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

[mitsugirly]

Wow, I have spent all day reading your review! It was wonderful! I will be cruising on the Dream next April with my husband and my son who will be barely shy of 3. Your Camp Carnival experience really has me nervous. I've only cruised carnival but this will be the first time I travel with a child. Did you ever put in a formal complaint? My blood was boiling for you. I don't plan on using it often except for when we want to get a drink after dinner or see a comedy show but I want to know he is being well taken care of. Great review though! I hope to try a NCL cruise soon!

 

 

Hi and thanks for the comments...and I feel sorry for you :p spending your entire Sunday on my lengthy wordy review. LOL No really, glad you enjoyed it.

 

The Dream was a WONDERFUL cruise for us. It definitely set the tone for any future cruises with Carnival and I have to say, we recently cruised again with Carnival (last month) and it was...once again..WONDERFUL! We plan on booking a lot more cruises with them coming up.

 

Don't let the kids camp discourage you. I'm really hoping it was a one time thing and hopefully these nasty counselors they had have moved on to something that does NOT relate to a job involving kids.

 

We were just on the Pride out of Baltimore last month and the kids camp was FANTASTIC!! Our daughter who was 6 at the time absolutely loved it and the activities they did. So, I'm chalking this up to just that one trip and it's not "normal" for them to be like what our experience was. I have read a lot of reviews on here and there are a lot of happy people loving the kids camp. So, there ya go. :)

[Buffettfan 225]

Once the dancing was done and over with, we headed back to our rooms to put our luggage away and finally meet up with our daughter to go to dinner. It had started raining outside and everyone scrambled. I was told that the lobster day is the first night and we got dressed up and ready to go to the MDR. Once I was there I found out it was not on the first night, but the second night, which was formal night. I wondered why everyone was in shorts, jeans and stuff.

 

I ordered the chicken, with the honey mustard sauce I think it was, for starters

 

 

Then I ordered the shrimp, which came on a stick (never seen such a thing) and sweet and sour noodles. The hubby had chicken breast and my daughter picked a PB & J. Geesh.

 

 

Later that night we were wondering around and found the same food up at the buffet area. Really? You can get the same thing there and not have to dress up? Sigh.

 

As for the staff, they were working their butts off, you could tell. I know what some mean but staff cuts because it took us about an hour to get our food. Now, I have experienced this on NCL before (our last cruise was a little slow in the MDR). One thing I truly missed on Carnival was the cheesecake. I love me some cheesecake and there was none to be found. I ask every night and every night I got the reply that it was only on certain nights they had it but it "wasn't this night." Well I finally gave up. On NCL, you can get cheesecake any time, day or night, 24/7 if you'd like and it is good. Insert sad face here.

 

For desert, they gave my daughter chocolate chip cookies. She wasn't hungry after she ate, so I took her cookies, put them in my small carrying purse and decided I would munch on them later. Remind me to never do that again...not only for the fact that I'm on a cruise ship and there is some type of available food on the ship 24/7 if I get hungry but also for the fact that these things completely crumbled in a matter of a few hip movements from walking. It was a bloody mess I tell ya!

 

We tried several times to go to the kids club (Camp Carnival) to sign our youngest up and our grandson. They were never open. This is weird. I'm use to NCL being open before sail away and you sign them up, get to view the place, and then after sail away you can bring the munchkins in for play time. Not Carnival. They were not opening until 9pm for sign ups. Wow. Shocker.

 

So, we went to the atrium and my hubby and daughter got their dance on for awhile. She danced like there was no tomorrow and didn't want to stop when it was time to move on.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, I'm busy snapping pictures in the Atrium and my surroundings as I glanced over waving at her twirling around like a princess and wearing daddy out.

You mention lack of cheesecake, I believe it was on room service menu for free. (Not including an optional $1-2 tip)

[Buffettfan 225]

We decided to do a little shopping prior to getting back on the tender.

 

 

 

We did encounter a line for the tenders. It wasn't really bad. They did have a stand with some lemonade to drink while you waited. When the next tender came, in was able to hold everyone that was in the line.

