First time Cruisers just off the Dream 7/6-7/13

[NightOne]

To me, both pools were very crowded (no room to swim, just to float in your place) during the peak times of the day.

 

 

Thanks for the follow up. Very informative. It sounds like they need another pool or two based on your comments.

 

Did you check out any of the Hot Tubs? Particularly, the ones in Serenity or on the Lanai deck?

[sassykitten74]

Thanks for the review, we're going in Nov. so its very helpful to see reviews!

[smcsmom]

Thanks for the follow up. Very informative. It sounds like they need another pool or two based on your comments.

 

Did you check out any of the Hot Tubs? Particularly, the ones in Serenity or on the Lanai deck?

 

 

From what I can see it looks like all the pools on the ships run about the same size? I have no information at all on a single Hot Tub, never graced a single one of them the entire week, not for any particular reason though most likely since we had H with us.

[Jamdug73]

Thank you for the great review. I also want to send a big cyber hug to you for posting the Fun Times. Thank you SOOO much for that. We will be on this ship Sept. 14th. Just a few more weeks. :D

[watermelonqueen99]

Thank you so much for posting the Times! We will be on the Dream in April, and your review has me even more excited! :D

[erewhon]

Thank you for your great review and sharing your photos.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the review, we will be on the Dream this December.

[tandemcruzr]

Trying to catch an elevator from the main deck when coming back onto the ship was another story. It took forever for us to get one to get back to the 9th floor.

 

Hint -- go up the stairs one or two levels and catch the next 'down' elevator to go back up. :D

 

Thanks for your review. we have sailed the Dream now 4 times out of Port Canaveral. Will miss her. :(

[smcsmom]

Hint -- go up the stairs one or two levels and catch the next 'down' elevator to go back up. :D

 

Thanks for your review. we have sailed the Dream now 4 times out of Port Canaveral. Will miss her. :(

 

 

Good idea about the elevator!

 

 

Thanks to everyone for your kind words, glad to get some of you excited about your upcoming cruises!!

[bobmal99]

Really well written review.

Thanks for taking the time

to write it.

 

I know they can take some time.

 

 

Welcome! We are a family of 3, Husband (J), Wife (Amy) and 10-year old daughter (H). This is our first cruise and we booked it about 3 weeks out from departure. I read and read and read reviews on Cruise Critic and all the information was very helpful so I decided to write down our experience and if at least one person gets some good information from this than I will be happy!! It’s my honest opinions and I hope it offends no one. I wrote this in real time each night while we were on the cruise. I am happy to answer any questions so feel free to ask.

 

I have the Fun Times and the Camp Carnival Schedule scanned if anyone would like me to post them please let me know.

 

Disclaimer: I had good intentions but I am terrible at taking pictures and forget constantly and this vacation was no exception ☹ There is not one picture of any of the food we ate and very few from the ship. However, any pictures we did take were with a Nikon Coolpix Waterproof Camera, really cool purchase on J’s part for this trip! Soooo, if you like a super picture intense post, this one won't be for you.

 

 

Carnival Dream out of New Orleans, LA

Balcony Room 9256

July 6 – July 13, 2014

Cozumel, Mexico

Belize City, Belize

Mahogany Bay, Roatan

 

July 5, 2014 (Pre-Cruise Day)

 

We had originally planned to drive from Houston the day the cruise departed but at the last minute we changed our minds and decided to drive in the day before so we wouldn’t be so tired the day our cruise started. Since a few people on the CC Roll Call mentioned hotel rooms were hard to come by in New Orleans due to the music festival that weekend, we did a quick Google search and found a Holiday Inn Express in Gonzales (60 miles outside of New Orleans) and made a reservation online. The hotel was brand new, impeccably clean, said it had a decent breakfast to offer and worked out perfectly. (Only complaint was the A/C in the room was crazy loud but we are all good sleepers so it didn’t bother us too much). It took us 6 hours to get to Gonzales from Houston – a normally 4 hour or so trip but we stopped in Lake Charles for lunch and a little shopping, and in Lafayette for Saturday evening Mass and a quick trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few forgotten items. Once we checked in we were ready for dinner so we Yelped (such a useful App!) a good place to eat close to the hotel, hopped over to The El Paso for fajitas – delicious, fast and fairly inexpensive and then called it a night!! One night at the Holiday Inn Express was $106 total.

Holiday Inn Express, Gonzales, LA.

 

 

[Bookbug53]

Thank-you so much for the review! I loved your pictures and did not need the foodie ones. :p

 

I noticed that your itinerary was opposite what ours will be. We start with 2 sea days and our first port is Isla Roatan.

 

Is this something they do often or does it indicate a permanent switch from starting with Cozumel? I would much prefer the 2 sea days at the end. :)

[slybear]

Very nice review & it was a pleasure to read without other's responses until the end. Thanks for posting fun times too.

[ondeegoh]

That was a great review. Thank you so much. My kids and I were on the Dream a few years back and loved it! Did you all get to try the pasta bar? That was my eldest daughter's favorite. At the time they were only open for lunch. We were just on the Breeze and they also had the pasta bar which was open for lunch (free) and dinner - but there was a charge for dinner $12 for adults and $5 for children. Not too bad price-wise but why pay when you can have for free :D