Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Night of the Living Drunks: Our 2017 Halloween cruise aboard the Carnival Dream!

watermelonqueen99

By watermelonqueen99,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

 Share

Recommended Posts

Miata

Miata

Posted
Posted

We sailed the week after you did.

 

I feel your pain regarding the lack of entertainment. We like to dance a LOT and there weren’t really any suitable choices. I think that there were three acoustic guitar players. They played nicely enough if you wanted to sit there and doze off. The country duo was actually bickering with each other on stage which didn’t make for a comfortable audience.

 

The irony was that the best dance band aboard was the violin trio that you mentioned. They were NOT playing classical music but rather contemporary music and they were quite lively in their performances.

 

I asked them to play ‘Lara’s Theme’ from the movie ‘Dr. Zhivago’ and they didn’t know it. The next night they came and spoke to us on the dance floor during one of their breaks. They were all very nice to talk to. Fredrico, the lead violinist, said that they were working on ‘Lara’s Theme’. Two nights later Fredrico announced “This one is for Larry.” and they played ‘Lara’s Theme’ for us. Naturally we danced to it.

 

Later that night we ran into one of the other players and he spent some time showing us photos of their native Argentina. This was on HIS time so that showed his care for his audience.

 

In the Carnival survey I talked them up as they deserved it.

 

We didn’t get into the piano bar so perhaps we missed out. Were people dancing in there?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
watermelonqueen99

watermelonqueen99

Posted
  • Author
Posted
We sailed the week after you did.

 

I feel your pain regarding the lack of entertainment. We like to dance a LOT and there weren’t really any suitable choices. I think that there were three acoustic guitar players. They played nicely enough if you wanted to sit there and doze off. The country duo was actually bickering with each other on stage which didn’t make for a comfortable audience.

 

The irony was that the best dance band aboard was the violin trio that you mentioned. They were NOT playing classical music but rather contemporary music and they were quite lively in their performances.

 

I asked them to play ‘Lara’s Theme’ from the movie ‘Dr. Zhivago’ and they didn’t know it. The next night they came and spoke to us on the dance floor during one of their breaks. They were all very nice to talk to. Fredrico, the lead violinist, said that they were working on ‘Lara’s Theme’. Two nights later Fredrico announced “This one is for Larry.” and they played ‘Lara’s Theme’ for us. Naturally we danced to it.

 

Later that night we ran into one of the other players and he spent some time showing us photos of their native Argentina. This was on HIS time so that showed his care for his audience.

 

In the Carnival survey I talked them up as they deserved it.

 

We didn’t get into the piano bar so perhaps we missed out. Were people dancing in there?

 

The string trio played contemporary music on our cruise too, but still, it was instrumental nearly all the time. Instrumental just doesn't scream dancing and party time for us. But I'm sure they were very nice people just as you say.

 

 

No dancing in the piano bar, but it was the liveliest music on the ship, and it's fun to sing along. And like I said, Ben was great.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
watermelonqueen99

watermelonqueen99

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I'm back, so let's get crackin'. We've made it to our first sea day without getting detained by ship security, going overboard, or needing to see the ship doctor. Pretty sure that's a record for us.

 

Monday, 10/29/17, Sea Day #1:

Today, we were able to do something that we very rarely get to do at home. No, I'm not talking about having alcohol for breakfast, we do that every morning. We got to SLEEP IN!!! With our busy lives, that just doesn't happen very often. So it was so nice to wake up to a huge headache from the night before instead of an alarm. I sat up, stretched, and did a graceful little dance to the bathroom to get ready. (That's completely untrue. Even though we slept in, I still had to hold onto the headboard to swing myself into a sitting position, I still had one shoe on, and half my clip-in extensions were hanging off my head. I looked like an extra in a Walking Dead episode as I made my way across the room.)

 

Once we were both clean and presentable, we headed to brunch. Like I said before, overall we do not enjoy the food on the ship outside of Guy's and a small handful of other things. We just find it bland and flavorless, and some of it just downright gross. But one thing we do enjoy is the steak at brunch, and it didn't disappoint. (Note: This is my plate. I cannot eat eggs unless they are cooked/baked into something, but this normally comes with eggs also.):

 

37604977234_f583546903_k.jpg

 

By the way, I forgot to get a pic of the menu, sorry! My only complaints here are that it took FOREVER to get our food. The better part of an hour. By far the longest we've ever experienced for brunch. Also of note, they no longer leave the bread/pastry basket at your table. They just come around and ask you what you want out of the basket. It doesn't bother me, because I avoid the pasties, (possibly the greatest typo ever, I'm keeping it) but it might matter to some people. Also, the water tasted like something they scooped up from Bourbon Street on a Sunday morning. OMG, it was so nasty. Nastier than usual in my opinion.

