This Ain't No Disney Cruise, part 2 - My LIVE Trip Report From the Carnival Dream, January 13-27, 2024

[satxdiver]

5 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Thanks for the embarkation and disembarkation notes. Lots of Ps and Ds here, that's for sure. I still think there will be a little something for us that will be revealed tomorrow.

 

I'm glad you had a good experience with the laundry. Mine was similar, as detailed here - except for the last bag, which i will discuss a little later.

 

Since you're obviously onboard, I'll give you the microphone. How has your experience been? How dud you like the ports? How did you survive the pounding we took??

We did not receive the Platinum invite but will be there anyway.  It is not like we just made platinum so go figure.  As P and D we are promised a gathering with free alcohol on every cruise so I was wondering it they were going to ignore it.  Thanks.

 

As for the pounding we have been on many cruises and experienced it before.  We just slept through it.  Warning the Gulf can be very rocky particularly in the winter months.  So be prepared.

 

All of the ports we have been before so we only did an excursion in Curacao and Columbia.  We stayed on the ship in the other ports except for Cozumel when we went to Poncho's and walked around the port.  We will be doing a through PC cruise in April from LA to FLL.  We have done a through PC and in/out before.  The ports were as we expected from prior visits.  

 

The food has been at best average and mostly below average even for CCL.  The Mexican dinner tonight was horrible.  Mexican or TexMex restaurants in our home city comprise 60+% and there is some really good Mexican food served.  We probably have both lost weight on this cruise when normally we gain 5 lbs. 

 

There has been too many C&W and not nearly enough rock music.  We have had to spend way more time in the piano bar than normal.  The comedians were all good and some even funny.  I believe we have been comedian out for now. 

 

Surprising is the water on the ship.  It has a nasty taste so I opted for ice tea when out or bought some bottled water.  Interesting the bartender used bottle water to make my drink.  Luckily I ordered a case of bottled water before the cruise and we have drinking it in the room.  

[Honolulu Blue]

4 hours ago, satxdiver said:

We did not receive the Platinum invite but will be there anyway.  It is not like we just made platinum so go figure.  As P and D we are promised a gathering with free alcohol on every cruise so I was wondering it they were going to ignore it.  Thanks.

 

As for the pounding we have been on many cruises and experienced it before.  We just slept through it.  Warning the Gulf can be very rocky particularly in the winter months.  So be prepared.

 

All of the ports we have been before so we only did an excursion in Curacao and Columbia.  We stayed on the ship in the other ports except for Cozumel when we went to Poncho's and walked around the port.  We will be doing a through PC cruise in April from LA to FLL.  We have done a through PC and in/out before.  The ports were as we expected from prior visits.  

 

The food has been at best average and mostly below average even for CCL.  The Mexican dinner tonight was horrible.  Mexican or TexMex restaurants in our home city comprise 60+% and there is some really good Mexican food served.  We probably have both lost weight on this cruise when normally we gain 5 lbs. 

 

There has been too many C&W and not nearly enough rock music.  We have had to spend way more time in the piano bar than normal.  The comedians were all good and some even funny.  I believe we have been comedian out for now. 

 

Surprising is the water on the ship.  It has a nasty taste so I opted for ice tea when out or bought some bottled water.  Interesting the bartender used bottle water to make my drink.  Luckily I ordered a case of bottled water before the cruise and we have drinking it in the room.  

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

 

Maybe they ran out of invitations before they got to your cabin? Who knows. I had been looking for that invitation for a few days, thinking that perhaps it might not be the very last day with so much going on already. But it is, at least mine is.

 

Your comments on the Gulf are noted. Thank you. I've been through the Gulf several times, and we're going through it now. It hasn't been bad so far, but I'll brace myself. 🙏

 

If I haven't noted it already, I've been to all of these ports before except for Colon.

 

I have to say what have barely heard any country music onboard, but then I haven't sought it out. The background music has been almost all pop/rock. Most of the offered musical shows emphasize rock.And the atrium, when I've been there, have had rockers. Its good to get other perspectives on this.

 

I noticed the water from the cabin has a bit of an off taste. It hasn't stopped me from drinking it. The water elsewhere seems normal to me.

[Honolulu Blue]

Good morning! This is the final full day of the cruise. Tomorrow all of us passengers get off the ship and go back to the real world. 

 

What has happened between last night and now? Let's start with the gratuity news. That has hit my account, finally.

 

 

That finally swing my account to the negative; that is, I owe them money instead of them owing me. The amount is fine, everything on my account is something I paid for. 

