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First time on Carnival (Dream). A few observations.

ottawapuppy

By ottawapuppy,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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ottawapuppy

ottawapuppy

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We're just back from our first Carnival cruise on Dream over New Year's. This was our 18th cruise in about 5 years.

Overall, it was a good experience.

 

Here are a couple observations about our cruise on Dream.

 

 

  • The beds on this ship are AMAZING. I have never slept that well on a ship before. The bedding was great, the pillows were fluffy...quite wonderful.
  • At first glance, I thought the bathroom was the typical cruise ship "hospital-looking" bathroom. After a few days though, I realized that I never had a shower curtain stuck to me and Lee and I were never fighting over counter or shelf space.
  • There is a lot of closet space in the room, but I hate those attached hanger things. You can't move the hangers from one closet to another. Got a few regular hangers from the room attendant to compensate, but I think he had to hunt to find some. And really...just one power outlet for the entire room?
  • The dining room food was quite good. Had rack of lamb one night and it was great. Enjoyed the ribs another night, they were fantastic. The Chef's Art steakhouse was good, with great cuts of meat. Service was a bit over-rehearsed, but we enjoyed the meal quite a lot. Well worth the cover charge!
  • The Serenity adults-only area at the front of the ship was nice, very quiet and relaxing. It was quite difficult to find seating though with all those towels lounging in the sun! Witnessed a near fist fight over chairs. Someone who thought that their seat was theirs for the day, even though they had left it empty for a long time, did not appreciate that someone moved their stuff. The chair hogs were out in full force on this sailing.
  • What is up with the hours for the specialty stations in the buffet? These stations are open until 2:30pm on sea days, but 3:30pm on port days? Here's an idea...have them open longer when people are actually onboard! Never thought I'd say this about a cruise ship, but it was hard to get food at some times of day. We had late dinner and were looking for a little nibble around 5:30pm one day, there was not much available.
  • We quite enjoyed the brunch in the dining room on the sea day. The free mimosas and an expanded breakfast/lunch menu were added bonuses.
  • Mahogany Bay was a nice stop. Realizing that two large ships were going to be docked, we decided to rent a cabana since they were advertised as having a private beach. As people poured into the area though, our supposed private beach became more and more crowded with people who were not in cabanas. Security was not much help and it was only after repeated complaining on the part of all the cabana renters that a supervisor came down and had security move people off that section of beach. Once again, there were nearly fist fights between people who paid a premium to have a private beach experience and people who thought that the cabana renters had too much space as it was. It was not a pleasant experience. We mentioned this once we got back on board and the excursion people told us that the beach was "semi-private". What the heck does that mean? We showed them our bracelets that said "Cabana and private beach" on them. They ended up giving some of our money back. They need to rework that area, or it is going to be an issue each time there are multiple ships at Mahogany Bay.
  • There were a lot of activities going on over the week, the cruise director staff was really working hard. We took part in the Michael Jackson Thriller dance lessons and had a ball. My dancing was award winning. However, when the award is presented for "most interesting interpretation of the dance steps" with comments like "he obviously had no idea what he was doing" and "he looked like he was brushing crumbs off his shirt" you need to reconsider the value of the prize! (hee-hee)
  • We saw two of the production shows, the dance show and the country show. Both were outstanding. The live band was absolutely fantastic.
  • Our Cove balcony was cool. I liked that the balcony was fairly private and you could get a close-up view of the water. I pity the people who were in balconies just over the Lanai area, all they got was a nice view of the people in the hot tubs, or smoke from the lunch barbecue. The doors of the Cove balconies slam very loudly though.

 

I have updated our web site (www.cruisenotebook.com) with some pictures from Dream along with scans of the Carnival Capers, bar menus, laundry prices etc.

 

We can now add Carnival to the list of cruise lines we'd be willing to sail again in the future.

 

See you onboard,

Mike

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azkcruizers

azkcruizers

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I'm glad you had a nice time. Thank you for the link to your website :) We will be sailing the Dream in February and looking at the capers has gotten me very excited!!!!! I considered printing all 42 pages and getting out my highlighter but I may run out of ink...lol. I'm wondering if the order of the shows and activities will be the same when we are on board or different? We will also be doing the Western.

