Carnival Dream Spring Break Cruise (3/27/2016)

[dctravel]

We are just off the Carnival Dream from my families spring break cruise to the Western Caribbean (Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, Cozumel). Since I really enjoyed reading others reviews when I was making my decision on which ship to choose, I decided to try and provide a review of my own. Not sure exactly how I will do this, but I will probably try and break it up a little so it is not so much to read at once. I am more than happy to answer questions as we go.

 

There were a total of 5 of us on this trip--me, my wife, my two children (ages 4 and 8), my father-in-law (FIL). This was my 3rd cruise (once on the Mardi Gras in the 1980s and December 2001 on the Carnival Triumph). My FIL has been on multiple cruises across several lines. This was my wife and kids first cruise. We were in two interior (4F) staterooms next door to each other on deck 7 near the atrium elevators.

 

We choose this cruise mostly because of price and that we love New Orleans and wanted to spend the day before seeing some stuff with the kids. We arrived around lunchtime on Saturday, March 26, and stayed at the Hilton Riverside. This is a good choice for a New Orleans pre-cruise hotel. It is right on the river with easy access to both the French Quarter and the Central Business District.

 

In New Orleans, we ate at Barcadia for lunch (cool spot for kids with classic video game machines and giant connect four boards) and Ole Saint for dinner (in the Wyndham French Quarter). We also took the kids to Mardi Gras World (they really liked it) and to Cafe Du Monde for Breakfast on Sunday before boarding the Dream.

 

We found embarkation to be really easy. We had 11-11:30 as our check in time, and we arrived at the port right about noon. After dropping our luggage with a porter, we were able to go right into the building and start the check in process. All told, we were on Lido for lunch a little after 1. It was a quick and easy process. I wish I had gotten a picture of my daughter as she walked on the ship. Her jaw just dropped in the atrium and she kept saying "WOW!"

 

A few other notes about embarkation based on what I have read in other reviews. First, we saw our cabin steward, Christine, almost immediately. We had interior Deck 7 cabins near the atrium elevators. She presented us with our room cleaning options, and we chose both am and pm service and asked for ice and extra towels. Both were delivered each day and we saw her constantly in the hallways. She always had a smile on her face.

 

Second, my son is on a medication that requires refrigeration. The mini fridge in our room was empty when we arrived, but it was not at all cold (and it never got cold). I was able to get a medical cooler that plugs in from guest services as soon as I asked. They put a $70 deposit against my sail and sign card. Have a plug extender (we got one made by Phillips that has 2 USB ports and 2 plugs. A link is here) was essential, because with the cooler plugged in we would not have had any other outlets.

 

Third, we pre-ordered a case of water, and it was in the room when we arrived.

 

I think that's enough for the moment (I have some other work to do :(). More on the sea and ports days coming up.

[AmyW820]

Subscribing! Husband and I are looking at this itinerary for our honeymoon in December.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this!

[JaniceB]

Following along, thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[Savlamara]

Thanks for posting! Looking forward to reading the rest as our next one is on Dream!

[BigBertha81]

Going on the Dream in August, can't wait to read more!!!

[amallison]

We're on this same cruise in July with friends and can't wait to read the rest of your review!

[meatloafsfan]

Looking forward to the rest. I love the Dream.

[Clarea]

Nice start, following.:)

[Librarian365]

Adding to the fray - We are on board in June!

Thanks for posting!

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review/report.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[dctravel]

Ok, so I left off with embarkation. A few other notes about the first day before getting into the sea days.

 

First, the first activity we did on board (after eating lunch on Lido) was to play miniature golf (deck 12 midship). My son was obsessed. In fact, we must have played a few times a day over the course of the cruise and probably 14 or 15 times total.

 

Second, as others have reported, lunch was a bit chaotic. I was going to try the pasta bar, but I couldn't find the staircase that went upstairs (it is behind the dessert station at the back of the Lido buffet area). We had hamburgers and fries and generally enjoyed ourselves.

 

Third, we checked out the kids club and registered them. We could have done this online as part of the check in process, but since my daughter was in a cabin with her grandfather, only he would have been able to sign her in and out. Since we wanted all three of us to have sign in/out privileges, we chose to wait until we were on the ship.

 

Fourth, we had early seating for dinner in the lower level (deck 3) of the Scarlett Dining room. We got there a few minutes early, as I had to meet with the chef about some allergy issues. To make a long story short, the chef was very nice (Chef Vivek) and put me in the capable hands of Marketa, who I think was the assistant matre d'. Marketa was wonderful. She came by each evening to see if I had any questions about the next days menu and to arrange any changes necessary to accommodate me. She could not have provided better service and she told some nice stories about her 13 years with Carnival.

