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My Dream cruise. An honest report.

girlsjustwannacruise
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girlsjustwannacruise

girlsjustwannacruise

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Just got off the Dream yesterday. I will be happy to answer your questions. Hopefully this will help some of you before your upcoming Dream cruise.

 

We had an aft deluxe ocean view room. The room was larger than on other ships and the extra shower/tub combination bathroom was a life saver! This was my favorite feature of this ship.

 

The ship itself was very pretty, but if you have never been on a dream class ship, take it from me that it is indeed a very, very large ship compared to the fantasy class and the legend. Those are the ships I had previously been on. In fact, the size of this ship had a huge impact on our cruise. This was a holiday cruise and the ship was full, but I cant imagine that the ship sails often not being full. The lines were HORRIBLE!!! From the pizza lines, the buffet lines, lines to get off the ship at ports, lines to get on the ship, lines at guest services (we did thank god have FTTF which helped a lot here!!!), lines at shore excursion desk, lines at elevators.... im serious. Lines!

 

Dining. We booked anytime dining. We did so on the legend and never had a problem at all. Well on this ship, I advice against it. The lines were so bad to even get to the sign in lady that we only made it in there 3 out of 7 nights. The first night we skipped because we showed up at 6:30 and the line was wrapped almost into itself. We just went to buffet, stood in shorter line and enjoyed our meal. The second night we showed up at 5:30, dining room opened at 5:45. We only had maybe 50 people already there so once doors opened we were seated right away. But... dinner took 2 hours and 40 minutes. We ended up missing the comedy show that we had planned to attend. This was elegant night also. The other two times we ate in the dining room was one other time for dinner and once for brunch, which went quickly. Dinner the second time took the average amount of time to be served and eat, but we went at 5:40 and didn't get in the dining room until almost 6:40. Just not worth it!!!! The food did taste good, as always and they had lots to choose from with pasta bar and burrito bar but those are only opened at lunch.

 

Some cut backs: No more chocolate on pillows, no robes in rooms, no more chicken tenders on buffet, no sample basket. We did get the water in place of the free drink and we did enjoy that though. But really... can you bring back the chicken tenders??? geez....

 

The basketball court was fun I was told, but since it closes at 5pm that leaves it open only in the hottest part of the day. The waterslides were fun but watch your head on the drainpipe. Ouch! The Lido deck was always packed but the pool at the back was a lot less crowded and we made due with that just fine.

 

The entertainment I thought was good. The hypnotist was hysterical! The comedy shows were great! The broad way type shows were sort of cheesy, imo. I was happy with the live music bands and other entertainment around the ship.

 

Room service. Hmmm...they were so busy that the kids tried to order on two nights and gave up due to them not answering because they were so slammed. They did get through twice on the cruise though and enjoyed the meals they got.

 

Casino was fun. Didn't do too bad this time. And thankfully, this was the one place there were no lines! lol. Did enjoy this a lot.

 

Dive in movies were playing. Never went to one but the kids did one night and seemed to enjoy a lot.

 

Laser shows? Nope didn't have any.

 

Deck parties might have been fun except there were so many people that finding a table to people watch was impossible and getting in on that line dance was a dangerous thing for your feet considering how crowded the area was.

 

One night there was supposed to be a Mexican buffet, but they did not do it. With no explanation as to why.

 

4th of july. They had a mini party at 2:30 with some activities and sang a few patriotic songs. Never did they announce nor put in fun times, but at 1145pm I wondered upon a buffet with a few ice sculptures, ect. ... no idea why this was not announced?? maybe someone on same cruise heard announcement?

 

I will admit that a lot of time was spent in the room just to get out of the crowds on this cruise. I don't think I want to sail another larger ship again.

 

Positives!!!

The ocean was beautiful, as usual. The food was good, entertainment was good, kids were smiling, still have free ice cream, and ports were a lot of fun!

 

Aqua twister to passion island was our only booked excursion, we were very very happy with this!!! food was good, boat was FAST and very exhilarating.

 

Service was okay, it was not very personable but it was due to so many people. No request was denied and gratuities were paid as always.

 

My favorite ship at this point is the legend. Sorry Dream. My legs are still sore from the stairs all day long due to over crowded elevators and im a pretty active person.

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pokerski82

pokerski82

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I sailed the dream on my daughter spring break. While there was some lines nothing like you had. We eat in mdr every night and had anytime dinning. Got there 20 min before it open we're always first ones in line. We loved the dream.

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steveknj Great Review Rare

steveknj

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Just got off the Dream yesterday. I will be happy to answer your questions. Hopefully this will help some of you before your upcoming Dream cruise.

 

We had an aft deluxe ocean view room. The room was larger than on other ships and the extra shower/tub combination bathroom was a life saver! This was my favorite feature of this ship.

