Negative Dream reviews - Bogus?

[MikeandLinda2010]

Janey,

 

Sorry about focusing on the negatives.....I was trying to assure those who were concerned on the negatives that they were not really that negative. I did write a review but it hasn't been published yet.

 

But to focus on the postiive.

Loved the width of the ship. Great to walk around.

Liked ocean plaza.

Could always find a chair to sit on.

Pasta Bar was fantastic. We ate there four/five times.

Comedians were good but only able to see 2 shows.

Stateroom: Was by far the best we ever had.

Matre'd: Ken by far the best Matre'd we have had. This is the third time we have Ken. He just gets better and better!

[okgirl]

Janey,

 

Sorry about focusing on the negatives.....I was trying to assure those who were concerned on the negatives that they were not really that negative. I did write a review but it hasn't been published yet.

 

But to focus on the postiive.

Loved the width of the ship. Great to walk around.

Liked ocean plaza.

Could always find a chair to sit on.

Pasta Bar was fantastic. We ate there four/five times.

Comedians were good but only able to see 2 shows.

Stateroom: Was by far the best we ever had.

Matre'd: Ken by far the best Matre'd we have had. This is the third time we have Ken. He just gets better and better!

 

And I don't mean to be critical either. I think for those of us that are more experienced with the Carnival line that we are really careful with our wording because surprising to me there do seem to be a lot of newbies that take any negative statement as absolute fact.

I know for one that I'm going to try to reword my issues to 1st state the positive then present the more negative issues.

Like how happy I was to get to have an Omlette and only be behind 3 people.

I enjoyed the buffet area and I liked the fact that they moved the deli to where the pizza place was so that it solved the issue with the aft buffet line. On a Conquest class ship that can be one of the most crowded area's during lunch.

Like you I really enjoyed the new Pasta station, it was some of the best that I've had. Another new and very good experience was the Tandouri grill, that was a very popular place.

I didn't get to have the mongolian grill which I would like to, but I haven't had it on other ships either because the line is usually longer than I'm willing to wait in.

The new way that sushi is being delivered has almost eliminated the wait during the evening and all in all I think the reworking of the entire Promenade is a huge improvement.

Oh and another favorite new feature is all the fun hubs rather than just a single (small) internet cafe. I think I visted all of them. Never had to wait even one time to find a computer to use.

[rvrgirl]

Janey,

 

Sorry about focusing on the negatives.....I was trying to assure those who were concerned on the negatives that they were not really that negative. I did write a review but it hasn't been published yet.

 

But to focus on the postiive.

Loved the width of the ship. Great to walk around.

Liked ocean plaza.

Could always find a chair to sit on.

Pasta Bar was fantastic. We ate there four/five times.

Comedians were good but only able to see 2 shows.

Stateroom: Was by far the best we ever had.

Matre'd: Ken by far the best Matre'd we have had. This is the third time we have Ken. He just gets better and better!

 

You didn't just focus on the negatives.....you answered the op's question from your experience.......this was not your review......

I think alot of the problems are that the people that read these posts focus on the negatives and don't see the positves or how people handeled the negatives as you did......

We all have our experiences and it doesn't mean others are more factual then yours..........

[Monkeythyme]

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

You are too modest. New Yorkers are the greatest people on earth, though the poverty can be depressing:D

[WinnipegCruiser]

First of all, I think when you name a ship "The Dream" you are setting expectations a little high.

 

Secondly, I have noticed that the more you cruise the harder it is to WOW you. Basically the first couple of cruises you are easily impressed by food, and cabins... but by the third or forth time, you can see the reviewer mentioning that the food was not spectacular...basically the bar seems to rise.

 

After many (6+) cruises, the reviewer starts to get an idea of where the average is, and does not need to be WOWed. At some point we all get it.. Maybe it's the worn out saying that any day at sea is better than a day at work that finally sinks in.

 

Would I like my every car rental to just get better and better? Can I reasonably expect my night at the Marriott to exceed what it was like the last time?

 

No.

 

 

 

Just my opinion.

