Negative Dream Review from Carnival Fanboy Just got back, proceed to flame me

[dlbutler5]

My wife and I were on the Carnival Dream for both a 12 day Grand Med and 16 TA last Oct/Nov. The Caribbean cruises must be a lot different in usage. We experienced long lines at the buffet only once and that was because we were pulling out of port around noon and everyone was getting back to the ship at meal time. This was 30 days worth of sailing for these two cruises. The odor was there but not bad. We didn't have a balcony but I can see how some of your statements are true.

One thing we were really surprised that we liked was Anytime dining. Especially in Europe that was great. You often got back to the ship late and vvvvvvvvveeeeeeeerrrrrryyyyyyy tired, and it made dining easier.

[johnlo81]

This doesn't seem like a negative review at all! I would change the title if possible... Your review makes me even more excited for our cruise in two weeks... Something like an odor and bad comedians won't ruin my cruise and that seems like the only negative thing you talk about... As far as the price goes... This is expected when a new ship makes it debut... We all knew the prices when we booked it! I pay my cruise with cash so that money is gone already... I use a credit card on board and just pay off the bill in full when I receive it at home...

 

14 days until Florida and 15 days until we board! :) Can't wait...

[johnlo81]

Also we have a balcony on the deck over the Lanai (6-Upper Deck) I can't wait to do some people watching!

[2snorkel/cruisers]

We appreciate this review as we were thinking about doing the Dream this year and have opted for another cruise instead. I think you are right about the pricing and it's being a new ship, we'll wait a year and see what happens. Glad you had a good cruise.

[Pyro Tec]

Nice review...I actually cancelled the Dream cruise (going to take a short 3 day cruise) and will not be booking the Dream for next year :rolleyes:. I want them to work out the kinks first and especially that smell. And waiting for the new ship price to go down!

 

Now looking at the Carnival Legend out of Tampa...same iten as Dream except for Maya Mexico is replaced with Grand Cayman...Balconies for $619 in April '11!!! :D Well see! :cool:

[campdaan]

No flames. Just hope Carnival's reading, listening, and addressing.

In the meantime, I'm avoiding this ship.

 

Thanks for the nice balanced review.

 

I'm booked in a Balcony right above the Outside Cafe and Hot Tub...:eek:

 

So much for "Air-Drying" after my shower.

 

MrPete... I heard Brett Alans would have made a special trip just to be on the Dream with you... (LOL)

[ChaylaT]

Hi, great review. We are traveling the Dream in July. We also have a balcony cabin on Vista, rms 9235 & 9231. What was your room? I would get the Cove balcony but we are traveling with a group and want to open all our doors to make an XXL balcony. Is it really that bad? We love to have our morning coffee on the balcony.......

[TakeMeAway1001]

I think it was a great review, thanks for sharing your experience :)

[okgirl]

Thanks for the great review it brought back lots of good memories. I was on the Dream for the 9 day bloggers cruise in December.

We experienced some technical issues on that cruise (elevators down, electrical down so no toilets could flush), but the one thing the many people are consistently complaining about (sewage odor) we didn't experience that at all. I've heard that complaint about other ships too, so it must not be a Dream thing.

I agree completely that if you are a balcony lover the Dream may not be for you. The exterior Promenade makes them far less private and I would think a much less enjoyable space.

I'm an IS snob so not a biggie for me. Though I do have to say that I really love walking around the outside that close to the water. And I absolutely loved the lanai's and the new Ocean Plaza area.

I've been on 11 different Carnival ships and the Dream is definately not my favorite, but for the right price I'd sail her again. I love the fact that the Magic is going to do an extended European season. I see that there are some subtle differences between the Dream and the Magic so I hope to be booking the TA on the Majic soon.

[Cruise, J.D.]

Very nice, objective review. I remember a lot of discussion about the balcony situation on the Dream when its plans and photos were being released. A lot of us thought the negative reviews would be coming. It appears it is a problem.

[SmogMonster]

Thank you for your review. It looks like we will wait awhile and see if Carnival addresses these things before we book the Dream.

 

Now, for all you folks that write reviews, please take a lesson from this one. This is how you write a review that actually helps someone. It is honest, reasonable and well thought out. None of the extreme exagerations that we so often read and deviod of stupid unrealistic expectations. Good Job.

[bcs819]

I think your review is fine. I have no reason to flame you, and I am booked on the Dream. We are booked in an aft wrap, so I did my homework. We are usually exempt from any type of smells in the aft part of the ship so we'll see what happens. THe comedy club was on eof the main selling points of this cruise for us, we love the comedians!