 

We slowed down a bit right after I wrote last night's post, and things got more stable after that. They remain so this morning. 

 

We set our clocks back an hour to match Galveston time again.

 

The skies look gray, but there doesn't seem to be any hint of rain. It feels like we've dropped below 80 for the first time since day 2.

 

The crowd at breakfast was down a lot for the usual reasons. No bacon today. I had ham, scrambled eggs, diced potatoes, apple juice, and passion juice. It's still good after all these days. I'm going to miss this as much as anything. 

 

What's on the agenda for today? The Wave Morning Show at 9:30, then maybe a look at classic rock trivia at 10:15. If they ask the right questions, I can give enough of the right answers to make some noise here.

 

Sometime in here I'll go to the casino and cash out, while resisting the urge to gamble it all away. I also might pick up a couple of t shirts.

 

At 11 is the debark presentation.  I'm looking forward to seeing how many tines Tyler says to use the app. 

 

The World Works Here was scheduled for this evening, but it was bumped for the passenger 50s show (early) and comedy (late). I'm not interested in the replacements. 

 

Later.

Edited January 26 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

Well, that didn't go so great. I did what I tried to avoid and played too much video blackjack this morning. I lost $58 but gained about 220 points, for a total of 486 for the trip. If that doesn't get the attention of TPTB in Miami, then nothing I can do will.

 

 

This caused me to miss the last Morning Show. Sorry Tyler.

 

One nice thing I discovered is that there were a couple of kiosks that can dispense real cash for your casino balance. This was nice, as the line for the cashier was getting long.

 

I picked up a couple of t shirts for $30. They looked nice and they'll come on handy as gifts and something else to wear on the road. 

 

To be continued. 

[Honolulu Blue]

Drama alert - the Captain,  Staff Captain, and CD have all ordered us back to our cabins as a precaution due to bad weather conditions. They will let us know when we can coe out and play some more.

 

It's rocky, but it's felt worse at other times. Internet is in and out, mostly out.

 

I have full faith in our crew that we will get through this, but in case we don't... map shows us in the middle of the Gulf, south of Louisiana. 

 

Bye for now.  🙏

[Honolulu Blue]

UPDATE - Things are a lot better now. Internet is back to normal,  almost. It doesn't feel as choppy now. Captain Francesco just came on and said as much. He wants to do damage assessment around the ship before releasing us from our cabins.

 

Edited January 26 by Honolulu Blue

[satxdiver]

Standing by in our cabin.  We went to brunch this morning signing in at 8:50 and seated at 11:30!  Partner ordered the cheeseburger and I stayed with the tried and true omelet.  The cheeseburger was really good and much better than what is offered at Guys.  I ordered a mimosa for the first time at brunch and it was good.  Down time in the cabin was being used to pack the bags for tonight.  

Edited January 26 by satxdiver

[Honolulu Blue]

UPDATE #2 - Captain Francesco and CD Tyler have let us know conditions have improved. They're still assessing conditions and revising our schedule, but we should be released soon.

 

This is a first for me, being confined to quarters like this. 

 

We hit another Internet hole, apologies for the delay.

[Honolulu Blue]

I don't have anywhere better to go or do, so let me update you on what happened prior to our "situation ".

 

I went to the room to find it fully cleaned. Thanks Hery. 

 

I then went back out for the debark talk. Tyler did a good job with this, even though he must have done most of it  hundred times or more. 

 

He announced that he will be on the ship until February 18, then a vacation of about 6 weeks, then will be back on the Dream.

 

I went back to the cabin to relax and was doing so when Francesco made his first announcement. 

 

As of RIGHT NOW, they're still assessing and we're still confined. This could change at any time. 

[Honolulu Blue]

UPDATE #3 - Francesco and Tyler freed us from our cabins at 4 pm, 10 minutes ago. 

 

Francesco noted that the outdoor decks were still closed and we needed to be cautious everywhere we went.

 

Tyler further noted that we might want to prefer the MDR for dinner tonight rather than Lido deck options due to ongoing conditions. Also, they're assessing their ability to put on the passenger led 50s show.

 

As these announcements were made, conditions seem to have gone south. 

 

Internet remains troublesome. I apologize. 

Edited January 26 by Honolulu Blue

[Honolulu Blue]

UPDATE#4 - From Tyler: Guy's is open, buffet will open at its regular time (6 pm), YTD at the MDR will start at 5:30. Status of that passenger shindig still TBD.