 

The ship itself was very pretty, but if you have never been on a dream class ship, take it from me that it is indeed a very, very large ship compared to the fantasy class and the legend. Those are the ships I had previously been on. In fact, the size of this ship had a huge impact on our cruise. This was a holiday cruise and the ship was full, but I cant imagine that the ship sails often not being full. The lines were HORRIBLE!!! From the pizza lines, the buffet lines, lines to get off the ship at ports, lines to get on the ship, lines at guest services (we did thank god have FTTF which helped a lot here!!!), lines at shore excursion desk, lines at elevators.... im serious. Lines!

 

Dining. We booked anytime dining. We did so on the legend and never had a problem at all. Well on this ship, I advice against it. The lines were so bad to even get to the sign in lady that we only made it in there 3 out of 7 nights. The first night we skipped because we showed up at 6:30 and the line was wrapped almost into itself. We just went to buffet, stood in shorter line and enjoyed our meal. The second night we showed up at 5:30, dining room opened at 5:45. We only had maybe 50 people already there so once doors opened we were seated right away. But... dinner took 2 hours and 40 minutes. We ended up missing the comedy show that we had planned to attend. This was elegant night also. The other two times we ate in the dining room was one other time for dinner and once for brunch, which went quickly. Dinner the second time took the average amount of time to be served and eat, but we went at 5:40 and didn't get in the dining room until almost 6:40. Just not worth it!!!! The food did taste good, as always and they had lots to choose from with pasta bar and burrito bar but those are only opened at lunch.

 

Some cut backs: No more chocolate on pillows, no robes in rooms, no more chicken tenders on buffet, no sample basket. We did get the water in place of the free drink and we did enjoy that though. But really... can you bring back the chicken tenders??? geez....

 

The basketball court was fun I was told, but since it closes at 5pm that leaves it open only in the hottest part of the day. The waterslides were fun but watch your head on the drainpipe. Ouch! The Lido deck was always packed but the pool at the back was a lot less crowded and we made due with that just fine.

 

The entertainment I thought was good. The hypnotist was hysterical! The comedy shows were great! The broad way type shows were sort of cheesy, imo. I was happy with the live music bands and other entertainment around the ship.

 

Room service. Hmmm...they were so busy that the kids tried to order on two nights and gave up due to them not answering because they were so slammed. They did get through twice on the cruise though and enjoyed the meals they got.

 

Casino was fun. Didn't do too bad this time. And thankfully, this was the one place there were no lines! lol. Did enjoy this a lot.

 

Dive in movies were playing. Never went to one but the kids did one night and seemed to enjoy a lot.

 

Laser shows? Nope didn't have any.

 

Deck parties might have been fun except there were so many people that finding a table to people watch was impossible and getting in on that line dance was a dangerous thing for your feet considering how crowded the area was.

 

One night there was supposed to be a Mexican buffet, but they did not do it. With no explanation as to why.

 

4th of july. They had a mini party at 2:30 with some activities and sang a few patriotic songs. Never did they announce nor put in fun times, but at 1145pm I wondered upon a buffet with a few ice sculptures, ect. ... no idea why this was not announced?? maybe someone on same cruise heard announcement?

 

I will admit that a lot of time was spent in the room just to get out of the crowds on this cruise. I don't think I want to sail another larger ship again.

 

Positives!!!

The ocean was beautiful, as usual. The food was good, entertainment was good, kids were smiling, still have free ice cream, and ports were a lot of fun!

 

Aqua twister to passion island was our only booked excursion, we were very very happy with this!!! food was good, boat was FAST and very exhilarating.

 

Service was okay, it was not very personable but it was due to so many people. No request was denied and gratuities were paid as always.

 

My favorite ship at this point is the legend. Sorry Dream. My legs are still sore from the stairs all day long due to over crowded elevators and im a pretty active person.

We were on the same cruise. I'll write up my review in a couple of days. We went to anytime dining and waited on line three days but never more than 15 minutes. Maybe being northeasterners we are used to lines so it never bothered us too much and we avoided the really bad ones like the burger line at the pool. There were plenty of places to eat

 

Sent from my VK810 4G using Tapatalk

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BigB0882

BigB0882

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I really don't understand the complains about dinner with ATD.

 

I was on the Dream just a few weeks ago and on 2 nights we had to get a pager but we didn't wait in line for the pager for more than 5 minutes and once we had the pager it was only about another 5 minutes until it went off and we had a table.

 

The lines were worse at times, I would see them if I walked down that way for some reason but I would just wait and eat a few minutes later. If you go right after a show gets out then it is crazy. Wait 30 minutes or so and it will be much better.

 

We also never had a 2 hour dinner. We sat down, got our menus and bread and then ordered our food. We order everything all at once, are you ordering things on course at a time? Some nights were slower than others but I don't know why it would ever take nearly 3 hours.

 

I see this a lot, so I believe you, I just feel like you must be doing something that can be changed since I have been on the Dream twice and never had these issues.

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girlsjustwannacruise

girlsjustwannacruise

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I really don't understand the complains about dinner with ATD.