[afcj1]

Great review. Poor title tho...

 

To the other posters...I'm not sure why people are still skeptical about traveling on the Dream, since recent reviews have been very good. I was on her too and never experienced the long lines, sewage smell or slow service in the MDR. Tho we did have MANY chair hogs and from deck 7 you definitely heard some "hootin and hollerin" from the lanai hot tubs. Very poor design.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[*Mach*]

Over all, I feel like a carnival cruise is a terrific value and a wonderful vacation, something I look forward to every year, and nothing wrong with the dream could ruin it for me.

However, if I had to choose again I wouldn't pick the dream.. I always have a terrific experience on other ships without the need for a gas mask.

 

 

Maybe everybody else on the whole darn ship didn't have a problem, but I did and I'm being honest. hope this helps.

 

Pros-

Steakhouse

Cove Balcony

Mongolian/Burrito

Serenity

Shows

 

 

Cons-paying extra for a balcony doesn't feel worth it if you have the lanai causing you trouble.

the sewage smell

crowded buffet lines

comedy club mc guy

a ship that feels too full considering the staff

price, higher than average carnival ship, yet not different enough to make me feel like its worth it.

 

 

Lanai-I like the idea of the lanai, extra deck space/chairs, extra hot tubs, and more space to look out at the ocean when leaving port, the sunset, etc. however it is excecuted poorly because the balcony cabins above are recessed 20 feet so when they look down they see this, and hear this, and it is unfortunate. I wish that the lanai was there but didn't project from the ship.

 

Chef's Art Steakhouse -to pay 30 bucks for dinner when you can dine for free in MDR it better be exceptional, and it is. It is well worth the money, and makes for a wonderful evening. It kind of brings elagance back to cruising. You go in there in your formal best, and order the best food, in an exclusive feeling atmosphere (because nobody else is in there) and it just really makes one of the last nights of a cruise that much more special and reflective.

There are anywhere from 5 or 6 people waiting on you at any given time. bar people, managers, waiters, assistant waiters, its crazy, you feel so spoiled and are waited on hand and foot. Just try to run out of soda or wine in here I dare you.

The food is different fare from the main dining room. The bread is freshly baked delicious foccocia rolls that are so soft you don't need butter. The steak is perfectly picked/aged/flavored/cooked it is just perfection.

I ordered the new york strip, which comes sitting under a very large garlic clove and is covered in a sauce of your choosing. I recommend the 3 peppercorn. If you aren't eating something they are asking you what is wrong and what can they do, They really want you to feel as if you got your monies worth. The deserts are different than in the main dining room as well and are terriffic.

I can't say enough good things about the steakhouse. We ended up tipping 50 bucks we were just so delighted with the experience.

And if you feel like you can't afford it, skip that outing to applebees before your cruise, and pay the money on the boat, you'll be glad you did.

 

Main Dining Room-the wait staff is great, funny, and very helpful. However I feel like they are overworked. maybe its too many people ordering multiple entrees or maybe just too many people on the boat. but these guys make you kinda feel bad for them. I made sure to tip extra, they have to be some of the hardest workers on the boat.

 

The food, well its anywhere from so-so to terriffic, just kinda depends on your luck I suppose. I guess when you cook 600 of something at a time you can't pay special attention to each dish being just right, thats what the steakhouse is for. But they do their best and I can't complain too much about steak and lobster without sounding like a jerk to people that never cruise.

 

Room Service -the menu seems to quite limited. I would be happy if you could order pizza but then again, with all the eating you do on the boat, walking wouldn't hurt. All in all, for free food its great.

 

Balcony -

I booked a 8b balcony cabin. Didn't like it at all because the lanai on the dream is a few decks down.

I like to sit out there at night and have a drink, just me and the ocean, or maybe my ipod. I find this very relaxing. I also like to sleep with the balcony door open and listen to the sounds of the waves.

Impossible on the dream however

the lanai sends tons of light into the cabin, also drunks come out of the casino or club hooting and hollering like people do at 3-4am when the club closes and they are drunk. Also, instead of looking down directly on the water you see this deck.

I would book the cove balcony, its cheaper and doesn't have any of these issues. My friends were booked in a 7c and I loved it and was jealous of them. We spent all our time hanging out in there room.

Cove Balcony -so close to the water, its amazing to watch the waves and the views are different while in port and leaving port. Highly highly recommended.

