1st time Carnival cruiser (DREAM) complete review & pictorial (from a NCL cruiser)

[EditorDiva]

Love reading your review; it brings back such great memories of our time on the Dream this past April. Cannot believe it's been a month and a half already since we sailed on her! Looking forward to your insights about Little French Key in Roatan. We had a blast at your last choice of Maya Key.

 

And what camera do you use? ... because your photos are amazing!!! :)

 

 

Carnival Dream - April 2013 Western Caribbean

[Georgia Peach 4]

haha, I am a "don't leave the cabin without my makeup" kind of gal too, but I have it down to 5 minutes. Cruising makeup is a lot less, just a little foundation and the eyes, let's go! If I were going caving, my hair would probably be under a hat, no reason to waste time on that, especially with my skills, I am sure to be dumped out of the tube at least once. :D

[skittl1321]

We got off the tender and waited in the lines (like we did the day before) for the elevators. It was a mad house. I have never experienced such a crowd. I guess this is what happens when you sail at full capacity. I know we must have been standing for a good 15 minutes if not longer. The problem was, as we were standing in front of the many elevators, one would come down in a totally different area and the people would jump on it...even if they just got there. So we waited and waited. I was not about to climb 9 flights of stairs.

 

This is one of the reasons I like to book my room down in steerage. I much prefer to climb stairs on sea days then coming back in from the ports. Riveria deck makes coming back from port SO easy, just hop up one flight of stairs!

[mitsugirly]

Love reading your review; it brings back such great memories of our time on the Dream this past April. Cannot believe it's been a month and a half already since we sailed on her! Looking forward to your insights about Little French Key in Roatan. We had a blast at your last choice of Maya Key.

 

And what camera do you use? ... because your photos are amazing!!! :)

 

 

Carnival Dream - April 2013 Western Caribbean

 

Glad you liked Maya Key. We would definitely go back there in a heartbeat again.

 

I believe I mentioned my cameras in the beginning of the review. I have 2 Canon D10's and an Olympus Tough (both point and shoot and underwater cameras). I love them both and don't even bother to take my DSLR with me on cruises anymore. :D

 

haha, I am a "don't leave the cabin without my makeup" kind of gal too, but I have it down to 5 minutes. Cruising makeup is a lot less, just a little foundation and the eyes, let's go! If I were going caving, my hair would probably be under a hat, no reason to waste time on that, especially with my skills, I am sure to be dumped out of the tube at least once. :D

 

I use to be like that when I was younger. But when I'm cruising, we are just on the go non-stop and the only time I end up doing hair and makeup is if we are going out to eat. Otherwise, I'm on vacation, I'm not doing anything. :p

[mitsugirly]

This is one of the reasons I like to book my room down in steerage. I much prefer to climb stairs on sea days then coming back in from the ports. Riveria deck makes coming back from port SO easy, just hop up one flight of stairs!

 

I debated on doing this when we booked. But I have never been on one of the lower decks. I have always read that you can hear a lot of sounds down there so I have always passed on it. I also try to book my room in occordance to where 1) the kids club is located 2) the casino and sometimes depending on the ship 3) the kiddie pool if they have one. I like easy access to those so I'm usually on the same end (unless they just happen to be on opposite ends, then I have to pick and chose). Maybe some time in the future I'll try it. :)

[mitsugirly]

So we return to the ship and the usual activities go on. We shower get ready to have a "snack" since we had just ate with the cave tubing place and explore around for awhile. Kendra and her family went back to the room and took a nap. <---you see this pattern? I really wish I would have done the same thing every time after port. Lesson learned I guess because by the last port I was really dragging.

 

We dropped Sakari off at the "Camp", them inquiring about the phone and I told them that it was dead and we had put it on the charger when we got back from port and was on our way back down to pick it up. They grumbled, they gave us the dirty eye, the moaned, they lectured us about how we HAD to have it to drop off a child in case they needed to get in touch with us. I told them, we were going to the Casino and would remain there until we picked her up, that's where you can find us if needed...but like I just told you, I'm on my way down to my room, which is 2 floors directly down, to get the phone right now. Do you seriously want me to go down there and pick up the phone with Sakari and have to walk back up here to drop her off and show you that the thing is in my hand??? So once again, they ask me for the phone number. I blurted it off and said "Don't you have a record of this? I mean after all, you did sign it out to me and everyone's phone number should be on file right?" Sorry, these people and this darn phone was just on my nerves by then. So they grumbled some more, took her and we headed down to the room to grab the phone and off to the casino we went.

