My picture laden, long review of the Carnival Dream 2/20/2010

[PROCRUISE]

Over all, it was a great cruise, made better by great friends. The Dream class will never be my favorite class of ship, and I don’t see myself rushing out to book another cruise on this class. They eliminated some of our favorite spaces to make more room for the extra passengers, and cause quite a few choke points in the floor plan. That was made even worse in the evenings, with the photographers taking up space in an already tight area. The smaller atrium and pool deck made those spaces less useful, we really didn’t go to either, except to pass through. The tables in the dining room, lido deck and steak house were very close together, and it made it hard to get through those areas.

 

We did smell the sewer smell a couple of time in the aft stairwell at deck 6. It didn’t bother us, as we just keep going to our destination. One time, in that area, a gentleman loudly expressed his opinion that someone had a gas problem (phrased a little differently). We also smelled cooking smells in our cabin several mornings. If It were bacon, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was a greasy frying smell. Neither of these were going to ruin our cruise, but I had been hearing a lot of press on this topic and wanted to share my experience.

 

Also, in our Platinum letter that was in our room, it implied that each Platinum passenger only received one bag of laundry free. Our room steward told us not to worry about it, he would take care of as much laundry as we needed. On two occasions we gave him a bag at night, he sent it out first thing in the morning and we got it back in the evening. One pair of my underwear came back an interesting shade of green (!?!?!?!?) but not a big deal. I sent the same pair out the next time, and they came back normal. As stated before on this board, I wouldn’t send out delicate stuff, but it is great to send t-shirts and undies out.

 

There were about 400 children on this cruise, but they weren’t a problem. I think there were around 150 Platinum guests, so we had great service there. Over all the staff was the best I’ve had on board any ship. They were all smiling and helpful and glad to see us.

 

I might get flamed here, but also wanted to give my opinion on the famous John Heald as a cruise director. As I stated earlier, we just don’t do any of the activities on the ship, so the cruise director hasn’t made a bit of difference to us since the first cruise. I couldn’t even tell you who the CD was on most of my cruises. We did make an effort to watch some of John’s shows on the TV, and he was funny, but for us, it really didn’t matter.

 

Any questions?

 

Thanks for the detailed info on the behind the scenes tour. We might have to fork over the small fortune and take it in December on The Valor.

 

I agree that The Dream is not my favorite CCL ship because the major areas are smaller to make room for more cabins.

 

IF you ever do board The Dream again, do go see the Dancin In The Streets show-probably the finest cruise show we've ever seen, and we're not young either!

[jolyroger]

Love the pics!! GReat review....God i can't wait to go......34 more days!

[denisey]

How much was Victor for just the beach and a visit to see his Monkees

 

We had 6 people and it was $25 each. What we wanted to do was completely up to us. If you have fewer than 2, it cost more per person, but he lists that out on his website

 

http://www.boddentours.com/

 

There is a small charge ($5) to go to see the Monkeys, that goes towards their upkeep. The beach we went to cost $5, but we had restrooms, showers, picnic tables (no lounges) and one drink. There were a couple of vendors at this beach, but they left us alone after we said no. Some of the other beaches had a $10 charge, but you also go a lounge chair.