 

Deckchairs/Space something was different on the Dream, something special, there seems to be multitudes of deck chairs free. I have never, ever,ever seen this phenomenon, I think maybe where the lanai and some other areas are lined with extra deck chairs people are more spaced out. chair hogs weren't even a problem even on the good weather days. i was pleasantly suprised.

 

Pools - the pools seemed to be about the same as any other ship I've been on. full of children and what they put in the water.

 

Serenity- this is great, should be on every ship, its the adults only area at the top of the ship. there are alot of couches and chairs with actual cushions that you can sit/lay in. It is very quiet and has a hot tub that isn't very often used.

 

Comedy -I've seen all the comedians that were on my cruise before, and some of them had the same jokes, but thats ok, I love the comedy club and always am the loudest person laughing. however I will say that the mc guy is terrible and should be banned from comedy and held in a turkesh prison for crimes against humanity. yes, he is that bad. he goes on for 30 minutes before introducing the comedians with not funny jokes and repeats them night after night even though the comedians change so you sit through this crapfest to get to the good stuff.

 

Shows -dancing in the street was the hands down best entertainment i've ever had on a cruise ship. the dancers are great, the singers are great and the show is very funny and original. Its kindof a variety act with many different sets and is not to be missed.

 

Dance Club -my group stayed in the club until it closed every night and loved it, course we're all in our 20s.

 

Price -the prices on the dream are a little on the high side as it is brand new and in high demand. i feel ike you would have a better value on the Liberty or Glory or something that isn't that old but doesn't have the "new ship" price attached. Having said that the value of a cruse compared to other vacations is still so great that even paying 40% higher price on the dream is better than a standard vacation. But if you are on cruise critic you already know this.

 

Odor -I've read on the forums about a "whiff" of some kinda sewage smell. My little brother went on this cruise 3 weeks before I did and he said it was a non issue. Like maybe you every once and a while smell something but it go away as quickly as it came.

 

Well.......let me tell you, it must come and go cause it was terrible on my cruise. I had 2 days where I couldn't be on the balcony i paid for without having to leave because it smelled like a porta potty. There were huge swaths of the ship, that just smelled terrible. Like to the point where I picked up my food and went inside a few times to get away from the smell.

 

Pizza -I think they put crack in the pizza. it is terriffic and you always want more. I suspect that it is a lower quality pizza than most but because they only ever have 1 up at any given time you always get it fresh out of the oven. Every time I went it was a 1 minute wait for a new pie to come out of the oven all bubbly and delicious.

 

Mongolian -possibly the best food on the ship except for the chef's art steakhouse, but the lines are horrendous. I recommend stalking out the place 10 minutes before noon to make sure you don't have a 30 minute wait.

 

Burrito-this is fantastic, everyone in my group thought it was terrific.

 

Pasta Bar -this is delicious, and a nicer atmosphere. You write your order down and sit down with a number, a staff member brings your order to you. The food is hot and fresh and the place is not crowded as it is kind of hard to find compared to all the other food choices. It is up a staircase back behind the desert buffet. I never saw more than 3 people in there.

 

Lido Buffet -never tried it, there was always a line so long I said "i'll just go get pizza" seriously, its terrible, I feel like the buffet is the same size but the ship has 500 more passengers than a conquest class ship.

 

 

It's a shame that there were so many negative aspects of your cruise on the Carnival Dream.

It may just be me but I didn't see the dates of your sailing? Would you mind providing that, please?

Thanks!

Mach

[Stevie17]

Thanks for the review. I don't know why anyone would flame you...this is one of the more balanced reviews that I've read.

[cruiselover42]

Good, honest and helpful review. I sail on the 30th and will also post a fair, honest review!! Thanks!

[Drew B]

Chef's Art Steakhouse -to pay 30 bucks for dinner when you can dine for free in MDR it better be exceptional, and it is. It is well worth the money, and makes for a wonderful evening. It kind of brings elagance back to cruising. You go in there in your formal best, and order the best food, in an exclusive feeling atmosphere (because nobody else is in there) and it just really makes one of the last nights of a cruise that much more special and reflective.

There are anywhere from 5 or 6 people waiting on you at any given time. bar people, managers, waiters, assistant waiters, its crazy, you feel so spoiled and are waited on hand and foot. Just try to run out of soda or wine in here I dare you.

The food is different fare from the main dining room. The bread is freshly baked delicious foccocia rolls that are so soft you don't need butter. The steak is perfectly picked/aged/flavored/cooked it is just perfection.