[Tar Heels]

I'm kinda suprised that people who have been on at least a couple of cruises would be worried about cruising on the Dream. DW and I have sailed on Carnival (5 times), RCI (2 times) and NCL (2 times) so let it be known I'm not a Carnival "cheerleader" but I absolutly LOVE the value of their product. Most of the negative comments I've read are...long lines (we will eat early or late to avoid lines), unfreindly staff (as long as I get my adult beverage in a timely fashion, I'm good to go!) and bad smells (I hope they fix).

 

We have never had a bad cruise be it Carnival, RCI or NCL! So try not to get to low with the negative reviews or to high with positive reviews and you will have a GREAT cruise! :D

[bp traveler]

I just got back from the 12/19 sailing of the dream. This was our 17th cruise and we are in our late 30's and traveled with some other family members.

 

We loved the new layout of the ship and had a balcony on the 8th floor - it was great, we loved to see the 5th floor wrap all the way around. they even serve different bbq type items each lunch hour here too.

 

They have tried to do some new foods and don't have all the qwirks worked out with the number of people needed to work at each station to keep the lines moving, but I don't let that stuff ruin my cruise.

 

We ate in the supper club and it was very good too. We had great servers (lucy and ni) in the dining room.

 

Piano bar (Vince) is a lot of fun.

 

If I have a complaint it was how tight the casino was this cruise - could not get anything going for more than a few minutes - it was terrible. Perhaps they are trying to pay that ship off this year!

 

so no worries if you have booked this ship - I love it - would I take a different port than Nassau - of course!

[Vettebuf]

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!:)

 

The smells I've been reading about would bother me too but, hopefully, Carnival will fix that problem by April.

 

I say, "Go. Enjoy!"

 

I was also on the Dream in October (Hi, CSIMelissa!) and it was our best Carnival cruise. I don't know what the guests did to screw things up once it got stateside but we had the best accommodations, cabin steward, waiters, maitre 'd, and shows ever when it was in Europe. Only kidding - the only negative that we experienced was lukewarm food in The Gathering. The food in the MDR, the Pasta Bar, the Pizza station, and the hamburger station was better than the food on our January, 2009, Freedom cruise.

 

Credentials: This was our 14th Carnival cruise and we've also cruised 4 times with RCL and twice with Princess.

[CwuzCwazy]

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.

 

Amen!!! That's exactly what I determined during the 12/3/09 sailing. Same size areas from Conquest or Destiny Class ship with too many passengers. They did not increase the size of the public areas, just made the ship bigger, added more spaces for other things. In my opinion a serious dersign flaw for this class vessel....but the bottom line is that we still had a good cruise....but not sure we want to cruise on her again even though she's only 2 hrs away.

[Vettebuf]

Having second thoughts. I shouldn't be pushing you to make a decision. Everyone is different.

[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!:)

 

Thanks for the replies everyone although I must have misled everyone with the wording of my commentary/question.

 

I'll try again....

The point of my of my post is that almost all of the negative member reviews for the Dream were written by people who can not be traced by the search function of the Members List. So if they are Cruise Critic members, how come they aren't on the Members List?

 

See for yourself; go to the Members Reviews for the Dream. Pick one of the many 1 star reviews. Left click and highlight the member name, right click and Copy. Now open the Members List at the top of the page. Click on Sear Members. Now paste the member name into the box and click GO. In most cases the message "Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms" will be returned.

 

Now try the same for the name of a member with a positive review. I'll bet you find they are still a member of Cruise Critic.

 

My assumption is that someone has joined, written a negative review, quit and rejoined under a new name, written another bad review, ect ect.

[G'ma]

If you belong to other cruise forums, you'll find that most of the reviews of the Dream are positive....and that most of the problems reported are minor and generally associated with a new ship during it's first year.

 

Anyone can come on any forum and write anything...whether true or not...whether they've actually cruised or not.....that's why they are notoriously unreliable.

 

I don't pay any attention to any of them; good, bad or otherwise.

 

Many of us have enough cruise experience to recognize that many complaints are not valid, are "nitpicking" or are the observations of some who wouldn't be happy if the dinnerware was goldplated and each were provided with a personal servant.

