New here - booking Carnival Dream

[Jenn24101]

I have just joined the boards, when looking for more info on cruising, cruise critic kept coming up on Google....it looks like this is a great place with lots of information.

 

We are relatively new to cruising, I cruised once (3 day maybe) in high school, I really only remember going to Nassau but probably went somewhere else too...no idea what the ship was, but it was small and definitely a budget trip, we were wayyyy low in the ship, tiny room... nothing amazing, but the crew seemed happy to be overrun with high school girls lol

 

Then, I surprised my DH with a cruise for our 5 year anniversary on Caribbean Princess, 7 day eastern cruise, balcony stateroom... it was just lovely, we had a wonderful time, it was a great ship, great ports, no complaints at all....but he did not even know he was going anywhere until we got to the airport, totally secret, so I did not do a lot of planning. We just went and had a great time. Same day flights, no insurance, no port planning.....now that I've found this board it seems we really could have been a lot more prepared!

 

This time, we are making the 5 years a tradition, and ready to book for our 10 year. Looking at the Carnival Dream....we thought the NCL epic looked really nice but it is significantly more expensive. So, the Dream....not the cheapest of the line, but the ship looks fun, and it is new. We are planning on sailing on March 5, 2011 to the western caribbean. We are pretty new to cruising, so any input on how the dream is? We want a regular balcony room (8A i think? how is that area of the ship?) The cove balcony is cheaper, but we don't want to be that low. We got hooked on having a balcony with our first trip, so we just can't have it any other way!

 

I see there are quite a few reviews, but I really don't want to read and spoil every surprise on the ship, see every room, and know everything about it before I get there, so I mostly avoid those. I just want to know what your "can't miss" things are on the ship, and maybe some info on best things to do in port. we were thinking cave tubing in Belize (i think) and Passion Island in Cozumel. Do we have to have an excursion the other places, or are there things to do at the port, or in walking distance?

 

Sorry for the big long post, I am just so excited to cruise, and so excited to find such a helpful group of people!

[toothfary7]

Hi Jenn...We just sailed the Dream in January (Western Caribbean). I've sailed a lot of lines but we tend to do Carnival when my girls join us do to the cost. Carnival is definitely cheaper and a lot more laid back. More down to earth people. My biggest complaint about Celebrity is people are snobby. Anyways, it was a great ship. Poorly designed buffet--you have to wait in long lines even if you're going after one thing. Royal Caribbean has stations in their buffet which is a lot better. Carnival is just one big line. Food in the dining room was as good or better than RCL. As far as a balcony, I also looked at the cove balconies. You are REALLY close to the water and I bet get a lot of spray from the waves. Also, you have the life boats hanging right above you so they looked kinda of dark. If you book a regular balcony, try to go up just a bit. This is the first ship I've been on that the balconies don't look directly down onto the water. One deck juts outs and has hot tubs, the decks above are recessed in. Stay away from a cabin near the hot tubs!!! They can get very loud and less private. Try to book a cabin between cabin floors. Last year we were one deck down from the Lido deck and heard nothing but chairs being scraped across the deck all the time--night and day. Hope this helps. Let me know if I can answer any other questions that might help you plan!! Oh yeah, the comedy club was great. The shows were also good, but you have to get there about a half hour ahead of time to get a seat. P.S. Just booked the Epic for next year!!

[Jenn24101]

Thanks for the info...I'm a little confused about the categories. We were going to book 8A, which I think is towards the very back or the front of the ship, and 8B is in the middle, this is one level above the promenade, and I think we would pick the back, it is above the lounges and not sure if that would be loud or annoying, I cannot remember where we were on the Caribbean princess, but I do remember being able to look down on people with extended balconies that offered up some interesting views. It seems it would be a lot more to move up to floor 7 from 6, and not sure it is worth it, unless the noise is just terrible. We are not taking the kids, so are planning on being up pretty late anyway. Is there an advantage to being towards the front or back of the ship?

[toothfary7]

Personally I'd pay a little more to be in the middle of the ship and a couple decks above the Promenade deck. The walls on this ship are pretty thin. My daughter in the next cabin had a cold and we could hear her coughing all the time so I'm not sure about being above lounges. Look at the deck plan about the hot tubes and try to stay away from them. Unfortunately we had terrible weather the whole week--65 mile/hr winds at times. There was a lot of movement in the front and back of the ship. Our cabin was midship and MUCH better as far as movement goes. Now I remember, we were on deck 7 and it was good.

[frankhouse]

The middle is always better but not necessarily enough to justify the price difference, especially if budget is a concern. I've had cabins towards the back of the ship and I've had all the way to the front of the ship. I didn't have a problem with either. My last cabin was #7 on the Empress deck and right below the theater. Not a problem as far as noise from the theater and rocking of the ship. You could hear the ropes lowering when we were docking but only when we docked which was usually in the morning when we were getting up anyway. If you were sleeping it woke you up.

 

On the Legend we had a balcony toward the rear (about half way between the middle of the ship and the very back, maybe a little closer to the back) and it was great. I had no problems with it and it was on deck 4.

 

I have yet to experience the buffet problem on the Dream because we don't sail until Sept of 2011. We have a 8B balcony so we are almost right in the center above the casino. I got the 8B for the price of an 8A but check every day for the price to drop even more so I can take advantage of the price guarantee. I also have an 8A booked on the Splendor and it's on the 6th deck, one of the extended balconies at the back of the ship. I searched the forums about those cabins and they were almost all positive. :)

 

I actually like the motion when I'm sleeping so it's not a real concern to me unless there's a bad storm. :eek: