~*On a Carnival Dream (Review) -- 8/31/14 - 9/7/14 -- Isla Roatan, Belize, Cozumel*~

[JennN]

Not my favorite itinerary, but then again, I've done it twice ;)

 

Looking forward to reading more ! Great job so far!!!

[smitty1952]

Was the $603 for the first day too and for 2 people

[white93mr2]

Looking forward to more of your review. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

[JamesEM]

Enjoying your review, looking forward to additional reports and photos, because DW and I will be on the Dream in Dec.

[WECRUISE4US]

Enjoying your review. 30 days and we will be on the Carnival Dream. :):)

[wbc12345]

ryansmith18 -- No worries! Glad to help. Thanks for your kind words.

 

BigEasyCC -- It was delicious. I'm sad to say I got that combination every time, so I can't give you any other recommendations. It was that good. I can't wait until my next bowl.

 

Macklovin38 -- Exactly ONE MONTH away!! That is super exciting. :D

 

JennN -- I can't imagine not loving this itinerary! In my opinion, there is no such thing a bad itinerary. I'd rather be on a cruise than anywhere else. I notice you said it wasn't your favorite, not that you didn't like it at all. ;)

 

smitty1952 -- Yes we purchased it literally the minute we walked onto the ship. It was for two people and included gratuity. on the receipts, it doesn't show anything for gratuity. Since I didn't understand the gratuity thing, we left an additional tips for most of our drinks.

 

white93mr2 -- Thank you!

 

JamesEM -- More information is coming today. I probably won't be able to start the review of the ports until Monday and that's where most of the pictures will come from!

 

WECRUISE4US -- Thanks! I wish I was thirty days out from my next cruise. A teeny tiny bit jealous, not going to lie! :o

[wbc12345]

I won’t do an in depth review of the first two sea days. Mostly because they look a lot like this:

 

 

We spent a lot of time laying out in the sun & enjoying the PERFECT weather. I have to disclose that I was terrified for the month leading up to our cruise about the weather. In fact, I will probably not ever book again during hurricane season for this reason. A couple days out from our cruise, all the weather reports were very doom and gloom for every day of our cruise. By some miracle, we ended up having the most beautiful weather of all our cruises. I only encountered rain twice and both were for a short period of time.

 

We have previously sailed in May and early June. I didn’t think it would be that much warmer in August/September. But… it was HOT. I distinctly remember having to cover up with my towel in May if we got out to our chairs early, but I never had to worry about that on this cruise. It was hot from the first time we stepped out on deck. We couldn’t even enjoy some parts of serenity, because there was zero breeze from the protective glass at the front of the ship.

 

Another note about the Dream versus the Conquest is that there were a lot more available chairs. I’m not sure if this is just based on the time of the year, but it seemed like there were always plenty of chairs available. On the last sea day, we didn’t get out to the pool area until like 11:00 and we found two loungers next to each other right by lido. That never happened on our previous cruises! There also seemed to be a lot more open decks. I was kind of expecting it to feel cramped, since the Dream has so many more people. However, they were really smart with designing the open deck spaces. Almost every inch is useful space.

[watermelonqueen99]

Subscribing! Going on the Dream in April, can't wait to read the rest of your review!

[NOLABEAUTY]

Waiting for the rest of the review..what happened?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[wbc12345]

NOLABEAUTY -- I'm back! I was trying to finish writing the rest of my review before I posted any more. I should have written it all out before I started posting anything... but I was excited! Then, I got busy with work and the review took a back seat. Hopefully, the rest will go up quickly! :o:o

[wbc12345]

We also opted to enjoy the Seaday Brunch during one of the first two sea days. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea:

 

 

The line to get into brunch was LONG. It was probably the longest line I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship for anything (except maybe a tender line/line to re-board while in port). And just to warn you, the line on the last sea day was even longer. Everyone in our group was ready to give up, but I insisted we stay. I heard great things about the brunch and I had been dying to try it. For full disclosure -- I was initially a little disappointed when I heard that Carnival was starting the new brunch venture, because I loved eating lunch in the MDR. In fact, I would eat every meal there if I could.

 

But, let me tell you, it was totally worth giving up the MDR lunch for the new brunch!! We enjoyed so many good things during the Sea Day brunch, and honestly some of the best food served in the MDR is served at the brunch. The steak and eggs were to die for. The filet is very small, but tender and very well seasoned. We also tried the pancakes and the huevos rancheros. The cheesy grits are not to be missed. I’m from the south and Carnival doesn’t ever get the grits quite right. But, in the MDR they are excellent! However – don’t order to the mac n’ cheese!! It was absolutely flavorless and terrible. Walking out we saw more than one plate of the mac n' cheese sent back that was missing only a single bite. I thought this would be a good dish, since we actually like the bacon mac and cheese on the MDR dinner menu. No such luck at the brunch!

