Documenting the dream western caribbean 01/21-28/2012; the money monkey goes cruising

[radrayjax]

Forward view of the PORT side of the serenity area. The lobby door is near the forward stairs to the Sky Deck:

 

Doors to the restrooms at the forward wall of the port side of the serenity area:

 

Interior of men’s restroom, port side of the serenity area:

 

Sinks of men’s restroom, port side of the serenity area:

 

Aft view of the port side Serenity area. Note that this side has standard loungers and the starboard side has the clamshell/round chairs:

 

Portside stairs leading to the Sky Deck:

[radrayjax]

Confusing as is sounds, the next few shots are of the aft area to the FORWARD section of the Sun Deck...

 

Aft facing view of the portside Serenity area:

 

Port side – Entrance to the kiddy slides – above and to the rear is the support and deck for the large slides on the Sky Deck:

 

Port side – Aft view of the slide spirals from the Sun Deck:

 

Rear Stairs of the STARBOARD Sun Deck leading to the slide on the Sky Deck:

 

Looking aft and down to the Spa Deck from the STARBOARD Sun Deck:

 

Looking aft and down to the Spa Deck canopy from the Sun Deck:

[radrayjax]

Port side – Aft view of the Spa Deck and smoke stack on the aft portion of the Sun Deck:

That’s it for the forward section of the Sun Deck. Tomorrow I’ll finish the Sun Deck with the unmentioned MIDDLE section and the aft section.

 

After that I’ll continue DOCUMENTING THE TRIP with day 2 – First Sea Day.

[VIQT]

I've really enjoyed your review so far. I must add the Destiny to a future voyage. Wish you had a chance to get on the Breeze before I do next year.

[radrayjax]

DOCUMENTING THE SHIP: SUN DECK MIDDLE SECTION...

 

Here is a mini expose' of a part of the ship the Carnival doesn't want you to know about. Oh, the shame! The horror!

 

Going back to my last photo above, in post 253, you see a raised area just behind the large screen that appears to be right in front of the smoke stack. At least from this perspective. Here is a closer look:

 

Closer view of raised area in front of smoke stack:

 

From the view above you can clear see the jogging track behind the large screen and in front of the raised section. It also appears that this is connected to the aft part of the Sun Deck that supports the stack and has the basketball court (the netting seen to the aft above). Let’s review another perspective taken from on high from the Sky Deck slide top deck (posted a couple of days ago):

 

Raised area in front of smoke stack, seen from the slide upper deck above the Sky Deck:

 

 

From the above photo you barely notice that there is a gap between the smoke stack support housing and this “mysterious” middle raised area. Let’s try to bring it in better focus:

 

Raised area in front of smoke stack, seen from the slide upper deck above the Sky Deck:

 

Now you can see the arrows pointing to the back railing on the raised area and the “gap” which is really the mini golf course on the Spa Deck, amidships. According to the Sun and Spa Decks deck plans, this raised area DOESN’T exist! Per the Spa Deck plan below, the area immediately forward of the golf course is clearly a deck area. NO such area is there. This is the raised area, off-limits to the public, which consists of machinery housing and a crew-only sun-bathing deck.

 

Aft half of the Spa Deck (12). Note the area in red:

 

I don’t begrudge the hard-working crew a break area in any way, shape, or form; I just wanted more accurate deck plans to reflect the existence of this raised area. I kept going around and around this area trying to figure out why I couldn’t get to it. Oh, well…

 

The Sun Deck raised middle area seen from the aft mini golf course:

[radrayjax]

SUN DECK AFT SECTION

Moving on…The aft section of the Sun Deck can only be reached by passengers from the two aft staircases from the jogging areas on the Spa Deck.

 

 

Walking from the forward sections of the ship, the following photos show the Sun Deck areas supporting the smoke stack, as seen from the Spa Deck.

 

Starboard side view of the front of the Sun Deck smoke stack area:

 

Port side view of the front of the Sun Deck smoke stack area (Seen from the Spa Deck):

 

 

Closer view of the port side forward corner of the Sun Deck aft section:

 

Walking to the far aft of the Spa Deck, we come to the stairs leading up to the aft section of the Sun Deck. The aft area of the Spa Deck houses the Chef Art Steakhouse and this can also be reached by the rear elevators, but I’ll cover that when I document the Spa deck.

 

Port side stairs leading from the Spa Deck to the Sun Deck aft section:

 

Port side forward view of the small observation deck and the rear port corner of the basketball court:

[radrayjax]

Sun Deck Aft Section, Port Corner Views:

 

Port side forward view aft machinery housing and corner of the basketball court:

 

Port side forward and upward view aft corner of the basketball court and funnel:

 

Port to starboard view of the deck behind the aft machinery housing:

 

Port side aft view over the rear railing:

 

Starboard and upward view of the front of the machinery housing:

 

Starboard view of the area between the basketball court and machinery housing:

[radrayjax]

Close-up of water fountains and bench in front of the machinery housing:

 

Close-up of basketball court operating hours sign:

 

Port side basketball court and view of rear of funnel:

 

Diagonal forward to starboard view of the funnel and part of the starboard court:

 

Starboard view of the starboard basketball court from the aft port corner:

 

Aft and starboard view of the machinery housing seen through the netting:

[radrayjax]

Forward view of the crew-only area to the port side of the funnel housing:

 

Forward and starboard view of the rear of the funnel housing through the netting:

 

Starboard view of the starboard court from the forward port corner:

 

Aft view of the port court and machinery housing from the forward port corner:

 

Starboard to port view of the front of the court netting and rear of the funnel housing (crew-only area):

 

Forward view starboard side of the funnel housing (crew only area):

[DetroitMike1]

Is there a psych or alcohol issue here?What the heck?

