Carnival Dream REVIEW Oct. 30, 2010 *Lots of Pics!*

[tampabrat22]

This is my long overdue review of our Halloween cruise aboard the Carnival Dream in Oct. 2010. I have been wanting to do this review but just never made the time, with Halloween on the horizon and people starting to ask questions about what type of things they can expect, I thought there's no better time than now! And they say better late than never right?

 

We choose the Dream because #1 it was a new ship, #2 it was with in driving distance, #3 we liked the itinerary, #4 we got a great deal on the Cove cabins by booking ES and #5 I ♥ Halloween and thought it would fun to cruise on Halloween! We managed to get quite a few price drops and ended up paying less for our Cove's than the insides were. The ports we would visit were Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Costa Maya. We were excited to go to Belize & Honduras as we had never been there and we liked the idea of going back to Costa Maya since we hadn't been there since our first cruise! This review will be very detailed, long and include LOTS of pictures (including food!) so it may take a while to finish but I hope you'll hang around till the end!

 

This cruise was our 7th cruise, I always travel with friends & family. This year it was going to be me, my mom, my 13 yr old son and my 8 yr old daughter in a Cove Balcony. This was our first balcony cabin and we couldn't have been more pleased! I decided to take my 18 yr old niece as her graduation gift (her first cruise) and she would be rooming with my cousin (in an inside cabin across the hall from us). My other cousin, her husband and two kids were booked in the Cove cabin next to me and my other cousin (their brother) and his girlfriend booked an inside cabin down the hall from us. So our group started with 12 of us, but unfortunately did not stay that way...more on that in a minute.

 

So we all met up early in the morning at a local gas station near the interstate, filled up our tanks, grabbed some snacks and hit the road. We live on the outskirts of Tampa and we were looking at approximately 1.5-2 hour drive.

 

My daughter Jaden & niece Ashley...on our way!

 

My favorite thing to see when we come up over that last bridge on FL 528/A1A:

 

As we made our way over to the port, we had to wait a bit in traffic. The draw bridge was up for a good 15 minutes or so. Once it was lowered we entered the port area and made our way to the drop off area, it was early not even 11am yet. I let my mom & the girls out, the porters quickly came and whisked our luggage away and my son and I went and parked the car in the parking garage. We quickly walked to the terminal and met up with the rest of our group. After we filled out our health questionnaires we got in line to check in. We were in line very briefly and before you know it we had our number, #5! Me, my mom,cousin and the kids went and found seats while we waited for the rest of our group to finish their check in.

 

The terminal:

 

My cousin Gen

 

My son Tristan, DD Jaden & DN Ashley

 

The rest of our group never showed up so we went ahead and boarded when our number was called (about 11:15am or so), we didn't think twice about it since we always meet up later when we get separated.

 

Looking up when walking into the atrium:

[tampabrat22]

We made our way to The Gathering Lido buffet to get some lunch, we found tables in the back and enjoyed a nice lunch. There was a lot to choose from, but we all choose to eat lightly as we knew we had a week of non stop food coming our way! As we waited longer and longer we started worrying what was taking so long, so off my cousin & I went to find her sister and the rest of our group. Well to make a long story short, my cousin's girlfriend did not have the proper documents to board. She had a Certificate of Live Birth and they weren't going to let her on. They were all still in the terminal trying to get it sorted out and were going to keep us updated on the situation. So we headed out to the Lido area and grabbed a few seats & drinks by the pool while we waited for them.

 

Look at all those empty chairs, lol!

 

The first of many ice cream cones that our group would consume that week, lol my mom & DD

 

So at this point we were now aware that our cousin and his girlfriend were not going to be sailing with us. They had booked about 3 weeks prior to sailing, she was aware of the documents she needed to board...but she choose to not spend the extra $15 to have her Birth cert. shipped express, it didn't arrive on time and in the end it cost them over $1200 because they were not able to sail with us. Sad, but we weren't going to let it spoil our vacation.