 

Speaking of food, we were lucky that the brunch filled us up and we didn’t need to eat lunch at the lido buffet. I’m not talking about the other food stations (Pizza, Wok, Burritto, Indian, or Pasta). For whatever reason, the buffet on the Dream is terrible. I tried the buffet a couple times throughout the week, but it was really disappointing. First, there is a very limited selection of food choices. It feels like the actual buffet is an afterthought. Plus, even when I found something I might be interested in… upon trying any of the food, it tasted terrible! There is not a single thing I tried from the buffet that I could recommend to you. :mad:

 

Another disappointing food option was the Burrito Bar. I was thrilled that the Dream had a burrito bar, since I knew it didn’t have the 2.0 upgrades. I, mistakenly, assumed that the burrito bar would be the same ingredients as the Blue Iguana Cantina. IT IS NOT THE SAME. Not the same ingredients, not the same taste, and definitely not the same caliber! I know that Guys burgers get a lot of love on the boards, but I thought the Blue Iguana was the best food option on the Conquest. The buritto bar on the Dream is just terrible. The flavoring was terrible, the tortillas were of poor quality, the meat just felt like leftover meat that was being re-purposed. And the worst part – the chips were very stale. It was just bad all around. I did not try a hamburger on this cruise, because they looked pretty bad too. We frequently ate hamburgers on the Conquest. My husband tried a hot dog and hated it. This is someone who is VERY easy to please… So, I wouldn’t recommend the hot dog at the grill or the burrito bar.

 

It annoys me that the Dream won’t have the 2.0 upgrades, possibly ever. The excuse is that the toppings bar won’t fit on the deck. While I think this may be true, the fact that I can add toppings to my sandwich and pick different salsas to try was such a small part of the Blue Iguana Cantina and Guy’s Burgers. The quality of the food prepared is so much higher. There is no excuse for not using the same quality ingredients on what is virtually the same offerings.

Rant over. lol

[wbc12345]

In the evenings, there is plenty of entertainment to enjoy! Between the shows in the main dining room, the comedy club, the piano bar, the nightclub, and the casino – we were always entertained. I thought that the Carnival Dream had a great variety of things to do. They also the Seaside Theater which showed new releases.

 

The first night we enjoyed karaoke and then the comedy club. I felt like we had a ton of quality singers on this cruise! Karaoke is not always my thing… I think it can be pretty boring if people just stand there and sing off pitch. However, there were excellent singers that really made it fun. Even the people that didn’t particularly sing well were fun, danced, and got the crowd involved. It was the first time I saw people out on the dance floor during karaoke.

 

The first night, the production show was Get Ready. We didn’t attend the show, so I can’t tell you how it was. The next night, there was a magician show with Bobby Borgia. I thought this show was just average. It was very much an interactive show with the audience. The whole show was done with his walking around the audience. This made it difficult to see, as we were basically forced to just watch it on the larger TVs on the side of the stage. One camera guy was recording, so if he was in the wrong spot you couldn’t see. It also had logistical problems, because the guests he was interacting with did not have microphones. Some of the guests also couldn’t understand what he was saying.

 

One of the cruises on the Conquest had a magician, but she was spectacular. She didn’t use crowd interaction and it was much more of a show! She also did some aerial acrobatics and used fire and other cool elements. It was much more interesting and more visually stimulating. In between audience member’s participation, they showed the cheesiest montages ever. I basically feel like I just watched an hour long advertisement for Bobby Borgia. I didn’t feel like I was ever entertained... it was more of a hook to get you to watch his other things.

 

We also enjoyed the comedy club! The dream has a very efficient means of organizing the exiting and entering of the comedy club. It does require a line to form through the piano bar, but it prevented people who were forced to exit after enjoying a show from cutting in line. Both times, we stood in line all the way back near the nightclub. We made it in both times and had really great seats. The Burgundy lounge where the comedy shows take place is HUGE! There is more than enough room for anyone who wants to see, as long as you don’t walk in after the show has started. I really appreciated that they made this lounge much larger than on the Conquest.

[wbc12345]

On Monday night, we enjoyed Elegant Night. I finally have some pictures to post of that night! We enjoyed all our meals in the Crimson Dining Room, which can be seen in the background:

 

 

Our waiter was awesome and he made sure every lady at the table enjoyed a dance.

