Review - Carnival Dream Eastern Caribbean 7/13/13 - 7/20/13 - With Faster to the Fun

[mitsguy2001]

I will combine the last 2 sea days into one post since there isn't much to say about them

 

Thursday, July 18, 2013 - Fun Day at Sea

 

Slept late today, and went to the Late Riser's breakfast at the Gathering lido buffet. Again, I'm not sure why that is listed seperately, since it seems to have most of the same items as earlier in the morning.

 

Mostly relaxed today. The lunch theme today was Caribbean again. I was torn between the Caribbean lunch vs the Indian tandoori (which I really enjoyed on the Magic, but didn't get a chance to try on the Dream). We opted for Caribbean, since it better fit the theme of the cruise (plus we have an Indian restaurant on land that we often eat at). Assuming the tandoori is the same as it was on the Magic, I do hightly recommend it.

 

After lunch, we played mini-golf. The Liberty and Magic also had mini-golf courses, but this is the first time we had a chance to play mini-golf onboard. It was fun. After mini-golf, we spent the rest of the afternoon using the two pools and waterworks. That is always fun!

 

We also had another drink at the Red Frog Rum Bar. Even though they had run out of souvenier glasses earlier in the week, we were able to purchase souvenier Red Frog glasses today! I'm guessing maybe Carnival stores them somewhere in St. Thomas or St. Maarten?

 

Tonight was the 2nd elegant night. My wife and I both dressed up, although many people did not. It seems that, on most cruises, including this one, fewer people dress up for the 2nd elegant night than for the 1st. I wonder why that is.

 

We enjoyed our dinner at the MDR. For the appeitizer, we both had the "seafood platter". I remember on my past two Carnival cruises, there was an appetizer called "delice of the sea". I'm pretty sure that the "seafood platter" is a new name for that appetizer. My wife and I both always really enjoy that appetizer (regardless of its name), even though I've seen some reviews where people say they don't like it. I wonder why they don't like it. For dinner, we both had the penne Siciliana, which was really good! For dessert, I had the amaretto cake, which is also really good, and another one of my favorite desserts on Carnival. I wanted to give special mention here of the penne Siciliana and the amaretto cake, since they are both excellent, but I don't see them mentioned much on this board.

 

Tonight was the last of the production shows, "8 More Seconds". This show had a country and western theme. We really enjoyed this show, especially its finale! We do agree that all 3 production shows on the Dream are excellent!

 

After the show, we did our usual club hopping, going to the piano bar and Caliente club. And, as usual, we sat on our balcony to watch the ocean. Another wondeful day, but we were sad that only 1 day remained!

 

Friday, July 19, 2013 - Fun Day at Sea

 

The last day of our cruise. We got up late again, and again went to the Late Riser's breakfast. We did some packing during the morning, so that we could enjoy our evening. For lunch, we went to the burrito bar again, since we enjoyed it so much on the first day and on our past 2 cruises. Surprisingly, the line wasn't that long, even though it was a sea day. I don't really understand the reviews that complain that the Dream is crowded, since I honestly did not find it to be especially crowded, and the lines really weren't that bad. Today was the chocolate extravaganza, which is the only time I take dessert with lunch at the lido buffet. We both had a nice rich piece of chocolate cake.

 

After lunch, we did our usual pool and Waterworks hopping. In my review of the Magic last year, I mentioned that on the last sea day, the passengers were noticeably rowdier than they were the rest of the week, and there was more drinking in the pool than usual. However, on the Dream today, I did not notice that to be the case at all. The passengers were behaved the same as any other day. Although there was some drinking in the pool, it was a lot less than on the last sea day on the Magic, and no more than on any other day. I really wonder why the difference. Is it a Dream vs Magic difference (more likely, a Galveston vs Port Canaveral difference), was it a function of the itinerary (the Dream had 2 sea days at the end, the Magic had only 1 at the end), was it a function of the time of year (June vs July), or was it just completely random and particular to the particular sailings we happened to be on? Maybe people who have been on both ships multiple times would have an idea.

 

The highlight of the night was our reservation of the Chef's Art Steakhouse! We always like to book the steakhouse for the last night. I always have the surf and turf, which we both really enjoy! The $35 per person is a lot less than we would pay for surf and turn on land, so this is always a treat, and a culinary highlight of the cruise. For dessert, I had the chocolate sampler, and my wife had the cheese platter. We both really enjoyed our desserts!

 

After dinner, we finished our packing, and put our luggage outside the room. That is always a sad moment, and it's sad seeing the luggage in the hallway.

