Review: Carnival Dream 12/2013 (better late than never)

[JennN]

Hello and Welcome to My review of the Carnival Dream! As in my other reviews I will note that I travel with my wife (that makes us lesbians) so if that offends you, please X out of the window right now.

 

Still with me? Great! Nice to meet you and thanks for taking the time to read my review. We traveled on this cruise with my mother-in-law (MIL) again so it's written from a three person perspective I will start with pre-cruise and over a few days perhaps, finish up the entire 12 days.

 

This is a little late so my apologies. I've been on the Dream twice now and only in getting excited for our next 2 cruises (which are still 160+ days away), I realized I was remiss in posting a Dream review, so here it goes!

 

PRE-CRUISE

 

My wife, MIL and I were fortunate enough to snag a deal on airfare and vacation time, as well as a friend of mine who works at Disney hooking us up with a Villa at Saratoga Springs (Disney World) so off we went for a few days pre-cruise to enjoy yet another few days in Disney. My in-laws are Disney freaks so we generally visit AT LEAST once a year while my MIL usually visits for 4-8 weeks a year!

 

 

 

We were among the first to test My Disney Experience+ or whatever it is called so we packed our wristbands, flew into MCO (my MIL coming from Maine and us, from the DC area) and donned our wristbands and boarded the bus to the Villas!

 

I will spare you all the room pics but it was super spacious. The property was beautiful, if not quite large!

 

 

 

For the deal we got on the 1 bedroom Villa, we'd stay there again! For Christmas, my MIL bought us the special Very Mickey Christmas evening party tickets - while we were super annoyed at first because of the chaos between people leaving the park and then entering for the special hours party, it quickly (about an hour later) cleared out. I will spare you all but one picture of the party, since it's not a Disney review but on the way out, they made it snow on Main Street and it was quite cool!

 

 

After staying at Disney for two (or was it three?) nights, we got in our pre-arranged sedan and headed for port!

 

 

While it was our second time on the Dream (we sailed on her when she was about 6 months old in 2010, our first Carnival cruise), it was my MIL's first time - her third cruise on Carnival overall and our 5th.

[JennN]

EMBARKATION/DAY 1

 

We decided to purchase FTTF for the first time on this trip. We remembered Orlando being more hectic than Miami or Puerto Rico (my favorite port) so we purchased it for my MIL for Christmas and one for us (one per cabin) and decided to give it a whirl.

 

 

IMHO - it was not worth it. Between the dirty looks we got from some of the Diamond and Platinum guests (actually, it wasn't just looks, it was comments too!) and the general disarray that was the staff, it wasn't worth the $100 to us. Staff didn't know how to corral us downstairs nor upstairs - there were two (at least) weddings with lots of demands and at least 100+ VIP guests, then about 15 of us FTTF people. They didn't give us our sticker so we had to ask for it to be put on our card, we waited at least an hour downstairs and about 30 min upstairs so didn't board until close to 1pm. But finally, we were in those see-through tunnels, about to board. Of course, we were ALL SMILES!

 

 

How could you not be???

 

Again, IMHO the ship has held up well for being 4 years young. While the lobby isn't as impressive as the Breeze, she's still quite pretty. I will leave you with some ship shots:

 

 

Lido Main Pool

 

More Lido

 

Heading to the buffet for lunch!

[JennN]

DAY 1 CONT'D

 

A first for us all was booking a spa cabin, 11-229 for us which was a balcony room. My MIL, as a single cruiser, always gets in interior room and hijacks our balcony as she needs too!

 

Some pictures of our cabin, which WAS indeed ready when we boarded (but we were too hungry and needed a quick bite before heading down):

 

 

 

 

Our view from our balcony

 

 

I have to admit, after seeing the spa cabins and loving the cool blue decor, we were a bit disappointed in the decor (read, not quite pink but not quite coral but not quite orange) of the spa cabins on the Dream. I mean, not enough to ruin our cruise (after all, we brought on board 3 bottles of champagne, all for me and all perfectly compliant with Carnival's rule of one bottle of wine or champagne per person to carry on so how could I be sad?) but still made us feel meh.