 

 

On Tuesday night, we enjoyed a night at the Chef's Art Steakhouse.

 

 

We all ordered the ribeye. The steakhouse is something that I would definitely recommend to anyone. We've always had a great time at the steakhouses and the steakhouse on the Carnival Dream was the best yet. We all had the ribeye, which was huge and delicious!

 

 

We tried the chocolate sampler and the apple pastry for dessert:

 

 

 

We all made a mental observation that the week was almost halfway over. We knew that the next three port days would fly by and then we would only have on sea day left to soak up the sun! It was so true. The first three days always feel heavenly to me. They’re honestly my favorite part of the cruise. It always feels like as soon as we hit the port days, the vacation just goes so much faster! Then, the last sea day it hangs over your head that you have to pack everything up.

[wbc12345]

We also opted to enjoy the Seaday Brunch during one of the first two sea days. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea:

 

 

The line to get into brunch was LONG. It was probably the longest line I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship for anything (except maybe a tender line/line to re-board while in port). And just to warn you, the line on the last sea day was even longer. Everyone in our group was ready to give up, but I insisted we stay. I heard great things about the brunch and I had been dying to try it. For full disclosure -- I was initially a little disappointed when I heard that Carnival was starting the new brunch venture, because I loved eating lunch in the MDR. In fact, I would eat every meal there if I could.

 

But, let me tell you, it was totally worth giving up the MDR lunch for the new brunch!! We enjoyed so many good things during the Sea Day brunch, and honestly some of the best food served in the MDR is served at the brunch. The steak and eggs were to die for. The filet is very small, but tender and very well seasoned. We also tried the pancakes and the huevos rancheros. The cheesy grits are not to be missed. I’m from the south and Carnival doesn’t ever get the grits quite right. But, in the MDR they are excellent! However – don’t order to the mac n’ cheese!! It was absolutely flavorless and terrible. Walking out we saw more than one plate of the mac n' cheese sent back that was missing only a single bite. I thought this would be a good dish, since we actually like the bacon mac and cheese on the MDR dinner menu. No such luck at the brunch!

 

Speaking of food, we were lucky that the brunch filled us up and we didn’t need to eat lunch at the lido buffet. I’m not talking about the other food stations (Pizza, Wok, Burritto, Indian, or Pasta). For whatever reason, the buffet on the Dream is terrible. I tried the buffet a couple times throughout the week, but it was really disappointing. First, there is a very limited selection of food choices. It feels like the actual buffet is an afterthought. Plus, even when I found something I might be interested in… upon trying any of the food, it tasted terrible! There is not a single thing I tried from the buffet that I could recommend to you. :mad:

 

Another disappointing food option was the Burrito Bar. I was thrilled that the Dream had a burrito bar, since I knew it didn’t have the 2.0 upgrades. I, mistakenly, assumed that the burrito bar would be the same ingredients as the Blue Iguana Cantina. IT IS NOT THE SAME. Not the same ingredients, not the same taste, and definitely not the same caliber! I know that Guys burgers get a lot of love on the boards, but I thought the Blue Iguana was the best food option on the Conquest. The buritto bar on the Dream is just terrible. The flavoring was terrible, the tortillas were of poor quality, the meat just felt like leftover meat that was being re-purposed. And the worst part – the chips were very stale. It was just bad all around. I did not try a hamburger on this cruise, because they looked pretty bad too. We frequently ate hamburgers on the Conquest. My husband tried a hot dog and hated it. This is someone who is VERY easy to please… So, I wouldn’t recommend the hot dog at the grill or the burrito bar.

 

It annoys me that the Dream won’t have the 2.0 upgrades, possibly ever. The excuse is that the toppings bar won’t fit on the deck. While I think this may be true, the fact that I can add toppings to my sandwich and pick different salsas to try was such a small part of the Blue Iguana Cantina and Guy’s Burgers. The quality of the food prepared is so much higher. There is no excuse for not using the same quality ingredients on what is virtually the same offerings.

Rant over. lol

 

Looks like the picture didn't work! I usually try to preview all posts, but forgot... so here's the picture of the line for brunch:

 

 

Up next... PORT DAYS! Prepare for LOTS of pictures.

Edited October 3, 2014 by wbc12345

[wbc12345]

Our first port day was Isla Roatan, Honduras! We woke up and I was relieved to know we would finally be seeing land!

 

 

After visiting this island last year, I was so happy to be returning. It was, by far, the port I was most excited about. Last year, we did the beginner scuba diving offered through Carnival. While I absolutely had a blast, my sweet husband had a terrible time popping his ears underwater. It made the whole experience very painful for him. I would have happily repeated the scuba diving excursion, but alas, it was not to be.