 

We finished our meal, and decided we would grab something for dessert. We wanted something fresh and fruity. (A FunShip. We got a FunShip, okay?) Then we decided that we would do some people watching in the Ocean Plaza for a little bit. And because we're mature and refined, we played our favorite game that we made up on our second or third cruise: Blue Card Bingo. (Every time you see a blue sail and sign, you say "blue card." 3 blue cards is a bingo.) This game gets very cut-throat between C and I, and we have discussed divorce over it before on a couple of cruises. Following a huge fight after C tried to claim the same blue card twice, we decided to grab another drink and head out to the Lanai and go look at the wake off the back of the ship. Watching that beautiful turquoise water is one of my favorite things to do. We stepped onto the Lanai, and immediately looked like this:

 

 

26669957109_6d453fd3f3_b.jpg

 

I've decided that "Lanai" is an old Native American word that roughly translates to "windy as hell."

 

We made it to the back of the ship without being blown away:

 

26572203359_9c8aa7252f_k.jpg

 

As I stood there staring at the beautiful sea, I started drawing inspiration from some of my favorite art. (Those dogs playing poker and boozing it up, a plate of cheese next to a bottle of wine, The Last Supper, because they were all drinking), and decided I wanted to make some art of my own. If this doesn't take your breath away and inspire you to write, sing, and create, then I don't know what to say to you:

 

38346916311_a35bc424a8_k.jpg

 

So beautiful!. And the water is pretty too:

 

38292045266_38782787eb_k.jpg

 

 

Mother Nature is my homegirl. Just beautiful:

 

26572174729_25750b67b5_z.jpg

 

 

To be continued......

Link to comment
Share on other sites
watermelonqueen99

watermelonqueen99

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Monday, 10/29/17, Sea Day #1 Continued:

A little bit more wake porn:

 

38292102346_a7b21f44fe_k.jpg

 

Seriously, I could just stare at this forever:

 

26572190769_d3722ce795_k.jpg

After I had gotten my fill of staring at the wake, (IE, I had a decent buzz) we decided to walk around the ship a little bit. I didn't get pictures, because I wanted to wait until the ship was mostly empty on a port day to get my ship pics. Eventually I started feeling parched, so we grabbed a Long Island. We headed to the casino so C could play his quarter machine. If you're not familiar with this machine, it's a game where you put 75 quarters into a slot, hoping that 3 quarters will get pushed down. C saves his quarters between cruises just to play this machine. (Note: No, C doesn't walk around wearing a black cape, although that could be hot and we'd probably role play with it. The truth is, we are in the witness protection program [no we're not, I just don't wanna be associated with this review], so I'm protecting our identity.):

 

38416146422_33e02331ab_k.jpg

 

After C spent $125.00 to win $1.75, we decided to go play cards in the Ocean Plaza. The live music was slow, depressing country music. Just as I was pulling out the rope from my bag to hang myself with, C suggested we go up to Lido for a Guy's burger. I'm not one to turn down greasy meat (that sounds hot), so that's what we did. Eventually, we made it back to the room to get ready for the evening.

 

At this point, my phone died, so I don't have any more pics from this day. That night, we bar hopped again between the Alchemy, the Atrium bar, and again ended up in the piano bar. Just like the night before, we had a lot of fun. Sometime around 1:00 AM, we made our way back to our room. I sat on our towel animal and he died, so I don't know what he was. I fell asleep and dreamed that I couldn't find C, and ended up locating him in the casino, where he was trapped inside the quarter machine.

 

To be continued with the FunTimes from this day......

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nybumpkin

nybumpkin

Posted
Posted

As I stood there staring at the beautiful sea, I started drawing inspiration from some of my favorite art. (Those dogs playing poker and boozing it up, a plate of cheese next to a bottle of wine, The Last Supper, because they were all drinking), and decided I wanted to make some art of my own. If this doesn't take your breath away and inspire you to write, sing, and create, then I don't know what to say to you:

 

38346916311_a35bc424a8_k.jpg

This picture says "cruise" to me.:D I'm enjoying your review - thanks for sharing your cruise with us.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...