Pre-Trip Blog and Review: Carnival Dream 2/15/14 – Western Caribbean

[bisonman7]

LOL...I knew about this guy, but my daughter didn't. When she wasn't looking, I dropped a dollar in his tip bucket and when I had her stand next to "the statue" to get a picture, he swooped down and hugged her. Good thing she is young and has a good heart!

 

This guy creeps me out :eek:

 

After being in the hot sun for several hours, I enjoyed drinking a cold bottle of water and watching the "statue" scare the bejeezers out of a few people lol. I guess I'm easily entertained....or the sun/heat had gotten to me. Either way, fun stuff!

[tigereye]

Come on VolsFan...keep the review coming. You're getting me all excited about my May cruise on the Dream. Your review is just what I need . Thanks for all the time and effort.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Thank you tigereye and VolsFan for explaining the distance from the parking lot to the pool area. Where do they collect your money for the facility fee??

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

After they give you the tour and let you pick your chairs then they will collect the facility fee before leaving you.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Come on VolsFan...keep the review coming. You're getting me all excited about my May cruise on the Dream. Your review is just what I need . Thanks for all the time and effort.

 

That's awesome! I am done writing day 4, I just need to complete some scanning, upload the pictures and a special surprise (if I can get it work) so, stay tuned. I hope it will all be ready soon.

[bosoxfan23061]

That's awesome! I am done writing day 4, I just need to complete some scanning, upload the pictures and a special surprise (if I can get it work) so, stay tuned. I hope it will all be ready soon.

 

 

I just want to thank you for the time and effort that it takes to put this together. I anxiously await each new installment, but am very aware that this isn't your primary responsibility so it will take time....especially with all the detail you include. Thanks again!

[UTVolsFan4Life]

I believe that I have all the technical challenges resolved. It's such a bummer to wait 2 1/2 hours for an upload only for it to say that it failed at the end. :eek:

 

Here we go, I hope you enjoy...

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

It was an early morning for the both of us, but not quite as early as the previous mornings as the trip was starting to wear us down a bit. We awoke to a beautiful sunrise in the making but we did not have very much time to enjoy it as we had a tender boat to catch.

 

Our excursion ticket told us to arrive at 8:00 AM for an 8:30 AM departure. We decided to get a quick breakfast on the Lido Deck. We walked directly to the area where Marketa informed us that she would be working and as planned she was there and very helpful in assisting Cynthia making her selections. Cynthia really wanted some pancakes but, they did not have any on the buffet so, Marketa walked all the way to the kitchen where the main dining room breakfast was being prepared and got her some pancakes. We thought that was an extra special touch from Marketa. Sorry, I don’t have any breakfast pictures. We did breakfast so quickly that we were able to go on deck for a few minutes to get some pictures.

 

A number of tender boats were on our there way to us.

 

 

 

 

Some of the other sights

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

It was a little before 8:00 AM when we made it to the deck 3 entrance of the Encore Lounge. The line to get into the lounge was horrible. It was clear across the Atrium. The Carnival Team did a great job with the way they processed everyone so quickly. An employee came down the line checking to see if anyone had tickets for an excursion that needed to be moved into the lounge quicker. The line went fairly quickly when the team looked at your excursion ticket and give you a sticker for your tender shuttle. I would estimate that within 5-10 minutes max we were sitting in the lounge watching SportsCenter. We had a blue 40 sticker.

 

 

It was around 8:25 AM when it was announced that Blue 40 was ready to line up to be lead to the tender boat. Since we were towards the back we were able to get to the front of the line. We were lead straight off ship and onto the tender boat. It was a very simple process.

 

 

 

 

[wrigley80]

Hello again. You mentioned that when you arrived to Paradise Beach they took you on a tour and then took you to your chairs on the beach. What is the tour for and how long does it last??

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

And we are off

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

Hello again. You mentioned that when you arrived to Paradise Beach they took you on a tour and then took you to your chairs on the beach. What is the tour for and how long does it last??

 

It's just a quick show you where everything is type of thing. Not long at all, maybe 5 minutes if that. Most of it he was pointing at stuff as we walked toward the beach.

[wrigley80]

It's just a quick show you where everything is type of thing. Not long at all, maybe 5 minutes if that. Most of it he was pointing at stuff as we walked toward the beach.

 

 

Okay thanks so much. I'm still enjoying your review. We board the Dream in 2 weeks

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

The travel time to Belize City was about 17 minutes. Yes, I timed it and it was 16 minutes and some seconds.

We came off the tender boat and this is where I got a little bit confused. As I was looking for our excursion meeting place, I was looking for a Carnival sign with the name of our tour. However, there was not one to be found. I did find one with another tour company’s name on the sign and so, I made a logical decision that this was where we were supposed to be and so we stepped in line. We met some of the people in our roll call as they were right behind us. I was able to find a tour person and she confirmed that we were in the correct location. After a few minutes the line began to move and we stepped into the shopping area and a restroom announcement was made. Cynthia and another lady from our roll call decided that they ought to go so they made a mad dash for the restroom. I waited and waited what seemed like a long time, the other lady came back but there was still no sign of Cynthia. A final call was made, still no Cynthia, and then the line started moving to board the bus. A kept going in the line and as I got to the close to the door and thought I was going to have to wait, I saw Cynthia running to me and we met at the door and were able to get on the bus.

Before I go much further, let me remind those of you that read the blog portion of the thread and let those of you that have joined the review portion where we are headed. The excursion with was booked through Carnival is called the Altun Ha & Belize City Tour.

 

We are now on our way, say hello to one of our tour guides for the day. I am horrible with names, so I am sorry to say that I have forgotten her name.

 

 

We started our trip with the Belize City tour. This was a very interesting tour of local places, history, and culture.

As we look out into the ocean, I will point out that most of the seafood from Belize comes to the US as it’s sold to seafood companies. The lobster that you eat at Red Lobster and the shrimp that you eat at Long John Silver’s most likely came from Belize.

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

Here come a what they call, "The Sleeping Policeman" in Belize.

 

 

A good ole fashion speed bump.

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

In Belize, every citizen is entitled to a piece of land and there as a process and taxes that have to be paid for the land. Also, once given the land, the person must start building on the land within 5 years. If not, the government will take the land back. Most people in Belize cannot afford to build a house all at one time so we saw a lot of structures like this or houses where the lower floor was completed and work was in progress on an upper level.

 

 

More pictures from our journey. Notice that the weather is starting to look rough.

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

 

Some of the Belize Money

 

 

 

 

[UTVolsFan4Life]

I forget what was so important about this bridge, but I took a picture of it. Notice that it’s started sprinkling.

 

I believe that this is the River Wallace

 

More Pictures from our ride

 

 

I believe that this is the national flower of Belize

 

Here are the fruit grown in Belize