 

If we had one complaint about dinner, it was the speed of service. With a 4 and 8 year old, we were unsure how long they would last through a formal dinner. They did great, even though a few nights stretched past 90 minutes total. We said something to Marketa after a particularly slow night, and things did improve after that. Our wait staff was very friendly, if a little slow. I am not going to generally comment on food right now (we thought it was all pretty good. I will try and wrap up food at the very end of these sequences instead and mention some of most and least favorite).

 

Watched the movie on Lido (Minions) after dinner and before bed. It is a really cool space to watch a movie. If you are chilly, you can sign out blankets from the pool towel desk (2 per cabin).

 

Sea Day 1

We woke up earlier than we had anticipated (my son woke us at 6:15) and headed up to Lido. We had not paid attention that the buffet doesn't really open on sea days until 7, so we had some coffee and illegally picked stuff off the buffet :D. After eating a little, we played miniature golf (see a theme), woke up the rest of our party and headed to sea day brunch when it opened. What a cool and relaxing experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the bagel with smoked salmon and the eggs. Others tried the omelets, waffles, packages, hash browns, chicken sausage, and of course bacon.

 

We then changed into bathing suites and I took the kids to the pool while my wife went to the gym. We started at the Aft pool, but ended up on the water slides. This is where both kids had the most fun. They loved the racers, and my daughter loved the twister and the drain pipe (my son didn't go on either, because while he is tall enough and he can swim pretty well, we were afraid of him being scared of the dark in the slide. We are really mean, I know! :rolleyes:). To be fair, I loved the water slides too. I must have gone on the Twitter at least 6 times with my daughter, the drain pipe once (not for me!) and the racers with both kids (from deck 13 to 12) dozens of times.

 

After sliding for a while, we fed and watered everyone and sent the kids to the kids club for a little while. My wife and FIL then went to the Serenity deck, while I went to the gym. After a few hours, we picked up the kids, fed and watered them some more, played some more golf, and then took a chill in the cabin before dinner. After dinner, the boys played more golf, while the girls watched Cinderella on Lido.

[Dizzneefan]

Sailing on the Dream next month. Enjoying the review

[cajunpowercruiser]

Signing on...will be on the Dream in July. Thanks for sharing.

[nol4am]

We were on this cruise also. I agree with most you have said so far. My only difference was our dining room experience. After the third nite, I stopped going. We were at a table for two n our waiter must have had 5 other tables 4 of them bring 10 tops. We were the least of his concern. Butcrnjoyibgvyoyr vuew of the cruise. Thank you

Edited April 6, 2016 by nol4am

[dctravel]

We persisted and ate in the MDR each night. We had sticker books and coloring books for the kids and they did great :). I can understand why you would stop going though. They were long dinners.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[IslandBound79]

We didn't find so at all. We were on the March 20th sailing and we found dinner to be at a fine pace. Not too long at all... We had late seating so we were not in a rush but the pace of dinner each night was pretty good! No complaints at all from or table of 12!

[kiserstine]

I are looking at this itinerary for our honeymoon in December.

Edited April 6, 2016 by kiserstine

[dctravel]

So let's get back to the review. This post will cover sea day 2 and Montego Bay.

 

Sea Day 2

In many ways, sea day 2 was very similar to sea day 1, only we were more comfortable with the ship. My son was up early again, so I took him to Lido for his first breakfast. He had discovered the chocolate muffins on day 1 and wanted more. This became our routine for every day (port or no port). Get him 2 chocolate muffins as his first breakfast. We enjoyed the time sitting in the buffet right when it opened and one of the waitresses took a liking to my son and would make sure to come and say hi every morning.

 

Once everyone else was up, we went back to the brunch in the MDR and then to the water slides and pool. After sliding and swimming, we sent the kids to the kids club for a few hours (the little guys were doing a lego building activity). I then took my daughter for Star Wars Trivia before getting ready for dinner. After dinner, we went to the Kid Ace magic show. He was great. We only caught the last 15 minutes of his act for the early show, so we went back for the late (8:45) show to catch what we missed the first time.