 

Tonight was the Legend's Show, which we always look forward to! This is where guests audition for the roles of various music legends, and perform tonight. The lineup on the Dream was exactly the same as it was on the Liberty in 2011 (but different from the Magic in 2012). Is the lineup ship specific, or does it vary fleetwide from one year to another? The lineup was Gloria Estafan, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Madonna, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra. I never quite understood how Britney fit with the rest of the legends. We really enjoyed this show, just as we did on our past cruises, and is something we always look forward to!

 

After the show, as typical, we went to the piano bar and the Caliente club, and had a great time. Strangely, the nighttime venues were fairly quiet tonight. As I said before about the pools, last year, on the Magic, the nighttime venues were much rowdier than usual had a lot more drunk guests than usual, especially at the piano bar. That was not the case on the Dream, and in fact, the nighttime venues were quieter than usual. Again, I don't know if this is a Dream vs Magic difference, or Port Canaveral vs Galveston difference, or a function of the itinerary, or June vs July, or just a random factor of the particular sailing we were on.

 

As usual, before going to bed, we sat on our balcony to watch the ocean for the last time. It was sad going to bed tonight, knowing that such a wonderful vacation was nearly over.

 

(to be continued)

[mitsguy2001]

Saturday, July 20, 2013 - Debarkation Day

 

Obviously the saddest part of the cruise. Since we were FTTF, we were in debarkation zone 2. That was a good idea, since we had a fairly early (12:45 PM) flight from MCO. We had breakfast at the Gathering Lido Buffet. We were able to stay in our room until 8:30 AM, at which point we debarked the ship.

 

When we got off the ship, I was scared at first, since my luggage wasn't in our zone (my wife's was there), but then I found it in an adjacent zone. I remember the same thing happened last year. Strange.

 

Since our flight was fairly early, we booked our own private transfer service, rather than using Carnival's shuttle. The airport was mobbed, and we had to wait a while to check our bags and to get through security. Strangely, they announced our flight was delayed, but then changed it to ontime. We had lunch, and barely made our flight, since we (as well as others) assumed it would be delayed. The flight went well.

 

(will continue with some closing comments)

[mitsguy2001]

Closing Comments

 

As I said before, we really enjoyed our cruise on the Carnival Dream! I am very surprised by a lot of the negative comments that I read about this ship on Cruise Critic. I honestly don't quite understand where they are coming from. Many people complain that the ship is too crowded. We did not find it to be crowded at all. It was no different than the Magic, and, in fact, it has slightly more public space with slightly fewer staterooms. The features that the Magic has that the Dream lacks weren't major factors in our cruise. We enjoyed the Dream as much, if not more, than the Magic. We liked how the burgundy color theme was carried throughout the dining rooms and some other parts of the ship. Also, the color-changing lights in the lobby were cute-cuter than eyeballs on the Magic. Jaime is an excellent cruise director (she was our assistant cruise director on the Liberty in 2011, and we're happy to see her promoted to cruise director).

 

My other closing comment is that people should get past the idea that Nassau is "boring". Carnival offers many excursions at that port, such as the Blue Lagoon private island that we did, as well as snorkeling excursions, and others as well. I agree that Nassau might be boring if you just walk around the town all day, but it has so much to offer beyond that. Again, I really wonder if Carnival needs to start marketing that port as "Bahamas" rather than as "Nassau".

[lprime60]

We were on the dream last oct. Sounds like a lot of different people now. Do you recall if Jeff the fun dude is still in the comedy club?

[mitsguy2001]

We were on the dream last oct. Sounds like a lot of different people now. Do you recall if Jeff the fun dude is still in the comedy club?

 

Jeff Duke was the host.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[mitsguy2001]

A few other very minor points and curiosities that I haven't mentioned yet:

 

Does anyone know the answers to any of my questions or curiosities below?

 

In the Gathering lido buffet on the Dream, the stairs going up to the pasta bar were blocked, and you could only legally enter the pasta bar from Deck 11. We never did eat at the pasta bar on either the Magic or the Dream, since there were too many other options for lunch, and we often had pasta dishes at dinner. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember on the Magic, you could use the stairs from the buffet to access the Italian restaurant. The Liberty had fish and chips in that location, and could definitely be accessed from the stairs in the lido buffet.

 

The Ocean Plaza on Deck 5 had the Taste Bar, which we never used. However, further aft, there was the former sushi bar, which seemed to just be an empty counter. I'm surprised they would leave a prime space on the ship unoccupied and not generating any revenue. Do they have plans for that space in the very near future, or will it remain unoccupied until the next dry dock?

 

As I mentioned in my review of the Magic, the Dream also has a mostly useless stairway connecting the Deck 4 and 5 promenades. I literally never saw anyone use those stairs on either ship. I'm guessing that was a vestige from the Conquest class, where it served a useful purpose, connecting the former cigar bar and internet cafe to the rest of the venues on Deck 5 (and that itself is a vestige from the Destiny, where the nightclub was originally planned to span 2 decks).

