Carnival DREAM Oct 13-20 Review

[Musky Ike]

Great to hear so far. We board the Dream on Saturday:D A little concerned about Sandy.

[Julienatul]

Thank you for your review!!

[PaCUfan]

Did you stay at the LaQuinta on Atlantic Ave? We are looking for a park and cruise hotel for our Feb and this is one of the hotels we are looking at.

 

Yep! It's a really great value. I'd highly recommend it!

[dontpanik]

can't wait to read your full review. Did you do the Eastern or Western itinerary?

[PaCUfan]

can't wait to read your full review. Did you do the Eastern or Western itinerary?

 

More coming tonight! We did the Western. I've read many reviews of missing ports on this route Bc of weather but we had 4 absolutely perfect days of glassy seas and sunshine.

[Suntanz]

I am interested in your review as we sailed the Dream about 2 years ago and would lik eto go again. My concern is a lot of the negative reviews that have been posted lately.

[workin to cruise]

I am interested in your review as we sailed the Dream about 2 years ago and would lik eto go again. My concern is a lot of the negative reviews that have been posted lately.

I have not been on this ship yet but will be in 6 short weeks. Just remember that many times the most memorable occurrences on a ship are usually the negative ones; therefore, you will see more negative posts than positive ones. It's review like this person is putting together than can give all perspectives. Try to keep an open mind about the 'negative reviews'. If the ship was THAT bad then it wouldn't sell out all of its rooms. A PVP mentioned that they always fill this ship for every sailing.

[PaCUfan]

My apologies for not continuing last night. We have been going full throttle since we got home but I have some time off this weekend and plan on getting the pics on here.

Initial impressions of the Dream once we boarded were that the Lobby Atrium was HUGE compared to the Spirit Class we had previously sailed on. It really was beautiful and wasn't tacky as some people describe Carnival decor. I would classify it as glamorous or glitzy. I love Carnivals "fun" decor.

The music was playing and the duet that sang in the Lobby most all week was very very good. I normally don't pay attention to the lobby entertainment but these two were very fun to listen to and always had a smile on their faces.

We quickly made our way up to deck 10 for lunch before the crowds. We found Lido deck to already have that "fun day at sea" feel when we got there. There was a Katy Perry documentary playing on the Seaside Theatre which bored me. I went to the Mongolian Wok which had two stations side by side. You have an assortment of vegatables to choose from. Once you fill your bowl with vegatables you hand it to the cook and pick your meat. The meat varied all week and the only day I personally saw steak was today. They always offered three and I even saw squid one day. Then you choose your sauce. Bean sauce, Thai BBQ (a little spicy and great taste), or Schetzuan (sp?) which is very hot. I enjoyed this all week but it can get time consuming since the cooks prepare each bowl to order. We frequent hibachi style buffets often and I felt there could have been a better section of veggies. Never offered rice which is my favorite in wok style meals. A little disappointing but still a good meal which I enjoyed often.

[PaCUfan]

After getting my food I experience the first thing that I would find to be frustrating all week. I walked to the left of the Wok station to the drink station and found there was no ice. The Lemonade didn't work. So I walked over to the other side of the wok and there I found I red ice chest in front of the ice machine and inside was a scoop laying on top of some already thawing ice. There was a sign on the drink machine that said closed for maintenance or something to that effect. So I took my food and walked to the aft portion of The Gathering where I found no ice but I did find lemonade and tea. I know that Carnival gets a bad wrap for their tea but personally I have always liked it and found it very refreshing on hot days with a little lemon and sweetner. So I got tea and made my treck back to our table at the pool. One sip of the tea and I found it to be putrid, as if some sort of medicine. It was really awful. I think that since they use syrup for their drinks, that this machine didn't have any water mixed in. After the first day I mixed the tea with 50% lemonade and one packet sweetner and it was very good. Sadly, the lack of ice and working drink machines continued throughout the cruise. The strangest part was the Ice being served in red coolers. There was a scoop but most people just gathered around and scooped with their cup in hand rather than the scoop. I found this to be rather unsanitary.