 

However, our excursion last year is what ultimately led us to our choice this year. The scuba diving excursion is staffed through Anthony’s Key Resort. At the beginning of the scuba diving excursion, you start in shallow water to get used to the equipment. While we were getting adjusted, we realized we were right next to the dolphins. They came up to the divider as we were underwater, seemingly very interested in what we were doing! They were precious and I loved seeing them.

 

I have to be honest here. I never thought I would ever be able to interact/swim with the dolphins for ethical reasons. I've heard the horror stories about some of the inhumane treatment dolphins receive when they are kept in captivity and forced to entertain tourists. So, as soon as I returned home after our trip I did some research on Anthony’s Key Resort. I was very impressed by what I found. There was a particularly compelling article from the LA Times which eased many of my concerns about this particular facility.

 

I knew if we ever returned to Isla Roatan, we would be sure to make this a priority! When we were debating which cruise to go on, at the back of my mind I knew I desperately wanted to choose this itinerary, even though we had just gone on it, simply to experience this excursion. When I talked my husband into it, I was pumped! I was thrilled to read all the positive reviews on the Carnival website, but I could find very little information elsewhere.

[wbc12345]

The Dolphin Swim and Snorkel was offered as a four hour excursion. Upon exiting the ship, we met at a store to wait for the whole group. We then walked to a couple vans that were waiting outside the port facility. After a very exciting twenty minute ride to Anthony Key Resort, we exited the vans near the gift shop. We boarded a boat and traveled to the other side of the bay. The whole area is breathtakingly beautiful.

 

 

 

We were brought to a pavilion where we were equipped with fins, snorkels, and goggles. Then, they explained the dos and don’ts of the excursion and what we should expect. The excursion was broken down into two parts. The first part, was the dolphin encounter. The second part, was the dolphin swim and snorkel.

[wbc12345]

For the dolphin encounter, we were broken into groups of about eight people. I should note that you are NOT allowed to have your cameras for this part of the excursion. We were assigned a trainer and a dolphin. Our dolphin was Bailey and she was twelve years old. She was born at Athony’s Key Resort and our trainer had been with her since she was born. She definitely did not disappoint! The trainer had her float by on her back on and her belly a couple of times, so we could all pet and love on her. She seemed to enjoy the attention from all the visitors and really responded when we would clap and cheer.

 

Meet Bailey:

 

 

I was a LITTLE excited!

 

 

 

After we did this a couple of times, the professional photographer went to each group to take individual and couple pictures with the dolphin. I was really pleased with them and didn’t hesitate to purchase them. I believe they were $45 for all of them. They send them to you in an e-mail. They do come in a zipped file, which made it difficult for us to open them. I definitely had to look up online how to unzip the file, but once I had instructions it was pretty easy.

 

 

 

[Tinkerkelle]

loving the review...although we are going to be on the Pride, we are visiting the same ports so it is nice to see your pics!

[wbc12345]

After the professional photographer moved on to the other groups, we were allowed to grab our cameras for a few minutes (close to 10) to take pictures while we interacted with Bailey. This was the ONLY TIME we were allowed to have our cameras during the excursion. The camera was not allowed at all during the snorkeling/swim portion of the excursion, which wasn’t clear to me before the excursion. I was under the impression we would be able to use our cameras more and I was a little disappointed that there was no picture to remember our experience swimming with the dolphins.

 

 

 

 

After we took our pictures of Bailey swimming in front of us, the trainer had her do a few tricks for us. It was such a neat experience to see her up close when she would flip. At one point, a bunch of the dolphins were doing flips and it was such a cool sight. I wish I had taken better pictures, but I was too caught up in the moment! I was in awe! The other dolphins were swimming around us and seemed to enjoy doing to the tricks. I was shocked at how fast they could swim!

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, we went to grab our snorkel and fins to take part of the swimming portion of the excursion. During this time, which was about 45 minutes to an hour, we were allowed free reign to swim around the enclosure with all the dolphins just swimming around. I really had higher hopes for this part of the excursion. It was neat, but the interaction with the dolphins were limited. The enclosure is so large and there are so few dolphins that they can get lost. However, it was truly amazing when they swam around us. I loved it! It just didn’t happen as often as I thought it would. I think this is a good thing though, because it just re-affirms that these animals are not treated poorly and forced to interact with the tourists.

 

All in all, I’m glad we had this experience. I don’t think I ever need to do it again, as I thought it was very expensive considering how little time was spent on this excursion. It worked out for this port, because we were able to go straight to Mahogany Bay for an afternoon at the beach!

