Carnival DREAM 2014 Cruise Review With Pictures!

[ciship]

The Lanai is an area that extends around the perimeter of Deck 5. This is an outside area. The Lanai has many hot tubs and deck chairs. According to on board signage, 2.5 times around the Lanai is equal to a mile. The Lanai primarily has tall window like rails that are taller than most people. The very front and back areas of the Lanai have normal deck rails. The people with balcony staterooms can look down at the Lanai and the people on the Lanai can look up at the people on their balconies. There are many doors from the insides of Deck 5 to go out to the Lanai.

 

Muster Station Drill:

The Muster Station drill is always a required event for every passenger on the cruise ship. My muster station was A3 which was the Deck 3 level of the Encore Theatre. The cruise terminal told everyone the muster station drill would be at 3:15pm, but the daily newsletter said 3:30pm. The muster station drill officially started around 3:40pm.

 

I arrived at my muster station around 3:10pm and got a good seat in the very back of the lounge. There were some other passengers already in the lounge and more came in after me. Around 3:30pm the crew members were instructed to proceed to their stations and soon after the guests were told to go to their stations. The muster station drill went by quickly and the crew working my station did a good job to make the drill go by faster. The drill consisted of safety announcements, what to do in an emergency, and some general information about environmental policies & hand washing.

Everyone was dismissed from the drill depending on their locations. Mine was released first along with one other. The back row was dismissed first and the crew made sure that everyone remained seated until the row behind them had completely left.

 

Since I was one of the first people out of the Muster Station drill I was able to quickly get to the spot I wanted to be on to see New Orleans as we sailed away. I choose the Lanai on Deck 5 at the very back. This area had lower railings and I wanted to be at the back to see New Orleans as the ship gets further away. It is a good thing that I was able to quickly get to this spot because many others had this area in mind too.

 

Sail-A-Way: The ship was scheduled to leave around 4:00pm, but it did not actually leave until around 4:40pm. One of the reasons why this may have been delayed was not all supplies were loaded and the muster station drill did not start on-time.

 

Is there shade at the back of the Lanai where you watched sail away? Is there a bar located on this deck or in this area?

[ciship]

Morning Activities at Sam's Piano Bar:

At 9:30am was an activity called "Win, Lose, or Draw". This game was a team game where a team's person would go up and get a card with something written on it. Then the person would have to draw pictures that would help their team guess what the word(s) on their card are. The team of the person would only have a limited amount of seconds to guess. If that team didn't get the correct answer the other team would get a chance to steal. This game was a lot of fun, but some of the words to draw can be hard.

After "Win, Lose, or Draw" was Charades at Sam's Piano Bar. This took place at 10:00am.This game was also a team game where a team's player would be given a card and they would have to act out their card to their team. Their team would have to guess what was on their card. If they didn't get it, the other teams would have a chance to steal for the points.

 

BBQ On The Lanai:

Before the cruise started I learned that BBQ is served on the Dream's Lanai on sea-days. The BBQ line will open on a sea-day if the weather is nice. This buffet line is completely outside and can be found on Deck 5 at the back on the starboard side of the ship. When the buffet line is closed the line is removed to keep the deck space open.

There are a variety of different choices that were served at the Lanai BBQ. You can find tacos, quesadillas, sliders (mini-hamburgers), and chips & salsa on the Lanai BBQ.

The line for the Lanai BBQ was very long. All of the grilling for the Lanai BBQ is done outside and the smoke typically blew towards the back of the ship. My clothes smelt like BBQ after I waited in line because the smoke was blowing directly on me and everybody else that was waiting.

 

Was it worth the wait?

[thecruiserofships]

Is there shade at the back of the Lanai where you watched sail away? Is there a bar located on this deck or in this area?

 

There was no shade at the back of the Lanai where I watched sail-a-way. There was no deck located in this area.

 

Is there a bar up at the Pasta Bar where you can have a drink while you're waiting on your food?

 

At the Pasta Bar area there is a drink station that dispenses free tea, lemonade, and water. It is located on the side of the ship opposite of the hostess station. However, there is no bar that you can buy drinks from.

[thecruiserofships]

Was it worth the wait?

 

Yes, it was for the sliders, but for the quesadillas no. My clothes came away stinking like BBQ.

[thecruiserofships]

Day 5 Part 2 is pictures are now online!

[thecruiserofships]

Formal Night & Captain's Celebration:

Tonight was formal night and the Captain's Celebration. The Captain's Celebration took place at the Ocean Plaza from 5:00pm - 8:00pm and the senior officers would be present at select times in the evening. The photo gallery staff had many different photo backgrounds set up and the bar staff were serving discounted cocktails.