I ordered the new york strip, which comes sitting under a very large garlic clove and is covered in a sauce of your choosing. I recommend the 3 peppercorn. If you aren't eating something they are asking you what is wrong and what can they do, They really want you to feel as if you got your monies worth. The deserts are different than in the main dining room as well and are terriffic.

I can't say enough good things about the steakhouse. We ended up tipping 50 bucks we were just so delighted with the experience.

And if you feel like you can't afford it, skip that outing to applebees before your cruise, and pay the money on the boat, you'll be glad you did.

 

 

Based on my experience in the specialty restaurant (on Valor, though, rather than Dream), I agree with the comments on the service. However, I found it to be a negative. The service was, frankly, overbearing. I never felt that I could freely converse with my family because there was ALWAYS somebody hovering a few feet from the table...

[katiel53]

I enjoyed your review and agree with you on most of the things. We sailed Dream on 1/2 and we only had the bad smell when we got on the center elevator. Our cabin was an 8D which was located on deck 8 just off the center elevator. I loved where our cabin was located, but hated when we came back to the cabin at night and used that elevator. It didn't smell in the hallway, just on the elevator.

 

Although we were able to enjoy our balcony, at night it wasn't quite the same as other ships in that there were people in the hot tubs and because it was quiet at night, we could hear them talking or yelling, whatever. It was also strange to not be able to look down at the sea.

 

I think Jeff the fun dude belongs in some other business. He is truly not fun and he talks too much, lol.

 

We didn't have long lines at the buffet at lunch. Well, there were lines, but they moved quickly. As you said the Mongolian Grill had lines that lasted forever. Plus, I thought there was way too much smoke in the Lido dining area from the grill. The first day I thought it was cleaning fluid that was spilled but then realized it was all the smoke from the grill. We never did stand in line for the Mongolian Grill, but the day we were in St Thomas, we opted to get burgers for lunch. We should have done the grill that day as there were very few people in line.

 

All in all, we had a great cruise and loved my time dining. We had such a good time that we are planning a back to back on Dream next year.

[jetskier]

Great review......no need for anyone to flame you. Long lines......one of the reasons why I love the Fantasy class ships as they are the perfect size. For the price of the Dream, Carnival could have built two smaller ships and expanded their market.

Dave

[MrPete]

MrPete... I heard Brett Alans would have made a special trip just to be on the Dream with you... (LOL)

 

In that case, you'd find me on the Disney Dream! :D

[tha sista]

Great review...when did you sail?

[bzymom22]

Thanks for your fair and balanced review. These are the kind I love to read. They let me know what to expect and help me decide if I can live with some of the negatives and even some of the positives. ;) Great job!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Over all, I feel like a carnival cruise is a terrific value and a wonderful vacation, something I look forward to every year, and nothing wrong with the dream could ruin it for me.

However, if I had to choose again I wouldn't pick the dream.. I always have a terrific experience on other ships without the need for a gas mask.

 

Maybe everybody else on the whole darn ship didn't have a problem, but I did and I'm being honest. hope this helps.

 

Pros-

Steakhouse

Cove Balcony

Mongolian/Burrito

Serenity

Shows

 

 

Cons-paying extra for a balcony doesn't feel worth it if you have the lanai causing you trouble.

the sewage smell

crowded buffet lines

comedy club mc guy

a ship that feels too full considering the staff

price, higher than average carnival ship, yet not different enough to make me feel like its worth it.

 

 

I find these statements hard to believe. I mean come on G'ma guarateed they were fixed if they were ever really there in the first place.:rolleyes:

 

Seriously thanks for the well balanced and honest review.

 

Bill

[crewsweeper]

I think your review is fine. I have no reason to flame you, and I am booked on the Dream. We are booked in an aft wrap, so I did my homework. We are usually exempt from any type of smells in the aft part of the ship so we'll see what happens. THe comedy club was on eof the main selling points of this cruise for us, we love the comedians!

You'll love the separate comedy club,with its masks and large seating area. If you get there early you can sit in rows of seats up front, but we liked the banquet seats along the walls.

[mtt32]

Thanks for your review, not all negative......pretty balanced....

 

We are still really looking forward to our cruise on Feb 13.......We actually have a cove balcony so I am happy to hear about your friends good experience with that room.......

 

Being away from work, not cooking or cleaning, and escaping the chaos of the Olympics here, I think we will have a great time......

 

Michelle

 

:D