[Honolulu Blue]

UPDATE #5 - Tyler gave us the bad news that the 50s show has been canceled.😢 I know a lot of people have worked hard for this. But conditions are still too unsafe for it. The good news is The World At Work is back on the schedule. I doubt I'll go see it. And, also the sun decided to make a cameo after all this rough weather.

 

[ninjacat123]

WOW!!  I told my DH and we were intrigued and slightly horrified by the "confined to quarters" for the whole ship.  We have never had that happen, granted I have only cruised out of Mobile in May with regard to the Gulf of Mexico.  Thanks for the blow by blow account and I hope I never have to experience that on a cruise.😬

[Honolulu Blue]

17 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

WOW!!  I told my DH and we were intrigued and slightly horrified by the "confined to quarters" for the whole ship.  We have never had that happen, granted I have only cruised out of Mobile in May with regard to the Gulf of Mexico.  Thanks for the blow by blow account and I hope I never have to experience that on a cruise.😬

I'm glad to be of assistance. And I'm glad to have survived it. I'd like to thank @satxdiver for the assist in reporting. 

 

There's no telling when something like this might happen, and not much can be done to prepare. Just follow the guidance of those in charge, I suppose.

 

Things are much calmer now and it's time for dinner. I think I'll head up and make a report on that and other stuff later this evening.

Edited January 27 by Honolulu Blue

[ninjacat123]

2 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I'm glad to be of assistance. And I'm glad to have survived it. I'd like to thank @satxdiver for the assist in reporting. 

 

There's no telling when something like this might happen, and not much can be done to prepare. Just follow the guidance of those in charge, I suppose.

 

Things are much calmer now and it's time for dinner. I think I'll head up to dinner and make a report on that and other stuff later this evening.

If someone's cabin had a balcony, could they access it?  Or was that off limits as well?

[Honolulu Blue]

27 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

If someone's cabin had a balcony, could they access it?  Or was that off limits as well?

No one mentioned this AFAIK. I think it would be foolhardy to try to go on the balcony with conditions as bad as they were, but it's highly unlikely anyone would know, and even more unlikely that anyone would enforce this. 

[Honolulu Blue]

I went to dinner and found several things of interest.

 

First, the poolside movie, the latest Mission Impossible flick, was going full blast. Not a lot of people were watching. 

 

Second, the buffet was jammed with people.  So much so that I went with plan B, which I'll discuss later.

 

Third, the back half of the buffet was closed off to passengers. Damage? Flooding? I didn't ask around about this, so I don't know the story. 

 

Fourth, Guy's was still open at near 7 PM and showed no signs of closing as I left the area. Guy's normally closed at 6.

 

I had another burger, same as the other 5 I've had on this cruise. It went down just the same. Seating here was a little more jammed than usual, but I found a space easily enough. 

 

And finally, I found this letter in my mailbox. Personal information redacted:

 

 

I'll take $25 in OBC any day over a silly Platinum party. I wish they made this offer every time, like they did with the casino.

 

BTW, it's already showing on my account. 

 

It appears that this is all the reimbursement that anyone is going to get for our inconvenience today. I'm fine with it, but still...

 

I think that covers things for the rest of the evening. Thank you everyone for your thoughts, comments, and prayers. 

Edited January 27 by Honolulu Blue

[satxdiver]

We received the OBC and reduces the amount on our cc.  We had paid for the Gratuity when we paid for the cruise.  I trust you saw the road closure on I45 near Webster.  Great timing!  Safe trip home wherever that is.  

[Honolulu Blue]

5 hours ago, satxdiver said:

We received the OBC and reduces the amount on our cc.  We had paid for the Gratuity when we paid for the cruise.  I trust you saw the road closure on I45 near Webster.  Great timing!  Safe trip home wherever that is.  

Thanks for the confirmation of the OBC payout. And yes, I got the note on construction on 45. Not what I needed. 🤐

 

And thanks for the well wishes. I wish the same for you. 👍

[princess76021]

5 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Thanks for the confirmation of the OBC payout. And yes, I got the note on construction on 45. Not what I needed. 🤐

 

And thanks for the well wishes. I wish the same for you. 👍

Safe travels home!

I enjoyed you review!

hugs from Texas

[Honolulu Blue]

3 hours ago, princess76021 said:

Safe travels home!

I enjoyed you review!

hugs from Texas

Thank you very much for your kind words and your hugs!! More to come shortly!

[Honolulu Blue]

On 1/25/2024 at 12:28 PM, VentureMan_2000 said:

Please report on your Carnival Shuttle Ride from the port to IAH.  I have purchased the 8:00am shuttle to IAH for my cruise in October.  I'd like to know what to expect.

i.e., What time did you board the shuttle ?