 

Thanks again...it was nice to hear from someone who had a good time!

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Kurbanfan

Kurbanfan

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Mahogany Bay was a nice stop. Realizing that two large ships were going to be docked, we decided to rent a cabana since they were advertised as having a private beach. As people poured into the area though, our supposed private beach became more and more crowded with people who were not in cabanas. Security was not much help and it was only after repeated complaining on the part of all the cabana renters that a supervisor came down and had security move people off that section of beach. Once again, there were nearly fist fights between people who paid a premium to have a private beach experience and people who thought that the cabana renters had too much space as it was. It was not a pleasant experience. We mentioned this once we got back on board and the excursion people told us that the beach was "semi-private". What the heck does that mean? We showed them our bracelets that said "Cabana and private beach" on them. They ended up giving some of our money back. They need to rework that area, or it is going to be an issue each time there are multiple ships at Mahogany Bay.

I have been a little skeptical about those cabanas.......the beach does not look that big.......I think we won't be renting one of those anytime soon.......I would rather travel to a nice beach then come back and hang out at Mahogany Bay before boarding the ship.....

Thanks!

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afcj1

afcj1

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I was fortunate enough to be on the same cruise with Mike and Lee and to make their acquaintance. I hope we can cruise on the same ship again. I'd like to add the following:

  • We had GREAT service in the main areas, staff was everywhere offering you drinks, cleaning, etc.
  • The food was very good. I know it's subjective, but really, it was good
  • We bought the SPA package for $249/couple. If you think you'll use it daily, then go for it. It was quite relaxing
  • The SPA also has a huge private shower area in the ladies room, only 2, but that was never an issue
  • OMG! What's with all of the robes. I saw more ppl in robes on the Dream, then any other ship. Sheeesh:rolleyes:
  • We ate dinner at the buffet 1 night...I don't know why anyone would eat all of their dinners there. Go to the dining room!
  • We were in a suite and had 2 outlets. We only needed the power strip twice
  • The jet tub worked great, but is very narrow. The glass door made the bathtub feel too closed in
  • The hair dryer is only 1200W and you need to hold down the button to keep it on. I usually bring my own, thinking that the Dream would have nicer dryers. Wrong!
  • There were always a lot of activities, sometimes so many made choosing difficult
  • There was no tea time:(
  • The BBQ on the Lanai was very cool. A lot of people enjoyed it
  • I ate at the Pasta Bar once and they lost my order...so if you don't recieve your food after maybe 10-15 minutes, then ask one of the servers to check on it for you
  • We were on deck 7, in between 2 of the hot tubs on deck 5 and they got very loud on a couple of occasions. Apparently a large group, probably 10+ were having a very good time in the tub. I'd never choose a balcony on deck 6. Deck 7 is pushing it, 8 or above
  • As Lee mentioned, the chair hogs were in full force. Ridiculous. Especially on Serenity, so beware:rolleyes:
  • Embarkation and disembarkation was a breeze. PC sure knows how to do it right:)

I'm scheduled to go on the Dream again in November and can't wait.

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ottawapuppy

ottawapuppy

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How much was the cabana?

 

$199 for the day. That included floating mats, 4 chairs and a free pass for the chair lift.

A waiter came by once for a drink order and came by once to take a lunch order, but the cost of the food and drink was a la carte.

 

Mike

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legalmom

legalmom

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Hi Mike, Lee and Annette:

 

Thanks for all your imput for this cruise, your pictures and review was superb. It was a great cruise and it was our pleasure to meet such nice people. You guys take care and Annette, I will see you in November.

 

Ben and Lois:)

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ottawapuppy

ottawapuppy

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It was a great cruise and it was our pleasure to meet such nice people. You guys take care and Annette, I will see you in November.

 

If anyone EVER gets a chance to sit next to legalmom at a show, DO IT. Her laughter was contagious. This lady knows how to have a good time! We actually looked around for her at other shows so we could sit next to her.