 

So around 1:30 we headed down to our cabins. Oh I forgot to mention that I was over the top thrilled with the location of our cabins. I wanted port side, mid ship and when I booked, luckily they were available! It made getting around so much easier, especially for my mom who is disabled (back problems). Being in the center of the ship we were already half way to wherever we needed to go, lol! We once had a forward cabin on the Miracle (all the way forward) and it seemed like all we did was walk from one end of that ship to the other! OK so anyway, I never told my kids that I had booked a balcony cabin so they were surprised and excited when we entered our room. My daughter was actually a little scared at first, we've always warned the kids to stay away from the rails and such but she quickly took to the idea of having our own little deck area, lol.

 

Our cabin #2330

 

 

 

After getting our things put away we headed to the Crimson Dining Room, which was directly above us, for the muster drill or whatever thy are calling it now. On our way we finally catch up with our family so we all go together.

 

my DD and my cousins daughter

[tampabrat22]

It's a gorgeous dining room, wish I had snapped more pics before the safety info.

 

Crimson Dining Room

 

my niece

 

The drill was short & sweet, so much nicer than they used to be when we had to take the vests and stand out in the heat. After the drill we made our way to the Panorama deck to watch the sail away. I love we the ship finally starts moving and the whole crowd starts cheering, I always get a little flutter of excitement because I know we are about to have an amazing week of fun!

 

And we're off...

 

 

don't think I'd want one of these balconies on the lido deck (right side of the pic), we could see right in them!

 

We all stayed out on the decks watching sail away for quite a while then went to the Camp Carnival registration at 5:15. They introduced all the staff and had some dancers come out and do a little show, it was quick and fun for the kids. After that we headed to our cabin's to freshen up for dinner.

 

The first of many gorgeous sunsets we watched from our balcony!

[tampabrat22]

We had the late seating so we had plenty of time. We would be dining in the Scarlet dining room. We were seated at a large table in the back by the aft windows. Our waiters were great! I can not recall their names but they were a great team, they doted on us the whole week and were very friendly. I felt badly for them because they only had 3 tables, ours and two others, and the guests from those two tables never showed up for any of the dinners ( no tips from those guests who never come) and half of our group only came a couple of nights. So most nights they only had 6 of us and we spent a lot of time chatting with them.

 

On our first night I had the flat iron steak, mac & cheese and peas and carrots. No appetizer tonight. I did have the Warm Choc melting cake and my fave the Funship Special but I didnt get a pic ( I was just too tired at this point).

 

After dinner we went to the Welcome Abord Show at 10:15. It was a fun little show and the Fun Force Dancers were amazing!! After that we explored the ship a little...

we stopped by the arcade

 

the teen club

 

and then the internet cafe, where we played on the new Funville at Sea website. It was neat but we never used it during the cruise.

 

 

 

It had been a long day and we were all tired so we decided to call it a night, or so I had thought! The kids wanted to go to the pool, but it was closed, luckily the two hot tubs were empty so they were able to go in there for a while. After an hour or so they finally had enough so we headed to our cabins for a good night's rest!

[rambler57]

So far, so good. Keep it coming!;)

[Rhitson88]

Nice pics. Sorry to hear about your family not being able to cruise. Its usually hit or miss with stuff like that. Sometimes they will just process everything if not paying attention. I know because they had done that with us. Unlike them though we honestly had no idea what we needed to bring. It was our first cruise.

[LBumb]

good job

[Elmo31]

I cant wait to hear more. We will be on the Dream for this years Halloween cruise.:D

[kre1978]

Looking forward to this review!

 

We are sailing the dream this October over Halloween, so excited!

 

 

So, the girlfriend had a birth cert, but not one with a raised seal?

[tampabrat22]

Looking forward to this review!

We are sailing the dream this October over Halloween, so excited!

So, the girlfriend had a birth cert, but not one with a raised seal?

 

She had a Certificate of Live Birth, I'm not real clear on the difference between the two. I never saw it so I'm not sure if there was a seal or not, from what I heard it may have been the "keepsake" kind that were given in the hospital.