How long were you waiting on the shuttle before it left for the airport ? 

What time did your 8:00am shuttle actually leave ?

How long was the ride ?

Did the shuttle encounter any noticeable delays due to traffic/construction ? 

What terminals do they drop you off at ?

I'm at IAH airport.  I'll report on the rest of my experience later. But for now I wanted to answer these questions while the experience is fresh.

 

I boarded the shuttle at about 7:10. I left the ship at about 6:50. I was in the first group of self disembarkers to get off. There was a lot of us in that group. 

 

We left the terminal for the airport at about 7:50. So, in total, it was a 40 minute wait.

 

We arrived at Terminal A at about 9:05. This was used for those who were not flying United. We arrived at Terminal C at 9:20 for United passengers.  That adds up to 1:15 for the first passengers and 1:30 for the rest of us. 

 

Surprisingly, considering the note we received yesterday,  we did not have any significant delays for traffic, construction, or any other reason. I assume it was because we were one of the first groups out of the cruise port.

 

I think Terminals A and C were the only terminals they dropped off at. There was a subway at the airport to get to the other terminals.

 

I hope this answers your questions to your satisfaction. 

[VentureMan_2000]

13 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

I hope this answers your questions to your satisfaction. 

 

 

Yes... Thank you.

[Honolulu Blue]

I'm on the shuttle heading back home from DTW. Since I have a bit of time, please allow me to explain how I got here. 

 

Last night was fairly smooth and I slept well. I got up early to get myself clean and pack everything up.

 

We got to the port right around 6 and tied up soon after. I didn't have breakfast because with Guy's last night and the cacao nibs I had purchaed in Limon, I wasn't very hungry at that time.

 

It appeared that I didn't leave anything behind, so off I went to deck 4 to find some space to wait.

 

Unfortunately,  there wasn't much space to be had. There seemed to be hundreds of passengers waiting in the area, each with luggage. Some of whom had very big suitcases. Which brings me to one of my pet peeves... (RANT ALERT)

 

People who can't smoothly handle their luggage going off the ship SHOULD NOT BE using the self-disembark option. You know who you are.

 

(END RANT)

 

As I mentioned above, our group got off about 6:50 and we wound slowly through the terminal. The ICE check was in person with someone looking at my passport and taking a picture. Where we were, I didn't see any of the now standard kiosks.

 

I was directed to the shuttle buses, which were close by.

 

I tied the shuttle bus story in my post above this one. My best TL, DR is it was slow to load, but decently quick on the road - despite the warning letter I received.

 

After arriving at my gate, I had nearly 2 full hours until the plane took off, which I put to good use. We left on time and arrived into DTW on time. There's only this shuttle ride and a Lyft ride and I'll be home.

 

I will do a summary post of some kind tomorrow. Thank you all for hanging in there throughout my adventure on the Carnival Dream. 

Edited January 27 by Honolulu Blue

[princess76021]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I'm on the shuttle heading back home from DTW. Since I have a bit of time, please allow me to explain how I got here. 

 

Last night was fairly smooth and I slept well. I got up early to get myself clean and pack everything up.

 

We got to the port right around 6 and tied up soon after. I didn't have breakfast because with Guy's last night and the cacao nibs I had purchaed in Limon, I wasn't very hungry at that time.

 

It appeared that I didn't leave anything behind, so off I went to deck 4 to find some space to wait.

 

Unfortunately,  there wasn't much space to be had. There seemed to be hundreds of passengers waiting in the area, each with luggage. Some of whom had very big suitcases. Which brings me to one of my pet peeves... (RANT ALERT)

 

People who can't smoothly handle their luggage going off the ship SHOULD NOT BE using the self-disembark option. You know who you are.

 

(END RANT)

 

As I mentioned above, our group got off about 6:50 and we wound slowly through the terminal. The ICE check was in person with someone looking at my passport and taking a picture. Where we were, I didn't see any of the now standard kiosks.

 

I was directed to the shuttle buses, which were close by.

 

I tied the shuttle bus story in my post above this one. My best TL, DR is it was slow to load, but decently quick on the road - despite the warning letter I received.

 

After arriving at my gate, I had nearly 2 full hours until the plane took off, which I put to good use. We left on time and arrived into DTW on time. There's only this shuttle ride and a Lyft ride and I'll be home.

 

I will do a summary post of some kind tomorrow. Thank you all for hanging in there throughout my adventure on the Carnival Dream. 

so glad your trip went smoothly!  

hugs from Texas