeing Darren. I look forward to reading about what you did at the various destinations. Glad Cosol delivered - such a good day out.

 

Pleased to hear you are ok though after your injury. :)

[geomagot]

great review, many thanks for this gizzie, pleased that you had a good time

 

sorry to hear you scraped your shins...our bed frame was also padded out with a patchwork of towels and duck tape...also noticed that when the sofa bed is made up it exposes quite a bit of metalwork and springs underneath.....easy for small kids to get their fingers in there?

 

I agree there’s also a worrying new trend emerging??.....I also noticed....a couple of surly waiters and sometimes slow service....especially bar service on the sirens pool deck:(

 

also a pattern emerging re deck 5 outside plus cabins creaky/noisy/vibrations coming thru the walls (I was also on deck 5) wonder if dream is beginning to show her age?

 

the screeching girl on sirens deck!!....the steel drum player is very talented tho...thankfully top men and the fab crew show make up for it:cool:

[kruzseeka]

 

the screeching girl on sirens deck!!....the steel drum player is very talented tho...thankfully top men and the fab crew show make up for it:cool:

 

Yes - it was such a shame too as if she didn't go in for all the extemporising and singing out of her range she did actually have a lovely voice in the lower register and was nice to listen to. Lovely timbre and rich. But I do know what you mean - all this exploring of notes up and down the scales and forced singing in the upper range drove us away too! :rolleyes:

[Jim The Scot]

The Cabin

First impression were good, it was spacious and clean. The bed was comfortable and our cabin steward, Ujang was lovely. Noticed that the tea & coffee facilities, only had cream to use for tea, but we filled a cup with milk from the lido and put it in the fridge. We found out that the mattress was too small for the metal bed base after i hit my shin on the corner of it. After reporting it, makeshift padding was applied to each corner,in the shape of a flannel and masking tape, and i was left with a cut and bruising to my shinbone which remained with me for the duration. The shower was powerful but confusing and took a while to get use to.

 

 

Have to agree with you gizzie regards the mattresses being too small for the bed base(or the bed base being too big for the mattress).The same on Deck 6 something I forgot to mention in my cabin review to Sailaway....Also agree with the shower,with two shower heads it was initially confusing,it was like showering under the Niagara Falls.Knew the script after our first cruise

 

We purchased a drinks package. The drinks were not very good, The coke was nearly always flat, the lager was not too bad, the cocktails tasted different depending on which bar you were in, and 2 different waiters insisted that Black Russian does not have coke in it. Usually too much ice in the drinks so i started having my cocktails without. One of the waitresses got rather stroppy with me when i mentioned my coke was flat and she took it away and banged the glass and tray on the bar! I suppose the long hours they put in don't help.

 

When they changed the AI package to no tin mixers(unless you pay a supplement)and only mixers by the glass or poured at the bar by the bar staff flat coke and the likes was always going to be an issue.Flat coke in in my spirits will be returned...Too much ice is the way round a lesser measure of spirits

 

All in all we enjoyed our Cruise, mainly due to the people we met on the ship, and not really the ship itself. Although it looked nice in parts, there was a lot of shoddy repairs, with white filler appearing in all sorts of strange places. Hubby said toilet fitting was loose and i noticed trim hanging off and screws sticking out of the toilet cubicles. Having been on the Celebration last year, we didn't think it was any better, despite Thomson classing it as platinum. We would not agree with this. For us we preferred the Celebration, the atmosphere, layout, crew and drinks were far better.

 

 

Coming from OV2 to the Dream I must admit the first 3/4 days of our first cruise on the Dream my intial reaction was "I didn`t like it" however it grew on me

 

Gizzie,have you been on the Celebration since it changed its classification to "Platinum"?It may be not as good as it was the last time,just a thought

 

 

Thanks for the review and glad you still enjoyed your cruise

[gizzie4]

Bit of a mixed bag then gizzie. Sorry that it didn't live up to expectations and that you found the ambience on Dream disappointing after such a good trip on Celebration. Not good to hear about the less than usual excellent service from some of the crew either.

 

Hope that didn't spoil you holiday and that you enjoyed your break and the ports of call though - and of course seeing Darren. I look forward to reading about what you did at the various destinations. Glad Cosol delivered - such a good day out.

 

Pleased to hear you are ok though after your injury. :)

No We didn't let it spoil things and the itineraries were lovely thanks

[joeholiday2]

Hi Gill.