 

 

 

One last picture of the City of Belize as we pulled away on the tender. This was for my husband...who drive a Jaguar. I thought he would like it since I didn't think he noticed it earlier.

 

 

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.

If you can stands one flight of stairs, go up one deck and catch elevator there, or up one deck,walk down hall to another elevator bank a lot faster!

[Buffettfan 225]

They had several monkeys in that cage. They did let me know that there was one called "nippy". He was called nippy for a reason. We made sure we stayed away from that one and didn't let Sakari anywhere near it.

 

They had a baby one. It was the absolute cutest thing ever. Sakari wanted to hold that one and when she did, she didn't want to let go. It just attached itself to her like a baby and oh my gosh adorable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of all the beautiful water photos so far, your daughter and the second from bottom photo is made to be enlarged, may even be more stunning in black & white. Pure beauty and priceless.

[mitsugirly]

You mention lack of cheesecake, I believe it was on room service menu for free. (Not including an optional $1-2 tip)

 

Yea, if you read the review, lots of people informed me "after the fact" that you could get it by room service. I was so bummed! :p

 

If you can stands one flight of stairs, go up one deck and catch elevator there, or up one deck,walk down hall to another elevator bank a lot faster!

That would have made sense. I will definitely have to keep this in mind the next time. Thanks. :)

[mitsugirly]

Of all the beautiful water photos so far, your daughter and the second from bottom photo is made to be enlarged, may even be more stunning in black & white. Pure beauty and priceless.

 

 

I agree. That picture is one of my favorites. She just loved baby Lisa and didn't want to let her go.

 

A year and 1/2 later we went back and baby Lisa is all grown up and now she has a new baby monkey friend:

 

[monogrammedbelle]

 

You had your normal sized little safe behind the door. It's the same size as the ones that NCL has in their interior rooms...I know this because my OCD folders I make for each trip fit perfectly in there.

 

 

I would love to see how you do your OCD folders. You are my organizational SHEro! Would you be willing to share a packing list and/or how you get organized before a cruise? xo

[heyletsgo]

Thank you for taking the time to post your lengthly but great review!!!!

 

Like you, we were hooked on NCL for a few years but after my March Dawn cruise I'm rethinking this. I always like NCL...what they lacked in cabin space was made up for in all else. Not on the Dawn however. But that is a whole other story so suffice to say I am booked on the Dream for December!!

 

Thanks for all the info and for making me look so forward to going back to Carnival again!

[mitsugirly]

I would love to see how you do your OCD folders. You are my organizational SHEro! Would you be willing to share a packing list and/or how you get organized before a cruise? xo

 

I just wanted to come back and share how I do my actual planning of a cruise. A lot of time and research goes into my planning and I actually enjoy doing it. I have been doing it this way since the 80's and even my oldest daughter has picked up on it. :)

 

I was working on my Bermuda review and decided to include it on that review, so I'm now coming back to answer your question about it.

 

You can find my "planning" starting on THIS PAGE of my review and around post # 365 & 367. That explains the "planning" stages and getting ready for the cruise and what I take with me.

 

I plan on doing a review on what I do once I get back with the pictures and such, but haven't got to that yet.

 

As far as a packing list, I don't even have one. LOL I just start gathering things up about a month ahead of time (that we won't be using) and I usually keep all my "beach" stuff in my luggage anyhow (like snorkeling stuff and so on) and then at the very end I will just throw in everything right before we leave that we normally use up until it's time to go. However, I have this little bag that unfolds and has a hanger on it that goes over the door and I have all trial sized things in it. I have started just leaving that packed so with each cruise, it's already ready to go. :) It works out great.

[mitsugirly]

Thank you for taking the time to post your lengthly but great review!!!!

 

Like you, we were hooked on NCL for a few years but after my March Dawn cruise I'm rethinking this. I always like NCL...what they lacked in cabin space was made up for in all else. Not on the Dawn however. But that is a whole other story so suffice to say I am booked on the Dream for December!!

 

Thanks for all the info and for making me look so forward to going back to Carnival again!

