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

[medicalma'am]

Hey Kim! Just found this last night and fell asleep reading it! Had to finish catching up this morning.

 

I have to say that the ship looks so different than NCL ships. I am anxious to find out about the 'anytime' dining and how that all went/worked, and how their buffet compared.

 

Too bad about the kids club. Shame on them.

 

Looking forward to every installment!

[Carolin]

I'm really enjoying your review. runny eggs.. hate those. You can get real eggs at the omlette station. Did you know you could eat breakfast and lunch in the dining room. :)

[4hunters]

Awesome review! Thanks for taking the time to post it, especially with your school schedule. My wife is a RN and I remember years ago how much study time was required in her nursing program! :eek:

[twospoiled]

Looking forward to reading about your cave tubing trip. We are sailing the same itinerary on the Dream next fall and want to do cave tubing. Have been looking at both .bz and .com.

[Skeetersmom]

You know if I had runny eggs the first day, I'd think I'd pass on the other days and try something else! :-)

[h_blond2]

Fabulous review so far...can't wait to read the rest of it! It looks like you had a good first cruise with Carnival! Hope I'm right!

[vanislandcruisers]

Enjoying your Review!!!!

[TNIris]

You've got to try Disney at least once....maybe for your graduation present? :D

 

If you go in October (which is when I like to cruise), the crowds and the prices are less!

 

I don't know about the other ships, but the inside cabins on the Disney Fantasy have a "magic porthole" where Tinkerbell and Peter Pan fly by. Pretty cool.

 

Although my husband was griping by the end of the cruise, because he said all he felt like he did was get drug to the various asundry character meet and greets by our daughter. :D He is looking forward to our upcoming Royal Cruise (I didn't tell him there are Dreamworks characters on board!)

[whendoweleave?]

Most thorough Dream review I've seen, maybe ever! We're going on the Dream in January and I'm loving the details! Great job and thanks for taking the time! Keep it coming!

[dna529]

Enjoying your review! I am also a recent NCL cruiser with kids. We are going on a Carnival cruise in July closer to home though. Disappointed to hear about the kid's club, because my kids can't get enough of it on NCL. It will be interesting to compare the kids clubs after my July cruise and then my NCL Dawn cruise coming up in November.

 

Sorry to hear about the runny eggs too! That will really bother me. Great pics and thanks for taking time out to do this review.:)

[freddymale]

loving the review

[Catrin]

Cannot wait to hear about your Cavetubing.bz adventure.

 

We used them also during our 2011 cruise.. and loved it.>>>> but..... we were originally told that our then 6 year old could have her own tube. When we arrived, she was then told she could not. So, yes, she had a fit and it took a while, all while walking to calm her down. Once she got in the water, she was terrific, but having her sit our our laps during the tubing was less than perfect. Although we loved our adventure, and would use this company again in a heartbeat, we wish we knew she was going to be on our laps.

 

Catrin

[mitsugirly]

Hey Kim! Just found this last night and fell asleep reading it! Had to finish catching up this morning.

 

I have to say that the ship looks so different than NCL ships. I am anxious to find out about the 'anytime' dining and how that all went/worked' date=' and how their buffet compared.

 

Too bad about the kids club. Shame on them.

 

Looking forward to every installment![/size']

 

Yes, it was way different than the NCL ships and different in a good way.

 

Anytime dining went well. We showed up when we wanted, then discovered that you could get the exact same meal in the buffet (and as much of it as you wanted) and ate there the rest of the cruise...or just snacked at the deli or pizza. I wasn't too impressed with the food. :(

 

I'm really enjoying your review. runny eggs.. hate those. You can get real eggs at the omlette station. Did you know you could eat breakfast and lunch in the dining room. :)

 

Yes, I know you can eat breakfast and lunch in the dining room. We always just chose to eat at the buffet because I get impatient sitting and waiting on food. I would rather go up and get my own, everything at once, and the amount I want and get on my way. :D

[mitsugirly]

Awesome review! Thanks for taking the time to post it, especially with your school schedule. My wife is a RN and I remember years ago how much study time was required in her nursing program! :eek:

 

It's very hectic and I'm drowning at the moment. Our first exam this semester in next week and I'm still trying to play catch-up. I just watched 120 pages worth of videos (lectures online) and I'm exhausted and ready for a little bit of "me" time...which is why I'm here. I have to have a bit of a break or my brain starts to explode. :D

 

Looking forward to reading about your cave tubing trip. We are sailing the same itinerary on the Dream next fall and want to do cave tubing. Have been looking at both .bz and .com.

 

I already have one review posted with .bz (you can find in my signature line below if you are interested in reading that one too).

[mitsugirly]

You know if I had runny eggs the first day, I'd think I'd pass on the other days and try something else! :-)

 

I did after a few days. I switched to waffles and pancakes. Then later...I discovered that it was quicker to get in the omlet line than the regular line. :D

 

You've got to try Disney at least once....maybe for your graduation present? :D

 

If you go in October (which is when I like to cruise), the crowds and the prices are less!