 

I'm not sure if this was the night (or if it was the night before), but after dropping Sakari off at the kids club, we were walking to the casino, and we seen people sitting at some of the slot machines. We decided, hey why not go ahead and sit at our favorite machines, since they seem to be available for some reason...so we parked in front of our favorite machines and we noticed that they were still not in service. So we waited...and waited...and waited. I think we waited for well over and hour or maybe longer. We had pulled out a long time ago. I'm not sure what they were waiting on. No one seem to know what was going on (the staff) and every time someone ask when they were opening, they didn't know. It was well after 9pm that night and I still have no clue what the hold up was. I know they have to get so far out of port before opening, but have never experienced this type of wait before with NCL and we have done this route multiple times.

 

So I had found my new game and it treated me well. It's Kossack Kash I believe. It was another game that was similar to my favorite Cave King game (that wasn't treating me well the entire cruise). It had the same "sounds" and bonus rounds and it kept me playing forever. It's also one of those slot machines that is a multi-game machine and you actually have to "find" it on there.

 

Another game that I over heard a guy say to someone as I was passing by was "Hey try that cow game over there. It is fun and gave me a lot of luck." So when there wasn't anyone looking, I jumped on it. It was called Invaders from the Plant Moolah. Instead of having the normal reel spins, they dropped in from above. Then if you got 3 of a kind, those would be zapped by the cows and they would moo (this was the funniest sounds ever because each time it changed) and it would keep zapping. Once you got 4 zaps, you start going into the bonus round with anywhere from 7 and up spins. Let me tell you what...at first, I thought this is a dumb and old game...but it was addicting. I couldn't get off of it. It wouldn't allow me to loose. I walked out quite the winner that night and every time I thought I would stop playing because I had won, I kept going thinking "now I'm going to loose all of the money I just won"...but I didn't. It just kept stacking. I would continue to play that game (and Kossak) during the rest of the cruise and came out ahead every time. Everyone else that played it did too.

 

So we went to a show at Encore. It was called dancing in the streets. Everyone had said what lousy shows they had, but once again, I enjoyed it. The dancers were very talented and the props and lighting was amazing. It was definitely something I would expect from a NCL show on any given night. They had 2 live singers within the routines and the girl had an amazing voice. The guy was "ok". We walked out happy that we had went.

 

Sakari had fallen asleep and it was a VERY long walk back to the room where I found Kendra knocking at the door telling me that Brayden had a fever and was still not doing good. At this point his back was full of huge blisters. Poor little guy. No wonder he was moaning the entire day. I come prepared on cruises with "boo-boo" supplies and medicine. I had some kids Tylenol and she whisk it away to give to him and they all went back to bed.

 

I packed for our next day trip to Little French Key. Once again, I had myself convinced that this was going to be THE highlight of the ports and I was excited.

 

For some reason I don't have ANY pictures from this day back on the ship. I'm not sure if there just wasn't anything exciting or it was all something I had already taken pictures of.

 

So here I'll share a picture of one of the public restrooms.

 

 

What is the significance of this you ask? Well, they were all very nice and I noticed that they were all very clean all the time. Another thing that I noticed was they smelled like heaven!!!! I don't know what they had in there, but they smelled so good all the time. A+ Carnival for the smell and cleanliness.

 

Now on my last cruise on the STAR, we found multiple things in need of repair on the ship. Just minor things, but it was still noticeable. Since I'm a picture freak, I have a trained eye for details and I will notice things other might not notice.

 

I have to say that the ONLY thing I found wrong in any of the places on the dream was 1 thing in this restroom. It was the strip in one of the bathroom stalls that had fallen over. I have to say again A+ Carnival for keeping your Dream ship very clean and repaired.