 

Montego Bay (Day 3)

We woke up on day 3 (Wednesday) in Montego Bay. We were joined in port by the Carnival Freedom. We started with breakfast on the Lido deck before heading off the ship. In Jamaica, we had decided we wanted a beach day and had book an all-inclusive resort through resortforaday.com (on the recommendation of family and our travel agent). We went to the Grand Palladium resort in Lucea. While it was a 40 minute drive from the port, it was worth it. What a wonderful place. They had a great kids pool, a humongous regular pool, many beaches, and bars and restaurants galore. I sampled several Red Stripes, while my wife tried several rum drinks, and my FIL had a few rum drinks and a few vodka drinks. The lunch was also excellent with a wide range of choices at a freshly stocked buffet. We found that even with just day passes, we were treated the same as anyone else who was staying at the resort. It was a nice feeling.

 

Fun was had by all. (Although, funny story, I went down the kids water slides a few times with the kids. After the 3rd or 4th time, a life guard told me the slides were only for those under 16. Whoops! Although he did tell me that I look "spry" for my age (I'm 39 ;)). Overall, we were at the resort from 10 am to 3 pm before heading back to the ship. I will say that the drive to and from the resort is a little depressing. While Jamaica is a beautiful country, the poverty was on full display in part of the drive, especially through Hopewell and Sandy Bay. It also showed how depended the Jamaican economy is on tourism.

 

Even though the resortforday package (which included transportation) was not inexpensive, after talking with others on the ship, we made the right decision. Some folks we talked to took the city tour through Carnival and were unimpressed, not necessarily with the tour, but with what there was to see. They were regretting not just going to the beach.

 

I will also say this about the port terminal at Montego Bay. The port authority is missing a huge opportunity here. They have a big, old port building that is essentially empty. Sure, there is a little straw market set up dockside, but that is about it. No duty free stores, no t-shirt shops, no food (outside a little stand on the dock side of the terminal). The whole space just felt like a big miss by the government.

 

Once we were back on board, we chilled in our cabins and got cleaned up for dinner. After dinner, which was quicker today, we went to the game show mania hosted by cruise director Brandon and had a lot of fun playing name that tune, and answering questions along with the contestants. Alas, none of us were chosen (which the kids really wanted), but we still had a great time. After the game show, we went to bed as the kids were exhausted (even if they constantly said they were not!).

 

Back later today (hopefully) with Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

[canadaman111]

subscribing

[lucyddr]

Montego Bay (Day 3)

In Jamaica, we had decided we wanted a beach day and had book an all-inclusive resort through resortforaday.com (on the recommendation of family and our travel agent). We went to the Grand Palladium resort in Lucea. While it was a 40 minute drive from the port, it was worth it. What a wonderful place. They had a great kids pool, a humongous regular pool, many beaches, and bars and restaurants galore.

 

We are travelling with our 3.5 year old twins, another set of 4.5 year old twins, and a 4 year old. I didn't see the kids' area on the website, but have seen it now on Google thanks to your photo!

 

Questions:

1. Did a bus take you to the resort or a van? I'm asking to see if we need car seats (we do seats in vans and not on busses).

2. Was there seating around the kids' play area for the adults?

[dctravel]

We are travelling with our 3.5 year old twins, another set of 4.5 year old twins, and a 4 year old. I didn't see the kids' area on the website, but have seen it now on Google thanks to your photo!

 

Questions:

1. Did a bus take you to the resort or a van? I'm asking to see if we need car seats (we do seats in vans and not on busses).

2. Was there seating around the kids' play area for the adults?

 

1. We were the only ones on this particular excursion from the Dream. We were put in a little mini bus, even though there were only 5 of us. With a 4 year old who is normally in a backed booster, we decided that we would not take it along on this trip. We felt safe with the seatbelts in the van and an adult sitting next to him.

 

Resortforaday also had a group going to Sunscape Splash. There was a large group from the ship headed there, and I think (although I am not 100% sure bc we left before them) that they were put on a charter type bus (but not as big).

 

If you do take seats, you will have to take them off the van/bus while you are at the resort. During the five hours we were there, the van driver left and did a run back and forth to the airport.

 

2. There were a ton of chairs all over the pool deck between the kids area and the main pool. While there were not many chairs pulled up to the kids area, I do recall some. The kids area is not very deep (maybe between ankle and knee deep on an adult) and is zero immersion. Most parents either seemed to be standing just on the edge of the pool or sitting in the shallow water.

[Bridgot]

We will be on the Dream June 2016. I am looking forward to the rest of your review.

[dctravel]

So, I left off after our first stop in Montego Bay, Jamaica. After Jamaica, we sailed overnight to Grand Cayman and stopped in Georgetown. Remember that Grand Cayman is a tender port. In this case, that means there are fairly good size boats that come from shore to pick you up and take you back to the ship. These boats pulled up to deck 0 to load and unload.