Edited October 3, 2014 by wbc12345

[wbc12345]

I just think the area around Anthony's Key Resort is breathtaking! :D

 

 

 

 

 

[wbc12345]

Last year, we did not spend any time at Mahogany Bay after our excursion. I can’t remember if the excursion times did not permit it or if we were just exhausted. Either way, I knew this year that I wanted to spend some time there since it looked so nice from the boat. I also wanted the classic picture in the water with the Dream in the background.

 

 

We took our time checking out Mahogany Bay.

 

 

 

IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W7yKH7BdAIg/VCldxwICBJI/AAAAAAAACvY/aXK0eDhq6sc/w1153-h865-no/GOPR0413.JPG[/img]

 

For full disclosure -- I took these pictures before we went on the excursion, so not everyone was on the beach just yet. It was more crowded later in the day.

 

 

 

I would just like to warn everyone about the restaurant on the beach – it was not good at all and pretty expensive. We decided we would eat there out of convenience, but that was a mistake. I would have much preferred to go back to the Dream to eat there for free. The restaurant served “Jerk” chicken and hamburgers, plus other fare like chips and salsa and alcoholic drinks. The chicken was pretty affordable for something like $8.00 I got chicken, rice, and plantains. Everyone else in our group got the hamburger and they were $15.00 for a burger and fries. The chicken and rice was decent, but the plantains were inedible. The burger was large, but it was definitely a frozen hamburger patty.

 

Honestly, all of the above would have been fine it the service had not been absolutely horrific. We originally sat in the bar area where you first reach the restaurant. We decided to move when we saw friends further back in the restaurant. Originally, we were promptly greeted by a young man who seemed to be very good at his job. He was quickly “shooed” away by what ended up being our waiter. Our waiter proceeded to ignore us for a while. When he finally took our drink and meal order, he didn’t bring our drinks for close the thirty minutes. Our food didn’t come out for forty-five minutes. And our waiter was nowhere around to explain that the kitchen was backed up, etc. We also ordered chips and salsa. We probably would have been happier campers if we had alcohol and appetizers while we were waiting on our food. Basically, we wasted a lot of time and money on mediocre food. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. GO BACK TO THE SHIP! :)

Edited October 3, 2014 by wbc12345

[Babycat]

Ha! Reading this review reminded me of a couple with whom I've sailed in the past aboard the Conquest in 2013. Lo and behold...IT'S YOU hahaha! your past review of the Conquest was great and helped us prepare for the 2013 cruise. This review doesn't disappoint ;).

 

It's nice to see pictures of you guys again as I'm living out my vacation vicariously through you guys. I'll be on the Dream on April 26th. Thanks again!

[wbc12345]

We also purchased the $12.00 pass for the magical flying chairs. It is a very easy walk, so this is completely unnecessary. We bought it simply to enjoy the beautiful views riding it provides. I LOVED it. I know it’s ridiculous, but it was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. In fact, towards the end of the day we rode it around twice for the fun of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the day, we were exhausted! I couldn’t believe how much this day took it out of us. And we still had two more port days! I also want to mention that Dancin in the Streets was scheduled for Wednesday night. I heard so many good things about this production show, so I was really excited to see it. We got back to the room and quickly got ready so we could eat and then see the show.

 

Unfortunately, they cancelled the show for the evening and had the show 8 more seconds instead. We didn’t hear an announcement and it was the first time I’ve ever known Carnival to change things around that are printed in the Fun Times.

[wbc12345]

loving the review...although we are going to be on the Pride, we are visiting the same ports so it is nice to see your pics!

 

Tinkerkelle -- I love this itinerary. Hopefully this will get you pumped up for your cruise! What excursions do y'all have planned?

[wbc12345]

Ha! Reading this review reminded me of a couple with whom I've sailed in the past aboard the Conquest in 2013. Lo and behold...IT'S YOU hahaha! your past review of the Conquest was great and helped us prepare for the 2013 cruise. This review doesn't disappoint ;).

 

It's nice to see pictures of you guys again as I'm living out my vacation vicariously through you guys. I'll be on the Dream on April 26th. Thanks again!

 

Babycat!! Good to see you on here again! Your videos have gotten me through some tough times -- either pre-cruise anticipation or post-cruise depression. lol :p

 

That cruise on the Conquest in May 2013 is still my all time favorite cruise. We made the best friends and had an absolute crazy good time. I won't forget those memories for the rest of my life! :D

 

We're booked back on the Dream in May 2014. It was torture having to wait until the end of August this year. I won't make that mistake again.