 

 

Another thing I wanted to point out...when they cleaned the restrooms...INCLUDING OUR ROOM, they always did this:

 

 

Just a nice little "added" touch. Did it make a difference to me? Not really, but I thought it was that extra mile they went. I have never seen NCL do anything special like that. I know...it's just toilet paper. But once again A+ Carnival!!!

Edited May 30, 2013 by mitsugirly

[dale1088]

thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!

 

This is a great review and is really helping me get a feel for things! We sail for our very cruise EVAH on the Magic in Oct. Bringing along our 13yo girl and 9yo boy. We are beyond excited. I know the Magic is a different ship, but the many similarities are giving me a good idea about the ship. And all the noob stuff you are pointing out (like dining) is very, very helpful! *takes notes furiously Really, for someone totally clueless about cruising, this kind of review is invaluable!

 

I also will be checking your links for reviews on excursions. Our schedule is Roatan, Belize and Coz.

 

Your comments about poor little Brayden are priceless. It's tough being 5 and sunburned. :(

 

Can't wait to hear more! :D

[mitsugirly]

thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!

 

This is a great review and is really helping me get a feel for things! We sail for our very cruise EVAH on the Magic in Oct. Bringing along our 13yo girl and 9yo boy. We are beyond excited. I know the Magic is a different ship, but the many similarities are giving me a good idea about the ship. And all the noob stuff you are pointing out (like dining) is very, very helpful! *takes notes furiously Really, for someone totally clueless about cruising, this kind of review is invaluable!

 

I also will be checking your links for reviews on excursions. Our schedule is Roatan, Belize and Coz.

 

Your comments about poor little Brayden are priceless. It's tough being 5 and sunburned. :(

 

Can't wait to hear more! :D

 

 

You are very welcome. You will have to come back and do a review on the Magic. I would love to go on the Magic. It has so much to offer and like you said, a lot of similarities (according to what I have seen and read).

 

Brayden is...well Brayden. He's a momma's boy and a little on the whinny side to begin with. He can get very stubborn and emotional. Sakari and Brayden are only 3 months apart and she is SO mature for her age. Sometimes when she does have a meltdown (which don't happen often, she may pout here and there, but she doesn't melt down often), we have to actually remind ourselves that she is only 5 because she doesn't seem like it most of the time. She is well behaved and is very adventurous. Brayden is the total opposite. I spent a lot of time on the cruise (when we were with Kendra and family) telling Brayden to hush, stop banging your forks, pick that up, sit down, get back here...the list goes on. Sigh. I guess Sakari is just cruising material. :D Brayden has a way to go to get there. :p

[mitsugirly]

For those of you that are "menu freaks" (like me), I will take the time to post some of the bar menus here with prices for your planning and viewing pleasure.

 

 

 

 

 

[Pappion]

thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!

 

This is a great review and is really helping me get a feel for things! We sail for our very cruise EVAH on the Magic in Oct. Bringing along our 13yo girl and 9yo boy. We are beyond excited. I know the Magic is a different ship, but the many similarities are giving me a good idea about the ship. And all the noob stuff you are pointing out (like dining) is very, very helpful! *takes notes furiously Really, for someone totally clueless about cruising, this kind of review is invaluable!

 

I also will be checking your links for reviews on excursions. Our schedule is Roatan, Belize and Coz.

 

Your comments about poor little Brayden are priceless. It's tough being 5 and sunburned. :(

 

Can't wait to hear more! :D

 

Just my 2 cents but if you're going to Roatan, I recommend the Gumbalimba park excursion if your kids like animals. You get to hold birds, snakes, and monkeys and they have a nice private beach to spend the rest of the day on after you go through the park. It was fairly inexpensive and lots of fun.

 

Sorry OP! Don't mean to hijack your thread. LOVING the review/pics!

[mitsugirly]

Just my 2 cents but if you're going to Roatan, I recommend the Gumbalimba park excursion if your kids like animals. You get to hold birds, snakes, and monkeys and they have a nice private beach to spend the rest of the day on after you go through the park. It was fairly inexpensive and lots of fun.

 

Sorry OP! Don't mean to hijack your thread. LOVING the review/pics!