 

For Grand Cayman, we chose to do an excursion through Carnival. We did this for 2 reasons: First, with a tender port (and especially Grand Cayman in the early spring) it is possible that you will miss the port because of wind or swells, which make anchoring a ship offshore and safely loading passengers onto tenders potentially problematic. Since there was a small chance that we would miss the port, I wanted a Carnival excursion that would be refunded if we didn't make it.

 

Second, we wanted to go to the Cayman Turtle Farm, and the price through Carnival, which includes transportation (15ish passenger van/minibus) was basically the same price as just showing up and paying to go in. We booked our excursion through the Carnival website back in December.

 

When we got on the ship in New Orleans, there is an excursion guide left in each cabin. It lists all of the options available in all the ports you will be visiting. In thumbing through it, I noticed that the Turtle Farm had two options: with lunch and without lunch. The difference was $10 pp. On the website lunch had not been an option, so I went to the Shore excursion desk and added the lunch option to each of our 5 tickets. I did this figuring that lunch would cost more than $10 on the island, since it has the reputation for being expensive (the bus driver told us that gas was $6/gallon and milk was $9/gallon).

 

Since we were on a Carnival excursion, we had to meet at 8:30 in the Encore showroom on deck 3. From there, we were led to a tender on deck 0 and taken right to shore. Once at the pier, we found the sign for our tour and waited around for a long time while the Turtle Farm folks were trying to figure out if everyone was there (it also turns out the Carnival Glory was supposed to be with us in Grand Cayman and they were about 30 minutes late. For some reason the Turtle Farm folks were a bit rattled by this and it caused a slow down in putting people on buses to the farm).

 

Once we were put on a bus (after about a 30 minute wait), it is a short 15 minute drive to the Turtle Farm. When we arrived, we were put into a group of about 30 people for a tour of the farm. It starts with a big pond with adult turtles and an explanation of how turtles are raised etc... After looking at some smaller tanks with younger turtles, everyone lines up to hold a turtle. They take your picture and then offer to sell it to you. They were outrageously expensive--$25 for one or $40 for 2. What they don't tell you is that you can come back later and hold the turtles without the photographer around and take your own pictures. Much more economical :).

 

After that, with the Carnival ticket, the park is yours to explore. There is a very nice freshwater pool to swim in, a large saltwater pool to snorkel in (only saw a few fish and a few turtles. Wasn't the best snorkeling), and small kids playground that is under a tent to provide shade. The bathrooms also have changing rooms and were very clean.

 

Additionally, there is a bar and restaurant where our lunch would be served (and where you can also order off the menu). We found the lunch buffet provided to be underwhelming (and kind of yucky. It was stuff sitting in restaurant pans. No idea how long it had been there). We asked our waitress if we had other options, and she told us that our lunch tickets could also be used to get either hamburgers or chicken fingers from the kitchen. That is what we choose--4 hamburgers and 1 order of chicken fingers. All came out fresh and hot and with pretty good fries. I also bought a few local beers at the and the were $5 US each.

 

After lunch, it was time to meet back up for the ride back to the pier. We left a little after 1 pm and the traffic back to Georgetown was pretty heavy. Our bus driver took us on a tour of some back streets, and we made it back to the pier with plenty of time to shop a little before heading back to a tender. At this port, there is a duty free shop, some food stands (including one selling fresh coconuts to drink) and multiple t-shirt and souvenir shops. My daughter got a nice cover up and my son an adorable monkey water bottle holder. My FIL also looked at the alcohol in the duty free shop, but decided there were no deals to be had.

 

The line to get back to the tender and onto the ship was quite long, but moved quickly (those tender boats can hold a bunch of people). In no time at all, we were back on the ship. We rested and cleaned up while the kids watched Boomerang in the cabins (it was their TV obsession for the week :p), before heading to dinner. After dinner, we played some more golf and then saw "Dancing in the Streets" in the main theater. It was a well put together show of music about dancing in the streets. The kids enjoyed the dancing, especially the Fun Force dancers who did break dancing, the robot, etc.... They were really great (more about them on the last sea day!).

 

Overall, I enjoyed Grand Cayman. After visiting Jamaica and Grand Cayman back to back, the difference in wealth between the two islands is striking. This does not mean that I would not go back to Jamaica or would rush back to Grand Cayman, it is just an unavoidable observation IMO.

[kjunea]

Great review! We are doing this cruise on July 24. I agree with your observation about GC. My husband and I went there on a land vacation for our Honeymoon. It is very expensive, but very comfortable for those who have never traveled out of the USA (which my husband hadn't at that time).