 

A likely reason why the dance floor in the nightclub on the Magic is at the same level as the rest of the club is to facilitate access for the disabled. But the Dream does have a ramp for disabled people to access the dance floor. I do not remember if the Liberty had such a ramp or not.

 

I hate smoking, and I was glad to see very little smoking on this ship. The only indoor space that allows smoking is the Caliente club. But even there, they didn't seem to allow smoking on the dance floor, and the club was big enough that you could very easily get away from someone who is smoking if you want to. On the Liberty, the space equivalent to the Song lounge allowed cigar and pipe smoking, but the Dream did not allow smoking of any kind in that room. I'm guessing the Conquest class ships were semi-grandfathered, whereas the Dream probably never allowed indoor cigar smoking. Also, they like to have karaoke in non-smoking venues, and they often had karaoke in the Song lounge on the Dream. On the Liberty, that space was never used for karaoke, since the former cigar lounge (which no longer allows cigars) was usually used for karaoke. An equivalent space does not exist on the Dream (or Magic). Didn't have any problems with smokers on balconies.

 

As I mentiond before, there were gangways on Deck 0 Forward and Midship. The Aft elevators also had a button for Deck 0, which they also did on the Liberty and Magic. Has anyone ever tried pushing the 0 button in the aft elevator to see where it goes? I didn't.

 

The locations of the Fun Hubs were not the same as on the Magic. I don't remember exactly where they were on either ship, but I distinctly remember a Fun Hub on the Magic in the Deck 10 Forward elevator lobby. There was no such Fun Hub on the Dream. I think all of the Fun Hubs on the Dream were on Decks 3, 4, and 5, but I could be wrong (not even 100% sure if Deck 4 had any, as I was almost never on that deck).

 

In looking at the deck plan, it appears that they might have shrunk the Deck 4 Fun Hub cluster on the Magic to make room for the art gallery, so adding the Fun Hub to Deck 10 forward might have been to make up for that. The setup on the Magic makes more sense to me, since Deck 10 forward is a very high traffic location and a good location for a fun hub, while Deck 4 doesn't seem to be (although Deck 4 has a lot of teenage facilities, so maybe the teenagers use the fun hubs a lot).

 

On the Dream, Deck 4 is the Atlantic Deck, but on the Magic, Deck 4 was renamed the Mezzanine Deck.

 

Also, on the Magic, Decks 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11 do not have names in the elevators just numbers. I think Carnival is trying to phase out the deck names.

 

My complaint about the Forward elevators on the Liberty and Magic (the fact that the glass elevators and the regular elevators are called seperately) also applies to the Dream. From what I've read on this forum, it was made even worse on the Breeze.

 

The Forward and Aft elevators serve Decks 0 through 12 (but the Forward glass elevators only Decks 2 through 12), but the Midship elevators only serve Decks 0 through 11, although there is a stairway up to Deck 12 nearby. On the Magic, the aft elevators only served Decks 0 through 11, if I remember right. I think there was also another elevator even more forward that served the spa, but I didn't use it. I'm thinking it serves Decks 11 through 15, but I really don't know.

 

When you look up when in the glass elevators, going toward Deck 12, you see some weird stairway or ladder above the atrium that seems to connect to nothing. Anyone know what that is?

 

Does anyone know why the Deck 11 hot tubs do not exist on the Magic? Were they not used much on the Dream, or was there some reason why the Magic couldn't have them?

 

I will continue my review later this week (hopefully tomorrow).

[Luvtoeat]

Great review. We were on the same cruise in a cove balcony and had a really good time. It would have been even better if the cruise could have been longer but I guess that no matter how many days it is the cruise is over way to soon.

[NicNac4498]

Jeff Duke was the host.

 

Jeff Duke's last cruise was the 20th. He is now on the Breeze.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Totally agree that we have had amazing days this year in Nassau especially with Blue Lagoon. In our case, leaving early on the Dream made us choose the Sea Horse catamaran and snorkel excursion off of price line and it was awesome! But our Disney Dream five weeks later didn't all aboard until almost 6. We booked hugging and playing with the Sea Lions at Blue Lagoon! It was sooo great, that our family asked specifically to do the same Nassau itinerary next spring! We can't wait to go back. Even better because we can enjoy the island until 5:45! People, book something in Nassau that involves taking you on a catamaran or ferry because Nassau has amazing places, but like so many places you visit, they aren't right next to the boat. Still, we loved the straw shopping and tortuga cake shopping! Its tradition now. I'm gonna get another mermaid bag when I go!