 

 

Not a problem at all. Hijackers are welcome because those hijackers give me ideas on something new to do when ever we decide to return somewhere. Thanks for the info. :)

[dale1088]

Just my 2 cents but if you're going to Roatan, I recommend the Gumbalimba park excursion if your kids like animals. You get to hold birds, snakes, and monkeys and they have a nice private beach to spend the rest of the day on after you go through the park. It was fairly inexpensive and lots of fun.

 

Sorry OP! Don't mean to hijack your thread. LOVING the review/pics!

Thanks for this!! My dh is a total nerd and wants to see and hold and play with monkeys. :o I have no idea where this obsession has come from, but there it is.

 

I am thinking maybe of doing a Bodden tour called Zip and Dip. Monkeys, zip lining, beach time, then back to the ship. The only special stop we want to make is to find some good cigars. Might book a private driver for the day since it doesn't seem to be any more expensive. If we skip the ziplining (I have some concerns about whether this is a good choice for our particular family) then Gumbalimba and some relaxing beach time sounds fab!!:cool:

[mitsugirly]

So here we are...time to get up and go to what I "think" is going to be my favorite port. I'm excited and can't wait to get the day started.

 

We head down to the buffet to get our usual runny eggs. What's this on the deck? There was a towel animal explosion over night. They all multiplied. It must have been one busy night out on deck because when we walked by last night, people still had the chairs occupied and was watching the nightly movie.

 

WOW!!! A++++++ Carnival. I have never seen anything like this before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this something they normally do on Carnival ships? I was blown away and Sakari was completely excited. I was able to view towel animals I have never seen on any of my cruises. They were pretty neat. I won't bore you with the individual pictures I took of them, but I think I was as excited about them as Sakari was. We gave them each the appropriate attention they deserved and moved on to breakfast.

 

The lines were extremely long this morning at the buffet. I happen to look over and there was only 1 person in line at the Omelet station. Hmm, I think it's time I tried one of their Omelets. So we jumped in line real quick. Made to order and they did the big flips of the eggs in the air. I patiently waited to watch them drop one and it never happened. Kids, don't try this at home...I have, it wasn't a pretty site.

 

So since I had my Omelet in hand, all I needed was some BACON to go with it and I would be satisfied...but look at that LONG line. Would it be possible to just grab a plate and cut in at the bacon station when others were still filling their plates with runny eggs? Of course it was. No glaring stares or anything. I was in and out like a Ninja in the night. I wasn't even noticed and was gone before the others in the line even got up there. :D

 

I have to say, I had found my "new" breakfast item for the rest of the cruise. No more runny eggs. It was only the fight for bacon that I would continue to encounter the rest of the time.

 

We quickly ate and was ready to head to shore. But wait, where was Kendra and family? Oh that's right...just now coming out on the deck as always and headed to breakfast. Sigh. They are so slow and I was so impatient...especially since I KNEW this was going to be the highlight of the ports kinda day.

 

We waited for them to eat, while I tapped my fingers on the table, tapped my foot on the floor, grabbed a fork or two and shoved the food in theirs mouths (just kidding, but I felt like it) and we rushed down to get off the ship. Time was a-wasting!

[mitsugirly]

Thanks for this!! My dh is a total nerd and wants to see and hold and play with monkeys. :o I have no idea where this obsession has come from, but there it is.

 

I am thinking maybe of doing a Bodden tour called Zip and Dip. Monkeys, zip lining, beach time, then back to the ship. The only special stop we want to make is to find some good cigars. Might book a private driver for the day since it doesn't seem to be any more expensive. If we skip the ziplining (I have some concerns about whether this is a good choice for our particular family) then Gumbalimba and some relaxing beach time sounds fab!!:cool:

 

We did the zip and dip with Bodden about a year and a half ago. There's a review for it in my signature line. There's the zip portion and then the dip portion at West Bay.

 

You can also hold the monkeys at Maya Key <---one of my favorites so far, there's also a link in my signature for that.

 

Then there's Little French Key (which I'm about to get to that review here soon) that have monkeys to hold and also baby jaguars to hold.

