Carnival Dream

[CHENELLEH]

We just got off of the carnival dream. It is a beautiful boat. We were in cabin 8466, and if you book this room--beware--it is small and cramped. We booked it under a CAT 9c and the room above us booked under cat 8a( she told me so) her deck was bigger, but the room size was the same. We have stayed in aft wraparounds before and have had much bigger rooms, so this was a disappointment to us. No couch, and the bed is right next to the window. The room had someone elses t shirt in it and was there the whole cruise--i thought it was a towel in the corner by the bed and that the steward just kept missing it and on the last morning I picked it up saw what it was--I left it for the steward. The room was NOISY!!!! I swear we had all of the toilets in the whole boat flushing above, below and on every wall around us!!!! The cabin above us said she kept hearing the doors slamming. The boat overall is big, with cabins,--it does not have much more than other boats- except cabins -than boats half the size. Yes the lines were long if you did the buffet, or the deli, or the burgers, or the pizza. We did anytime dining and we enjoyed it. Our wait staff was excellent!!!!!Jerry and Divinia----ask for their tables--they are fun and attentive. The food was excellent, but the dining choices were a little limited, if you are a meat and potato kindof person like my husband. We did carry on wine 1 box(contains 3 bottles equivlant) and 1 bottle, It was cold and the lines were being hurried and so I dont think they cared what we had in our carryons, they just wanted to keep the line moving. embarkation was easy and so was debarkation. We also had a bottle of wine in luggage and it was still there, so I am not sure what makes them take some and not others. The cabin above us said they brought on a 12pk of beer in St Maarten and they were ok with it. The staff was excellent on the whole boat. Very attentive and caring. The cruise was coooolllllddddd!!!!!! We really only has 2 days of great weather---Mother Nature can be cruel!!! We had a good time overall, but we would not do this boat again. #1 the cabin was overpriced for what we got, #2 The boat was crowded with so many cabins, #3 We feel Carnival needs to look at what they charge for cabins and be fair!!! We have talked to them about this whole cabin thing for 2 months and they just double talk and will not relent or admit that they have this cabin and others like it mislabeled by cat. We have decided to go with other cruise lines. They could have tried to make it right, but didnt, so we will spend our money elsewhere. We own a business and try to make our customers feel good about the dollars they spend with us. When a mistake happens we apologize and make it right--it is just about good business, mostly so they will still be our customer again, again, and again, and not go to the competition. So we are looking to go in Dec with our 6 grandchildren--Haven't checked into cruises yet, but will start.

[w8ing2cruz]

I'm sorry to hear that you were so disappointed in your cabin. We are also booked there and I remember the huge controversy when they discovered that the divider was in the wrong place. We've never been in a wrap so I will have nothing to compare it to. We had the option of changing cabins but chose to keep the wrap as we booked SO early that I feel we got it for a good price. Did you consider changing before your sail date?

 

Besides your cabin, how was the rest of your cruise? Did you go Eastern or Western? What excursions did you do?

[CHENELLEH]

We tried hard to change cabin, to no avail, or to get a onboard credit, carnival just thinks these cabins are a 9c, not an 8 cat. We did enjoy our cruise, we did the eastern and it was cold, except in St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We enjoyed both of these islands and would go back again, even on vacation. We got off in Nassau and went to Atlantis, just to see it. It was ok, but I was surprised how dirty the water was. It was cold so we just walked around and then went back downtown and did a little bit of shopping, and went back to boat. On St. Thomas we went down town and shopped and just looked around, we had fun going to all of the different shops, even though they did close at 5pm, ship time 4pm. So we went to a little outdoor cafe on front street and had nachos and drinks and listened to the music. It was fun. In St. Maarten we walked the boardwalk and just looked around for the morning and then we took a cab to Orient beach and what a sight it was!!!! One small end is clothing optional and then the rest of the beach is french--so a lot of topless, but most people there were from all of the cruise ships, so it was pretty ok. we did enjoy the beach there--the water is absoutlely beautiful. We have actually looked into condos there since we got home. It is an experience and everyone should just go there and look and play in the water, it was warm and lots of things to do. Parasailing, jet skis, water bouncers, and just lots of sand and fun. You can rent chairs and umbrellas from the shops/restuarants for about 5dollars. bring your own towels, and sunscreen. The one thing we kept commenting on was how nice everyone is there. Great customer service, no matter where you went.(and we are in the customer service business and so we pay attention to that) There was one guy from the nude beach that was quite the show. He kept walking up to the break on the beach(where the nude beach ends and the other one starts) and just standing there, we were there for about 4 hours and he was still there when we left and was quite red. Bet he was sore lol. anyway it was a great fun time and we would go back in an instant. If you do take a taxi in St. Maarten, make sure the license plate has TAXI on it, there have been some problems with others. We also went back downtown and had drinks and watched people on the boardwalk. I believe everything is what you make it and we did have a good time. We just think Carnival should understand what good customer service is. I hate being poo pooed. WE have other avenues and we will try them out. Have a great time on your trip. Are you driving into Port canaveral? If not rent a car, it is much cheaper than a taxi to and from.

[crewsweeper]

Sorry to hear you didn't like your cabin. Did you look at the deck plans at all before booking? These cabins on the aft corners of the Upper, Empress, Verandah and Vista decks are configured around a stairwell and while they are measureably the same square footage as other Cat 8 and 9 balcony cabins (185 sqft) the design makes them appear to be smaller and they may indeed have less useable room space, especially 9472,9475,8466 and 8473. But did you compare your balcony to 8462 or 8468 on either side of you? You certainly had the bigger balcony.

Yes, Weather can make a terrible mess of a cruise. We had very poor weather the first 1/2 of our Dream Western in January. I didn't wear a short sleeve shirt without a jacket/sweatshirt until Belize, 3 days in, and spent our last day at sea wearing a sweatshirt. But how much you enjoy or dislike the ship is up to how you handle it. So glad ot hear you'd rather be cruising in chilling weather with lines around the buffet than working in the snow and cold.

Thanks for the tips and comments for St Maarten's. We're looking forward to that port in May.

[w8ing2cruz]

Thanks for the feedback. We have been to Orient Beach and you are correct - the water is stunning! Not so much the people there :o Glad you had a good cruise in spite of it - have fun with your future endevours.

[CHENELLEH]

My husband did look at the deck plans, but he assumed these would be the same as on other ships. We didnt have much time to really research it, before cabins that we would have wanted were sold out, we were going out of Long Beach in Oct. but My husbands father died the day we were supposed to leave and so there for when it came time to rebook--we didnt have much time, we just took a stab at it from past experience. Went out of Orlando--so we would have good weather---funny--how the best laid plans---lol. We did enjoy ourselves and thank god for travel insurance!!!!!!