 

My complaints with our CCL Dream were the awful service in the MDRs, bordering on rude or even non existent. (Pouring my coffee several times in the MDR nice "fancy" breakfast because the poor guys had no help and were no where to be seen.) We had main seating for dinner, perhaps you were spared. I saw CMs getting practically screamed at in the buffet, and someone I met said the two bartenders got into a screaming fight over shifts when she was trying to order. Cups were no where to be found for lido, or always waiting for coffee that ran out, could be that my timing stank. They were the unhappiest crew I have cruised with. The lines for omelets, hot dogs, deli, pizza, even ice creams were very real for me. And I ate at what I thought were not the norm times?

 

Our deck parties were vacant except for sail away line dances. Don't know if it was weather or what. Mexican buffet was what what!!!! I enjoyed Dancin but thought everything else was too black and neon breaker dancers like something from a few yrs ago Americas Talent. I thought Rod did a nice job, the Legends auditions was literally one of the funniest nights of my life and I have been Britney twice now thank you very much! Jk. My honey was Ricky and my friend had to battle to the end but won worthily Aretha. She and I having done it before had much more fun and less nerves this time around. That show is SCARY and I'm used to stages!

 

Sorry your comedy stunk. We never never go to the adult shows. Four letter words aren't funny but the family shows for us every year have been bang on the table funny. Unfortunately they are hard to get to at 7:30. Sometimes we had to bring our deserts to go because MDR service ran slow. Very funny guys tho.

 

We wanted so badly to play volleyball like we do every yr. This yr, instead of giving our 16 people group of 25-55, they made us wait until it was scheduled. You can't schedule that...we called it Hurricane Volleyball as the wind that particular sea day (haulin butt back to NOLA) was unreal! We are diehards so we begged and begged the entertainment to bring us a net and a ball. We had to play with CM supervision... Really?? 25+?? Good thing we begged him to come before 4:30, like u say, at 5, it was clear the court for the steakhouse. What an unfun ship! The Conquest gave us a net and ball on a nice sea day whenever we wanted and we didn't need a CM to "help us"...?

 

Unfortunately our overall experience was so lacking on this our third annual CCL, even my husband suggested we will move on to other lines for now. We have enjoyed other CCLs, Triumph 2011 was cruise and service perfection. But we have decided that entertainment and service lines like Disney even for 3 or 4 days have totally earned our business. BTW we have no kids in our group! CCL Dream had plenty in Feb prob same as DCL did in April.

 

I appreciated your very detailed analytic review. We enjoy PC very much too as a port. We combined it with a day or two or so at the Parks since we drove it coming or going. FL is just all about vacations!

 

Happy Sails!

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Forums mobile app

Edited July 29, 2013 by TwinPrincessMermaids

[JaniceB]

Thanks for the review, on this same cruise in a few months.

[georgiacruizer]

When you look up when in the glass elevators, going toward Deck 12, you see some weird stairway or ladder above the atrium that seems to connect to nothing. Anyone know what that is?

 

I think this ladder might be for crew members to be able to wash the windows up there.

 

Loving your thorough review! Counting down the days until we finally sail on the Dream next year.

[Sk1 bum]

Saturday, July 20, 2013 - Debarkation Day

 

Obviously the saddest part of the cruise. Since we were FTTF, we were in debarkation zone 2. That was a good idea, since we had a fairly early (12:45 PM) flight from MCO. We had breakfast at the Gathering Lido Buffet. We were able to stay in our room until 8:30 AM, at which point we debarked the ship.

 

When we got off the ship, I was scared at first, since my luggage wasn't in our zone (my wife's was there), but then I found it in an adjacent zone. I remember the same thing happened last year. Strange.

 

Since our flight was fairly early, we booked our own private transfer service, rather than using Carnival's shuttle. The airport was mobbed, and we had to wait a while to check our bags and to get through security. Strangely, they announced our flight was delayed, but then changed it to ontime. We had lunch, and barely made our flight, since we (as well as others) assumed it would be delayed. The flight went well.

 

(will continue with some closing comments)

 

I didn't realize that that's an early flight I have the exact same flight going home after my dream cruise in August

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[mitsguy2001]

I didn't realize that that's an early flight I have the exact same flight going home after my dream cruise in August

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

I don't think it was officially considered "early", but we still just barely made our flight.

[JaniceB]

Do you remember the cost of the taxi to Magen's Bay? Do have any of the funtimes you could post?

[mmbl]

Do you remember the cost of the taxi to Magen's Bay? Do have any of the funtimes you could post?

 

I can't remember exactly, but it wasn't much.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[JaniceB]

Thanks!

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for the review and all the details. :):):):)