Carnival Dream Inaugural night

[Maya57]

Our travel agent was able to get my wife and me an invitation to spend the inaugural night aboard the Carnival Dream on Thursday evening. This is one of the advantages of booking with a local travel agent and having a good relation with her.

Getting to the pier at about 1:00am checking in was a breeze, lots of agents moving things right along. We were given cards with zone numbers as boarding was done by zone. Not sure how zones were distributed but it looked like it depended on your check-in time. Early check-in got lower number and boarded first. No matter how they did it worked extremely well no crowds no back-up of passengers.

Because of the whether, it was a rainy cold day the christening ceremony was held inside. There was a gigantic bottled of Champaign (not real) which was broken by the godmother with a baseball bat used to win the world series, and signed by the NY Yankees. In the background was a video of the real Champaign bottle being broken over the ship at the same time. The MC who ran the inside ceremony was fabulous and funny. It really was fun ceremony with lots of confetti flying out of the bottle.

The first observation upon entering the ship on deck 0 is the elevator lobby. It is well bright with lots of well placed lighting along elevator bank. There are two banks of elevators one forward and one aft. The forward bank had about 12 or more elevators while the aft had only 4 with 2 not working.

I am sure that many will soon be writing all the positives they experienced on the ship and there were many but we decided to tell the negatives.

When going to the showroom, Encore do not sit in the balcony (level 4 and 5). The seats are the most uncomfortable I have ever sat in. The backs are straight up and hard. The distance between rows was not made for an adult your knees will b e touching the back of the row in front. The arm rest have groves to hold drinks but anyone squeezing by will knock over the drink, it occurred a few time. Although I fit into the seat OK the width also seemed to smaller than normal. The main floor seating was fine lots of room but like I said you do not want to be in the balcony

The first think we did after putting stuff away in the cabin is go for lunch in the Gathering on the Lido deck 10. We got into the line going into the buffet restaurant only to find out that the line is for the stir fry counter. There is no sign no crew nothing to let you know that you should squeeze past the line to enter the buffet room and go to the other food lines. As is usual for me I take a little of everything just to try it and see what I like. The food other than the salad was in my opinion terrible. The Salmon was so dry it crumbled in my mouth, the chicken something or another was very tough. It was at that point we discover way in the back of the room another buffet line with carved roast beef which was pretty good. The Mexican Burrito being made by Asian girl was fair. Overall the lunch buffet food was well below my standard.

The room itself is very subdued with a dark brown ceiling making it look dreary. I would have expected a much more bright room with brighter colors, but this was not to be had

While on the food let me review dinner. There are 2 restaurants on the Dream but only the Serenity was being used. Once again the room was subdued not in the classy intimate style but in the plain style. I tried to Indian Roasted Pumpkin soup which tasted was very good but was a little watered down. I ordered the Lobster and Shrimp combo. The Lobster was excellent but the shrimp is another story. The shrimp came with their heads still on, which is very un-appetizing the shrimp advertised as jumbo were not jumbo they just looked like it because of the added head still attached. After cutting the heads off the shrimp themselves were stringy like the fellers on the head got into the shrimp. My wife had the prime rib which she said was just OK nothing to write home about. For Desert we ordered the Chocolate something or another melt. It was delicious and very rich, a chocoholics’ dream.

The entertainment was OK; it was the Carnival singers and dancer who worked their humps off. The theme was dancing in the street but consisted of more gymnastic and break dancing then anything. I want to point out that one scene where several people had lighted outlines was excellent and entertaining.

Overall I was not too impressed with the ship. Where Carnival once known for the worst food of all cruise lines started to make major improvement but from my experience is moving back again.

I must be honest after close to 50 cruises we are not fans of Carnival but have sailed them several time and enjoyed them.

[Sue L]

Hi Maya

 

I was on the inaugural also, just a small correction, both dining rooms were in use, but staggered. I was in the Crimson at 7pm and then again at 9:15 and I believe the other room was 6:30 and 8:45.

 

It was a full ship so they had to use to. I totally agree with you the lunch buffet, I have food allergies and couldn't find anything to eat. I ended up having a salad, piece of bread and an ice cream cone. LOL

 

I also got the lobster, but my shrimp did not have the heads on, I wonder if they have separate kitchens for each dining room and my prime (split with hubby so to get surf and turf was excellent) service lacked a bit though.

[Maya57]

We had a 7:00pm dining also but when we walked past the Crimson (upstairs) it looked empty so we assumed it was not being used

 

They might have different kitchens considering where they are located the same kitchen could not be connected to each room

 

I don't have a food alergy and in fact eat everything but the lunch buffet was the worse. Besides the food taste (dry and tough) the selction left a lot to be desired. I am not big with salad but landed up eating that.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Our travel agent was able to get my wife and me an invitation to spend the inaugural night aboard the Carnival Dream on Thursday evening. This is one of the advantages of booking with a local travel agent and having a good relation with her.

Getting to the pier at about 1:00am checking in was a breeze, lots of agents moving things right along. We were given cards with zone numbers as boarding was done by zone. Not sure how zones were distributed but it looked like it depended on your check-in time. Early check-in got lower number and boarded first. No matter how they did it worked extremely well no crowds no back-up of passengers.

Because of the whether, it was a rainy cold day the christening ceremony was held inside. There was a gigantic bottled of Champaign (not real) which was broken by the godmother with a baseball bat used to win the world series, and signed by the NY Yankees. In the background was a video of the real Champaign bottle being broken over the ship at the same time. The MC who ran the inside ceremony was fabulous and funny. It really was fun ceremony with lots of confetti flying out of the bottle.

The first observation upon entering the ship on deck 0 is the elevator lobby. It is well bright with lots of well placed lighting along elevator bank. There are two banks of elevators one forward and one aft. The forward bank had about 12 or more elevators while the aft had only 4 with 2 not working.

I am sure that many will soon be writing all the positives they experienced on the ship and there were many but we decided to tell the negatives.

When going to the showroom, Encore do not sit in the balcony (level 4 and 5). The seats are the most uncomfortable I have ever sat in. The backs are straight up and hard. The distance between rows was not made for an adult your knees will b e touching the back of the row in front. The arm rest have groves to hold drinks but anyone squeezing by will knock over the drink, it occurred a few time. Although I fit into the seat OK the width also seemed to smaller than normal. The main floor seating was fine lots of room but like I said you do not want to be in the balcony

The first think we did after putting stuff away in the cabin is go for lunch in the Gathering on the Lido deck 10. We got into the line going into the buffet restaurant only to find out that the line is for the stir fry counter. There is no sign no crew nothing to let you know that you should squeeze past the line to enter the buffet room and go to the other food lines. As is usual for me I take a little of everything just to try it and see what I like. The food other than the salad was in my opinion terrible. The Salmon was so dry it crumbled in my mouth, the chicken something or another was very tough. It was at that point we discover way in the back of the room another buffet line with carved roast beef which was pretty good. The Mexican Burrito being made by Asian girl was fair. Overall the lunch buffet food was well below my standard.

The room itself is very subdued with a dark brown ceiling making it look dreary. I would have expected a much more bright room with brighter colors, but this was not to be had

While on the food let me review dinner. There are 2 restaurants on the Dream but only the Serenity was being used. Once again the room was subdued not in the classy intimate style but in the plain style. I tried to Indian Roasted Pumpkin soup which tasted was very good but was a little watered down. I ordered the Lobster and Shrimp combo. The Lobster was excellent but the shrimp is another story. The shrimp came with their heads still on, which is very un-appetizing the shrimp advertised as jumbo were not jumbo they just looked like it because of the added head still attached. After cutting the heads off the shrimp themselves were stringy like the fellers on the head got into the shrimp. My wife had the prime rib which she said was just OK nothing to write home about. For Desert we ordered the Chocolate something or another melt. It was delicious and very rich, a chocoholics’ dream.

The entertainment was OK; it was the Carnival singers and dancer who worked their humps off. The theme was dancing in the street but consisted of more gymnastic and break dancing then anything. I want to point out that one scene where several people had lighted outlines was excellent and entertaining.

Overall I was not too impressed with the ship. Where Carnival once known for the worst food of all cruise lines started to make major improvement but from my experience is moving back again.

I must be honest after close to 50 cruises we are not fans of Carnival but have sailed them several time and enjoyed them.

 

A 1am check in time is early. no wonder you got on easily.:p

 

I hope they get the kinks worked out. Sounds strange the colors of the cabins. Maybe Mr Farcus was depressed when he came up with the color schemes.

 

Bill