Back at the table we enjoyed the sounds and sights of people boarding and took in the excitement of the week. As the ship filled up, it was noticeably more crowded than the Spirit class that I was used to but on this particular time the crowd did not seem to be too much for the ship to handle. The ship seems to be well built to handle the passengers but there are instances which I will mention where the crowd was not handled well which I think is staff dropping the ball here, not the ship's inability to hold the people.

The bar staff were out around the pool and they all seemed very friendly, very happy, and one guy with white shades who kinda reminded me of Usher was always dancing and smiling, full of energy. I enjoyed watching him serve people all week. We were asked often if we wanted a drink but they were not pushy at all.

I have read reviews of trash and used plates piling up at the buffet and on lido. I did not experience this. I did not see many staff working the buffet tables all week but they did a very good job of keeping up. My wife mentioned more than once that while eating at the Tandoori station they would even refill her drink for her.

The passengers we met were all extremely friendly. When sailing from Baltimore we usually met others from the Northeast but on this cruise we met people from all over the country and it was a pleasure to meet them all! We only ran into one miserable couple all week. Unfortunately, we sat near them at dinner and had to hear the abuse they gave our servers on a nightly basis. But hey, one instance of that out of nearly 4,000 guests aint bad! Throughout the week we did meet a few guests that had concerns about the ship which I will be mentioning for the sake of giving a complete picture.

[PaCUfan]

SPEAKING OF PICTURES, there will be some I promise!

[PaCUfan]

We were told at check in that our state room would be ready by 1:30. I made an attempt at the room at 1:20 to avoid the dash after the official announcement. Our stateroom was 6377. This was a great location for coming and going on sea days. All we had to do was enter the sliding door at the waves pool, take the elevator to deck six, and make a right around the corner and we were about four doors down. Perfect location. It was a balcony cabin with the standard Carnival look and feel. The room did seem rather worn for a newer ship though. Nothing major, though the duvet was tattered, the lamp shades were wrinkled and broken and had been super glued. Tv was a flat screen but had very poor color. Remote was missing it's battery cover and had tape residue all over it like it was taped on at one point. Again, nothing major but noticeable wear.

So upon walking to the cabin early I avoided the crowds, and found our Steward, Sam, in the hallway. He said to go ahead in and I went in and found the room clean and smelling fresh. Sam was very good to us throughout the week. Very accommodating, which we noticed because we used the room constantly, never saw him come in or out, and always had our cabin taken care of twice a day. We never had to ask for anything. Always had ice, clean beach towels, etc. The stateroom stewards in general seemed to have a good handle on this size ship. We saw many on our long hallway because we would typically use the hallway to get from Forward to Aft before taking elevators to avoid crowds. The stewards seemed to have a great system going and anytime we would pass one they would smile and greet us in a friendly manner. I noticed the stewards used the same red coolers I saw on lido deck to fill everyone's ice buckets. I couldn't help but wonder which couple of stewards lost his cooler for the week. I hope they rotate :D

The only thing to be mentioned about our stay on deck six was one day the cabin across the hall must have had a plumbing issue. There was a access door open in the hall and you could see through to the bathroom on the other side where a plumber was pulling gobs of hair, and other debris out. The stuff he was pulling out, along with some sort of white powder, was being placed on the carpet floor in the hall across from our cabin :eek: . I found that disgusting but luckily it was an isolated incident.

After locating the room I also found that our luggage was arriving. This is the quickest we have ever received our luggage. I called my wife down and we were unpacked and ready for vacation a couple hours before even leaving. At this point we headed out to go back to Lido deck but found all the elevators blocked by luggage and carts. I really wish that at least one elevator would be left designated for passengers per area. We decided to head down instead and check out the Lanai. We really enjoyed walking on the Lanai. We used a hot tub once or twice, but never had much opportunity because they close ridiculously early.

[dshefter]

Looking forward to more of your review. We sail on the Dream on Dec. 8. We have an aft balcony on Deck 9. We also have the Western Caribbean itinerary. We chose this ship for the kids. We have a 9 year old and our friends have a 10 year old and a 7 year old. It will be my first Carnival cruise in 26 years.

