smcsmom

Hint -- go up the stairs one or two levels and catch the next 'down' elevator to go back up. :D

 

Thanks for your review. we have sailed the Dream now 4 times out of Port Canaveral. Will miss her. :(

Good idea about the elevator!

Thanks to everyone for your kind words, glad to get some of you excited about your upcoming cruises!!

Thanks for the follow up. Very informative. It sounds like they need another pool or two based on your comments.

 

Did you check out any of the Hot Tubs? Particularly, the ones in Serenity or on the Lanai deck?

From what I can see it looks like all the pools on the ships run about the same size? I have no information at all on a single Hot Tub, never graced a single one of them the entire week, not for any particular reason though most likely since we had H with us.

Ah, OK. My imagination got the better of me and I was thinking more along the lines of someone punching someone else.

 

 

 

Did the aft pool stay this crowded throughout the entire cruise?

 

Overall, how did you feel about the crowd levels around the entire ship throughout the cruise?

I'm fairly certain the man that was landed upon punched the jumper and thus security swooped in and very efficiently removed both gentlemen and their parties from the area. It really wasn't a big deal and was remedied in a matter of a few minutes.

To me, both pools were very crowded (no room to swim, just to float in your place) during the peak times of the day. Before 9am or really late evening, not so much, much less people. Really I feel both pools are much too small to host the amount of people that the ship accommodates. We have a pool at home so H was much more interested in the slides so it wasn't much of an issue for us.

The ship felt much much less crowded than I anticipated. If you wanted a lounge chair during in the late morning/early afternoon there was not one to be had (as expected) but the lines for the buffets and pizza, pasta place, to enter into the shows, the tenders, etc. were very manageable.

Getting back onto the ship from Port was a little longer but still, we didn't have to wait anywhere near what we had expected for anything and J is a talker so he made buddies with whomever we were in line with and the time passed very quickly.

Trying to catch an elevator from the main deck when coming back onto the ship was another story. It took forever for us to get one to get back to the 9th floor. They were very slow to make their way all the way down there and then their were sooooo many people that wanted on it was a bit of a mess. I'm pretty sure we ended up using the stairs at least once.

The line to enter into the MDR was very dense starting from about 15 minutes before they opened the doors at 8:15pm. After that first night, we figured out to arrive at 8:20, avoid the rush and headed right to the table. By the time we arrived our waitress already had J's beer and H's sprite ready and waiting.

Fight?

 

Adults? Kids?

Yes, there was an altercation while H and her pal were in pool. It was adults, I wasn't front and center to see what exactly happened but what we were told was a younger gentlemen was being fairly rambunctious doing flips into the pool and such. He was asked by Carnival Crew members to stop a few times and continued. He landed on a man that was swimming in the pool and the rest is history... Security was already in the area. It was cleared out extremely fast.

We cruise the Dream in 10 days and thank you so much for the info on the kids club. We have a 9 yr old and he's so excited about the club. This info helped me let him know things he could do. I know you said they do an orientation at 5pm, but I noticed on the schedule they have a late registration at 8? Do you think it would be ok to miss the early one so that we won't miss sail away? We have all first time cruisers besides my dh and I and I don't want them to miss that.

I would guess that's the reason they have the late sign-up at 8:00pm but since we had gone and gotten it over with I'm not sure how that one worked.

I know when we were at the 5pm one (with TONS of other parents), if you have filled out the paperwork online, all we did was listen to the sign in/out process and about the activities for ALL the kids clubs (all ages) and then a representative came over and verified our info. and checked us off her list. It didn't take too long but my suspicion would be you get to skip the activity lecture and just get your info. checked and be on your way if you head to the Camp Carnival at 8:00pm.

Next time I won't miss the sail away and will go to the later time since I know what happens at the early one.

We just arrived home from our first cruise on the Dream, it was great fun :)

If you have a few cameras/ipods and other things to charge you may want to bring a power strip since there was ONE outlet in our room. It was super handy to charge my camera, the Kid's camera and her itouch at the same time!

Also, there is no clock in the room so if you are going to not have cell phones on you may want to grab a small battery powered alarm clock for the days you need to wake up on time!!

Have fun!

Great review, thanks! I have never been on the Dream but it sounds nice.

Thanks! The Dream was a lovely introduction to Cruising for sure!!

Thank you! Just was copying these to keep and look though until our cruise. Just noticed though that the 8th's Funtimes had the events listed for the 7th?

Sorry about that, it was hard to keep all the scanning in the correct order!!

Fun Times 7/12/14

Fun Times 7/11/14

Fun Times 7/10/14

Fun Times 7/9/14

**Now I see the information about Tendering that I missed while on the ship!**

Fun Times 7/7/14

Fun Times 7/6/14

Great post!!

I would love to see the camp carnival schedule if you don't mind sharing! :)

 

 

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Here you go....

Great review! I would like to see the Funtimes if you don't mind.

Thank you! I will post them in the morning!!

July 13, 2014 (Headed home!)

Since we didn’t really know that to expect for Debarkation we woke up early thinking that we needed to be out of the room and find a spot on the Lido deck since lots of other people would be camping out there also. Not the case, lol! We got down there at about 8:00 a.m. and there was a handful of people and plenty of space to park our backpacks and ourselves. We had breakfast (not sure of I mentioned this before, the buffet breakfast is pretty good but the scrambled eggs are yucky, none of us could eat them. If we wanted eggs, we hit the omelet station for fried eggs or an omelet). We just hung out and waited for them to call group #29 so we could head out. About 9:30 a.m. we climbed down to Deck 3 and got in line to get off the ship. We were at the car and on the way out at 10:30 a.m. It was exactly one hour from the Lido through the ship, luggage retrieval, customs and elevator to the car. I honestly expected it to take longer but it was nicely organized and our bags were all there next to each other under the #29 sign.

We were very pleased with the Carnival employees, from the minute we arrived at the port until the minute we disembarked the ship each and every Carnival person we came in contact with was friendly, polite and had a huge smile on their face. The ship was constantly being cleaned and tidied, from our room to the public areas, the rest rooms, the dining areas and everywhere in between!

We made it home to Houston in about 6 hours and are already talking about our next cruise adventure (maybe the Magic out of Galveston??) We all really enjoyed being unplugged and spending time together as a family. H LOVED everything about this trip. I really liked that it was a nice combination of activity and relaxing and there was always something to do if I didn’t want to just hang out on deck. J really liked the Ports and Excursions. Although we all liked all the excursions, we would not repeat the Beach Buggy in Cozumel. We would do Goff’s Caye, Belize again and we would choose the longer more in depth version of the Dolphin Encounter at Anthony’s Key Resort in Roatan.

Thanks for reading this, hope it was helpful!!

Random Observations that I forgot to include along the way:

*We have ordered Room Service three times (so far Day 3), each time it arrived in about 20 minutes.

Room Service Menu

*The tiny shower and shower curtain make for a lot of water to get on the floor each time someone showers if they aren’t paying attention to get the curtain lined up right. And the curtain is a little grungy on the bottom.

*So far I have only seen our Room Steward once (we are on day 3) but he’s definitely doing his job. Each time we come back the room is tidy and the cooler we brought is full of ice. Each night we have a new towel animal too!

*There is a lot more storage space than I expected in the bathroom, there are 3 good size shelves on either side of the vanity.

*H has eaten ice cream (currently on day 4) 10 times. She can’t get enough of it!

*I haven’t felt the ship move AT ALL! Not even in the MDR where we are seated way at the back (which I bet is a beautiful view but we miss it since we have the 8:15 p.m. dining and it’s dark when we get there). I have the motion sickness ear patch on since I am super prone to motion sickness but so far so good!

*AND. I jinxed myself! As soon as we left Cozumel the wind kicked up and the boat was swaying all over the place. They have the decks at the front of the ship closed off due to the high winds. I’m really glad I went to the doc and got the motion sickness patches!

*Things that came in super handy: mesh shower caddy, suction hooks, the over the door shoe holder, clothes pins, small battery powered alarm clock (since we shut off our phones and there is no clock in the room), a small cooler for our room to keep cold drinks (we brought on a case of water and a few sodas for in the room), a power strip to plug multiple items into since there is only one plug in the room. I also brought a few extra hangers.

*J got the Bottomless Bubbles but he isn’t drinking enough soda so for us it wasn’t worth it.

*We did not buy the Cheers program. J would have used it for sure but I don’t drink so it wasn’t worth it to buy since I would have to have it also.

**When we left the ship I added up everything that he drank from the Sign and Sail account and it cost about as much as the Cheers would have cost for just him.

*On Wednesday we used the Wash & Fold service ($15/bag). We filled a bag with wash, filled out a form and the room Steward came to get it. He delivered it back at 6pm the same day. I didn’t plan on using it but after 2 excursions and a few trips to the slides for H the swimsuits and pool covers we had already worn needed a good wash! Next time I know to pack fewer daytime clothes and more bathing suits and covers for us all. By the end of the cruise we will have a lot of clothes that we did not wear.

*I brought my laptop and bought the 45 minute internet package for $29.00 so I could check in with my mother twice a day. I type the email in word and then copy and paste it into my email once I log in, then copy her email and paste into word to read later and reply to. I use about 3 minutes each time I log in.

**This is the only reason that I logged onto the Internet at all and on the last day I had 2 minutes left. It’s a sluggish process to log in, get to a web browser and then to my email.

Internet Info.

*Snacks – at first I thought it was kind of crazy to bring snacks since there is food available all the time but I brought them anyway and I am glad I did. I had a package of peanut butter crackers, a few bags of beef jerky and some granola bars. We snacked on it each day after the excursion before we headed back to the ship.

*Not sure why this didn’t make it into the review but I wanted to say that we have visited the Cherry on Top candy store quite a few times. The prices are very reasonable and H has developed a Red Starburst addiction ;). They lady with red hair that has worked in there for the past few days has been so nice and pleasant! I wish I had remembered to get her name!

*We also went by the Bella Perlina Bracelet sale (I think they were $20 marked down from $90), the watch set sale ($20) and they also had a $10 t-shirt sale. We didn’t buy anything other than J’s watch at the Fun Shops but they did have some nice items. We had already bought H a t-shirt in each port so we didn’t need any more.

July 12, 2014 (Day 7, Sea Day)

We decided to try brunch in the MDR today instead of the buffet and we are glad we did. They had Eggs Benedict so I was a happy girl. They brought a basket full of breakfast breads as soon as we sat down and our order was ready fairly quickly. I think all in all we were in there for about an hour. After breakfast H headed off to Camp Carnival (she was thrilled to meet another little girl from Houston) and J & I hit the Towel Folding Lesson in the Encore Theater. We had already bought the book for H but it helped me to see it done in person. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expected! For each book that is purchased $1 goes to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. After Towel Folding, J & I went to the Ships Life Q&A with Troy the Cruise Director in the Ocean Plaza on Deck 5. Turns out this isn’t his assigned ship, he’s been filling in for someone else who is on vacation. People asked a ton of questions, it was very interesting. He said a lot of the ships crews do not have a permanent residence since they are out to sea for such long periods of time (unless of course they have a family that they are supporting) and gave loads more facts about life on the ship. After that we walked to the Piano Bar for some Movie Trivia and just hung out in the Deck 5 area. They opened the Salad Bar that’s there for lunch and they also had the Lanai BBQ going so we had a small bite to eat. I seriously have never eaten as much as I have over the last week! The salad bar was nice, they made a salad for you with whatever you wanted and they also had Turkey Wraps. The BBQ was the same as the other day, Sliders, Quesadillas, Pulled Pork Tacos, Chips and Salsa. I grabbed a slider and some Chips and Salsa and J had a salad and the Turkey Wrap. After lunch we hit the Casino… it’s just never a good idea, lol! Then we came back to the room and started packing. Our Room Steward had left us the Debarkation information sheet and the luggage tags for each bag. The week went by REALLY fast! We picked H up at 1:45 p.m., she said the Magic show in Camp Carnival was good but it only lasted about 20 minutes so she was a little disappointed. She did say that today’s scavenger hunt was super fun again. Since she was there so long she was starving and requested Pasta Bella again so off we went. And lo and behold we passed the Chocolate Buffet on our way! We stopped and grabbed some yummy desserts for after her pasta. The wait was about 25 minutes this time, and she JUST COULD NOT WAIT any longer, so she ate her donut dipped in Chocolate before her pasta even arrived. What the heck, we’re on vacation ;-) After Pasta we stopped by Cherry on Top to grab a few souvenirs for my niece and H ran into some of her Camp Carnival Pals. They were playing tag and running all over the ship. She asked if she could go with them and I let her, again breaking out into a cold sweat, lol! She was to meet us back at our room at 4 p.m. Of course she was back in plenty of time and I panic for no reason! Then she and J headed off to the Arcade to check it out and I finished packing and crossed a ton of stuff off my list that I had brought but we didn’t need or use for next time! H said the Arcade was fun and she liked that you used your Sign & Sail card and not tokens.

J & I were going over the Fun Times from the week and there is SO MUCH we didn’t have time for or get a chance to do this time on the Dream so now we have to come back! We also missed quite a few things by choosing the 8:15 p.m. dining time and having Hannah with us just about every night. I think that when we cruise again we would choose the anytime dining so we had more flexibility and I am sure that H will be more comfortable with the programs and want to spend more time in them. Neither one of us even made it up to the Serenity Deck or to check out the Spa. It’s incredible how large the ship is and how many different things there are to see and do!

It’s our last night and H wanted to go back to Camp Carnival at 7pm for the farewell thing they do so we ordered her Room Service for dinner and J & I are headed to the MDR. First we stopped off in the Ocean Plaza to hear the Blackjack Band play some good old country music. For a band on a cruise ship they are pretty darn good! The guy playing the fiddle was very impressive. We were there for a good hour and lots of people were dancing and singing along with the band.

Then it was time for dinner and off to the MDR we went. We ate dinner each night with our tablemates and never ran out of things to talk about. They were a very friendly family and like I said before we were glad to have been paired with them. From where we were seated at the far back in the dining room against the window we could not see the wait staff when they lined the stairs to sing so we just got up and peaked over the rail into the lower dining room and the staircase to see them.

Me: Vegetable Spring Rolls and Prime Rib with a baked potato, no dessert since I knew we’d be headed for midnight ice cream – a last night of vacation family tradition!

J: Navy Bean Soup (he said it was only ok), Crab Cake (delicious) Panko Crusted Shrimp and some piece of fish he said was really good.

We left dinner in a rush for me to meet H for the Carnival Legends show at 9:50 p.m. and J made a quick trip to the room to put the luggage out for pickup.

H wanted us to let her sign herself out of Camp Carnival and meet us in the same seats we had sat in at all the shows we had been to. We had done a dry run earlier in the day and she knew exactly where to go. So when she didn’t show up (J was already back from the luggage run) we both panicked a little and J headed off to Camp Carnival to hunt her down and I stayed in the theater in case she showed up. He found her, she had forgotten what time she was supposed to check herself out and so she stayed put because she knew we would come get her. Crisis averted and she did the right thing. Truth be told it’s times like this that I like it when we bring along my niece so she has a partner in crime and isn’t on her own! She did say that all the kids she met were really fun to hang out with and she had a great time each time she attended Camp Carnival. They colored t-shirts and some of the kids exchanged email addresses to keep in touch. Then they watched a movie.

The Legends show was a lot of fun. It’s passengers from the cruise that try out for a spot to sing on the last night. It’s like a talent show I guess. Most of the people they had on sounded pretty good! The guy who was Garth Brooks and the gal that was Brittney Spears were both fabulous. Then Troy the cruise director came out dressed as Dolly Parton and the audience went wild. It was hilarious.

After the show we headed out for midnight (11:30ish) ice cream and then decided to check out the musicians’ Jam session on Deck 5. A bunch of the different musicians from the ship got together and played some really great music. We would have stayed longer but H was falling asleep so we headed out. Back at the room our bags had been picked up from outside the room and we headed right out to the balcony for a look at the Mississippi River. What a big disappointment to see the muddy brown water after almost a week of beautiful blue and green! Tomorrow we head out for the dreaded NOLA to Houston drive. Surely it won’t be nearly as exciting as the trip up!

July 11, 2014 (Day 6, Sea Day)

Even thought we didn’t have to, H woke us all up at the crack of dawn again! We headed out for breakfast at the buffet. J & I had omelets and H stuck to her normal cereal with milk. After breakfast we went to the Future Cruise Talk and Raffle just out of curiosity. It lasted about an hour and a half and we didn’t learn anything we didn’t already know, he talked about booking future cruises, OBC and the Credit Card they offer. The Future Cruise guy (Geoff?) handed out a pamphlet with all the ships in the Carnival Fleet, their current and future ports and itineraries with dates through the end of 2015, good information.

After that we hit the water slides and even though it was super crowded we were still able to find a seat for me to park while they did the slides for about an hour. In all honesty they do a pretty good job of moving things along swiftly. There are so many people on the ship I thought that it would feel super crowded but we have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly and smoothly most everything runs. We decided that we wanted to try something new for lunch and off we went to find the Pasta Bella … easier said than done, lol! We had to ask 3 staff members who all gave us different directions on how to get there. We finally found the staircase at the end of the dining room across from the Burrito bar (which we never tried?) and close to where we found the fruit and breakfast breads and headed up. They give you a sheet with all the choices they offer, you fill it out, a waiter comes and takes it and then they make your exact order. The pasta was delish, H loved her penne with Alfredo and Caesar salad. J said his penne with Tomato sauce, shrimp and sausage was really good also. I had linguini in butter sauce with eggplant and sausage and it was also very tasty. We arrived there at 1:15 p.m. and waited about 30 minutes for our food. Not a big deal since we had no place to be but some of the other folks were getting annoyed that it was taking a while and were a little ugly to the wait staff. It’s not their fault! Plus, there are 3 people back there making fresh orders for all the people waiting so you just need to be patient!

After lunch H wanted to go to Camp Carnival so we dropped her off and J headed for the shops (remember that watch I mentioned earlier….) and I was off for a nap in the room.

When we picked H up from Camp Carnival she said it was a blast. They did a scavenger hunt out and about on the ship in groups of 5 or 6 kids. There was no chaperone and that made me a little nervous her just having free run of the ship but they all seemed to do just fine. In order for her to participate in the scavenger hunt, she had to be given access to sign herself in and out of Camp Carnival so we had a quick talk and laid out the rules. You CANNOT LEAVE CAMP CARNIVAL without Mom or Dad coming to get you UNLESS it’s for a scavenger hunt. Done. She had so much fun she wanted to go back for the evening/late night Hawaiian Party. So we cleaned up quick and got ready for the second Cruise Elegant night. Some people take this very seriously and others come dressed in whatever they had on already. As I mentioned before, you get all kinds of dress on any given night. We headed out to have our picture taken (which we totally forgot to do the first Cruise Elegant night). We hit the piano background on Deck 3 and the cruise ship background on Deck 5. I think I may have mentioned before that we always buy the group picture no matter where we go so a) we can have a picture with all 3 of us in it and b) H collects them from each vacation we have taken and we put them in the photo album for keepsake. We hung out on Deck 5 and listened to some live music and happened to sit right in front of The Tasting Bar. They gave us each a tiny plate containing one meatball and a small piece of bread. I don’t really understand the purpose of the Tasting Bar but the meatball was good.

Then we were off to the Family Comedy Show. It was funny. A lot of the things he was talking about went right over H’s head. It was family friendly though; no cursing, bad words or inappropriate topics were bought up at all.

Then it was back to the MDR for dinner at 8:15 p.m., which I have mentioned that it takes a long time to eat in the MDR, but this time H had to eat and run since she was headed back to Camp Carnival for the night. Once her food came she grabbed a few bites and I took her back to the room to change out of her dress and then up to Camp Carnival she went. I was back at the table just in time for dessert!

Me: Grilled eggplant with Mozzarella, Chateaubriand with mashed potatoes and Baked Alaska for dessert (not my favorite)

H: Green salad, Grilled Chicken and Mashed Potatoes.

J: Escargot, Grilled Shrimp, Chateaubriand with Mashed Potatoes and Baked Alaska also. He said everything was great.

Since we were without H for a few hours we hit the Casino. Always a bad idea. Nothing more to say about that, lol! We picked up H at midnight, stopped for her to get a small ice cream and headed back to the room to turn in for the night. I definitely think that once H gets older and can have a little more freedom J & I will I have a great time being able to check out the night life and adult comedy shows the ship has to offer.

Tilli 2

Once we got back to the port we ventured over to the Sky Ride and headed over to the beach area. We definitely could have walked it and not spent the money since it’s not very far but H really wanted to ride over. It’s a neat little area with loads of lounge chairs and clamshell style loungers that I am assuming you rent but not sure. The beach was nice and clean but it was also packed full of people! There are a few restaurants and souvenir shops and a place you can rent water sports things (kayaks, paddle boats, etc.). We walked around for a bit and then went back on the sky ride… and then we did the sky ride again and again and then again! We definitely got our money’s worth of rides and H loved it! We had to be back on the ship at 4:30 p.m. so we had a few more minutes to shop around and then head back. We bought my mother in law a pair of Tanzanite earrings. They were totally willing to negotiate the price and we paid less then half of the original price he quoted us. The people in the store were very friendly and offered us water, a coke or a beer while we shopped.

Sky Ride

Beach at Mahogany Bay

The line to get back onboard was super short and then we hit the Lido for a late lunch. J & H went for the Mongolian Wok and both really liked it. I visited the Deli at the back of ship for a grilled Ruben sandwich (as recommended by our MDR tablemate), which was really good also. Yet another ice cream cone and J & H hit the slides and I hit the room for a rest!

A few hours later H headed for pizza and then off to Camp Carnival at 7:00 p.m. for some games and towel folding lessons and J & I are off to The Love & Marriage show – should be a good laugh!

It really was a good laugh and of all the shows we have been to this one had the biggest turn out. The couples were really great sports about the questions and answers and Troy was very very funny as the host! Then we headed to the MDR for dinner; we have still been there every night, creatures of habit! We have the 8:15 seating and dinner takes about an hour and a half which is a really long time. If we had tablemates that we didn’t enjoy that might be annoying and maybe would have chosen to try something but we have enjoyed it each night. Also, I wanted to mention that you see all kinds of attire in the MDR for dinner, from business casual to shorts and t-shirts. The dress is all over the place but I wanted to mention it because questions about it pop up on CC all the time. I honestly expected it to be a little dressier than it is from what I had read. Now that I have seen what is appropriate I will for sure have a better idea of what to pack and will be able to bring a lot less clothing for each of us.

Each night they play a song in the MDR and the wait staff dances all over the place. There is a table of kids behind us that are new high school graduates with their families, I’d guess they are 15 people all together and each night they all get up and go wild dancing with the waiters, it’s great to watch them all having such a fun time together (We all thought it was funny that it’s the young men are the ones that really get into it and not the girls, lol!)

Me: Caesar salad, gourmet burger (really good burger!), Tiramisu (really good Tiramisu!)

J: Vegetable spring rolls and the Gourmet burger.

So after dinner we picked up H from Camp Carnival and headed back to the room (she said it was fun and the kids she met were very nice). She was beat from the excursion and slide time this afternoon! There have been a few things in the evening that J and I would have done if she either wasn’t with us this trip or had wanted to stay at Camp Carnival for the Night Owls but she’s been so tired at the end of the day that by 11:00pm she’s sound asleep so we all call it a night.

We left Roatan at 5:00 p.m. and as soon as we hit open waters the wind kicked up and the boat started a good roll back and fourth. It’s now 11:00 p.m. and it’s getting worse. I am again really glad I hit the doc for the motion sickness patches before we left home! J & H were both feeling a little queasy tonight but hopefully they can sleep through it!

July 10, 2014 (Day 5, Mahogany Bay, Roatan)

Dolphin Encounter (Booked through Carnival)

Departs from the port at 10:30am

We got to sleep in a little later this morning since our excursion didn’t leave until 10:30 a.m. so we awoke to the beautiful site of Mahogany Bay. We headed for the breakfast buffet (eggs Benedict!!) about 8:30 a.m. and then off the ship to walk around the port area before we met the tour guides. (It was a sea of Towel Animals as we walked across the Lido Deck, H thought it was super cool sight to see!) The port is very clean and new, the shops and the rest rooms were very clean as well. We noticed the sky ride and decided to take that over to the beach after we returned from the Dolphin Encounter. We found our guide and left right on time. It was a 30 minute bus ride to Anthony’s Key Resort. As soon as we got there we were put into a boat as a group (18 of us) and taken over to the dolphin enclosure. Quick safety briefing and we were divided up into 3 smaller groups and then into the water with our guide and Tilli, the 3 year old Bottle Nose Dolphin. The guide gave us great information about Tilli and we were able to rub her back and tummy. She did some tricks for us and their photographer came and took group and individual pictures with each family. All together the time in the water was about 30 minutes. We were given a quick chance to take pictures with our own camera but not as a family or individual just of Tilli herself. The enclosure area had a large locker where you were able to store your personal things, there was a changing area and a rest room. After the 30 minutes we were given the opportunity to shower off, collect our belongings and head back on the little boat to the area we were dropped off to and the gift shop. The gift shop was the standard stuff and this is where you can buy your pictures. They do not print them out for you, you can buy them on a jump drive or have them emailed to you. The package for all of them was like $90 but they weren’t spectacular so we chose to 2 of them on a jump drive and it was $40. We left the resort on the bus and headed back to the port. All together we were gone for 2.5 hours.

*Side Note: This excursion offers a longer version where you actually get to swim and snorkel with the Dolphins after the 30 minute “encounter”, somehow I missed it when I was looking through to make our reservations. If we come back we will for sure do the longer version since we enjoyed it and the people very much*

Towel animals everywhere!

Transportation to Anthony’s Key

Walk to Dolphin Enclosure

Tilli

One guide showing J some different parts of the Reef

H and I headed off to see the Dancin’ in the Streets show that Troy (Cruise Director) and others had been promoting at each of the other shows we have been to so we had very high expectations. (J hit the Casino…never a good idea) Unfortunately, we both give the show a thumbs down. It was the same two singers that have been at each of the other shows we have been to. They both have great singing voices but this show was a little racy for my 10 year old and in my opinion it lacked a theme. The acrobats they flew in for the show were great but they weren’t given enough stage time for all the singing and dancing. Neither one of us enjoyed it very much. After that it was dinner in the MDR (we have eaten dinner there every night so far).

Me: Caesar Salad, Beef Tenderloin with New Potatoes (I prefer the Flat Iron Steak that H had), Chocolate Raspberry Vanilla Cake (I should have waited for ice cream).

H: Vegetable Spring Rolls, Flat Iron Steak with broccoli and after dinner we took her for yet another ice cream cone.

J: Oysters Rockefeller (his all time favorite!), Caesar Salad, Red Fish (he said it was delicious) and then he had Ice Cream with H. What is it about the ice cream? We all love it, lol!

We walked around the Aft decks for a bit and it was super windy. While we were out there they roped off the decks due to the high winds! Guess they didn’t see us before they put the ropes up, lol!

It’s funny how fast the night goes by when you have the 8:15 p.m. dining, by the time we got back to the room it was almost 11:00 p.m. and H was wiped out!

July 9, 2014 (Day 4, Belize City, Belize)

Goff’s Caye, Belize (Not booked through Carnival)

Up early, buffet breakfast (they have had Salmon Benedict each day but not regular Eggs Benedict so I’m going to have to hit the MDR soon to satisfy my craving!) After that we came back to the room and packed up for today’s excursion. We had no clue where to go to catch a tender so we went down to Deck 0, which is the way we entered the gangway yesterday and were told to head up to Deck 5 to get Tender Sticker and wait. The Carnival personnel on Deck 5 mentioned that there was an announcement today about where to go but we can’t hear them in our room so we missed it. (They really should make it so you can hear the announcements in your room!) It’s also apparently in the Fun Times, but I missed it there too! So we were given Tender #2 stickers and waited about 30 minutes and they made an announcement that they were waiting for the choppy waters to relax and had to reposition the ship and it would be a few more minutes. Our #2 group was called about 20 minutes later and were lead down to the Tender and headed to the port. It was about a 25-minute ride. Once we arrived we found the sign for our excursion, we were taken into a shopping area where there were desks for all the different excursion companies, checked in, paid our balance in cash (as requested) and were told to look around for a bit and then meet at Pier 3 for the boat ride out to the island at 9:30 a.m. (ship time). We caught up with H’s new friend and her family (who had recommended this excursion to us) so we tagged along with them and had a great time together. We left about 15 minutes later than planned and the ride took about 35 minutes – it was funny because we went right back past the ship and the Legend was anchored out there also. They should have just picked us all up at the ship but for some reason the Guide said they don’t have a contract with Carnival to do that anymore. We were pretty packed into the boat but it wasn’t a big deal since we were all excited to get there! They gave us each a “baggie” of water on the way out there, you just tear the corner off and drink it! The kids had a ball with it and of course they were squirting it all over! The island is a beautiful site. The guides were very, very nice and friendly.

Tender from the ship

Tender of Goff’s Caye, the Belizian Beauty

The BAG of water!

Once we arrived they dropped the non-snorkelers off and took the others out to the coral reef area. I stayed behind with H and H’s friend and her mom and grandparents. The dads and the rest of their family went off to snorkel. They did offer you snorkel equipment, J only used their fins because we had brought our own masks/snorkels. The little ladies swam and played in the beautiful white sand and had a blast. The moms traded off hanging out with the girls and did a little snorkeling of our own right there off the beach. We saw quite a few fish and loads of conch and their beautiful shells just a few feet from the beach entry. It was very low key and perfect for the girls. The boat took the other group that wanted to go to the reef not to far from the island and the guides snorkeled with them out there. J said it was amazing, like swimming in a fish bowl. There were creatures everywhere and the guides were very good about pointing stuff out to them. Once they came back we ate a quick lunch and had to head back for the tender back to the Dream. The lunch was extra, we had a chicken kebab, two lobster tails, a hotdog, a water and a beer for $25. Not too bad. Again the food wasn’t spectacular but it was exactly what you would expect from the set up they had. They also offered us Rum Punch (included) and it was yummy and refreshing!! The island has a few picnic tables under a few palm trees, there are a few merchants set up to sell goods, the lunch area and a rest room. For $5 you could rent a plastic Adirondack chair, which the friend did for the grandparents that were with them. They were so sweet to watch all of our things so we could all spend time in the water. The only thing that was a negative about this excursion was that it didn’t last long enough! It was a great trip and we felt very special that this family we barely know so graciously let us join them!

We headed back on the boat (it was called the Belizean Beauty), right past the ship again to catch the tender back to the Dream. The tenders carry a ton of people and we only had to wait in line for about 5 minutes. Once back at the ship J&H hit the slides and I hit the room to unpack all our stuff and repack for tomorrow in Roatan.

Beautiful site!

The food hut