 

Thanks for the review.

 

 

We found our cabin very well appointed, no bits falling off or sharp edges anywhere, apart from the rattles when underway it was very good.

 

I think we used the Lido twice, always ate breakfast and Lunch in Sirens except for one morning we did the Orion, it was OK but we went back to the Sirens after that. We found the waiters in Sirens good, especially at breakfast, we always sat on the side nearest the Grill, maybe that was the difference.

 

I think the trick with the Orion is to find a good waiter (like Manny) and stick with him, we always waited in the queue (never pushed in like some do...arrgh) and sometimes ended up waiting on the settees outside for a table on his section. It was worth the wait. Our first night was with someone other than Manny and the service was very slow.

 

We did not do the AI package and found the drinks fine, but most of them were just G&T's and the occasional cider, which was a good pint.

 

We didn't really use any bar other than Medusa, so can't really comment on the other acts, to be honest we became Top Men groupies, not bothering with the other acts.

 

You are spot on with your comments on the CD......

 

Must dash, got a 1pm class to be in...

 

Joe.

[stevedeccaman]

Have to agree with you gizzie regards the mattresses being too small for the bed base(or the bed base being too big for the mattress).The same on Deck 6 something I forgot to mention in my cabin review to Sailaway....Also agree with the shower,with two shower heads it was initially confusing,it was like showering under the Niagara Falls.Knew the script after our first cruise

 

 

 

When they changed the AI package to no tin mixers(unless you pay a supplement)and only mixers by the glass or poured at the bar by the bar staff flat coke and the likes was always going to be an issue.Flat coke in in my spirits will be returned...Too much ice is the way round a lesser measure of spirits

 

 

 

 

Coming from OV2 to the Dream I must admit the first 3/4 days of our first cruise on the Dream my intial reaction was "I didn`t like it" however it grew on me

 

Gizzie,have you been on the Celebration since it changed its classification to "Platinum"?It may be not as good as it was the last time,just a thought

 

 

Thanks for the review and glad you still enjoyed your cruise

===============================================

Jim we are on Celebration 25 April repo job from Red Sea (well it is mrs deccawoman's 60th:eek:)

went on her last year (the ship I mean :o)

 

will let you know if for better or worse........

(again the ship I mean!!!:D).

----------------------------

Giizzie how is Darren ?

 

Stevie:)

[gizzie4]

===============================================

Jim we are on Celebration 25 April repo job from Red Sea (well it is mrs deccawoman's 60th:eek:)

went on her last year (the ship I mean :o)

 

will let you know if for better or worse........

(again the ship I mean!!!:D).

----------------------------

Giizzie how is Darren ?

 

Stevie:)

 

Darren is fine thanks Steve, currently staying with his girlfriend Sarah and looking at options for work. :D

[toonhibby]

Finally got round to this. Hope it's not too long winded. It is only our opinion, and not having been on the Dream before, we can only write it as we saw it.

 

Will do a little bit on the intineraries in a seperate post.

 

We set of for our cruise, with an open mind, determined to enjoy ourselves. The outbound flight, which i was concerned about, went very smoothly, food was reasonable and the transfer excellent.

The embarkation felt like we were being herded like sheep through a shed, but we were soon on the ship and were quickly shown to our cabin.

 

The Cabin

First impression were good, it was spacious and clean. The bed was comfortable and our cabin steward, Ujang was lovely. Noticed that the tea & coffee facilities, only had cream to use for tea, but we filled a cup with milk from the lido and put it in the fridge. We found out that the mattress was too small for the metal bed base after i hit my shin on the corner of it. After reporting it, makeshift padding was applied to each corner,in the shape of a flannel and masking tape, and i was left with a cut and bruising to my shinbone which remained with me for the duration. The shower was powerful but confusing and took a while to get use to. We also found that some of the metal skirting was coming away and around the headboard, there were quite a few splits in the wood, which had been filled with white filler, which looked really unsightly. A bit of vibration, and also the ceiling panels rattled quite a lot, we found wads of paper had been wedged around the entire panelled area which was strange. So although the cabin was comfortable it was a bit tatty.

 

The Lido.