[PaCUfan]

Looking forward to more of your review. We sail on the Dream on Dec. 8. We have an aft balcony on Deck 9. We also have the Western Caribbean itinerary. We chose this ship for the kids. We have a 9 year old and our friends have a 10 year old and a 7 year old. It will be my first Carnival cruise in 26 years.

 

They will love the water slides. After sailing on a ship with them I can't imagine not having them!

[cruise_pirate]

They had the same ice issue on our Sept. 1st-8th cruise. I am surprised they did not get it fixed:confused:

[2 cruzen]

Really enjoying your review. A favor though, could you put in some spaces just to make it a little easier to read? Thanks.

[tigercat]

We were on the same cruise as you were. I can't comment on the drink station as either a waiter got my drink (1/2 tea and 1/2 lemonaide) or my daughter did. We also had the hot chocolate a couple of times. All was good.

We were told by some officers on the Lido deck that our rooms were ready. Our luggage arrived really fast as well so that was nice.

Our table was great except for one elderly gentleman who was traveling by himself. He said maybe 4 words the entire time and just scowled the rest of the time.

Our diningroom waiter was the best I have ever had. If you get Conrad you have won the waiter lottery.

Our room had a problem with our toilet one early morning. A call to maintainance and someone was there within 15 minutes fixing it. Never had another problem with it.

The room was a little small for 3 women but most of that was because the 2 newbies had brought a LOT of stuff.

The only problem we had was with the elevators. That wasn't because of the elevators but by the able bodied people jumping in front of my niece and I who had walkers. There was a couple of times that people would come into the area just as an elevator would open. As my niece, daughter and I would start towards them, they would jump into them and push the close button. One even said, too slow...as he frantically pushed the close button. That wasn't Carnivals problem, that was very rude people.

The other thing was (and they corrected) was having someone help us on and off the ship. The ramps when you are able bodied are not steep, but when you have a walker they are really steep. A call to Guest Services and we had no problem after that. I was used to Princess when they always had 2 people to help you on and off the ship. I was happy with the results.

The other thing that happened was I went down the slide for the first time. My daughter was at the bottom to help me up and out. As I stood up and was getting ready to get out of the trough the next person who had been sent down crashed into me and I was thrown back. Guest Services who I contacted sent me right to Medical and they treated me fast and on their dime.

We were in room 11235 which is a Spa balcony room. We loved the Spa and used it everyday. Having the spa just one floor above and with a back elevator was great for getting 2 people in another shower. We also went up to the Serenity deck that way and used that hot tub as it was usually empty at night.

They had gluten free pizza's which I usually had late at night as we would sit and talk in the Lido restaurant. We did watch a couple of movies but could never find out what was playing. My niece and daughter thought that popcorn would have been nice. I know on the Princess ship in Jan. they had popcorn. I was okay because I had the pizza. I didn't even have to order it 24 hrs. in advance as I had to do on our last cruise. He would make up one or two slices for me.

We did enjoy the Punchliner brunch on the sea days. The service the first time wasn't bad but the second time the waiter really didn't speak a lot of English so there was some confusion about our order and things arrived in different times and a couple of things never came. Because we were full anyway we just left. We still had a good time.

I am not sure what else but if I remember anything more I will add to this.

tigercat

[gaylebo35]

Did they have chicken fingers on the line for lunch daily? The reason I'm asking is because we were on the Magic last March and they did not have these on the line for lunch. Love the review!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[reerun25]

Enjoying the review, nice job so far!

[Julienatul]

Did they have chicken fingers on the line for lunch daily? The reason I'm asking is because we were on the Magic last March and they did not have these on the line for lunch. Love the review!

 

They did not have chicken fingers in July on the Dream. I am hoping they put them back but think they were one of the budget cuts.

[gaylebo35]

They did not have chicken fingers in July on the Dream. I am hoping they put them back but think they were one of the budget cuts.

 

It must be a cut back on the biggest ships! They were on the Destiny and the Imagination.... Don't understand why they would cut that out. Kids love them and so do adults!

[wannago35]

I hope OP will return with more on the Dream, we sail her next October and I'm looking forward to reading more!