 

 

Yea we just returned on the Dawn to Bermuda just a little over a week ago. I have to say that the Dawn is my least favorite ship. I have it booked again to Bermuda next year, but I'm considering cancelling and booking another ship to Bermuda...like the Breakaway. It's just hard to justify the price difference. So what do you do? Suck it up or put out the money. Hard decision. But we LOVED Bermuda.

 

So glad you are looking forward to cruising with Carnival again. We had a blast on the Dream and loved the ship. We couldn't wait to try Carnival again and just went on the Pride 2 months ago and it was AWESOME as well!!!! :D

[angiem0217]

Just found this review. Really enjoying it. We sail in the dream in March

[CandyCruiser1106]

I am enjoying your review of the Dream, as we will be on her in November! May I ask what kind of camera takes this beautiful pictures?

[mitsugirly]

Just found this review. Really enjoying it. We sail in the dream in March

 

Glad you are enjoying the review and I hope you have a wonderful time on the Dream next year. We loved her! :)

 

I am enjoying your review of the Dream, as we will be on her in November! May I ask what kind of camera takes this beautiful pictures?

 

 

Thanks for the comments and glad you are enjoying the review.

 

I have 2 Olympus Tough cameras model 620 & 830. :D

 

Have a wonderful cruise on the Dream in November. :)

[Vacationdreamer<><]

Sakari had to follow suit...

 

 

 

The faces everyone was making was completley cracking me up.

 

You always have to have that one picture of your ship sitting in port between the buildings and by the pool. It's a must and this day would be no exception.

 

 

 

I wasn't sure if I had ever took a picture of the "sandy beach" area around the pool. So it was time for a quick shot of that.

 

 

Now we had been told by email that we were to exit the port and go to where the taxi stands are. Do not tell anyone that you are going to Nohoch Kay as you come out and walk to the taxi stand. Well I know from our last time we were here we were required to walk out of the port and WAY down the road to where the Hard Rock Cafe use to be to catch the regular taxis to Almaplena. It's quite the haul, but it was nice out and it wasn't going to be bad this time around. When we went to Maya Chan, we walked right outside the port and our bus was sitting there waiting to take us. This time, I wasn't really sure where I was going.

 

 

There were people there asking you where you wanted to go and we decided to tell them and see if they would take us there. They said yes. We purchased "passes" from them and they charged us $3 for the adults and $2 each for the kids. Now I had not read anywhere on here that they had a reduced rate for the kids. So I was kinda shocked to find this out.

 

 

 

We all got in the van and we were on our way.

 

I was trying to get a few shots of things as we passed them. I had never noticed this boat landscape sitting in the middle section of the road on my previous visits.

 

 

Have you ever run into issues with car seats in your frequent cruising/port visits? We will have our 3 year old with us next year (and small 5-almost-6-year-old)...

 

I'm likely to be popping up in different places asking questions about your port stops. I'm having the darndest time deciding what excursions to do with our family. :P

[mitsugirly]

Sorry, I have never taken a car seat. The open air bus or the shuttles from Costa Maya couldn't have a way to hold a car seat.

[Vacationdreamer<><]

Sorry, I have never taken a car seat. The open air bus or the shuttles from Costa Maya couldn't have a way to hold a car seat.

 

 

Thank you.

Someone brought it up somewhere and I wondered if we'd be refused passage anywhere. [emoji4]

[mitsugirly]

Thank you.

Someone brought it up somewhere and I wondered if we'd be refused passage anywhere. [emoji4]

 

 

No they will not refuse you no matter what form of transportation you are taking. ;)

[Gallivanting Souls]

[/color]8].

 

We booked with Ron Jon for our precruise stay. The place just looked amazing with so much to do. We knew the little ones were going to love this place (and truth be known' date=' we were too).

 

For anyone who might be interested in this hotel, since this is an older thread. Looks like it has changed it's name. It's now Holiday Inn Club Vacations Cape Canaveral Beach Resort

+1 877-859-5095 1000 Shorewood Drive, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920 (Formerly Ron Jon Cape Caribe Resort) Still looks amazing. I might stay here if we ever go out of Port Canaveral.