 

You can decided. :)

[mitsugirly]

I took a few pictures before leaving the ship of the port...Mahogany Bay. It was a pretty port with a great opportunity for pictures.

 

I think I found the next cruise line to book with.

 

 

It may need some repairs, but hey, I "hear" Carnival ships are in need of much repair and maintenance as well. (Rolling eyes now).

 

 

 

 

 

A view of the beach area at Mahogany Bay from the ship

 

[mitsugirly]

You could see all of the people that were getting off and headed for their day in the sun in the beautiful port of Roatan (my favorite port ever now).

 

 

The bridge you walk over to head toward the beach, or you could catch the skyride people mover over for a cool $12 a person for a daily pass.

 

 

 

We were there with another Carnival ship docked. I believe it was the Conquest? I know the Conquest was docked in Roatan when I was on my NCL cruise back in December and we had went to Maya Key. I met some nice people there that day that were Carnival cruisers. They were enjoying their cruise.

 

Once you get off the ship, they have a picture opportunity. There was so many people here, getting pictures, in the way, it was a mad house. So, I was able to extend my hand up and over everyone to snap this picture. Otherwise, I was never going to get a picture of it. I mean I had to have a picture and we were waiting while Brayden was whining and dragging along like always.

 

 

 

I have to say that I had seen pictures of a day at Mahogany before and we had considered going here and making it a "cheap" day since you didn't have to pay to be here since it's Carnivals own little man-made port area for the cruisers. But I really have no intention on booking another Western Caribbean cruise for awhile. We have done it so many times before and it's time to head back to the Eastern side or Southern (which I have never done before). Of course with the exception of the cruise we already have booked for 6 months from now going to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Then no more Western for me for awhile. Since this would be my last stop at Roatan for awhile, I just KNEW I couldn't pass up going to Little French Key. I felt that it would just be one of those "Once in a lifetime" events.

 

So we made our way to the exit, taking pictures along the way of the beautiful landscaped scenery.

 

[skittl1321]

. What's this on the deck? There was a towel animal explosion over night.

 

Isn't that the coolest thing. The first time I saw a picture I was thinking "are you kidding me, chair hogs?" Then I realized it was a towel animal zoo.

 

We rarely go up to the pool, so I've never seen it in person.

[givemeliberty]

We went to Little French Key in March and loved it. The snorkeling there was beautiful. We held the monkeys and the baby Jaguars. They had some puppies too. We thought the lunch was really good too. I can't wait to hear if you enjoyed it.

[mitsugirly]

At this point, Brayden was crying and dragging so far behind and Kendra was now complaining and saying, I really don't want to spend a couple hundred dollars on a place when he is going to do nothing but whine and cry the entire time. I gave her one look and said, "That's entirely up to you, but I can tell you now that I have been looking forward to this place for a long time. It's going to be my favorite place I just know it. You can come if you want. You can stay if you want. Either way, I'm not stopping and I'm headed out." I glanced back later and she had to have been somewhere lost in the crowd and we never seen them again on the way out. I was on a mission and nothing was going to spoil my day.

 

We made our way out of the port and this is what it looks like:

 

 

 

We knew they said you had to go outside the port to catch a cab. I THOUGHT we were outside at this point...boy was I wrong. When we ask about getting a cab to LFK, we were pointed in a direction toward the road and were told to walk up that road to the taxis.

 

We headed toward the road and started walking...and walking, up the hill, in this area that was part of the road and had a white stripe which I assume was suppose to be for the sidewalk area to walk in even though it was in the street.

 

I'm looking at my husband and saying "Really? We have to walk this far out to catch a cab? Are you sure we are going the right way?" Well, it had to be the right way...it was the only way...and it was a hill. I now know that there was NO way that Brayden would have done this. Just no way at all! So, it's probably best that they didn't come because it could have taken hours to get him to the taxi place.

 

So what seem like a forever walk, really wasn't as bad as I thought. I remember doing this same thing to go to Almaplena in Costa Maya back in December, so it was worth it.

