Roberta Rader

Can't wait to read the rest of your review. We are also from the St. Louis area and driving down to NOLA in August to board the Dream.

We are sailing on the Dream in August and want to spend the day at Doctor's Cave Beach. What is the best (and safest) way to get there from the pier with as little high pressure strong arming us in to some other location as possible? I seem to recall something about a "hop on hop off" mode of transportation. Will that get us there? Is it easily accessible? Our group consists of 2 adults and 2 teenage girls. Thanks for all of your tips and suggestions.

Oh what a relief. That does sound like a piece of cake. I was envisioning trying to find a drop off spot at the pier and leaving my party (which includes 2 teen girls) and then going to park and come back and trying to locate my party. Thank you so much NightOne.

We are sailing on the Dream on 8/2/2015. We've always sailed from Florida. This is our first cruise departing from NOLA. I reserved our parking at Fulton Garage through New Orleans Parking back in February. I've heard other forum participants say that you need to drop off your luggage at the pier before going to park so as not to over burden the garage elevators. I'm wondering how well everything is marked and how hard is it to find where we are supposed to drop off luggage. I've read where some people thought it was disorganized and weren't sure where they were supposed to go. For someone who has never been there before, how difficult is it? Any tips or suggestions are much appreciated.

Woo-hoo! I'm not sure about the other ships but the webcam has been working for a few days now on the Dream. Glad to have my daily fix back.

I'm not a smoker but cigarettes made only 5 months ago (November 2014 was 5 months ago) are already bad?

Amen! I wish they would fix those. I love to check in with them while trudging through my work day.

I'm guessing Monday and Friday based on that information. Figured they'd have it set in stone and published in our paperwork before the cruise.

Those are the 2 nights I was betting on but wasn't sure.

The formal nights will be on your sea days.

I don't think that will be the case on our cruise as we have 3 sea days: Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday. Saturday is out since it's the last night of the cruise and they never have 2 consecutive formal nights, so it can't be both Monday and Tuesday.

I would like to know the answer to that as well. We are sailing on the Dream on August 2. I seriously doubt one of the formal nights is Sunday though since that is embarkation day and often passengers haven't had all of their luggage delivered to their stateroom in time for dinner.

That is the least I could do. You bet!

Thanks so much guys. I'm taking another posters recommendation and we're going to book Moby Dick on our own.

Decision made! Thank you so much vamartha. This sounds awesome. I will definitely book this one.

Hey vamartha, I just checked out Moby Dick's website. They sound great. I'm finding quite a few excursions that won't let me book directly with them, forcing me to book through Carnival. Do you know if Moby Dick will let me book direct? Also, how far is it from the pier? Did you take a taxi? Also, do they allow you to bring an underwater camera?

This may be a stupid question but we have sailed on Carnival 4 times but never booked any shore excursions, opting just to explore on our own. However this time we are planning on the Deluxe stingray city sandbar through Carnival for $49.99PP. I don't see anything on Carnival's website description about transportation to and from the stingray site. Do we arrange that on our own? If so, would we be better off if we just booked directly with Captain Marvin's and saved some money? Or is that even allowed?

NOLAbebe: you are amazing! I wish I was on your sailing so I could meet you and thank you personally for all your great tips and help but we are sailing 8/2/2015. I just finished booking the dolphin swim, buffet lunch at Chankanaab Park through Carnival. I ultimately decided peace of mind has a dollar value too. Now on to researching the other ports...have a fabulous cruise if I don't talk to you before then.

Hey NOLAbebe, do you have any idea how much the photos are if we purchase them on CD? I've been on a cruise that had to change itineraries at the last minute and you're right about sailing during hurricane season. I probably will book with Carnival. Just interested how much the photos are. Everyone says they're expensive but few give an idea as to how expensive.

You are most welcome and I hope you have a wonderful time on the Freedom and at Chankanaab. We leave on Carnival Pride (only our second Carnival cruise) in 16 days, 2 hours, 0 min and 40 seconds from now. I'm SUPER excited and can't wait to see the beautiful Pride with all the 2.0 upgrades. I'm a little nervous about sailing during Spring Break AND Easter weekend, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's also a sold out ship as well. :eek:

 

 

 

 

That's funny about the detail oriented and documentation. Makes sense (although I have to admit, I have always been like this and have always been a photography freak as well). So, I guess both things combined make for good qualities in a review. :D

 

 

You didn't really say how or who you booked with so I'm really not sure on your questions. If you booked using Dolphin Discovery you just have to be in front of the dolphin place at the time they tell you that your swim is because they will orient you to the equipment and what is going to happen before doing the swim. I know when we did our swim, it wasn't 3 1/2 hours long that's for sure. This makes me think that you might have booked directly with the cruiseline and your entire excursion is 3 1/2 hours long? Do they provide the transportation to and from Chankanaab? If so your 3 1/2 hours will include the time during transportation, the swim and going back, which won't leave much time for the park. :( That's usually how these sail based excursions work.

 

Yes, if you are scheduled to leave port at 6pm, they usually want you back on the ship 1 hour ahead of time, which means you should leave the park IMO at least about 4:15-4:30. The place is not far AT ALL. It takes maybe 10-15 minutes to get there (depending on what type of nascar taxi driver you might have ;)...IF you are doing this on your own). The only issue is usually checking back in to port and how many people are there trying to get back at the same time, but it's usually not too bad.

 

I have honestly never went to the sea lion show before because I get so tied up in the snorkeling portion that I can't drag myself out and over to the show. I have seen pictures though. Here's one I found online, which does look like you might be sitting out in the hot sun.

 

 

 

Once again, I'm not sure if you are on a ship excursion and if transportation is included. But if it's not and you are doing this on your own...transportation here is probably one of the best I have seen anywhere. At the front entrance there is a turn around area where the taxi's pull up to drop people off. They have such a controlled system in place that there is someone at that entrance that even writes down each cab number and the number of passengers that get out of it. They keep track of everything (this is a good thing since our taxi pulled away once and my husband left out beach bag in the trunk of the van with our ship cards, money and everything else in the bag and they were able to track the taxi down and get our things back by using this system). Anyhow...back on subject...when you are ready to leave, you head back to the entrance/exit and they will ask how many and where you are going...right directly next to the entrance is a parking lot where they keep all the taxis lined up kinda out of site. All of these people from the people at Chankanaab to the taxis have walkie talkies. They will call someone over and away you go. Super Duper easy! We have been there REALLY late when the place looked like it was deserted and everyone had left and there were still cabs waiting in the parking lot.

 

I have never had a buffet lunch there since we have always done it on our own. My oldest daughter ate over at the restaurant by the dolphin swim once and said her burrito was ok, but expensive. We ate right at the beach and the waiter brought our drinks and food to us all day and I got the "sampler" plater and it was YUMMY and had a little bit of everything on it AND it was cheaper than my daughters burrito was AND we were served right there at our palapa. If was quite a bit of food and this was after I started munching on it then discovered I hadn't taken a picture yet.

 

 

 

I hope you have a wonderful time there. As many places as I have been in Cozumel, Chankanaab is still my favorite. I need to go back some time since I know they have changed it A LOT (adding new things like the zip line, alligators, human gerbil balls and stuff) since I was there last.

So it sounds like I can book with Dolphin Discovery directly. I contacted them this morning via their live chat on their website and asked about that and they advised me to contact Carnival and book through them. Carnival doesn't offer the package that includes photos though. That is why I wanted to book direct. So, you had no problems? Did you do the package with photos or know someone who did?

I checked with Dolphindiscovery.com before I book our excursion in Cozumel for August just to make sure it was ok to book directly with them and not Carnival. I am really interested in their package that includes photos for $149 PP. Their response was "contact your cruise line directly. They have an allotment with our company especially for their passengers". I'm confused though because I have read reviews from past Carnival guests who said they did book directly. Has anyone booked with them directly and what was your experience?if that doesn't work out, then we'll book the Dolphin swim, buffet lunch at Chankanaab Park through Carnival for $129.99 PP. Can someone tell me how expensive the photos are if we get them on a CD?

I was just reading the reviews for the package that Carnival offers and there is a review on there from someone who booked directly with the company. I'm so confused. Has anyone booked this tour directly and if so, could you tell me your experience?

I forgot to mention this is in Cozumel.

Ok, I got really excited about the dolphin discovery swim adventure memories including photos for $149 PP. I contacted them directly before booking just to make sure it was ok to book directly with them instead of Carnival. Their response was "contact your cruise line directly. They have an allotment with our company especially for their passengers ". However, the package with Carnival does not include photos. That is why I wanted to book directly. Very disappointed since I have heard horror stories about how expensive their photos are.

Wow! Thanks NOLAbebe. I'm going to look into that right now.

Thank you everyone so much. You've given me some great pointers to help me narrow down the choices. I appreciate all of your input.

I went online today with the intent of booking our shore excursions for our 8/2/15 Dream cruise and I am seriously overwhelmed. We are visiting Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We have budgeted about $1000 for shore excursions for 4 adults. We want to swim with the dolphins, interact with stingrays and in one of the ports just have a relaxing beach day. It doesn't matter to us what port we do what activity. I am considering the idea of not booking with Carnival to possibly save some money. Although what I have read about Jamaica, it may be wise to stick with the Carnival tour and not venture off too adventurously. Also, on our wish list is being able to purchase reasonable priced photos (especially of us with the dolphins) and preferably be able to purchase them afterwards online. Any suggestions or personal experiences are welcome and appreciated. The dolphin swim & ride with lunch in Cozumel seems like it has good reviews. Does anyone have any experience with this excursion and would you recommend it? Would you recommend one port over another for a relaxing beach day?