 

I don't know about the other ships, but the inside cabins on the Disney Fantasy have a "magic porthole" where Tinkerbell and Peter Pan fly by. Pretty cool.

 

Although my husband was griping by the end of the cruise, because he said all he felt like he did was get drug to the various asundry character meet and greets by our daughter. :D He is looking forward to our upcoming Royal Cruise (I didn't tell him there are Dreamworks characters on board!)

 

Tink in the magic porthole? Oh my...that's neat. Some day I'll have to try it. Some day I'll have to try it. Probably not as a graduation gift because I won't exactly be earning a paycheck right away. Maybe later down the line.

[mitsugirly]

Cannot wait to hear about your Cavetubing.bz adventure.

 

We used them also during our 2011 cruise.. and loved it.>>>> but..... we were originally told that our then 6 year old could have her own tube. When we arrived, she was then told she could not. So, yes, she had a fit and it took a while, all while walking to calm her down. Once she got in the water, she was terrific, but having her sit our our laps during the tubing was less than perfect. Although we loved our adventure, and would use this company again in a heartbeat, we wish we knew she was going to be on our laps.

 

Catrin

 

We put our daughter and grandson on our laps. I wouldn't trust them in their own. I don't even think our little ones would be able to sit in them by themselves without falling threw it. But, I guess it depends on the size of you 6 year old. So, I didn't even inquire whether or not they could go alone. I would email .bz and ask them. They have always responded to me fairly quickly both trips...and trust me, I had a lot of questions each time. I have seen pictures of younger kids in the tubes before. :)

[Nonna50]

That makes me very sad you missed out on cheesecake.. :( Being a fellow cheesecake lover. We were on the Valor last month and they had a salted caramel cheesecake that was to die for.:D

[Skeetersmom]

We had breakfast a couple of days at one of the stations on the Lido deck. I think at noon you could get burgers and hot dogs at this station. No one seemed to hit it for breakfast.

[mitsugirly]

Ok, on to our day.

 

While you are waiting, they give you a bottle of cold water to drink.

 

We all got in to the van, our party of 6 and another lovely older couple.

 

Our tour guide was Siaed. He told us about the Belize history, pointed out things in the areas, where people lived and how they lived. We had previously had Junior as our tour guide (and man was he good!!! We gave him a tip and then tipped him again he was that great) and we ask both our current tour guide AND Vitalino Jr if Junior was still with them and everyone acted as if they didn't even know who he was and that he never worked for them. Gasp. It had only been about 1 1/2 years ago when we had him. According to him back then, he had worked in the cave tubing business for years and had been with .bz for several years then. How could you not know your employees? Even if it was a few years ago I would think you would remember them. Weird.

 

So, we heard a lot of the same things we heard before along the way.

 

He told us about how they buried their people still 6 feet under but the tomb stones were above the ground. They are all buried in a certain direction (facing the north or maybe it was the south...I know from before that the sun has to rise over their head and set by their feet or vice versa).

 

**Keep in mind, it's not easy getting a decent clear picture in a moving van that is flying down the road and has tinted windows to discolor the picture**

 

This beautiful statue was a gift from Taiwan to the people of Belize. It is a hand holding a magnolia leaf as a symbol of peace and goodwill.

 

 

He told us about a certain kind of palms that have seeds in them and when the temperature gets too hot, the seed spontaneously combust and burn with only the palms remaining.

 

 

 

We seen several places that had been burned and other places that were still burning. What better way to clear you land right? No need to heavy machinery here.

 

 

We came up on the mountain in the distance and he started his story and I'm sorry, I blurted it out, I didn't mean to, it just happened and rolled off my tongue....It's the Gentle Giant...Oops. His reply "You've been here before right?" LOL

 

So, most of the things he told us, I had all heard before, same kind of jokes if not the same. I've been there, heard that, I smiled, acted interested, but it started to bore me. I'm sorry. I guess that's the reason why I usually don't do the same excursion again. But, it was my daughters first time and I "think" she was enjoying it.

 

So, since this is all a repeat for me, I'll skip a lot of the things (and I did as far as pictures because I already had them) and I'll just touch on a few things here and there that were different.

 

We stopped along the way (because we brought up the cashew trees from before) and he jumped out and picked a cashew fruit for us to try. Ok, that was new. Big grin.

 

 

We all passed it around and tried it. It was interesting, had a weird texture in your mouth and then left a "different" after taste. It is very juicy. It made you thirsty, that's for sure.

 

 

This time around, they didn't try to pressure you in to buying their famous "Cashew Wine". As a matter of fact, they didn't even mention it, I did.