 

Formal Night Dinner:

The line for the dining room was much longer tonight. Dinner started prompty at 5:45pm and we requested the same waitstaff from the night before. We had Kanya, Luisito, and I Ketut at table 218 again. They remembered our drink preferences and names from the night before. Tonight was lobster night (one my favorite dining room nights). The dining room got crowded very early in the evening and there were very few empty tables.

 

Revue Show: " 8 More Seconds"

Tonight's production show in the Encore Theater was a show called "8 More Seconds". This show featured country music, fiddle playing, and was a very good show. However, this show is exactly identical to Carnival's old show that was called "X-treme Country". Before this cruise I thought that "X-treme Country" was no longer offered on any ships, but now I know that it has just been renamed to "8 More Seconds". The show was great and brought back many previous cruise memories from the Carnival Ecstasy.

The show was offered at 7:00pm for Late Seating Dinner and at 8:45pm for Early Seating Dinner. I recommend this show, especially if you enjoy country music.

[LBumb]

good job

[thecruiserofships]

good job

 

Thank you!

[muffinbaby]

Love your review. Thanks for taking the time to make it!

[thecruiserofships]

Love your review. Thanks for taking the time to make it!

 

Thank you! Let me know if you have any questions!

[Bookbug53]

Loving your review and all the pictures you have posted. I sail on her November 2 and like the information. Thank-you for taking the time to do this for us. :)

[thecruiserofships]

Loving your review and all the pictures you have posted. I sail on her November 2 and like the information. Thank-you for taking the time to do this for us. :)

 

Thank you! I'm sure you will have a great cruise!

[thecruiserofships]

Day 7's review and photos are now online. I will work on posting some more writing here soon.

 

Day 8's review and photos are coming soon!

[teacher32]

Loving your review and all the pictures you have posted. I sail on her November 2 and like the information. Thank-you for taking the time to do this for us. :)

 

Sandy, we will be on the Nov. 2 cruise as well. This will be our second time on the Dream. We sailed on her in 2010, a few months after arriving in Port Canaveral. One of our favorite ships.

[thecruiserofships]

Sandy, we will be on the Nov. 2 cruise as well. This will be our second time on the Dream. We sailed on her in 2010, a few months after arriving in Port Canaveral. One of our favorite ships.

 

Have a great cruise! The Dream is one of my favorite ships also.

 

What itinerary are you doing?

Edited July 7, 2014 by thecruiserofships

[teacher32]

Have a great cruise! The Dream is one of my favorite ships also.

 

What itinerary are you doing?

 

Thank you. We're doing the Roatan, Belize, Cozumel itenerary. We've done this one on the Glory several years ago. On the Dream in 2010, we did the Eastern (St.Thomas, St.Marteen, and Nassau. )

[A2Mich]

Thanks for the great Carnival Dream review. Although we're not cruising Carnivore this time, we did strongly consider it, and may very well for our next. Our TA has been wanting us to try Royal Caribbean, so we gave in this time and are sailing Freedom of the Seas next April, but may very well return to Carnival if not absolutely wowed by RCI. We had a tough time deciding between Carnival Breeze, Carnival Sunshine, and Freedom of the Seas. Due to my mother living in Orlando, Port Canaveral made more sense for us, so that really narrowed down our list to Sunshine or FOTS. We really liked the Sunshine's itinerary, and pricing (would have been 35% less than what we're paying for Freedom - however, that's not a fair price comparison, as we would have been in a standard OV on Carnival and have booked a Promenade Family on FOTS). That being said, we really liked the Sunshine's itinerary, but had also heard some not-so-glowing reviews on the Sunshine/post-Destiny makeover. At any rate, we may very well return to Carny, but need to test the waters on RCI, so to speak.

[ciship]

Day 7's review and photos are now online. I will work on posting some more writing here soon.

 

Day 8's review and photos are coming soon!

 

Where online? I don't see anymore of your review on this thread?

[thecruiserofships]

Where online? I don't see anymore of your review on this thread?

 

On my first post on this thread I said that I would be posting the all pictures and review to my blog first and then sharing the written review here. I have never gotten photos to upload to Cruise Critic, so that is the only way I can share photos.

 

I will be posting all of the writing (plus a little more) here for the entire review.

 

I am sorry that I have gotten behind with posting the writing here and I will work harder to be more prompt.