 

I was on the Dream just a few weeks ago and on 2 nights we had to get a pager but we didn't wait in line for the pager for more than 5 minutes and once we had the pager it was only about another 5 minutes until it went off and we had a table.

 

The lines were worse at times, I would see them if I walked down that way for some reason but I would just wait and eat a few minutes later. If you go right after a show gets out then it is crazy. Wait 30 minutes or so and it will be much better.

 

We also never had a 2 hour dinner. We sat down, got our menus and bread and then ordered our food. We order everything all at once, are you ordering things on course at a time? Some nights were slower than others but I don't know why it would ever take nearly 3 hours.

 

I see this a lot, so I believe you, I just feel like you must be doing something that can be changed since I have been on the Dream twice and never had these issues.

 

To clarify: We were never given a pager, were seated once we got to the front of the line. Im saying that we waited in line that long to get up to the podium where the girl could sign us in. Im not sure what the issue was. I didn't let it ruin my trip, im already looking into sailing again, just not on this ship. Its too crowded for me. Just thought people would want to know. My advice is to not do ATD on this particular ship.

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girlsjustwannacruise

girlsjustwannacruise

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That's why you don't cruise when schools are out on break, seriously

 

Yea, we just didn't have a choice. But like I said before, never had an issue with this at all on the carnival legend and there were 12 of us on that sailing. The issue wasn't that we were given a pager, it was that long of a wait to get to the podium. crazy. I know.

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girlsjustwannacruise

girlsjustwannacruise

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I really don't understand the complains about dinner with ATD.

 

I was on the Dream just a few weeks ago and on 2 nights we had to get a pager but we didn't wait in line for the pager for more than 5 minutes and once we had the pager it was only about another 5 minutes until it went off and we had a table.

 

The lines were worse at times, I would see them if I walked down that way for some reason but I would just wait and eat a few minutes later. If you go right after a show gets out then it is crazy. Wait 30 minutes or so and it will be much better.

 

We also never had a 2 hour dinner. We sat down, got our menus and bread and then ordered our food. We order everything all at once, are you ordering things on course at a time? Some nights were slower than others but I don't know why it would ever take nearly 3 hours.

 

I see this a lot, so I believe you, I just feel like you must be doing something that can be changed since I have been on the Dream twice and never had these issues.

 

I know what your saying. And trust me, we tried to yin when everyone yanged, but it just wouldn't work out. I know some people don't mind waiting that long for dinner, but on other ships you don't have this issue. Its not worth it to me. Im not sure why it took so long to get our food that night. Our waitress kept saying sorry... I know it wasn't her fault. Maybe we just have some bad vibes around us, lol. The buffet food was fine for us but I know for some its very important. Still had a great cruise overall.

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girlsjustwannacruise

girlsjustwannacruise

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I understand that some people don't want to hear any negatives about a ship that they want to sail. All I can say is that if you want to try her out, go ahead, you might love her!!! I just am sharing my personal experiences and thoughts. I am sure that scheduled dining was fine.

 

Was it a good cruise? OF COURSE! is the dream beautiful? Absolutely! Would I sail it again? No. but that's just me.

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asalligo

asalligo

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Thanks you for this review. I avoid the larger ships for this reason and am often second guessing myself. Maybe it was just one bad cruise or the ship was particularly full on my cruise, but waiting in long lines nearly ruins my cruise. I know I have a patience issue, believe me, I know, but I just have to avoid long lines.

 

A few years back I stopped worrying about amenities and to some extent even ports and started looking at ships with the largest amount of square footage per passenger capacity and I find that the more sparsely populated a boat, the better time I have. I really love the Spirit class ships.

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pink roses

pink roses

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I understand that some people don't want to hear any negatives about a ship that they want to sail. All I can say is that if you want to try her out, go ahead, you might love her!!! I just am sharing my personal experiences and thoughts. I am sure that scheduled dining was fine.

 

Was it a good cruise? OF COURSE! is the dream beautiful? Absolutely! Would I sail it again? No. but that's just me.

I appreciate your honesty. I have a question- Do you think most of these issues would be better once many of the kids are back in school? I have 2 cruises booked on the Dream ...1 end of August and another with my sister in October. I also cruised in June 1 year on the Freedom and the lines and people seemed to be impossible, too.

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SoBigSoSexy

SoBigSoSexy

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I sailed the dream on my daughter spring break. While there was some lines nothing like you had. We eat in mdr every night and had anytime dinning. Got there 20 min before it open we're always first ones in line. We loved the dream.

 

So you sat in line for 20 minutes every night....just as the OP stated, long lines.

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JB_Scott1981

JB_Scott1981

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OK, So I have a cruise booked on the Dream in Sept. When I booked it I read all these great reviews of Carnival and the Dream and robes and chocolates and all the wonderful extras they have to offer. Now as it gets closer to cruise time I am reading how many extras are going away. It seems I picked a bad time to start cruising. :(

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