 

I'll post Day 2 tomorrow! I have all the Fun Times and the Camp Carnival activity schedule for the 6-8 yr old group, it's been a while but if anyone thinks they would be useful I'd be happy to scan them in as well!

[kre1978]

Jessica, I would love the Camp Carnival 6-8! My dd will be 8 on our cruise and I have to decide if I should put her with her 10 year old sister or keep her in the 6-8 group. TIA!!!

[Elmo31]

They are pretty strict with keeping the children in their correct age group. I dont think you can put the 8 yr old in the next age group as we have tried that before and the answer was NO. But then again things sometimes happen.

[UMBeachRebel]

Enjoying your review so far, I am looking forward to hear about the Halloween activities that they offer. My girlfriend and I, her mom, and her 6 year old nephew will be sailing this year on the Dream, the week before Halloween, and I read that they do the Halloween week before and the week of. Also, I would like to see what they offer for the 6-8 year olds.

 

Thanks!

[UMBeachRebel]

Enjoying your review so far, I am looking forward to hear about the Halloween activities that they offer. My girlfriend and I, her mom, and her 6 year old nephew will be sailing this year on the Dream, the week before Halloween, and I read that they do the Halloween week before and the week of. Also, I would like to see what they offer for the 6-8 year olds.

 

Thanks!

[jdcml]

If you happen to have any pics of the cabin with the beds all made up it would be appreciated. I can't seem to find a quad cove pic. I know it is essentially like any other quad - but still :D

[tampabrat22]

I will scan all my Fun Times & Camp Carnival papers at work tomorrow so that I can upload them for those of you interested.

 

Jessica, I would love the Camp Carnival 6-8! My dd will be 8 on our cruise and I have to decide if I should put her with her 10 year old sister or keep her in the 6-8 group. TIA!!!

 

We have been able to change our kids groups a few times on our cruises, it usually depends on how full the groups are and the person you ask.

 

If you happen to have any pics of the cabin with the beds all made up it would be appreciated. I can't seem to find a quad cove pic. I know it is essentially like any other quad - but still :D

 

I didn't get any pics with everything down, but I have this pic. The couch my mom is sitting on turns into a bed (you can see sheets sticking out of the bottom :/) and the bunk pulls down directly above that in the same direction.

 

[dotheyes]

great review

like yourpics

dot

[Meyer2]

Great start to your review.

[tampabrat22]

OK, here is the Camp Carnival activity schedule for the 6-8 group. Sorry I don't have any other age groups, my son hasn't gone to any of the kid/teen stuff in years, so I don't even bother getting them for his age group anymore.

 

The first attachment is the cover, the second is the inside of the schedule and the last one is the back cover.

CC 6-8.pdf

CC 6-8 week.pdf

CC 6-8 back.pdf

[tampabrat22]

Here are the weeks Fun Time newsletters. On some of the days the little handy tear off list of hour by hour activities that is found on the side of each schedule, is missing. But the newsletter has all the same info anyway.

 

They are in order from Sat- Sat and there are 2 pdf's for each Fun Times, one for the front & back and one for the inside. Hope these help someone out!

1.pdf

2.pdf

3.pdf

4.pdf

5.pdf

6.pdf

7.pdf

8.pdf

9.pdf

10.pdf

11.pdf

12.pdf

13.pdf

14.pdf

[smurfm69]

Enjoying the review and pics. We are planning to sail on the Dream October 2012 on the Eastern itinerary, and can't wait to see the new ship.

[tampabrat22]

DAY 2 Halloween @ Sea!!

 

My mom was the first one up this morning, she had room service deliver her morning coffee. She had requested to have it delivered around 8am, but it came much earlier, around 6:30. And this turned out to be an every day thing, so by mid cruise we started putting a later time than we really wanted since no one wanted to get up at 6:30am each day, lol.

 

Sunrise...