[thecruiserofships]

Here is more of the written review. I am sorry for the delay in posting this:

 

Day 3 - Freeport, Bahamas

My day started around 5:45am and I quickly got dressed to have time to walk around the ship. Some of the best pictures around the ship can be taken in the morning before other cruisers are everywhere. My plan was to walk to the front of the ship and watch as the ship approached Key West.

 

I made my way outside to have a look at Key West in the distance. I went to the front of the ship on Deck 5 to take a look outside. There were thunderstorms in the distance and I knew that it would start raining before we could dock.

 

The rain came keeping everyone inside. There was no covered area on the Lanai, so I was forced to go inside to keep dry. I was a little disappointed that my plans were changed, so I headed to the lido for breakfast. Since I had been outside on Deck 5 I walked to the aft stairwell area and took the elevator up to Deck 10.

 

Breakfast in The Gathering:

Once again I ate breakfast in The Gathering. The continental breakfast lines opened around 6:00am and the general breakfast buffet lines opened around 7:00am. Breakfast was also being served in the Scarlet Dining Room from 7:00am to 9:00am.

I had an omelet, bacon, and hash browns. The omelet lines were long again today, but the omelet was worth the wait. There are a variety of toppings that you can choose to put in your omelet such as ham, cheese, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon, and other mixed vegetables.

The bacon and hash browns were also good. The bacon was greasy (it always was each day) and it was rationed again. Today I had a server that was very generous and gave me about 5 pieces to start with. If you are very friendly to the bacon server and want a lot of bacon they will probably be more inclined to give you more.

Edited July 7, 2014 by thecruiserofships

[thecruiserofships]

Docking Near The Carnival Ecstasy in Key West:

The Carnival Dream docked at a separate pier that was very close to another pier where the Carnival Ecstasy was docked. The Carnival Ecstasy was the first cruise ship that I ever cruised on and it is responsible for starting my cruise addiction. I first cruised the Carnival Ecstasy in 2007 and cruised again many more times on the Carnival Ecstasy after that. The last time I cruised on the Carnival Ecstasy was in June 2011, a few months before the ship got re-positioned from Galveston to Port Canaveral. Since then the ship has been re-positioned from Port Canaveral to Miami, Florida. It was great to see the ship and many memories got brought back from my past cruises.

 

I still wish the Carnival Ecstasy sailed from Galveston.

 

It was still raining while the ship was docking, but that didn't stop me from going outside. I stayed under the balconies above the Lanai for some protection from the rain. The rain was no longer pouring, but it was still bad enough that most people were not going ashore. If you try this during rain you will need to be careful because of the water drips from the balconies above. You can stay partly dry under the balconies, but when you are ready to come out you will be subjected to dripping water.

 

Ashore In Key West, Florida:

There was no line to get off the ship. To get off the ship, a security guard scanned each person's card and the shopping desk workers handed out shopping maps. It was still raining, but it was not pouring anymore. As the morning progressed the rain slowed down and by the afternoon it completely stopped. This was the only port of call that we did not do a shore excursion. Our plans were to walk to the Hemingway House and to the Southernmost Tip of the Continental United States.

[thecruiserofships]

Thank you. We're doing the Roatan, Belize, Cozumel itenerary. We've done this one on the Glory several years ago. On the Dream in 2010, we did the Eastern (St.Thomas, St.Marteen, and Nassau. )

 

I would love to visit St. Thomas and St. Marteen. Too bad I can't cruise from Galveston or New Orleans to these ports.

 

Thanks for the great Carnival Dream review. Although we're not cruising Carnivore this time, we did strongly consider it, and may very well for our next. Our TA has been wanting us to try Royal Caribbean, so we gave in this time and are sailing Freedom of the Seas next April, but may very well return to Carnival if not absolutely wowed by RCI. We had a tough time deciding between Carnival Breeze, Carnival Sunshine, and Freedom of the Seas. Due to my mother living in Orlando, Port Canaveral made more sense for us, so that really narrowed down our list to Sunshine or FOTS. We really liked the Sunshine's itinerary, and pricing (would have been 35% less than what we're paying for Freedom - however, that's not a fair price comparison, as we would have been in a standard OV on Carnival and have booked a Promenade Family on FOTS). That being said, we really liked the Sunshine's itinerary, but had also heard some not-so-glowing reviews on the Sunshine/post-Destiny makeover. At any rate, we may very well return to Carny, but need to test the waters on RCI, so to speak.

 

There is never anything wrong with trying a different cruise line! You may like some things more with Royal and some things more with Carnival.

 

It is always great to have options when it comes to cruising!

[thecruiserofships]

There were many chickens & roosters aimlessly wondering around Key West, Florida. I do not know the significance of these animals in Key West, but I wished I would have learned more. Since Key West is a part of the United States it has its own post office and gets serviced by the USPS (United States Postal Service). Throughout the day, I saw many different postal trucks making deliveries around the island.

 

One of our first stops in Key West was to look at the Hemingway House. You must pay to go enter the house and the surrounding yard. However, if you stick your camera above the fence you can take a look at what is behind the fence. Otherwise it is hard to see anything at eye level. The area also smells like cat. If you don't like cats or are allergic to cats you probably should avoid this attraction.

 

Southernmost Point of the Continental USA:

One of the most interesting things that I saw in Key West was the Southernmost Point of the Continental USA. There was a long line of people that wanted to take pictures in this area, but between people I was able to snap a quick picture of the marker. If you plan on visiting this area when coming to Key West you should make it your priority to get here earlier. Although the weather was bad, there was a long line for photos.

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you for the review, we are considering going on the Breeze next year, just have a few questions, we were on the Dream a few years ago was our most favorite Carnival ship and realize the Breeze is the sister ship but do realize Carnival has many cutbacks every year so if you don't mind answering our questions we appreciate it.

 

You mentioned the BBQ had certain items, did they have any ribs or chicken breasts or sausages?

 

In the lunch buffet do they have a meat carving daily, on the Dream they had two different types of meat carving, do they remain to have two or went down to one?

 

I noticed on other ships that we took in the past couple of years in the wok they stopped having the bok chou, large pea pods and green beans if you saw the wok do they contain these items?

 

What was there to eat past 11:30pm besides pizza anything?

 

Did you try the steakhouse (on the Dream we dined there 6 evenings it was very very good) if you did how was it?

 

Is the breakfast buffet the same containing those tiny hashed browns or do they make real hash browns now as you mentioned for breakfast you had hashed browns?

Do they have a ham meat carving for breakfast and or do they still serve ham for breakfast?

 

Did you try punch liners brunch, I hope they still have that?

 

Was there a live band playing at night/evening, if so, how were they and what type of music were they playing?

 

Thank you.

[thecruiserofships]

Thank you for the review, we are considering going on the Breeze next year, just have a few questions, we were on the Dream a few years ago was our most favorite Carnival ship and realize the Breeze is the sister ship but do realize Carnival has many cutbacks every year so if you don't mind answering our questions we appreciate it.

 

You mentioned the BBQ had certain items, did they have any ribs or chicken breasts or sausages?

 

In the lunch buffet do they have a meat carving daily, on the Dream they had two different types of meat carving, do they remain to have two or went down to one?

 

I noticed on other ships that we took in the past couple of years in the wok they stopped having the bok chou, large pea pods and green beans if you saw the wok do they contain these items?

 

What was there to eat past 11:30pm besides pizza anything?

 

Did you try the steakhouse (on the Dream we dined there 6 evenings it was very very good) if you did how was it?

 

Is the breakfast buffet the same containing those tiny hashed browns or do they make real hash browns now as you mentioned for breakfast you had hashed browns?

Do they have a ham meat carving for breakfast and or do they still serve ham for breakfast?

 

Did you try punch liners brunch, I hope they still have that?

 

Was there a live band playing at night/evening, if so, how were they and what type of music were they playing?

 

Thank you.

 

Sorry for my delay in responding. I will answer the questions that I can:

 

- There were no ribs, chicken breasts, or sausages served at the Lanai BBQ. Only tacos, quesadillas, sliders, chips, and salsa were served.

- There were still meat carving stations and I think they rotated the type of meat that was being served. This varied by day.

- I am not familiar with the wok. I had a family member that visited it almost everyday, but they do not remember the specifics about these items.

- For the most part pizza was the only thing served after 11:30pm. The deli closes at 11:00pm. I think there was one night that there was a Mexican buffet that went from 11:00pm - 12:00am (or even later), but otherwise I don't think there was anything else.

- I did not try the steakhouse because of the expense.

- The hash browns were really good, but not served everyday. When they served hash browns they were similar to one from McDonalds. Some days they only served potatoes. I am not quite sure about what you are asking when it comes to whether they were real or not.

The food served in the buffet can vary by cruise and the potato food type served at breakfast could be different each day. Some cruises been on only served chopped potato wedges and others served hash browns like McDonalds. This will depend on the kitchen staff on your next cruise about how and what is served.

- I did not try the Punchliner at all.

- The Dream had a 8-9 piece showband and regular shows. I know the Breeze has Playlist Productions and it may not have a full showband.

 

I hope this helped! If you have any more questions please feel free to ask and if I was not clear in my answers please let me know!

 

Have a great cruise!