 

Next up, the spa!

 

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[rimom71]

Great start! Sailing on the Dream out of NOLA next April and love seeing the pics and reviews. Looking forward to the spa section!

 

And also don't really understand Carnival's fascination with the burnt orange cabin decor--I have a theory that it's a cost-cutting measure because those colors are always on deep discount from the manufacturer....:D

[JennN]

DAY 1 CONT'D

 

As I promised, onto the spa. After throwing our bags down and putting a few things away, we decided to tour the spa. We had never been to a spa before on board, save passing through it to go to the gym so we were uber excited, especially after reading so many reviews about the spa, the rooms, the Thessahoweveryouspellit pool! We knew we wanted to try to use the gym at least 3x while on board (my MIL took a nightly constitutional after dinner each night on the track) and the spa every day - we wound up doing so 6 of the 7 days, my wife only 4 opting to nap instead of sweat.

 

We got in so early, and no one was in any of the rooms so I decided to take a few shots. I will say that the staff didn't clean as much as I'd have liked (never saw anyone wiping anything down, floors got pretty grody too as the end f the cruise neared) and the cooling room had a moldy window and (ick) carpeting! We downed the fruit waters in there, even filling water bottles with the stuff until we saw that they stored the water in uncovered buckets under the table (ick x2). It was a bit annoying to have people give tours while we were in there too, with shoes on and destroying our peacefulness...With that being said, we still used the spa almost every day!

 

We found this small sign in the hallway by the showers very helpful - eventually a spa staff person (on Day 2 maybe) explained it all to us too.

 

 

so the first room:

 

This was my MIL's favorite "hot" room as she has lymphodema and can't tolerate too hot.

 

 

This was the tempadarium (I thought that was the water room but I guess not?) next to the super hot steam room and or a 4th room that is apparently not listed? - the oriental steam and super hot room were too hot and fogged up my lens so no pictures for you!

 

Hallway

 

So again, I think the spa can "clean up" their act a little but we still made the most of this being included in our spa room!

 

Sorry that Day 1 is soooo long but we tried to get a lot in to get a feel (or re-feel) of the ship and her layout!

[JennN]

Great start! Sailing on the Dream out of NOLA next April and love seeing the pics and reviews. Looking forward to the spa section!

 

And also don't really understand Carnival's fascination with the burnt orange cabin decor--I have a theory that it's a cost-cutting measure because those colors are always on deep discount from the manufacturer....:D

 

 

:D:D:D:D

 

That was my wife's theory too!! It would explain a lot...

[Kcarp]

Hey Jenn,

 

Just a suggestion, you might want to cover up your full name and your FIFP number. Great start to your review. :)

[JennN]

DAY 1 CONT'D

 

So let the cruise officially begin...with a drink...

 

 

We always go to the steakhouse on the first night because 1) I get a free bottle of wine (I sound like an alcoholic but I am really just a freebie alcoholic, there is totally a difference), 2) we find that the MDR on "Come As You Are Night" is a bit chaotic and they are usually finding their groove so instead of being disappointed, we go to the steakhouse where we go YUM YUM YUM and 3) it's usually a gift to my MIL - in tradition since, on her first cruise, we treated her and it was the one thing that went right on that one for the first few days (luckily, we're all good spirited people and she cruised again despite it - see Breeze review below, if you are curious, lol).

 

No pictures of the food porn, sorry. It all went nomnomnom too quickly for me to take pictures (actually, I think I just forgot or had a bottle too manY). Regardless, we took our nightly constitutional in our dress up clothes:

 

 

And played dress up in the shops:

 

 

I told her to buy that hat or I would but she said no and regretted it the while trip as it was gone the next day and for $10, really can't go wrong but I digress...

 

 

Nighty night as Day 1 is finally over!!!