 

The waiters in the Lido, were generally a friendly bunch, was not keen on the layout, it was a little cold at times, but clean and bright. Food choice was reasonable, though at breakfast, toast was always cold and hard and the beans and bacon, barely warm. Tea and coffee ok, and people were filling water bottles from the machine.

 

Sirens.

 

We found a some of the waiters in the bar at Sirens to be rather surly and slow to serve. However, the food was better and hotter than lido and we commented that we enjoyed the cowboy pie, which resulted in it being cooked especially for us on another day. The Jacuzzi was nice, didn't use the pools. Was hard to find a seat when it got busy. It was not too hard to get a sunbed on any deck if we wanted one, though towels were left out.

 

Orion.

We ate here most nights and the food on the whole was very good. Service was often slow as they got very busy, but we did enjoy it.

 

We did not use the grill.

 

The drinks

 

We purchased a drinks package. The drinks were not very good, The coke was nearly always flat, the lager was not too bad, the cocktails tasted different depending on which bar you were in, and 2 different waiters insisted that Black Russian does not have coke in it. Usually too much ice in the drinks so i started having my cocktails without. One of the waitresses got rather stroppy with me when i mentioned my coke was flat and she took it away and banged the glass and tray on the bar! I suppose the long hours they put in don't help.

 

For the smokers.

 

Smoking allowed on Deck 9 and 12 starboard side and at the back on deck 7 & 8. Quite cosy on decks 7 & 8

 

The entertainment.

 

We went to a lot of the shows in Broadway which were fairly good, but not the best we've seen. The CD got on our nerves saying arrrr at the end of each sentence and a lot of people commented on this.

 

Top Men, very good versatile band catering for everyone. Would have liked to see people up dancing, like they did on Celebration, but this is not the band's fault.

 

Elegant touch- Ocean Bar. Nice easy listening to be had in here and a few people were up dancing. Seemed quite popular.

 

Island Wonder. Aaargh, my head. The female singer was awful, we only stayed for 2 songs. They also appeared outside in Sirens, and we gave her another chance but had to move decks after her screeching gave me a headache.

 

The entertainment hosts.

Aimie, Adam, Mark and the others. Worked very hard to keep everyone happy.

Mark (who i wasn't keen on at first) turned out to be a very comical character.

 

Crew show.

Excellent Well done all! loved crew cuts and Hazel has a lovely voice.

 

Last day.

We were told to be on deck 4 for 3.55pm we were asked to stand outside for a while,whilst the bus arrived to pick us up, which turned into about 40 minutes. Transfer to airport ok. The flight home was a bit bumpy and the food not very nice. We had a rather bumpy, swervy, landing.

 

All in all we enjoyed our Cruise, mainly due to the people we met on the ship, and not really the ship itself. Although it looked nice in parts, there was a lot of shoddy repairs, with white filler appearing in all sorts of strange places. Hubby said toilet fitting was loose and i noticed trim hanging off and screws sticking out of the toilet cubicles. Having been on the Celebration last year, we didn't think it was any better, despite Thomson classing it as platinum. We would not agree with this. For us we preferred the Celebration, the atmosphere, layout, crew and drinks were far better. Was lovely to meet Joe Holiday and his wife, we had a lovely trip with Cosol Tours, which i will mention in another post. Think i have covered most things and hope i haven't

New to this but thanks very much for your review,found it very informative and very helpful as we will be on the dream in Oct for our first cruise.Thanks again

[blossom52]

Got to agree about Top Men we thought they were fab!! Bit dissapointed about the show team, we told my sister how fab the shows were but they were not as good as previous ones on Dream last year and Celebration in Jan.

Gizzie, I think we met on the Corsol trip and spoke about your son, glad he is ok and back home.

We enjoyed our trip and would go on the Dream again it's a really great itinerary.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Hi Gizzie, sorry to harp on but did you find out who the show team will be in April when we go? :)

[baxter19]

Hi thanks to gizzie for your reveiw of the dream good to have a good idea of what to expect when we go on the 14/4/2013 transatlantic does anyone else what are the best trips to go on thanks

[joeholiday2]

Linda.

It should be the same team.

We were told they were staying on until Palma.

 

Gill.

It's nice to know Darren is OK, someone as talented as he will never be short of work. Send him and Sarah our best wishes.

 

Blossom, we were on the same trip, you (or your sister) did right mentioning about not feeding the fish. :D

[blossom52]

Lol it was me, I felt a bit guilty but it had to be said.