 

We came over the hill and could see people lining the streets and cars right beyond that. We were reading the signs as we walked by. The first sign that was being held, I couldn't tell what it said. The others, well they weren't ours. So finally I ask someone and they pointed at the first sign. When we went up to them, they said "I yelled Little French Key when you walked by, but you kept walking." I must have not heard them. So they marked my name off the list and informed me that they were still waiting on others to arrive. I let them know that we were originally a party of 6 and that the other 3 in our party would not be coming. So he told a kid that was there (at least he looked pretty young to me lol) to be our driver and take us to Frenchys 44. His name was Justin and he was in a private car.

 

Frenchys 44 is a restaurant. The owners own it and Little French Key. The driver takes you to the restaurant where you get on a boat and go over to the island. The drive wasn't very long at all. Maybe 15 minutes if that.

 

We pull off the main street and on to a gravel road. You could tell that this "area" was the "high end" area for sure. The houses were huge and amazing and I just wanted to live in one of them.

 

We arrived at Frenchys:

 

 

 

They had a horse in the yard and my husband and daughter went over to say hello while I checked us in and paid the fee.

 

You walked out on this deck hanging over the ocean. I assume this was the restaurant because there were tables and chairs there and a bar with the register. There were mangroves along the side.

 

 

Looking back from the deck/dock toward the front where we came in:

 

[mitsugirly]

Looking out at the ocean from the deck:

 

 

Some of the restaurant

 

 

 

This was the house next to the property. I thought maybe it was the owners house, but later found out the owners actually live on the island at LFK.

 

 

 

We only waited maybe 10 minutes and it was time to get on the boat to go over to the island. My excitement was still building. It's not a "regular" boat you get on. It's like a flat barge type boat. I'm not sure what you call it. It was just flat and had a bench around the outside and plastic chairs on the inside.

 

Here we come LFK. You can see where it's at from the restuarant. So it's just a 5 minutes ride over.

 

 

Getting closer you could see the beautiful aqua water.

 

 

Sakari looking on with excitement.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Well I hate to leave everyone hanging...but the wait will be well worth it. It's time for me to leave for an appointment with Kendra and then on straight to work. I will try to maybe get a bit more of the review in tonight when I return home. Trust me, the best is yet to come. The water only gets better. :D

 

One last picture to show you as we are coming around the corner. You'll have to wait to see what's actually around there. :p

 

[crewsweeper]

LOL at the drink menus. Wish Sierra Nevada was cheaper than Bud crackstuff at the local packie:D And I guess its true they took away Red Bull in favor of Rockstar. Gonna make all those vodka bulls and blue martinin fans very unhappy.:eek:

 

 

And certainly patiently waiting for LFK review! Haven't been there. And given DW's sad experience at Fosters while on the Dream two weeks before you, looking for someplace other than the West Bay/West End/Anthony's Kay to hang out next time.

Edited May 30, 2013 by crewsweeper

[wings34]

We went to Little French Key when we were on our Liberty cruise in December. Luckily for you, it doesn't look like you had any problems getting there from the port. We ended up waiting in a van for an hour until another group showed up before we finally left the port. This really frustrated us, especially since we were not in port very long that day. But once we finally got there, it was AMAZING! It was so relaxing and fun. I would love to go back, minus the issues we had initially. Thanks so much for your review!

[ribbitt]

Mitsugirlys- I am enjoying your review. We will be on the Dream for our second time in 16 days !!!

Our first time in 2010 was the cruise you took, we loved it. I will do the cave tube if we take that trip again.

Our next cruise is the other 7 day, going to Virgin Islands. I have never been there. I read your review of Sapphire Beach, this is where I think I want to go. My DS is a snorkle fanatic. He is a water baby much like your little one.

I don't see a Carnival excursion to Sapphire, so we would have to get a taxi. That isn't a problem from the port, but what about leaving, did you have any trouble getting a ride back the port?

Have you been to St Thomas? any reviews for it?

Thanks for your attention to detail ! Love the review.

BTW I purchased the Olympus Tough for my DS for Christmas, can't wait to see what he gets underwater on our trip.

[rdevine10]

Loving this review! Looking forward to more as I am trying to pick a cruise for my 40th bday. The Dream is doing this western route then! Some of the older reviews with kids have pictures that dont show up. Love yours so much! thanks taking the time to work on it!