[JennN]

Hey Jenn,

 

Just a suggestion, you might want to cover up your full name and your FIFP number. Great start to your review. :)

 

Thanks. I thought about that but it's already out there on other sites and this one. Hey if people want to credit their cruises to my account, by all means :)

[JennN]

DAY 2 - SEA DAY

 

The beginning of, "OMG WE'RE SICK," my wife decides not to come to brunch in the MDR (good, I didn't want to share that lemon iced pound cake slice with you anyway!), where I use my VIFP coupon with my MIL and then we go tool around on board a bit:

 

 

 

 

 

We went to the spa and spent at least an hour there before heading back to change for dinner. We always choose Your Time Dining and love it. We usually take a day or two to find a staff we love and then request that section every night, even if it means waiting for the section.

 

My wife decided to join us for dinner. We loved our wait staff and sat at this table or the ones next to it the entire trip

 

We went back to the room, changed and then my MIL and I went for our nightly constitutional on the track before bed. I started to get an itchy throat and decided to get in early, pop some NyQuil and EmergenC (I always pack a medicine/emergency kit though it proved too small for the flu that took us over) and hit the hay.

 

[JennN]

DAY 3 - COZUMEL

 

My wife and I remember Cozumel fondly because of our excursion but my MIL wasn't interested in driving a Jeep around to snorkel and beach so we decided on the La Case en la Playa (or Beach House) excursion. We had to buy this excursion well in advance as there were only 12 open seats and it sold out quickly.

 

 

We always buy our excursions through Carnival for piece of mind as my wife is a nervous traveler as it is and we got bitten twice with finding something in port (again, see reviews below!). This part was a tad annoying as people were late and so we waited around in the hot hot plaza for everyone to come together (as we waited, some went off to smoke, some then went shopping) and got a sticker - or as our guide put it, Mexican GPS, which made us laugh out loud, literally, the entire trip - then boarded the bus to the beach house.

 

I did a formal review on Carnival's website for the excursion but I gave it 4 of 5 stars. The house is super beat up and I never went inside. The bathroom is GROSS so I had to hold it until we got back to the ship 6 hours (and at least 17 margaritas) later (I am one of THOSE bathroom people) or else it would have gotten all 5 stars.

 

This was an all inclusive beach day - homemade AUTHENTIC Mexican food that was delicious, bottomless drinks and not weak ones either, a gorgeous beach and hammocks as well as water garb (snorkels and floats). It was totally top notch as you can see from the pictures below. Something for everyone, and everyone was only 25 people in total. Service was great, food was great and drinks all top shelf and strong. Entirely worth the price for 6 hours despite the house! Wife was REALLY not feeling well and spent the day pretty much in a hammock. I didn't feel well (not as bad) and spent it drinking and wading!

 

 

 

 

 

[JennN]

DAY 3 COZUMEL CONT'D

 

 

 

OMG that water!!!

 

 

 

For good measure, where we sat and waited for our excursion:

 

And our Mexican GPS

[JennN]

DAY 3 CONT'D

 

We hoped back on board, tired but hungry. Which was a good thing since we booked Chef's Table. We had done it on our last cruise and were soooo impressed, we booked it again. Sadly, we didn't realize it would be the same exact menu nor did we foresee not just one person getting drunk (which was annoying enough) but 4. Oh brother! Also, there was a different feel for Chef's Table on the Dream as we ate in the galley. On the Valor, we ate in a private dining room, which we enjoyed better.

 

That being said it's still worth it to try at least once no matter what ship - unlimited champagne, wine, soft drinks and the food (while not as good as on the Valor - or maybe it was the ambiance or just experiencing it for the first time) is still amazing! Plus the face time with Chef is great too! I brought my camera, having read a few reviews and knowing that if I asked Chef, I could take pictures (and I could except in the galley proper). The next few posts will be of Chef's Table...starting in one of the lounges at 6pm and I don't think we went on our constitutional (they had to practically roll us around the track) until 9 or 9:30!

