8-10-08 cruise to Bermuda- Dream

[dhkhth]

We are having a great time on the Dream. Crew has been great. Weather leaving Boston was pooring rain/thunder showers. Monday was a beautiful day on the boat. pools were packed, if you did not go early to dinner, or late. you will have to wait, but the food I had was great. if you do not like something they are really trying to make it right. our meet & Greet was great. met the Captain, and Danny Anderson (CD) the HD was very kind, and all continue to make sure I am enjoying myself. Well. thats it for now. will let you know more at least when I get home.

Keep Dreaming!!!

[cherylatwork]

Thank you for posting. We were on her last her last week and although it wasn’t my favorite cruise, we still had a good time. So far your weather seems to be mirroring exactly what we went through………keep us updated.

 

Cheryl

[welove2cruise232]

Glad to hear you're having a great time -- we really enjoyed our cruise on the Dream on 7/20 -- so much so that we're going again on 10/26!

 

Please say hello to Samir at the pool bar!

[didan]

Thanks for the update. We're really happy to hear you are having a great time as we're getting ready to head out this Sunday:D

[Kruizin'Kath]

Hope you're having great weather! Thanks for the post...we're Dreaming of Sunday!!:D

[Tiger55]

It's so nice to be hearing all the positive points of the Dream lately, compared to the negative tones awhile back. I'm feel more at ease with our Dream adventure on 9/28....thanks for the updates!!

[dhkhth]

others have done a great review of our cruise, so I will just do a few items.

1. I will start with the end. Our last sunset heading back on Saturday was a beautiful site. What made it even more enjoyable was the sighting of 2 dolpins jumping. Please keep an eye out either at sunrise or at sunset. Just as the sun set the dolphin made a brief appearence and jumped a couple of times.

2. my family are ealy eaters. get there just before 5:15 and you will be seated just as they open. If you are a big group (12) make reservations early in the day (between 8am-5pm) They will do there best to try and seat at one table, but it was not easy @ times. The meals take about 2 hours from start to finish, I don't think it is that they are slow, more of a culture change and they want you to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.

They do no offer coffee with Desert. If you want make sure you order when you order your meal. If you order at the end, you get your desert then they bring your coffee (usually your desert is long gone when it arrives) and it was never really good @ dinner (old tasting). I highly recomend the Coffee Bar. every cup of coffee was delicous. large cup of coffee is $2.88.

3.cabin 9219. superior ocean view. great cabin for 3. we asked prior to the cruise to have the foam eggcrate mattress toppers on our beds. (we had to ask again for one for the pullout couch). Window floor to ceiling was a beautiful part of the cabin. plenty of cabinets for 3. Bathroom well that is small, but again shelving is adequete. toilet well if a toilet in a group of 50 gets blocked, it stops those 50 toilets. I found that when we first started the cruise our toilet would not flush 3 to 4 times each of the first and second day. (after a few minutes it would flush on its own). I am thinking someone put something in their toilet that they shouldn't have. Besides making us a little nervous at first, no ill effects, and 3rd -7th day we had no problems at all.

our Stewards Celco (sp?) and Cherry were great. They were always helpfull.

4. room service; we only got our early morning coffee . we put on the door the night before the door card what we wanted, (you will find in the ncl binder in your room. I believe this is for suite cabins, and cc gets some of the perks as suite cabins. they would call about 5 minutes before they bring your food. We also got a bottle of champagne in our room when we arrived :-)

5. my family and I did a private snokling excursion through Jessie James. I highly highly recommend. They can take around 18 people, they take you to 3 places to snorkle, and 1 place to feed fish and look through the bottom of the boat (glass). They are out of Hamilton, and is 3 hours long. We had one who has never swam, and was nervous to put her head under water, but enjoyed each snorkle time

Great Great experiance.

6. Bermudians. I had not problems, except with one bus drive not very pleasant. both the Ferry and busses Bermudians would be very friendly, and give popular destinations, and history of bermuda. unlike another 8-10 cruiser. the times I was on the bus (standing room only) I had bermudian men and teenagers give there seat to me. bought 2 day pass $28.00 you can purchase one day, the 2 days do not begin until you first get on bus or ferry. pick up @ visitor center (vic) either in the next room from customs. I think they are there around 9am to 5pm. or @ Another VIC on the way to were the majesty is docked. it is also a internet cafe. $7.00 for a 1/2 hour of internet time, or $4 for 15minutes. I purchased 2 1/2 hours. 2nd one was my last day, and I only used 15minutes. I gave the rest to a older couple having a cup of coffe in the cafe to use the last 15minutes.