 

Come on... Cut the guy some slack. That is entirely not necessary...

 

Is this a "normal" review? Of course not. But, frankly, "normal" reviews are a dime a dozen. And, IMHO, they typically spend more time discussing either specifics of the reviewer's personal trip (complete with hundreds of pictures of the reviewer), or personal complaints about the trip. This one covers the SHIP itself. He stated it in the beginning, and if you don't like it, you have every right to not read it.

 

Honestly, I kind of like his style of review. It certainly gives a fresh perspective, and gives you and incredibly in-depth look at the ship itself. If you disagree, that is 100% your right. But to slam the guy? Waayyy out of bounds.

 

Just my $.02...

[radrayjax]

Close-up of the above view:

 

Forward and upward view of the bottom of the funnel:

 

Forward view of the starboard court seen through the netting:

 

Port view of the aft machinery housing and rear of the court:

[radrayjax]

Come on... Cut the guy some slack. That is entirely not necessary...

 

Is this a "normal" review? Of course not. But, frankly, "normal" reviews are a dime a dozen. And, IMHO, they typically spend more time discussing either specifics of the reviewer's personal trip (complete with hundreds of pictures of the reviewer), or personal complaints about the trip. This one covers the SHIP itself. He stated it in the beginning, and if you don't like it, you have every right to not read it.

 

Honestly, I kind of like his style of review. It certainly gives a fresh perspective, and gives you and incredibly in-depth look at the ship itself. If you disagree, that is 100% your right. But to slam the guy? Waayyy out of bounds.

 

Just my $.02...

 

Thanks! As you can see (those of you that hung in there), I'm making better progress than last week, now that I've got over 1000 photos processed and many culled.

[radrayjax]

We're now at the starboard aft corner of the Sun Deck...

 

 

Aft and starboard view of the observation deck to the rear of the Sun Deck (The to of stairs leading to and from the Spa Deck starboard side can be seen):

 

View to port of the shower behind the aft machinery housing:

 

Aft view of the Spa and Panorama decks aft starboard corner observation areas:

 

Another deck has [fairly] quickly been covered. Tomorrow, I continue to DOCUMENT THE TRIP, with DAY 2 – First Sea Day. But first and advance look…

 

[radrayjax]

Advance look at the Fun Times for January 22, 2012:

 

 

 

 

Again, this image was created by aligning two Fun Times' tear off pages:

 

 

Posting the activities for the second day will go MUCH faster than the first day. As I noted above, I’ve processed all the photos for this day and culled MANY. I’m going to try to use the best photos to tell the story of the day. I’ll try to have this day posted in the next two days.

 

CONTINUED TOMORROW…

[Hogladyrider]

Come on... Cut the guy some slack. That is entirely not necessary...

 

Is this a "normal" review? Of course not. But, frankly, "normal" reviews are a dime a dozen. And, IMHO, they typically spend more time discussing either specifics of the reviewer's personal trip (complete with hundreds of pictures of the reviewer), or personal complaints about the trip. This one covers the SHIP itself. He stated it in the beginning, and if you don't like it, you have every right to not read it.

 

Honestly, I kind of like his style of review. It certainly gives a fresh perspective, and gives you and incredibly in-depth look at the ship itself. If you disagree, that is 100% your right. But to slam the guy? Waayyy out of bounds.

 

Just my $.02...

 

WELL SAID DetroitMike, I agree completely.

 

We sail Dream for the 2nd time in Oct 2012 and I am thoroughly enjoying this review and his perspective!

[rtw68]

Thanks for doing this detailed review!

 

We were on the Dream in December and this is bringing back some great memories.

 

I am really enjoying all the photos of the ship, keep up the good work! :D

[Pennyscandy]

LOVE your review. Hope you will take questions and answers at the end.

[travlngrl1996]

I would like to add that I too am really enjoying this review. I have not sailed on the DREAM, but this review truly makes me want to sail her. I also think that I could navigate on this ship after this most comprehensive review and wonderful pictures. Thanks for you time and great effort that you are putting into this review. :)

[Minoushka]

Still waiting for Casino slot shots You can take them when no one is around ...just a thought

[radrayjax]

LOVE your review. Hope you will take questions and answers at the end.

 

THANKS, Penny! I'll take questions and try to provide answers at ANY time for anything I've covered. I don't want to give away details of decks I haven’t covered yet. The question about the casino, again, I took a googleplex of shots on deck five and it is a VERY complex deck to cover. It will be done in its turn.

 

The gist of this write-up is to provide photographic evidence for anything I discuss where ever possible. The already noted exception will the behind-the-fun tour, but I'll have a major twist for that by the time it rolls around!

[radrayjax]

WELL SAID DetroitMike, I agree completely.

 

We sail Dream for the 2nd time in Oct 2012 and I am thoroughly enjoying this review and his perspective!

 

Thanks! I quickly realized after my reply to DetroitMike that the "flamer" from last night probably didn't get past the 2nd or 3rd post before firing off a "Quick Reply" that got "buried" around post 257. So, commenting on that post didn't do anything because the original poster pulled out about 13-14 pages ago!

[luckybecky]

Keep it coming, Radray!! I love seeing photos and you've got more photos than anybody! Thanks for all your work to share this with us.

[MadamG2U]

Horrid time at work this week. The best part, coming in and reading your review. Again thank you thank you for taking the time to put this together.

 

MadamG2U

[shootr]

3 weeks until it is our turn. Thanks for the fresh perspective and for giving me lot's of ideas for photography opportunities.

[futureAG]

Im Still hanging in there!! It's been great!! I wish you could do the Magic before I sail! HaHa!! Keep up the good work!!