Dream Help Needed

[marcruiser]

We just booked our cruise on the Dream out of Houston :) . We have some questions and hope someone (or many someones) can help us. Thank you in advance. P.S. This is our 9th cruise, so we are not novices, but the first time on this ship (second time on NCL) so please help us specific to the Dream. Thanks again.

 

1. Anything you think we should know?

 

2. How does the size of the ship compare to the Coral Princess?

 

3. How big are the bathrooms in oceanview, especially the shower (DH is 6'4" and big)?

 

4. Any favorite things to eat in the dining rooms, the buffet, the specialty restaurants?

 

5. Are there any places where one could use a deck chair and be in the shade?

 

6. This is the first time we've booked a guarantee; what have been your experiences with it, re: upgrades, etc?

 

7. What are the beds like?

 

8. What does bottled water cost?

 

9. Is the iced tea any good?

 

10. We heard there is some kind of indoor pool and hot tub (for a price) can anyone give us the details? Price and specifics, please? Price may not bother us as much as the sun could.

 

11. Is the theater "theater style" or lounge (tables, chairs or couches) style?

 

12. And last and definitely least (at least for now)...Do they make towel animals

[Mc_Cruiser]

1. Anything you think we should know?

Loads of info on these boards, really depends on what you need. One thing the Dream does suffer from, is that later at night (after 8pm) the wait for a table can become a pain, sometimes 30+ minutes or even an hour isn't unusual for Terraces. This is really down to the small number of resturaunts, but the friendly staff and the more intimate eating areas make up for it.

 

2. How does the size of the ship compare to the Coral Princess?

No idea sorry.

 

3. How big are the bathrooms in oceanview, especially the shower (DH is 6'4" and big)?

He will have fun. they are tiny ;) As one comedian said the shower curtain seemed to have fallen in love with him in the tiny shower area of his room. He suggested the best way to get clean was to smear the shower gell on the wall and spin :)

 

4. Any favorite things to eat in the dining rooms, the buffet, the specialty restaurants?

The Bistro of course is excellent, and smaller and more intimate than on some other NCL ships. Personal preference will dictate whether you eat in the Four Seasons or Terraces for most of your meals.

 

5. Are there any places where one could use a deck chair and be in the shade?

YES - Try the aft of deck 8 where you will be under deck 9 and there are several loungers there.

 

6. This is the first time we've booked a guarantee; what have been your experiences with it, re: upgrades, etc?

No ideas sorry.

7. What are the beds like?

They are a reasonably firm mattress on top of a hard plastic single bed frames. They can push them together and make them up as a Queen.

 

8. What does bottled water cost?

They put a couple of bottles in your room now (at least the balcony cabins did) and they charge $4.95 a bottle if you open it. It is teh same charge is you want to take water off the ship on an excursion.

 

9. Is the iced tea any good?

It is out of an automated dispenser, like a soda dispense. You can get it in the small buffet off the pool area most of the day. It is OK, I didn't drink much of it though.

 

10. We heard there is some kind of indoor pool and hot tub (for a price) can anyone give us the details? Price and specifics, please? Price may not bother us as much as the sun could.

There are only 2 pools on the Dream, the smaller, but deeper aft pool, and the main pool. There is a tiny swim bar with seats in it and couple of jacuzis. There is no indoor pool in the Mandara spa like other larger ships.

 

11. Is the theater "theater style" or lounge (tables, chairs or couches) style?

They are more lounge style, with a mixture of fixed curved couches and moveable chairs. This often makes it hard to get into spaces, especially the second sitting of a show, since people move the chairs around and leave them.

 

12. And last and definitely least (at least for now)...Do they make towel animals.

YES - The room stewards on the Dream do towel animals each night

[Mc_Cruiser]

Hmm outside my edit time . .

 

For question 4, the Trattoria is also a good alternative if you don't fancy the regular menu. It offers a changing Italian menu most nights, with no cover charge and the standard menu during the optional formal nights.

