Ultra Cruise 11-12-17 on the Dream

[oxymoron11]

I recently completed the Nov. 12 Ultra Cruise on the Dream. I gave myself a few days to think about it as I thought it was a bit disappointing and figured I would be more objective with time. I think the first impression stayed with me and now I feel more positive.

First off, we arrived in our cabin to find our initial gift to be 2 completely useless black water bottles. They were heavy and could only be used as a weapon by me and most of the over 50 year old Ultra cruisers. I actually felt almost insulted by this gift as I had received very nice gifts on the Premier cruises (beach towels, nice insulated cups etc.). So I chalked this up to a bad marketing mistake and better would come later. Negative, the only gifts sent to the room from the Ultra cruise were a cheap bottle of sparkling wine and a box of cookies.

The party for Ultra guests was just like a Platinum/Diamond party but with a drawing at the end. Actually, I've had better appetizers at D/P and faster servers. I went on a Premier one time where they put out a spread you could walk up and select great appetizers and the servers were everywhere. That left a good impression!

Mind you, I did not select this cruise for the room gifts and parties and this failing could not ruin a cruise, however, it was not as advertised. They had the usual drawings every few hours, spin the wheel, Matilda, Fill my bag and a new one I can't remember. The last several days they gave a free cruise (if you were free on their schedule). The same people seemed to be selected for many of the drawings, one of them won 2 free cruises, including the last night suite giveaway on the Horizon from Barcelona and several others. It seemed odd as they were drawing from a bin not basing it on points earned.

I was called for one drawing and won $150 and later we were invited to the Steakhouse for a free dinner and wine. Ok, getting much better.

The minimums on tables remained the same but max bets increased on some. The slots were very loose the first night, tight the next and about average the rest of the week. Table games were busy and they opened up additional 3 card poker tables and an extra Hold'em table to accommodate everyone which was nice.

The big advertised event was the drawing for nice prizes. Everyone on the Ultra package was given a date and time to be in the casino to select your prize. It seemed like 35-40 people waited for their name to be called to the collect a prize. When called, you reached into a bin a pulled out a ping pong ball with a number. One of the hosts then removes the number from a board and written on the back is your prize. Most people got gifts valued a $300 to $400 ( ipad minis, Apple watches, a spin on a wheel) with a few people receiving laptops (Surface Pro, Hp) and phones (Samsung 8+ Apple 8). One bottle of scotch valued at between $800-$1200 depending who you spoke to was given and one 65” TV was given at each appointed drawing.

The staff on the entire ship went out of their way to be of service to Ultra cruisers and make them feel special.

My bad first impression of the Ultra cruise was probably colored by my expectation that this would be a Premier on steroids. As it turned out, many features were not as good as the Premier cruises I have taken but they added a few additional drawings and the large prize drawing. The money we received from the casino matched what we have received on Premier also.

I will probably not take another Ultra cruise unless the price is right. We are frequent cruisers, have most of the electronics that are given away so that is not a big pull for us. A bounce back or good Premier offer would suit us better.

I will be happy to answer any questions.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the feedback, pretty nice prizes for that ping pong ball drawing!

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[oxymoron11]

Newfie,

There were no good gifts left in the room. Just to make things more repetitive we got more Tervis tumblers for the Platinum gift. Christmas stocking stuffers!! The black bottles left the first day were the subject of a lot of ***s from a lot of the guests. We had a few laughs coming up with uses for them. I think the hosts were a little red faced over them. No towels, throws, chargers, bluetooth, cards, dice, pens. Some cheap wine, cookies and I forgot, a small plate of little desserts.

 

Clarea,

Very nice prizes but you know that going in. There was no surprise there. The cruise was a lot of fun and lots of good things went on. First impressions mean a lot though and I wasn't the only one who had a bad one.

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed reading your trip report.

Keith

[cruzn buckeye]

Are the Ultra Cruises free? I thought i read that somewhere....

[oxymoron11]

Mine was not free but had a discount. Maybe some really high rollers get them for free but I am not sure.

[Nana Sea]

We were also on this Ultra Casino cruise. It was our first Ultra so we didn't know what to expect. We had a good time. They keep you very busy in the casino if you don't want to miss your name being called for a drawing. DH's gift was a Dell Laptop. Great gift. My gift was a Samsung Galaxy S8+. I was excited since I was using a iPhone 5 and needed the upgrade. Well....when I powered it up the first time it was in Spanish. Okay, so I had to figure out how to change it to English. I moved the SIM card from my phone to it and transferred my info to it. I called my carrier to activate it and spent an hour with two different techs to find out I can't activate it in the U.S. I was told it was intended for use in South America. UGH! So basically I have this beautiful phone that is useless to me. I don't have anything against Carnival over it. I think they were screwed by Samsung. We still had a good time. But like you, I think the Premier is great. Those water bottles went to the grandkids.

[oxymoron11]

Hi Nana,

I'm glad you had a good time too, but what a disappointment with the phone. Maybe get in touch with Carnival Casinos and see if they can fix it and at least let them know what happened.

[Nana Sea]

Yes we notified them. They were very nice about it. The issue is being forwarded to the casino manager so here's hoping they can help.

[sailawaykaye]

Yes we notified them. They were very nice about it. The issue is being forwarded to the casino manager so here's hoping they can help.

OMG! :eek: I will be on the December 9th Ultra Premeir sailing. This will be our 3rd Ultra. I am hoping to draw the S8+. I would be devastated if I could not activate it. Hope you get it worked out. Please keep us posted of the outcome!

[Shaded Lady]

OK so for the non-gamblers in the group here, I read between the lines and figured out that Ultra cruises are casino-based cruises? That you get free or discounted based on your time spent on previous cruises in the casino?

 

On a good cruise, I'll sometimes donate as much as $15 to the quarter slots so the term was completely unfamiliar to me! Apparently I'd also missed references to it on previous threads in CC...

 

But OP, thanks for the feedback... I learned something new today, so now I'm permitted to go have a drink!

[nwo4life]

We were on this cruise. The smoking in and around the casino was out of control. They no longer try to enforce their rules in the casino.

 

 

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[Port of Tampa]

Thanks for the review. We did the Premier on the Sunshine out of NY last September and it was way overbooked. Had I not had our Ultra on the Vista booked for December...I would be done with the casino themed cruises. Oh well will make the most of it and hope for the bounceback.

 

Cheers good luck and happy cruising.

[oxymoron11]

Hi Port of Tampa,

My husband and I did not receive bounce backs but got offers OIV which is $100 for inside and $100 OBC. Found a good deal in May with it for a balcony. I cancelled one Premier I had booked for this one. We are still doing one Premier out of Tampa on the Miracle. I saw many envelopes outside the Ultra cabins so I'm sure you will get something. Have a great time and please let us know how you fared.

[Port of Tampa]

Hi Port of Tampa,

My husband and I did not receive bounce backs but got offers OIV which is $100 for inside and $100 OBC. Found a good deal in May with it for a balcony. I cancelled one Premier I had booked for this one. We are still doing one Premier out of Tampa on the Miracle. I saw many envelopes outside the Ultra cabins so I'm sure you will get something. Have a great time and please let us know how you fared.

Thanks Oxymoron and will do, good luck on the Miracle.

[YANKEEDOODLE]

Do you need 7500 points on 1 premier cruise or a total for the year to qualify for the Ultra?

[d12j28]

Do you need 7500 points on 1 premier cruise or a total for the year to qualify for the Ultra?

No. Those that get 7500 on a premier cruise do get the first chance to book an Ultra though.