 

 

Stuffed date and Olive app (my fav):

 

The waiters serve you!

 

 

Chef greets us:

 

Tomato and prusciutto (sp) I think - sorry I didn't take a picture of the menu and am going on memory from the Valor

 

 

Seated in the galley!

[JennN]

DAY 3 CONT'D

 

Tomato and mozzarella reinvented

 

Bread comes baked in the flower pots!

 

Tuna tartare (not my favorite but I ate it and muddled through)

 

Hen (I ate a small piece so as not to be rude but don't eat meat on the bone - a weird thing, just add it to the list)

 

 

I don't recall - spinach potato soup maybe? We got up and stretched and went for a tour of the galley, learned how to make the warm chocolate melting cake and then sat back down to salmon and beets

 

[BuzzBuzzen]

Wonderful photos and a great writing style , I am enjoying your review very much, thank you , cheers, Buzz.

[JennN]

DAY 3 CONT'D

 

 

Waygu Short Ribs - they were delicious, melt in your mouth on the Valor - my favorite. On the Dream, not so much. It looked pretty!

 

Chocolate dessert (I don't care for chocolate so...meh)

 

I snapped one in the galley - this is where they make the soup:

 

It really is amazing how many people are fed, and how many times a day. I like to see the behind the scenes stuff because it helps me remember that it's not all about me, even though it should be, hahaha

 

It was a super long day so I needed to get to bed. Especially since I now matched my wife with a full blown flu - our neighbors must have hated us as we were coughing a deep cough all night long. We eventually had to go down and bite the bullet and buy more NyQuil and cough drops (all in all, we were sick for the entire rest of the cruise and had to spend an additional $100 in the store for meds, even though I brought a week's worth. Just not for TWO people).

 

[JennN]

Wonderful photos and a great writing style , I am enjoying your review very much, thank you , cheers, Buzz.

 

Thank you! Hahaha, I always worry because I write like I talk!

[live2cruise2011]

thank you for taking the time to write.. we will be on the dream out of NOLA for the last 2 sailings in August... and can not wait.. to get into our spa cabin we had one on the magic and love them... lol personally we didn't care about the décor it was on the boat they could have given us the broom closet and we would have been happy... haha sorry have to do my cruise talking here as it is a surprise for our 15 year old he will turn 16 on the ship but we have decided not to tell him until we are on the shuttle on the way to the port

[2manyanimals]

Am enjoying your review. Thanks we go in October

[SailingRNC]

Love your review. My son got married in the lounge where you had the beginning of the Chef's Table last August when the Dream sailed from Port Canaveral. The Dream has so many memories for me :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad Air using Forums

[JennN]

thank you for taking the time to write.. we will be on the dream out of NOLA for the last 2 sailings in August... and can not wait.. to get into our spa cabin we had one on the magic and love them... lol personally we didn't care about the décor it was on the boat they could have given us the broom closet and we would have been happy... haha sorry have to do my cruise talking here as it is a surprise for our 15 year old he will turn 16 on the ship but we have decided not to tell him until we are on the shuttle on the way to the port

 

What a great surprise!!! Record it ;) You will have a blast!

[live2cruise2011]

especially since this will be close to our last milestone birthday he deserves this... we with the great amazing God guiding the way have taken a child that medical science said would not see 1 and he will turn 16 on the carnival dream... amazing.. he was born with some really major heart defects and has undergone 7 open heart surgeries after the last surgery he died on the operating table it took them almost an hour to revive him enough that they could put him on ECMO(life support) he was going to turn 9 the next day (or this year boarding day) so that was 7 years ago.. it has been a long journey but we have seen God's work first hand and are confident he is not yet done but we know that his body is growing tired and have not found a surgeon that is willing to put him back in for another surgery and honestly he says he does not want another. he is my strength without him I would be lost

[PathfinderEss]

Nice review and great photo's.

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith