Negative Dream reviews - Bogus?

[Uncle Deane]

I've been reading the member reviews of the Dream. The large number of negative / 1 star reviews made me curious. I searched the Members List for the names of the negative reviewers and most could not be found!

Hmmmm - does something smell here besides the sewer from the vents?

I'm going Dreaming in April and expect to have a grand time as usual. I expect a few bumps in the road but I won't let it ruin my vacation!:)

[rjan67]

You know, my dh (who is the eternal pessimist) always says this when I tell him I read something negative. This is our very first cruise that we have saved all yearfor so that my whole family can go. I can't help but take in these negative reviews (the other night I dreamed the Dream was very narrow inside and we all had to squeeze by each other in the hallways????:D- crazy!). I am not expecting perfection in any way. Believe me I will be thrilled to be out in a rowboat in the middle of the Carribean with a fruity drink in hand in the middle of March, rather than be in Ontario! My expectations are just to have fun! Those who go - try to give us what was positive too....rather than just all anegative review!

[ucapike03]

I'm with you on this...I am going in June and think that this is going to be an awesome trip! I think these people are setting their sights too high...it has only been 1 month of sailing for this vessel and its crew...of course it will be a little rocky for the first part...by the time you and I cruise, it should be smooth sailing.

[firefly333]

A lot of travel agents have also said never things and people who have cruised a lot.

 

I dont think its fair to dismiss people's opinion, just take them with a grain of salt. Newbie cruisers may have some unrealistic expectations too, but doesnt mean they are wrong in their personal opinions... thats why they are called opinions, not facts.

[golfadj]

There is no question the ship has some problems and there is no question that Carnival is working very hard to remedy them.

 

No cruise is ever perfect and we have found the good greatly outweighs the bad.

[booklady26]

I just think that many people love to complain.

 

Some people get so hung up on very minor things that seem to annoy them. Can I really believe that their cruise was completely ruined or that they will never sail Carnival (or RCI or Princess, etc) again because their server didn't address them by name or they had to wait too long on line in the Lido or they couldn't get a seat at the show becasue thy got their a few minutes before showtime?

 

I was on the 11/15 sailing out of NYC. My review is posted. I tried to be fair in pointing out what I felt were negatives but also addressed what I liked about it. Thats's the purpose of a review. Not only to rant or only to rave. No cruise is 100% perfect or 100% atrocious.

 

I have taken 44 cruises on almost every major cruise line. I've liked some better than others. I have to admit that the Dream was not among my favorites, but that doesn't mean I had a lousy time.

 

I have a t-shirt that says "A bad day on vacation beats a good day at work". I think that says it all!

[Traveler353]

There are currently 71 reviews posted for the Dream. 10 are 1 star. Less than 1% of actual cruise passangers are members here. Not exactly a very good representation of the total number of actual past passangers on the Dream. I feel that many of the posters of totaly negative reviews truly believe what they are posting to be fact from their point of view. I would imagine that their whole life is one big negative. That being said, some may have an agenda that is not friendly to Carnival Corp. or the Carnival board and are posting these reviews just to get a rise out of Carnival fans. I am very much looking forward to cruising on the Dream sometime in the future.

[ducksoupforme]

Those gloomy gusses tend to be New Yorkers. You know how they like to complain...

[MikeandLinda2010]

I have cruised with Carnvial 13 times before. I was on the Dream during the 9 day cruise in December. I don't think the negative reviews came from newbies as much as from the platinum members on board. There were 600 platinum members on board- the highest ever in Carnival's history.

 

The ship is absolutely beautiful! You wil love it.

 

The negative reviews are based on that Carnival was not prepared to handle the larger passenger load. Past guests were not used to waiting in line for food, shows. We avoided the lines the best we could by: eating breakfast a little earlier, eating ate lunch a little later......... and having patience. No problem.

 

Everywhere we went we heard people complaining during the trip. We did not allow that to ruin our vacation. We are booked again on the Dream in April. I fully expect Carnival will have these issues addressed. This was a new size ship for Carnival, with a massive passenger load (we were not sailing at full capacity). It will be addressed by April I am sure. You will have a great time.

[firefly333]

We all were new at one time and have to start with that first post.

[booklady26]

I forgot to mention that to those of you who are starting to have second thoughts it you're booked on the Dream, please don't worry.

 

I do get the feeling that Carnival didn't quite think things through when they built a ship as big as the Dream. The long lines in the Lido and the relatively small pool areas are a problem. But they seem to be working on ironing out the kinks.

 

Other than the lack of attention to table clearing in the Lido, I didn't find any problems with service. While I have encountered less than good service occasionally on some cruises, in general, I find that most of the crew do a darn good job. Lousy service is the rare exception on any cruise line.

 

And auto-tipping has nothing to do with it. I had some poor service back in the days when envelopes were handed out to the individuals on the last night of the cruise. Holland America has a long standing reputation for excellent service and up until they were purchased by Carnival, tips were included in the cruise fare. Additional tips were not expected.

 

As others have pointed out, you get what you give. Treat your stewards like people doing their jobs and not like invisible servants and they will respond in kind.

 

The Dream itself is a beautiful ship with much to offer. If she came back to the NY area, I'd probably sail her again.

 

To those of you who are booked or are thinking of booking, rest easy. You will have a great time!

[booklady26]

Those gloomy gusses tend to be New Yorkers. You know how they like to complain...

 

 

I see you're one of us too!

[Maraprince]

My TA was on one of the first sailings and wasn't that impressed with the service, etc. Most of this was due to it being a new ship with new crew and staff still learning how to work together and to find their way around the ship.

 

Yes, some of the passengers came on board with very high expectations that were bound to fail. Part of this was due to the way the ship was marketed by Carnival. Part of it was due to having TA's and travel industry personnel on board before everything was fully operational and all the kinks were ironed out. Part of it was due to the platinum members high expectations as they were led/promised prior to the sailing.

 

Who is at fault? Really no one in particular. It is a new ship. Things will go wrong. There is a large number of passengers on the ship and not everyone can be happy with their experience. All it takes is one staff/crew member not performing their job 100% or not greeting the passenger warmly or not addessing a problem to the passenger's satifaction and the negatives keep on coming.

 

Nothing negative here is a deal breaker. Give the ship time and it will become a "Dream".

 

MARAPRINCE

[lettienets]

I was on the transatlantic Dream cruise and found wonderful food, entertainment and activities. Had slow service but was at a table for 10. The ship has many nice things like the Ocean Plaza, a great meeting point. And the comedy club lounge is nice, had dancing in it too when I was on. Lots of hot tubs here and there, now I guess they make up for the small pools. Music choices were super, dance type, salsa, calypso, country, classical and karaoke, etc, maybe we had more because it was a long cruise. The big shows were excellent. Deck party was great fun with the lasers and all.

Yes the Lido Gathering was definitely crowded and messy tables and not an appealing place.

The ship is really nice. Todd Wittmer and the cruise staff were lots of fun.

[FanofFlorida]

I cant tell you how often I have let myself worry over a negative review on here, only to remember that much of this is circumstance and perspective. I think the advice to "take it with a grain of salt" is valuable.I would have never cruised if I believed everything I read as 'true for me'. Besides, people are far less likely to write about the good, than the bad. This forum definitely gives us a soap box to vent when things dont go our way.

 

It is also helpful to remember how negative comments affect others, especially in writing. I have had to back peddle at times when saying something sarcastic.

[*Mach*]

I've been reading the member reviews of the Dream. The large number of negative / 1 star reviews made me curious. I searched the Members List for the names of the negative reviewers and most could not be found!

Hmmmm - does something smell here besides the sewer from the vents?

I'm going Dreaming in April and expect to have a grand time as usual. I expect a few bumps in the road but I won't let it ruin my vacation!:)

 

 

There may be some of that and I actually suspect that some reviews are inventions but I'm sure the majority are real.

Many of the complaints focus on lines. When I sailed on the Dream I saw issues with lines at the buffet but it didn't bother me as there are so many other options available for lunch so no big deal.

There have, in fact, been some issues with valves in the sewage system that have been corrected so many of those are most likely valid as well.

Having said that, reviews that discuss nothing but dissatisfaction with the wait for food or reviews that claim that EVERYTHING was terrible I discount completely. Those people likely were not on the Dream or at least not on the Carnival Dream I sailed on.

:)

[LHP]

I don't think all the complaints are bogus.

 

I just think that a person needs to read the review and ask themselves...

 

is this complaint legitimate or is this just a Starfish???

 

Even newbies can generally tell an honest well balanced review (which will have some bad along with some good) from someone who complains because they have to use the effort to BREATHE every day..... :)

[Luvmyfam3]

It's certainly a little disconcerting to read so many negative reviews. But, we still can't wait to go!! :D

 

Is it just me, or do the negative reviews seem to have an inordinate amount of misspellings?? :rolleyes:

 

Kim

[CSIMelissa]

I was on the Dream in October and had no major complaints at all. I liked the ship so much I'm sailing on her again on Saturday!

[meme2manthajoe]

Just thought I would put my two cents in here. I just got off the phone with my TA who is also a personal friend. She was invited by Carnival to spend the night on The Dream while it was in NYC, we haven't been able to talk since she went till today and she had both positives and negatives to say about the ship. That's okay because I am sure there will be things I like and don't like as well. But I am going on a cruise and I will have the time of my life just because it is my vacation of choice and I am spending a lot of money to do this. I can't wait!

[Carnival Platinum Cruiser]

I've been reading the member reviews of the Dream. The large number of negative / 1 star reviews made me curious. I searched the Members List for the names of the negative reviewers and most could not be found!

Hmmmm - does something smell here besides the sewer from the vents?

I'm going Dreaming in April and expect to have a grand time as usual. I expect a few bumps in the road but I won't let it ruin my vacation!:)

 

I think I would be hard pressed to take any cruise that would work out to be perfect but I am not expecting any to be either. I think one of the largest problems of the Dream are the long lines which is a design problem that is not going to be resolved easily. You cannot use a lido dining venue for example originally designed for a ship of 2600 passengers and use basically the same design for another ship that hold 3400 passengers without overcrowding, longer lines and seat unavailability to become a major issue.

 

Carnival is trying to ease the issues of this example by offering more open times in the dining rooms. Public areas like the casino, showroom, lounges are also affected. Seems to me that the design is the issue, there is simply not enough public space to comfortably accomodate more guests than previous ship designs have.

[meme2manthajoe]

I have cruised with Carnvial 13 times before. I was on the Dream during the 9 day cruise in December. I don't think the negative reviews came from newbies as much as from the platinum members on board. There were 600 platinum members on board- the highest ever in Carnival's history.

 

The ship is absolutely beautiful! You wil love it.

 

The negative reviews are based on that Carnival was not prepared to handle the larger passenger load. Past guests were not used to waiting in line for food, shows. We avoided the lines the best we could by: eating breakfast a little earlier, eating ate lunch a little later......... and having patience. No problem.

 

Everywhere we went we heard people complaining during the trip. We did not allow that to ruin our vacation. We are booked again on the Dream in April. I fully expect Carnival will have these issues addressed. This was a new size ship for Carnival, with a massive passenger load (we were not sailing at full capacity). It will be addressed by April I am sure. You will have a great time.

 

I haven't seen you on our roll call, come join us.

[MikeandLinda2010]

I will join the roll call. Thank you for the invite!

[okgirl]

I have cruised with Carnvial 13 times before. I was on the Dream during the 9 day cruise in December. I don't think the negative reviews came from newbies as much as from the platinum members on board. There were 600 platinum members on board- the highest ever in Carnival's history.

 

The ship is absolutely beautiful! You wil love it.

 

The negative reviews are based on that Carnival was not prepared to handle the larger passenger load. Past guests were not used to waiting in line for food, shows. We avoided the lines the best we could by: eating breakfast a little earlier, eating ate lunch a little later......... and having patience. No problem.

 

Everywhere we went we heard people complaining during the trip. We did not allow that to ruin our vacation. We are booked again on the Dream in April. I fully expect Carnival will have these issues addressed. This was a new size ship for Carnival, with a massive passenger load (we were not sailing at full capacity) All suites/balconies were sold out and there were fewer than 20 OV/IS cabins available at sailing, according to a search that I did in the week prior to departure. It will be addressed by April I am sure. You will have a great time.

 

This post is an excellent example of how people have different experiences on the same cruise. You had a good time and yet you still make some pretty wide sweeping negative comments stated as fact rather than just your impression.

 

I too was on the 9 day.

 

I didn't see any problems with Carnival handling the larger number of passengers.

 

I'm a Platinum member and I'm not sure why you think that we had the majority of complaints. I didn't have any complaints. I thought it was odd that they asked us to only send out for 1 free bag of laundry each (which is all I usually send out anyway) but when I heard John's explanation it made sense.

 

To me the ship didn't seem crowded at all, the lines in the buffet were not as bad as I've seen on a Conquest class ship, I was even able to make it through the Omlette station and was only behind 3 people (that's actually a 1st) The flow of the Promenade and the addition of the Ocean Plaza and the Lanai's had a hugely positive impact on my enjoyment of that area.

 

I didn't hear anyone complaining (even when the power problems disabled the elevators/bathrooms/casino) I thought everyone handled that very well. There were some disappointments expressed at missing San Juan, but I've seen near riots on other ships........

 

I think it's just easier for people to complain than it is for people to express satisfaction. Was the Dream the best of my 18 cruises......No......Would I sail on her again.......Yes.......

[RogBus101]

We just got back this past Sat. had as much fun as our last 8 cruises on Carnival! We are booked for April 2010 and looking at Nov.2010. Some people are going to complain no matter what.

RogBus101 & wife