Dream Review

[Dreamgal]

 

Sailing Date: January 9th, 2005

Itinerary: Western Caribbean

 

This ship is quiet a disappointment.

 

SHIP - The ship rocks from the time you get on until the time you get off. It rocks even when the weather isn’t bad and the waves aren’t high. (This is not my first cruise and I know for a fact that it shouldn’t rock that bad. This will be my last cruise with NCL!!!!!)

 

This I can tolerate, but the following was unacceptable.

 

FOOD - The food was either under cooked or over cooked, if you even got what you ordered. There were some nights that you never got what you ordered. Some of the people at the same table may have ordered the same thing and they got theirs. There were some nights that you had to send food back because it was inedible. When you went to the Sports Bar to eat breakfast, the oatmeal and grits were nothing but water. You couldn’t even get a spoon full of either all you got was water. Then you couldn’t find a table. You would have to go outside to eat.

 

ROOM - The rooms are really small but manageable. The first four nights we reported that the air conditioner wasn’t working in the room. They say they fixed it. However, the air didn’t work until the Saturday night that we were coming home. When you tried to turn it down or even make the heat come on, instead it just got colder. Which means that the heat didn’t work either.

 

Room 6264 creeks everywhere. Which I understand there is nothing that can be done about this. There were a few nights that I thought the window was going to fall out. There were several places on the ship where the floors squeeked and you thought that you were going to fall through.

 

We reported the first three days, that the pull out couch bed was broken. When the bed was pulled out it was in two pieces. There was a huge gap or hole in the exact place where the middle of your back would be. On Wednesday night they finally actually put a board under the mattress which helped to some degree. On Friday they actually sent a maintenance person to look at the bed. He said he had just been contacted about the problem. He then proceeded to properly fix the bed. It was missing some boards that go horizontally to actually hold the mattress in place.

 

One of the nights the water was turned off for whatever reason. There was no notice, you just were in the middle of taking a shower, all soaped up and then - no water.

 

SERVICE - We tried several restaurant. Four Seasons proved to be the worst. The waiters were rude, they never smiled and actually acted as if they were going out of their way to bring you anything. We had asked for more orange juice and the waiter actually rolled his eyes. When we asked for hot chocolate they talked amongst themself and stomped off to get it. Which took forever. We actually witnessed them drop a towel, pick it up and proceed with delivering your order to you with that same towel holding the plate. We heard several other cruisers making the same comment. (There were two waiters that we found to be exceptional. Their names are Stephens and Michael. They are waiters in the Terraces Restaurant. When these gentlemen are serving you, you will not have an empty glass of anything and you will get what you ordered in a timely manner. You can request them when you get on the ship)

 

This ship only serves juices the first few hours of the morning. There was never enough ice, coffee or tea. Therefore, you were forced to either drink water or purchase drinks from the bar. Not everyone drinks alcohol. Even when you would go to the bar and order a smoothie, they didn’t have what you wanted. The first night on the ship, we ordered a strawberry smoothing and was told that they didn’t have any strawberries. We tried it again around Wednesday and also on Saturday and was told the same thing. However, if you ordered a strawberry daiquiri you got it.

 

My advise is to stay clear of this ship.

 

[MAHICK]

Amazing how so many people can have such a good cruise on the Dream yet others think it is a nightmare.

 

Mark

[MobileMystic]

It seems that Dream cruisers either loved or hated the cruise. There doesn't seem to be anything in between. Leaves me a little concerned about my upcoming cruise in March!

[Micktooth]

I sailed the Dream last Feb and I have to admit the ship leaves a lot to be desired. But remember, you're on a cruise, try to have fun. The ship did rock, the food wasn't great but do you know what? We had a great time! Stick with it y'all.

[mbisson]

Dreamgal

Just wondering what the size is of the other ships you've sailed on. The Dream is smaller than most and more prone to rocking.

 

thanks

-Monte

[bwellen]

We were on the EXACT same cruise as Dreamgal and we had a very pleasant cruise. All of our waitstaff were excellent and very pleasant. We found the food to be good to very good.

 

The only night that I found the motion to be excessive was the night we left Cancun. The seas were really rough that night (we had waves spashing against the windows in our cabin) but other than that we found the motion to be consistent with other ships we have been on.

 

No problems here!!!!

[liv2cruise4ever]

I sailed the Dream last Feb and I have to admit the ship leaves a lot to be desired. But remember, you're on a cruise, try to have fun. The ship did rock, the food wasn't great but do you know what? We had a great time! Stick with it y'all.

 

:)Hey Mick, which cruise last Feb? We were on the one Feb 1 - 8. No Cancun. We still managed to have a great time. How can you not have a great time on a cruise? Been on many, its how you deal with situations. People need to quit thinking about what to complain about and start enjoying themselves. Yes the ship did rock a bit on the last nite back into NO, but it was rough out there. In fact, they even lost a lifeboat that nite.:o Gone! Roll with the punches.........:p.

[calee]

I've cruised more them 2 dozen cruises over the last 25 years and find it funny that the Dream is considered a "small" ship at 50,000 tons. My early cruises on "normal" ships were in the 17,000/20,000 ton class. I know, the newer ones are 100,000 tons plus and are awesome......I just have to marvel at how far the industry has come.

[mbisson]

I agree 100% calee! IMO-they're starting to reach the point where they're too big. But, they are putting more activities on them and the ride is smoother, so it's not all bad.

 

BTW-have you looked at the specs for the UltraVoyager class that RCCL is coming out with. I think they'll need a people mover system to get from one end to the other.

 

-Monte