 

It is also a good alternative for a continental buffet breakfast.

 

The Tiramisu is fantastic :D

[hotspur]

For question 4, the Trattoria is also a good alternative if you don't fancy the regular menu. It offers a changing Italian menu most nights, with no cover charge and the standard menu during the optional formal nights.

 

It is also a good alternative for a continental buffet breakfast.

 

The Tiramisu is fantastic :D

The last time we cruised the Dream, on certain "special" nights (e.g., Captain's Dinner and one or two others), the Trattoria did not serve its usual Italian menu but in fact served the same menu as in the two main dining rooms (Four Seasons and Terraces). We found it was much easier to be seated in the Trattoria those nights, because most people just head for the two main dining rooms--out of habit, I guess.

 

We find the Trattoria (still called by its original name, Sun Terrace, on some ship maps and the NCL web site deck plan) to be a more attractive dining room than the other two, so would always go there on these special nights. The Trattoria is steeply-terraced as well as smaller than the others, so you feel less like you're seated in the middle of a huge room with a zillion other passengers. It also has wall-to-wall windows on three sides and a lot of glass in the ceiling (kind of like...well...a sun room) and has a very open and airy feeling. We also happen to like the Italian menu on the nights when they serve it. It's the same menu every night, but there is a pasta-of-the-day and a seafood-dish-of-the-day to provide variety.

 

Enjoy the Dream. Be sure to stake out a lounge chair at the open area aft on deck 8 for some great reading and ocean-watching. If it's too chilly to be out, the lounge on the top deck at the front of the ship is also a fine spot for watching the rolling sea. The theater can fill up early so don't wait 'til the last minute to get a seat for the shows.

 

While the shower is small (I'm 6'5" and managed, but it was a bit tight), the Dream's oceanview cabins have one very nice feature: a room-darkening drape that can be pulled to separate the bed(s) from the sitting area by the window, so an early riser can open the drapes on the window and read by daylight or just look out while his/her partner can sleep without being disturbed by the light. On newer NCL ships like the Jewel, you need a small suite to get that separating drape.

[newmexicoNita]

1. Anything you think we should know?

Loads of info on these boards, really depends on what you need. One thing the Dream does suffer from, is that later at night (after 8pm) the wait for a table can become a pain, sometimes 30+ minutes or even an hour isn't unusual for Terraces. This is really down to the small number of resturaunts, but the friendly staff and the more intimate eating areas make up for it.

 

2. How does the size of the ship compare to the Coral Princess?

No idea sorry.

 

3. How big are the bathrooms in oceanview, especially the shower (DH is 6'4" and big)?

He will have fun. they are tiny ;) As one comedian said the shower curtain seemed to have fallen in love with him in the tiny shower area of his room. He suggested the best way to get clean was to smear the shower gell on the wall and spin :)

 

4. Any favorite things to eat in the dining rooms, the buffet, the specialty restaurants?

The Bistro of course is excellent, and smaller and more intimate than on some other NCL ships. Personal preference will dictate whether you eat in the Four Seasons or Terraces for most of your meals.

 

5. Are there any places where one could use a deck chair and be in the shade?

YES - Try the aft of deck 8 where you will be under deck 9 and there are several loungers there.

 

6. This is the first time we've booked a guarantee; what have been your experiences with it, re: upgrades, etc?

No ideas sorry.

7. What are the beds like?

They are a reasonably firm mattress on top of a hard plastic single bed frames. They can push them together and make them up as a Queen.

 

8. What does bottled water cost?

They put a couple of bottles in your room now (at least the balcony cabins did) and they charge $4.95 a bottle if you open it. It is teh same charge is you want to take water off the ship on an excursion.

 

9. Is the iced tea any good?

It is out of an automated dispenser, like a soda dispense. You can get it in the small buffet off the pool area most of the day. It is OK, I didn't drink much of it though.

 

10. We heard there is some kind of indoor pool and hot tub (for a price) can anyone give us the details? Price and specifics, please? Price may not bother us as much as the sun could.

There are only 2 pools on the Dream, the smaller, but deeper aft pool, and the main pool. There is a tiny swim bar with seats in it and couple of jacuzis. There is no indoor pool in the Mandara spa like other larger ships.

 

11. Is the theater "theater style" or lounge (tables, chairs or couches) style?

They are more lounge style, with a mixture of fixed curved couches and moveable chairs. This often makes it hard to get into spaces, especially the second sitting of a show, since people move the chairs around and leave them.

 

12. And last and definitely least (at least for now)...Do they make towel animals.

YES - The room stewards on the Dream do towel animals each night

I am not going to add much to this as lMr Cruiser and others have done a great job, but I do have a few comments: Towel Animals may or may not be in your cabin at night: this seems to depend more on your cabin steward than the particular ship; Water in your cabin: you can bring your own on board or drink the ship water which is always very good. What we ususlly do is: bring 3 or 4 bottles on and as we drink them we refill the bottles with ship water. It works great when we are going ashore. I didn't realize they were $4.75 per bottle, but did know they were very pricey. And the bathroom, they are small; the joke the comedian made is as old as the hills. We have heard that one or similar on almost every cruise we have taken. NMnita

[Velvet Teddy Bear]

Hi.....you didn't say which week you were going...If you will check the roll call board....you may find some other help/hints from fellow critics....check it out...

 

jus' me...jim...the velvet teddy bear..:cool:

[mis7up]

My husband and I also booked a guantee booking, we received our info as far as room and sorts, I'm so glad some one asked questions I didn't think to ask. We are booked for 12/2/06, for our first cruise, when did you book? I'm hoping to find some one on our cruise to chat with. Happy cruising!!!

[Judaline]

It's our first time on NCL too - we've been on RCCL and HAL, and were wondering how they compare. We depart on Oct 28th and are looking forward to meeting/chatting with others on this cruise. I usually travel with family and/or friends ... this time it will just be me and my husband

[newmexicoNita]

It's our first time on NCL too - we've been on RCCL and HAL, and were wondering how they compare. We depart on Oct 28th and are looking forward to meeting/chatting with others on this cruise. I usually travel with family and/or friends ... this time it will just be me and my husband

I don't know which RCI or HAL ships you have been on, but the Dream may be a little different for you. Remember she is a smaller older ship with small cabins. Of course RCI has the smallest we have ever seen, but the Dream comes close. As you know the prices on the Dream are about as low as 1 week cruises can get. This was the case when we did the Sea 2 years ago. As long as you remember that and don't try to compare you will have a great time. We did the Sea, knowing what to expect and traveling with 2 other couples:we had a blast. Had we been expecting a mega ship, just entering the water with lots of dining choices etc we would have been disappointed. It is impossible to compare cruiselines unless you are comparing classes of ships as well. You wouldn't try and compare the top of the line Hilton owned hotels with a Holiday Inn I wouldn't think, but you can compare Holiday Inn Express with say, Hilton's Hampton Inns. NMnita

[Mc_Cruiser]

Great point NMnita - even within NCL the different sizes of ships are hard to compare against each other. The size of the Dream on one hand provides a more personal cruise for many since you often see the same waiter on several nights, more so than you would on the larger ships when there are both much larger resturaunts, and many alternative places to eat. On the other, you have less choice, and the public areas are smaller. Having been on both sides of NCL ships (Dream and Dawn) they each have their charms, and each are what you make of them. I expect comparisons with other cruise line ships are much the same. If you have a very fixed idea of what your cruise should be, then be careful what you book.

[nurseone]

there is a roll call come join in Judaline. There are 5 of us plus the others on the board. Planning a meet on the ship and several of us are staying at the Comfort Suites in LaPorte night before. Hope to see on the roll call.