7. what little entertainment I saw. Rock this town, and the crew talent show

both were very good. seating is fair to poor in the stardust lounge. I am short (4'11") and there were not many place for me to see the show without someone a little taller in my way.

8. Cruise Director Dany Anderson: Was good. he was friendly to talk to, not as hyper as others I have seen.

9. Join your roll call, and do a meet and Greet. We did, and the few that attendad were able to meet the Captain and other officers. Julie (group director) was a great!! Coffee/tea/juices and cookies and other snacks were offered. Also those who attended got a bottle of champagne delivered to there room.

9. pools only 2 saltwater. very very ver crouded during sea days. If you like the pool to yourself. 7am they are just opening the pools for the day. I usually had the pool to myself for a couple of hours. then it would start getting busy, then I would go eat, and enjoy one of the quiet lounges to just look out the large windows, or just read.

 

overall. SPECTACULAR Cruise. everyone was very nice on the ship & on the Island.

 

Any questions shoot away. I will try and answer.

[Boat_Drinks]

I highly recomend the Coffee Bar. every cup of coffee was delicous. large cup of coffee is $2.88.

 

Sounds like you had a great time dhkhth, glad to hear it.

 

I was surprised you enjoyed the Coffee Bar, I actually found it very disappointing. You don't have a choice of coffees, it's just a machine that will grind and brew a fresh cup (not a lot different than a coin-op version you might find in a gas station, except that they can also do lattes). Because they brew each cup one at a time (vs. having some pots ready to go) I couldn't wait the few times I tried to use this bar during the mornings (there were only 3 or 4 people in front of me, but since each cup had to be brewed one at a time I would have been there at least 15-20 minutes).

 

Did they have cream and/or half and half last week? They did not in July, something that was VERY annoying (hello NCL?!?! it's a COFFEE bar, that would be like having a shrimp bar with no horse radish or cocktail sauce....).

 

PS: We had better luck with the dolphin and whale sightings on our return trip. Somewhere East of Long Island where the continental shelf begins there is evidently a feeding ground, we saw over 100 dolphins and the spouts of at least 7 whales (but the whales never came within 1/4 mile of us so it was a distant view, the dolphins all raced right up to the ship - got some excellent photos).

[cykl]

I was surprised you enjoyed the Coffee Bar, I actually found it very disappointing.

Did they have cream and/or half and half last week? They did not in July, something that was VERY annoying (hello NCL?!?! it's a COFFEE bar, that would be like having a shrimp bar with no horse radish or cocktail sauce....).

 

I was on this sailing as well, and enjoyed the Coffee Bar specifically the frozen coffee drinks and the iced caramel macchiato. Okay, it wasn't Starbucks, but a medium drink was less than $4 and was tasty enough for the price. I didn't notice 1/2 and 1/2 at the Coffee Bar, but they did have it on the buffet. I didn't notice it til the last day, of course... I kept thinking the silver pitcher was something for the tea service and used the milk instead. Oh well, looking on the bright side, I probably spared a few calories that way.

[mag]

Thank you for all the good info.

 

Can I ask you more about Jessie James?? Did you do the early trip from Hamilton?? That would be the one I am interested in. Was it easy to get there on time? Did you take a ferry or the bus? I do want to go early so as not to break up our day, so am thinking of just doing the Turtle Catamaran or the Coral Reef Snorkel...they go out from St. Georges. Has anyone done these and what do you all think??? Thanks alot for any answers!

[dhkhth]

Yes we did the early tour. We took the Ferry over. If I remember correctly it leaves around 7:35 in the morning, and you get ot Hamilton around 8:20. Remember if you are getting your bus/ferry pass get it on the day before. the VIC (visitor center) was no open before we used the ferry. we were able to pay cash for that ride over (I think it was $4.) for one way, then I purchased the bus pass on the way home. You will have a great time!!

enjoy.

[zamboni_girl]

our Stewards Celco (sp?) and Cherry were great. They were always helpfull.

I agree Celso was pretty awesome.

[AnnieB925]

I agree with you Tiger. We're going in October and like hearing that the Dream seems to have taken a turn for the better!

 

 

It's so nice to be hearing all the positive points of the Dream lately, compared to the negative tones awhile back. I'm feel more at ease with our Dream adventure on 9/28....thanks for the updates!!