Just back from Dream 5/8 Eastern

[KLD261]

Me (40) and DH (42) got to the port about 11:20 -11:30 and were on the ship by noon and began checking out the ship. It is a very pretty ship. We went down to eat lunch on the Lido and since you couldn’t get to your cabin there was nowhere to sit on Lido or in the Gathering. I think everyone with their carry-on bags ate lunch and just stayed at the table. We must have walked the pool deck twice and the Gathering and finally found a spot by the Aft Pool. I was thinking --I hope this is not what they meant by overcrowding – if it was like this every day it would be a nightmare. Luckily it was just this first day before anyone could go their staterooms. This was the most crowded the ship every seemed to us. Our stateroom was an interior at the aft on nine and was very convenient to the aft pool, so we used that pool the entire time. We never had any problems finding a chair and didn’t notice any chair hogs. Maybe it was like that at the main pool, but we walked by it a few times around 9:30 or 10 and it looked like there were plenty of chairs available. For people in groups looking to sit together, they may have had a hard time looking to sit together, but there were plenty of 2 chairs together in different spots. We were always out by the pool early by 9:30 and could choose where we wanted to sit. Even after 10 the chairs were not filled, but by 11 most were taken. The food was all great. We had late seating in Crimson and the dining room food was great as well as the wait staff. We also tried the tandora, deli, pizza and burrito bar which were all very good. We never got to try the pasta bar or the Mongolian or the BBQ. We ate breakfast every day at the buffet and one day for lunch – it was all good to, the same as usual. We also did the spa pass and that was very nice, I’m glad we did it. We used it most of the time once a day – and I think once or twice we went a second time. We are smokers and did notice that compared to the Glory there weren’t that many places to smoke. You could smoke on the port side of the pool areas, but not all over the ship. The casino has a very small smoking section for the slot players, mostly near penny machines. You could also smoke in the piano bar – and that is where we went before dinner to have a drink and smoke. They said you could smoke in the dance club, but that usually isn’t open until later at night. There was also a smoking area outside of the ocean plaza on one side of the ship. We never went to the serenity area except the first day when we were checking out the ship and they told us no smoking in serenity area, so we didn’t get to use this area – not even on the port side of the area. We never went back, so I’m not 100% sure if this was correct, but if we want to sit and relax and read our books – we may want a few cigarettes throughout the day – so we chose to stay around the Aft pool. Usually we get a balcony cabin and so the smoking areas are not that big of an issue because we smoke on the balcony in the mornings and before dinner. With an inside cabin, we had to hunt for these places. The weather was great the entire trip, sunny and warm. The smell everyone’s been discussing, yes we smelled it, but it wasn’t sewage it was sulfur like Florida’s well water smell. It wasn’t that bad, just a few times we smelled it. I’ve smelled the sewage smell on some of the smaller ships towards the end of the cruise and this wasn’t it. Maybe they use some type of well water for cleaning, or maybe it is a cleaning product that smells this way – I’m not really sure.

We had a very relaxing time, we didn’t do any of the shows or any activities. We had a great time and I would cruise the Dream again. There were some things I liked better on the Glory. We had zone 31 for debarkation which is one of the last to be called and went down to debark and no lines, got right off the ship and maybe 2 people in front of us in our line at customs. It was probably about 9-9:15 when they called our zone.

Bahamas – We stayed on the ship since we’ve been here so many times

St. Thomas – Went to Magan’s Bay rented chairs and laid on the beach. I wished we had rented the rafts some rented instead as the water was so calm here. It rained on and off the first hour we were there, but then it stopped and it was sunny and hot the rest of the day.

St. Maarten – Went to Orient Beach at the Bikini Beach section. We rented chairs and umbrella for about $20 total. These were nicer chairs with a cover than at Magan’s Bay and for about the same price with the umbreall. It was very windy, but sunny and the water was warm. We ate lunch there and boy was that expensive – the prices were in euro’s and ended up costing us $50 USD for hamburgers and fries for two of us! There were lots of vendors walking the beach area trying to sell stuff like jewelry and beach bags. The same people would come by over and over – it was getting a little annoying towards the end. Especially because they shuffled their feet and because it was so windy, they kicked sand on us everytime they walked by – it wasn’t on purpose – it was just because they kept walking by so close to us. We did like this beach the best.

[dprg644]

Glad you had a great cruise. We also enjoyed the Dream. Thanks for taking time to post your review.

[ParRoo]

Thanks for the reveiw. We are doing the Dream Jan 1. Just trying to decide on a room.

[ParRoo]

Do you know what the spa prices were? For the extras not included in the package.

[Vidimom]

Thank you for the review of the Dream. We are sailing on her 9/11 and I appreciate the information on smoking since we have smokers in our group. Glad to hear you can smoke on one side by the pool. I wasn't sure about that but glad to hear it is allowed.

 

Thanks again!

[willyguy]

Well thank for all of the information.