 

Now, there have been discussions on here with people asking questions about how good it is, should we buy it when we are there, what people thought of it and so on...over the years. Well, our last trip with them, they really pushed you to buy it. After the cave tubing, you go to Vitalinos house and they give you samples of the wine. It taste pretty good. You buy this cheap bottle of wine, which of course the ship takes when you return and you don't get it back until the last day of the cruise. Then once you safely get it home, you are trying to recover from the alcohol you did drink while on the cruise that you decided now is not the time to open that cashew wine. Just save it until a "special" day...like you anniversary or something. When you open said bottle of wine, you take a sip expecting the same sip you took when you were sitting in Belize...um NO! You take a few more sips...hmmm, maybe it's just me and it will get better with more sips. More sips don't get any better and it leaves the worse after taste in your mouth and you throw out the bottle vowing never to purchase said wine again!

 

Well, I decided to ask about this since it wasn't voluntarily being offered or brought up this time around. I told my story, I told him how we liked it when we were here, but didn't after we got home. His reply "Well what you tried here is OUR actual cashew wine, it's not the same as what you buy from us." AH HA!!! THAT EXPLAINS IT! Well, isn't that like false advertisement, which I'm sure doesn't exist in other countries. So there's our answer.

[mitsugirly]

A close up of one of those little turds that left a weird taste in my mouth and I now know it also disguises itself in bottles and calls itself Belizian Cashew wine when it's not the real deal.

 

 

Pineapples growing on the side of the road I believe he said. They were the biggest things I had ever seen. We later got a close up on the walk to the river.

 

 

 

So we arrive at our location.

 

 

Man, where are we going to park??? I could not believe how many people were there!!! OUCH! It was going to be a jam packed sweaty people kinda day for sure.

 

We were off to the restrooms/changing areas to get in to our "water gear" and one last trip to potty before starting our journey to the river in the rain forest.

 

 

This would be where you go to get geared up for the trip.

 

 

Not happy about having to keep a shirt on today...it was hot.

 

[mitsugirly]

Just taking a look around.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting fitted with helmuts

 

 

Already holding the burned arms and had the sour puss face. I just knew this was going to be an indication of the rest of the day for Kendra.

 

[mitsugirly]

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.

 

 

Yea, he's still upset and getting worse by the minute. But how is your shirt wet already Brayden? Did your blisters pop?

 

 

You come to a place that you walk down some steps to go in to a dry cave.

 

 

Inside the cave you will see bats up in the ceiling.

 

 

Still upset and getting slower and whinier by the moment.

 

 

[breaking80]

Your reviews are so great. We will be first timers on July 6 on this exact itinerary, and I'm on the edge of my chair waiting to read about the rest of your experiences!

[mitsugirly]

Sakari touching the mimosa plant that curls up when you touch it then waits for you to leave to uncurl. This was a first for us and wasn't shown to us last time. Maybe because it's a different season? I'm not sure.

 

 

Hanging vines

 

 

 

The day was extremely busy. People everywhere. It was really hard to get pictures without people and tubes. Meanwhile, my grandson is moaning, outburst of cries, dragging as far back as he can, taking little itty bitty baby steps acting as if each step completely agonized him, and by far back I mean a good 20-30 feet far back too!!

 

Sakari, she's trucking right along and ahead of the group in the fast lane. (No the other people in the picture aren't with us, she was ahead of all of us lol)

 

 

We had to stop several times to wait for Kendra and "family" to catch up (and by that I really mean for Brayden to catch up). The guide smiled and waited and was patient and would find things to tell us about the land while they caught up. Now remember, I only took this excursion again because Kendra had never done it, so this was suppose to be her trip and I think she missed out on most of it because she was too busy trying to get Brayden to just WALK!!

 

We finally arrived at the water (which is really a fairly short walk), but as we already knew, this was the END of the tubing. So, we had to cross the river and continue on, which is the real journey of the walk, threw the rain forest to the beginning of the tubing.

 

 

The last time we were here was in September and they had rain for days prior to us coming. The water was high and Sakari actually had to be carried across by the guide while holding the rope. This time the water was really low.

 

The water is crystal clear and you can see the bottom. It is a perfect temperature. I believe he said it stays 74 degrees year round?

 

 

 

It was very refreshing. He allowed us to swim for awhile. The deeper area is over by the huge rocks that you will normally see people jumping off of in videos on youtube. But since we went during the "low" season, you were not able to jump this time around.

[mitsugirly]

Even thought this is not the ocean, but a river, the water is still beautiful and has that blue color to it.

 

 

Of course Sakari being the waterbaby that she is, we had to drag her out of the water basically. We bribed her by reminding her of the tarantula that she would later get to hold.

 

 

 

Here's the beautiful rock you usually jump off at

 

 

 

Ok, convinced that it was going to be funner to hold a huge spider again (she remembers the last time she did it), she finally trotted out of the water and away we went.