[Lilmatcat]

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

 

 

We went on the 12/3 sailing with a group of 10 and had a fabulous time. Sure, there were a few glitches here or there, but nothing to dampen our spirits. We had some amazing service and met many fabulous and very friendly crew members. I am stunned to read the reviews from people that said they had rude service from crew members because we experienced just the opposite. A few in particular were outstanding: Ken in the Scarlet dining room, Zoran - a bartender in the piano bar, Rafaela - a server in the dining room, Alex in the disco, Mouna in karaoke, etc. etc.

 

My room steward (Lito) was average, but he did go out of his way to help with a special request, so I tipped him extra (even though he wasn't as efficient as many of my past room stewards). The guys who took care of us on Lido Deck were superb as well, but their names elude me at the moment. Todd was friendly and visible as a cruise director. All in all, I had a great time!! Plenty of deck chairs, it was fun seeing the new hammocks and sitting areas, the water slides are a blast, and my food was excellent!

 

A few negatives: Service was slower than usual in the supper club/steakhouse, but they were also busier than what I had seen in the past. Also, I felt that getting off the ship at Grand Turk was not planned very well. There were two gangways and it would have helped if one was being used to allow passengers on board and another to let us off. Instead, we had to wait quite awhile in line to get through security and get off the ship because they were only letting one-way traffic through (and it was people getting back on the ship, rather than those of us who wanted off the ship that were getting priority). I think they blew it there and need to make things more efficient in that regard, but overall I had a wonderful trip!

 

I didn't have the problems that other people have reported as far as Lido lines because I tend to eat there after the main rush at lunchtime, and eat all my evening meals in the main dining room. As usual I enjoyed my sandwiches from the deli and the pasta was a nice change of pace. We had pizza late at night after the disco closed and had to wait a little bit, but not particularly long.

 

* * *

I think when people are upset about something they tend to take the time to vent, where many of us who sailed on the Dream and had a perfectly good time have simply been too busy with the holidays and haven't taken time to share the many positives of this ship. I hope that some of my comments will provide some reassurance that you can have a marvelo0us time on this ship!

[Sargent_Schultz]

Some people seem to be making a common mistake of assuming public areas on Dream are the same size as on predecessor ships which is not valid. For example, there are more seats in the dining rooms and theater. They scaled a number of areas up, and in other cases added new areas.

 

Some of the reviews indicate that most, if not all, of the staff want off the ship. Statements like this are obviously not factual. Even if someone spent the entire cruise interviewing crew members, I doubt they could talk to most of the crew.

[Swood1969]

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!

 

 

I saw your pictures taken on the Dream, they were very nice.

[salty dingo]

There are likely some biased or outright bogus reviews, but I think there are some who truly did not like the mega-ship experience. Just like there are some that do not like the smaller, older ships.

 

I do think some of the crowd-oriented negatives are fair criticisms.

[LHP]

I miss my thalasso pool!!!!!

 

I truly love this new added Private Spa area!!!!

[room010]

There are people who think that Carnival can do no right and quite a few who think Carnival can do no wrong. As usual the truth will be found somewhere inbetween. If the inevitable glitches of being on a large ship with a lot of passengers ruins your vacation then *lightbulb moment* pick a smaller ship? I also think that many first timers have hugely unrealistic expectations of the kind of 5-star experience they think they are entitled to get for a 2-star price. Also, when reviewing something it's human nature to remember the negatives over the positives so things get distorted and seem much worse then they actually were.

[cruizer4662]

I miss my thalasso pool!!!!!

 

I truly love this new added Private Spa area!!!!

 

I thought you were on a cruise, but see that it isn't 'til next year:D:D, Enjoy!!!!

[justjen321]

I don't think you can discount them out of hand as 'bogus'. I just think you have to remember they are all 'subjective'. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in a public area on the ship and listened to those negative nellys. Sadly, it's pretty common that folks plunk down their few hundred bucks for an all inclusive floating vacation, only to have expectations so high they'd need a personal butler and private butt kisser to make them feel fulfilled.