[mitsugirly]

 

 

For anyone who might be interested in this hotel, since this is an older thread. Looks like it has changed it's name. It's now Holiday Inn Club Vacations Cape Canaveral Beach Resort

+1 877-859-5095 1000 Shorewood Drive, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920 (Formerly Ron Jon Cape Caribe Resort) Still looks amazing. I might stay here if we ever go out of Port Canaveral.

 

Yep, we had a great time there. The pools/lazy river/slides were awesome and I thought it was a great place to stay precruise, especially if you are going as a family...and with children.

 

I did read that they had changed hands and someone new owned it. I hope it's as nice as it was back then. :)

 

If we sail from PC again, we'd definitely stay there if the price is still right.

[mcas]

So we are all ready to start our journey in the rain forest and to the river. Wait, where are our tubes??? SAY WHAT? YOU CARRY THEM FOR US NOW? Now I know if you had any problems, were elderly, had walking issues, had children or for whatever reason before, they would gladly carry your tubes. However, this had obviously changed. We no longer carried our tubes. As a matter of fact, the guides with the tubes were long gone before we started. They took the tubes straight to the place you get in to the water and they are sitting there waiting on you. WOW, nice job .bz. Everyone else we seen were carrying their own tubes or their guides were lugging them around for them while they walked.

 

So here we go. This is the beginning.

 

 

I see in the picture above that it says the height restriction is 48 inches. My youngest will be 3 when we leave next month and he is currently 41 inches. Did you notice if they were enforcing this? I see on their website they mention no age restriction and taking infants so I am assuming they don't but, it makes me nervous! I would hate to get there and be turned away.

 

Thanks!

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

I see in the picture above that it says the height restriction is 48 inches. My youngest will be 3 when we leave next month and he is currently 41 inches. Did you notice if they were enforcing this? I see on their website they mention no age restriction and taking infants so I am assuming they don't but, it makes me nervous! I would hate to get there and be turned away.

 

Thanks!

 

Nope, never knew them to enforce it yet.

 

The first time we went, my daughter was 3 years old and it was before they started talking about having a height minimum. They had told us that it was trying to be enforced and they were going to fight it.

 

Last time we went, my daughter and grandson were both, if I remember correctly, 5 maybe. No issue then either and that's after this restriction came around and I can guarantee that they didn't measure or anything.

 

If you are worried, I would email them and ask and tell them how tall your little one is and see what they say. :)

[beshears]

I haven't had a chance to read your review, but since you were originally a NCL cruiser, I hope you enjoyed your Carnival cruise. The reason I say this, many years ago we cruised on NCL Star (brand new ship), and to say the least (maybe NCL is better now), there were very few people that were happy with the cruise. We never heard so much complaining not only on the ship, but even on our flight back. Most of the people said they would never cruise with NCL again. Yes I know cruising is to relax, but when giving us "options" of something to do, they really didn't have anything to offer, and that is why we didn't like the cruise. I want to option to choose if I want to do something, or if not, either way. That Carnival does have.

[mitsugirly]

I haven't had a chance to read your review, but since you were originally a NCL cruiser, I hope you enjoyed your Carnival cruise. The reason I say this, many years ago we cruised on NCL Star (brand new ship), and to say the least (maybe NCL is better now), there were very few people that were happy with the cruise. We never heard so much complaining not only on the ship, but even on our flight back. Most of the people said they would never cruise with NCL again. Yes I know cruising is to relax, but when giving us "options" of something to do, they really didn't have anything to offer, and that is why we didn't like the cruise. I want to option to choose if I want to do something, or if not, either way. That Carnival does have.

 

We absolutely had a great time on our Carnival Dream cruise. Such a good time that we recently (in April) took our 2nd Carnival cruise on the Pride and had a wonderful time and loved the ship. We will definitely be cruising with Carnival again. :D

[mcas]

Thank you for replying! I will email just to make sure but, I feel better hearing they weren't enforcing it when you went. :)

[beshears]

I haven't finished your review, but the COLOR of your pictures, is amazing. I love BRIGHT colors, and that is what you showed.:)

 

Is the Dream the largest ship that Carnival has? I have been on several Carnival ships, but not this one.

 

That was unique for them to light up the men/womens restroom signs.