New on Carnival Dream

[red1966]

This will be my second cruise the first one was on Royal Carribean and it was a big big disappointment. I am looking to book a reservation on the Dream but would like a little information as to what there is to do on the ship. Ex: Putt Putt, Entertainment, Pool Tables, etc. I know when we went on Royal Carribean they didn't have much to do and it was geared more toward kids. My husband and I are in our 40's so we still enjoy getting out and doing things except partying. :D

 

Thanks

Chrissy

[firefly333]

I find the day time activities remarkably similar from Carnival to RCL. both have trivia, both have activities at the pool RCL has the belly flop carnival has the hairy chest. and so on.

 

on the newer RCL ships (you didnt say which one you were on), they have a lot more sports activities available.

 

Jewel OTS has the self leveling pool tables, none on carnival I can think of.

 

I cant remember if Dream has putt putt or not.. several Carnival ships do have this.

 

Carnival will also have much smaller pools and fewer of them which to me is a daytime activity, but Carnival has slides on their ships rather than rock wall climbing.

[red1966]

The RCL that we took was on the Freedom of the Seas.

[crooksy532]

We have not yet been on the Dream but are doing a lot of research before we go. They do have putt putt but they close early supposedly. We are upset about that one. We play every night on RCL after a few drinks. There are no pools in the adult area, except hot tubs, from what I hear, which I think also close early. We just booked for August so I will be writing a review afterwards.

[Bo Didly]

I would say the clubs are more active on the Dream than Royal. ;)

 

For 40ish crowd people.

[red1966]

Thanks for all the input.

[tropicaledrink]

We just cruised the Dream last month - if Butch is listed as the cruise Director, you are sure to have a good time!

 

We don't usually use this stuff, but there was a full basketball court, ping pong tables, large chess sets, corn hole in the atrium, and of course, the waterworks area.

 

There several musical groups playing in different venues each and every night. Of course, there was also Karaoke.

 

Punchliner comedy club happened 4 out of 7 nights we were on board - something we really like about Carnival! Music revue numbers in the theater 3 out of 7 nights (the other planned activities in the theater were the Welcome Aboard show, a performance by Karen Grainger, and the Carnival Legends show - one night it was "dark", but there were still some activities going on in there - a line dance class, trivia, etc. The main activity on the "dark" night was the color wars lounge hop (DO IT! It was a blast!) and the mega deck party. There were 3 or 4 laser shows on the lido deck as well. There was never once a shortage of activities to do. If you go to John Heald's blog, you can see some of the recent funtimes as well.

 

One thing I LOVE about the Dream class is the Lanai - no chair hogs there! And plenty of hot tubs to jump in! It was never crowded down there.

 

A word of wisdom - if you are booking a balcony, I would recommend decks anywhere on deck 7, anywhere on deck 8, or 9 forward (or a cove balcony on Deck 2) - 6 is right above a bunch of public areas, not to mention people on the Lanai can usually look right at your balcony, and if you are close enough to a hot tub, they can look right into room from the hot tubs. The decks I mentioned have people above and below you, which is what I usually look for. :)

 

Also, if you are looking at the Western itinerary, don't go on that itinerary just for the Mahogany Bay stop - the Dream is notorious for missing this port due to safety concerns with high winds. We did the Eastern itinerary, and loved it!

 

There was NO shortage of activities, and yet I didn't feel pushed to do anything either. Butch tends to make less frequent, but longer announcement (typically one late morning and one around dinner time), and I really appreciated that. I would rather hear one long announcement than several short ones.

 

If you have specific questions please ask, but definitely search these boards too. Several have done photo reviews of the Dream in the last few months, which were very helpful to me!

[sail-a-bration]

I think you would like HAL, the passengers were more middle aged. We went on HAL to Alaska and loved it.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Yes, there is mini-golf

 

 

[Sargent_Schultz]

We have not yet been on the Dream but are doing a lot of research before we go. They do have putt putt but they close early supposedly. We are upset about that one. We play every night on RCL after a few drinks. There are no pools in the adult area, except hot tubs, from what I hear, which I think also close early. We just booked for August so I will be writing a review afterwards.

 

There is no pool in Serenity. The whirlpools there do close relatively early.

 

The adult pool and spas are Deck 10 aft and stay open later.