 

Our family has never had a bad cruise. We've had problems on cruises, in fact, I cannot remember a cruise without some bump in the road. For me, that's part of cruising. The fact that you've involved the ocean in your vacation often seems to be forgotten by those who think a schedule is written in stone.

 

As for the service, and line issues. Every cruise I've ever been on has had lines of some sort here or there. Hopefully, on Dream, they'll get it to a manageable level. I know they've addressed part of it with a new 'brunch' in the main dining room. :) This is a good start, yes?

 

Bad service? Call it, every single time you see it. If it isn't corrected, speak to someone who can correct it. I've never really had 'bad' service on a cruise, but I have had to address issues, and have always found it to be best to confront them head on, rather than come home and complain about things that could have been fixed on the spot. Why let my vacation be hampered over something I can change?

 

Cruising is what you make of it. The reviews show that people are varied in what they make of their vacations. Some choose to have an amazing time, and let little things slide. Others choose to expect perfection. We are all very different, and our perceptions are as well.

 

My family boards Dream on Saturday, and I assure you, it'd be pretty hard not to have a fabulous time. :)

[bakechef]

I read many people saying that the Splendor had huge lines, when I sailed her, I didn't find this the case.

 

Here at home I have learned to adjust what I do, I don't go on the highways during rush hour, I don't usually go out to eat around 6:00 and avoid eating out on weekends if possible, because that is when everyone here in suburbia does these things. So I guess that carries over when I cruise, even without me even thinking about it.

 

We try not to book early excursions, because the lido will be a mad house. We don't eat lunch at 12 noon for the same reason. We like to sleep a bit later on vacation so we avoid the breakfast rush usually. We also try to plan things so that we don't have to join the debarkation chaos, we usually just walk off leisurely, I have no idea what the debarkation chaos is like anymore.

 

When you choose to do things when everyone else is likely doing them, you will encounter a lot of people, so we try to shift our behavior slightly which usually works out well.

[megnsamsgracie]

I didnt post my review to the board yet, but I did a live from thread 2 weeks ago. I have a bunch of negative to say about the Dream and I have been around for awhile! I was being honest with how things happened on our cruise! Even though I love Royal, I did really enjoy my Valor cruise in July.. and I hoped I would have loved Dream because I like the bigger ships.. instead, it will cost me $1200-$1500 more to sail on RCI again... but after my Dream cruise, its money well spent for me. Take it for what its worth but this is my 8th cruise in just over 2 years on 4 different lines. It wasnt horrible but definitely stuff that I dont think should be happening.. esp on a new ship

[purpleblanket]

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

 

So Funny!!! I've been thinking the same thing but you had the nerve to say it out loud!!!! lol lol

 

I am not letting any negative reviews get to me either! Just read Mach's review or Floatie's or Lettienets.

There are too many good things being said and most of the negative seem to revolve around food lineups!! To me, the food is just not the most important part of the cruise - sure, we need to eat but I'm just confident that I will not starve on this cruise!! Check out Tom and Cheryl's photos of prime rib and lobster.

We'll all be just fine!!!

 

I've got just a year to go now and I just can't wait!!!

 

Debbie:)

[pbfeetcroozer]

Hey UDD. I'm sure that you'll have a great time indeed. Not as great as you would if we were tagging along, but a close second I would guess. ;)

I seriously wish we were joining you two. Have a wonderful time and fill us in on the details when you return.

 

T&C

[woodman]

There have been negative reviews about every ship I have been on. I never had a bad cruise on Carnival. Some better then others but then that was to be expected. I was on the Dec. 3

sailing. The ship is big, very big. Yes there were lines at the buffets and elevators. They added almost 1000 guests without adding any elevators or additional buffet stations but we seemed to get where we were going and never went hungry. The ship has many new and wonderful features which we really enjoyed. I must admit though the entertainment could have been better. On the other hand the food was the best we have had yet on a Carnival ship. There were areas that had a sewer odor through out the cruise and I'm sure the engineer was working on correcting the problem. After all its a new ship and problems are to be expected.