Dream 12/17-12/24 Review

[butlercat]

Us: Family of 6 (4 kids, 13, 8, 6, and 3) and my brother

 

2 inside rooms: Deck 9 (9109 and 9108)...great location!

 

Ship: Very easy to get to port and embarkation was very easy. Got on the ship about 1:30 pm. First thoughts of the ship were honestly not that great. The pool deck areas and the reception areas just looked small and "dingy." However, as we saw more of the Dream, we really liked her and her appearance improved. The crew was great; we met some really nice waiters and waitresses that were friendly and talkative. Patti Honacki was the cruise director and she seemed to be nice and down-to-earth and hard-working. Our rooms were clean and wonderfully maintained. Kids program was good; the younger kids went regularly; our 13-yr old went to a few activities.

 

Food: The food in all the dining rooms was really good. I didn't personally care for the barbecues too much. The meat was good at the bbqs, however, I didn't like the side dishes that much. We didn't try Le Bistro. We ate in the 4 Seasons because it was close to our room for breakfast every day except for one in which we ate a snack at the Trattotoria. I overheard a couple people complaining about the food in the dining rooms, but I thought it was all very good. We thought the Trattoria and Terraces were prettier than the 4 Seasons, but for some reason, the 4 Seasons was always more crowded. My favorite was the banana taco - don't miss it.

 

We loved free style dining with the children. We would often go to eat at 5:30 (never much of a line and the ship was packed) and that would take until almost 7 when we would take the children to the kids program. We would then return later in the evening (sans kids) for dessert and cappacino (very good) in one of the dining rooms. We'd often also go late-night (10:30 to 11:00 pm) to the sports bar for chicken wings and cookies (oatmeal raisin being the best) :) Free popcorn in Lucky's was good too!

 

Entertainment: I don't particularly care for production shows too much...but, the Jean Ann Ryan dancers were pretty good. There was a comedian on board, Ted Holumn, who was funny and a juggler comedian who was good. There was also a violinist that I didn't see. I would have preferred better shows and maybe more late-night comedy shows or movies. We loved trivia and I think we made every game, except the Friends trivia. We also spent time playing Scrabble, which we never make time to do at home.

 

Ports:

I'm not much for shopping, so we really didn't shop at all except for about 15 minutes in Belize City by the dock.

 

Cozumel: Cozumel is still badly damaged. We found a driver by the dock who took us on a tour of the island and then to a beach for $20/person. The kids liked the beach, but really not that much to look at on the tour. If I went again, I think I would spend my day differently - maybe snorkeling or at the beach all day.

 

Roatan: We loved Roatan...it was our favorite. We arranged pre-trip with Juan Carlos (http://islandertours.com/index.html). He worked with Kem and they had a van waiting for us when we (all 7) got off to do whatever we wanted. They were great! The main thing we wanted to do was the zip-line, but we stopped along the way at a store (to get batteries) and to take a few pictures. The zip-lining was fun ($45/person) and my husband and I and our 13 and 8-yr olds did the zip-lining. It was strenuous, but the highlight of my trip. Juan Carlos, Kem, and our younger children and my brother waited for us at the end. We then went to the Iguana Farm and then to the beach at the Mayan Princess for some food and beach time. We got back to the ship about 30 minutes before the ship left. It was a great day.

 

Belize: We got off the ship a bit late and had nothing really planned. We walked to the water taxi place (http://www.cayecaulkerwatertaxi.com/pages/1/index.htm) and bought tickets to take the taxi out to Caye Caulker because my husband and 13-yr old wanted to snorkel. The rest of us went out to enjoy Caye Caulker. The water taxi trip was an adventure. 45 minutes each way in open boats going pretty fast. Interesting people to meet too. They loved snorkeling and we enjoyed walking out to the "split" and meeting people and seeing a sting ray, moray eel, and fish from the beach. Pretty neat island. We made it back to the dock in time to get my daughter's hair braided and to catch the 4:30 tender back to the ship. I'd recommend Caye Caulker.

 

sea days: I read on these boards about the lack of ship activites on sea days and I'd agree. We could have used some more activities that were free. I did finish 2 books on-board and did enjoy my time reading at the coffee bar with my mocha javas. But, maybe more movies, trivia, crafts, etc since the weather on our trip was not the best. Cloudy and somewhat cool. We were able to get in the pool one day, though others enjoyed the pools more.

 

It was really a great trip that the we will all remember. I was a bit hesitant reading about the Dream before I went, but go enjoy yourselves and meet some neat people and see some beautiful parts of our earth! Enjoy!

 

If you have questions, I'd be happy to try and answer!

 

Allison

[butlercat]

I forgot to add that we didn't go to Cancun on the cruise and got $12 and some change for each passenger because of that missed port.

[electricron]

Happy to hear you had an enjoyable and rememberable cruise/

[Don Haynes]

When we sailed past Cancun on the Sun a couple of weeks ago, it appeared Cancun was hit much worst than Cozumel.... and as you have noted, Cozumel was hit hard too. Were they laying any concrete into the piers at Cozumel which were boarded up when we were there a couple of weeks ago?

[butlercat]

I saw no action going on at the cruise ship pier area. I saw them painting the roof of the post office though :)

[redhead101]

We are going on the Dream on Jan 14th and I did want to ask a couple questions.

 

Are most of the shore excursions canceled in Cozumel due to the damage? Hubby is rather limited to what he can do as he is disabled. We stopped here before on our last cruise but we immediately took a ferry to Playa Del Carmen and from there a taxi to an ATV tour of the jungle and mayan ruins. We got to swim in a cenote, we as in my girlfriend and I, our hubbies did the driving of the ATV's and took pictures. The going wasn't rough as the place we went to had well worn paths. My hubby was able to walk carefully to the cenote.

 

I had seen a couple of excurisons listed with NCL for Cozumel that included either ATV's or amphbious trucks. Do you know if those are still going? I thought the ship might have given out the information to the passengers that wouldn't be on thier site. A day at the beach wouldn't be for us, hubby can't swim.

 

Thanks!

Julie

[butlercat]

I did see other people advertising the ATV trips at the dock and they were listed on the shore excursion sheet that was handed out on the ship (which I didn't bring back with me). However, I don't know if the ship's excursions actually happened or not.

 

What struck me most about Cozumel was the lack of vegetation on the trees. Bare trees with sprouts and a few leaves...debris everywhere.