 

Mike

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Schplinky

Schplinky

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I have been a little skeptical about those cabanas.......the beach does not look that big.......I think we won't be renting one of those anytime soon.......I would rather travel to a nice beach then come back and hang out at Mahogany Bay before boarding the ship.....

Thanks!

 

That is a great idea and what I would do next time (I'm Mike's partner). The "squatters" on our beach even tried to take our beach chairs from the porch of the cabana. I saw them and got a "are you using this?" from the guy trying to take our chairs. Um, yeah, I thought, we paid $200 to use it, how about you?

 

In fairness, there is a lot of misinformation about the cabanas. I read about them on John Heald's blog, where he posted a slide show that called the beach private (and he also mentioned that there were Ipod docking stations, which weren't there). I'm sure John didn't write the presentation (it looked like a product of the port development firm) but it was the reason we booked it. I called the Shore Excursions line because there was literally no description online besides "cabana rental" and the operator there said essentially the same things that John's blog had. She also mentioned that we'd likely be contacted onboard to see what our preferences were for the cabana (we thought maybe we'd be able to pre-order food) but we weren't contacted so I went to the desk and they said that no, there was no ability to arrange anything ahead.

 

When we re-boarded at the end of the day and I went to complain about the lack of the private beach, the shore excursions desk pointed out that in their brochure that we'd been promised only a semi-private beach. I told her that we booked it online after their customer service rep had called it a private beach and so we hadn't read the brochure onboard but I asked her what semi-private meant and she said that it was not for our exclusive use. When I pointed out that this meant it wasn't private at all, she relented and refunded us $50 of the $200. That was fair enough but we still wouldn't likely rent one again at $150. We rented it as a respite from the crowds but when we complained about the people using our beach, the general attitude was that it was a busy day and we needed to share. To me, this would be the same as saying that sure, you can pay $30 to eat in the specialty room but if others find the buffet too crowded, they may come in and plop down to eat their food without paying the cover.

 

 

 

I was fortunate enough to be on the same cruise with Mike and Lee and to make their acquaintance. I hope we can cruise on the same ship again. I'd like to add the following:

  • We had GREAT service in the main areas, staff was everywhere offering you drinks, cleaning, etc.
  • We ate dinner at the buffet 1 night...I don't know why anyone would eat all of their dinners there. Go to the dining room!
  • There was no tea time:(
  • I ate at the Pasta Bar once and they lost my order...so if you don't recieve your food after maybe 10-15 minutes, then ask one of the servers to check on it for you
  • Embarkation and disembarkation was a breeze. PC sure knows how to do it right:)

I'm scheduled to go on the Dream again in November and can't wait.

 

I agree that the service was great. The staff was friendly and when you asked how they were, they smiled and told you. We like Celebrity, too, but if you ask anyone how they are, they smile and say, robotically, that they are eXcellent. I'd rather know how the person is really doing. We loved both our room attendant and our dining waiter.

 

The pasta bar seemed to lose Mike's order, too. Mine came relatively quickly and then when we asked about mike's, they said it would be right out but then the waitress ran back to the cook and was waving her arms frantically. I think he got an express re-order! The pasta was delicious and the serving was generous!! If you get the pasta, it will be all you will be able to eat.

 

We thought both boarding and off-loading at the end were among the best we've seen.

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Schplinky

Schplinky

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Hi Mike, Lee and Annette:

 

Thanks for all your imput for this cruise, your pictures and review was superb. It was a great cruise and it was our pleasure to meet such nice people. You guys take care and Annette, I will see you in November.

 

Ben and Lois:)

 

 

I LOVED sitting next to you at the show and talking to you beforehand! What a ball that was!

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Schplinky

Schplinky

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Love your website. Nice Christmas jammies BTW. ;)

 

 

That was funny! We both watched a sit-com where the Dad bought everyone Christmas jammies (Modern Family - too funny) and we each secretly bought the other a pair. It was VERY funny when we both pulled out our surprise gift on Christmas Eve and it was the same thing!!

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