 

were passing the Florida Keys

 

Once we were up & ready we headed to Lido deck early (about 9am) in hopes of finding a nice spot to spend a few hours (my son slept in for a while). The Dream was the largest ship we had sailed on, I was worried when I read all the stories about the horribly long buffet lines, but that was rarely an issue. Finding a table on the lido deck, now that was hard. Luckily this morning we were able to snag a table. Close to the food, the pool and the Seaside Theater...what more could you ask for!

 

 

 

We were all looking forward to the omelets we have come to love on Carnival. They had quite a few lines going for the omelets but since they are made to order the line does move a bit slow, so we split in two groups, some of us stayed in the omelet line while the others grabbed a few things from the other line (drinks, bagels, fruit etc). It worked out well because we were both finished about the same time and we could now go enjoy our first poolside breakfast.

 

 

We all enjoyed our breakfasts, only disappointment...our first encounter with the bacon police! Yes, they were rationing the bacon. Once upon a time you could get it yourself now you have to stand in a line and wait to be served a few pieces, it's a shame that they have to do that, but I understand with all the waste and such. After breakfast my daughter spent a while in the pool, then headed to Camp Carnival to color a t shirt. By now my cousins, niece and the boys were making their way to the lido deck. The boys checked out a basketball and went to play some hoops. We all spent a few hours here just talking, relaxing and enjoying the cool breeze.

 

[tampabrat22]

My daughter came back with her spiffy new Carnival shirt (they gave it to them FREE at Camp Carnival!) and was looking forward to more pool time. So while she swam we enjoyed some more time relaxing, having a few drinks and watching the entertainment.

 

my niece

 

my cousins

 

my absolute fave drink...the Funship Special! YUMMY! The cup says it all!

 

does anyone remember a show on BBC or PBS called Bananas in Pajamas? I couldn't stop laughing when I saw these guys! They had on pajama pants and banana heads so I am guessing that is what they were suppose to be?

 

And can you guess what this guy here won (center of photo)?

 

Yeah, the hairy chest contest! No doubt he deserved it, lol!

[tampabrat22]

We stayed out by the lido deck and watched the hairy chest contest, the Master Mixologist competition and the pumpkin carving. Some might find these things silly but we find it quite fun!

 

 

 

My daughter was real excited to find out they were now serving ICEE's on board. They were $2.50 I believe and she savored every.single.drop! What can I say, she is easy to please.

 

 

It was getting pretty late so around 3 we decided to head to our cabin to get refreshed, my daughter wanted to attend the Halloween themed Kid's Celebration at 5p. So back to our cabins we went.

 

It was a BEAUTIFUL day!

 

 

not sure what ship this was but I felt sorry for the passengers...it was headed home!

 

[tampabrat22]

My daughter all dressed up in her Jesse the Cowgirl dress, ready for a party. The girls enjoyed this little celebration. It lasted 45 minutes and was held at Camp Carnival. They had, snacks, drinks, dancing, crafts and some goodies for the kids. While they were here it gave us some time to start getting ready for dinner and the family trick or treating!

 

 

My daughter and her cousin Dessia.

 

The family trick or treating started around 7pm so we made sure to be there for that (after my daughter changed into her other costume, she just couldn't decide, lol). It was really crowded and ended up being a big disappointment. You had to go to Camp Carnival to pick up a little trick or treat bag & map, then head to the different stations throughout the ship to get the candy. But there ended up being a major backup when the big crowd coming in to get their bags/maps blocked those trying to get out. And the rude behavior was flying high here and no, not from the kids, it was the parents! Parents were cutting the line, pushing, shoving and acting like spoiled children with no manners! We had to step to the side and wait for the spolied parents to clear out...it was ridiculous and it's sad that parents are setting such bad examples for their kids. So once the girls had their treat bags we made our way about the ship, they had 10 candy stations. At each station they were given 1 piece of candy.

 

 

you can see the treat bag in the lower left

 

They had a lot of Halloween decor which was nice to see!