My review of the Dream, 11-24-12 sailing

[hckyfan68]

A few more pictures

From our balcony

 

 

Thant's it for now. I'm hoping to get the last sea day posted tomorrow. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I should be able to answer them during work tomorrow

[PathfinderEss]

Really enjoying your review. Looking forward to more.

[wags_in_the_peg]

great stuff, sorry to put pressure on you, but enjoying it a lot. we are on in 3 weeks!

[hckyfan68]

Sea Day 2

 

As usual, I woke up at 6:00. This is completely normal for me. I normally get 4-5 hours of sleep a night. I headed up to deck 10 to see what the weather was like, and to my surprise, it was gorgeous! I had hoped our last day we could spend some time on deck reading, relaxing, trying out the slides, and of course drinking. Nicole and Jenny had a plan that they were going to drink the alphabet. They worked on their list during dinner the night before, and they were determined to complete it. There were a few letters that I was sure they wouldn't be able to complete, but I was looking forward to seeing them try.

 

The night before, I found a stowaway. We seemed to have picked up a bird from Costa Maya. I had called guest services last night, but by time someone showed up he was gone. After I had brought down coffee for Nicole, I went out on the balcony. Our feathered friend was back! I said good morning to Fred (Don’t ask why I named the bird Fred) and enjoyed the view while sipping my coffee.

 

Fred the stowaway

Can you guess what we are heading towards?

Nicole checking the weather

[hckyfan68]

We met Brian and Jenny and we headed up for the Punchliners Brunch. We had a free drink coupon and not using it would be alcohol abuse as far as I was concerned.

 

I love Carnival. Call me a fanboy if you wish, but I enjoyed both cruises we have been on and 98% of the time everything is great no real complaints. But, the brunch was a little disappointing. The service was fine. The drinks were good and strong. The food was ok. I chose plain french toast with sausage. Now you can have it crusted with various types of cereal (Frosted flakes, foot loops, etc.). I like my French toast crispy on the outside and soft inside. That is not what I got. It tasted fine, but it was very soggy. I did not finish it. I knew that there was no way I would go hungry so I wasn't worried.

 

Lemon bread

My Mojito

French toast

Nicole's simple fried eggs

[hckyfan68]

By time we had finished brunch, the weather had turned to crap. It rained, the winds picked up and the seas got choppy. Nicole, Brian and Jenny headed to the library to check out the cribbage board and I head back to the cabin. I realized that I had left my camera on the table. My heart sank, virtually the entire cruise was on the card in the camera and I was worried. I hauled ass from the back of the ship praying that someone had turned it in and didn't just take it.

 

I talked to the hostess and she told me to check the table as they hadn’t finished turning it over yet. I got to the table, and the camera was gone. I was pissed at myself for leaving it there. Suddenly, our waiter came up to me and said he had just turned it to guest services. I thanked him profusely, and went and retrieved me camera.

 

I met everyone in the Gathering for many rounds of cribbage. It was fun and a great way to pass the time. But, we were all disappointed that the weather was crappy.

 

Jenny was my partner for cribbage

Nicole was getting whooped this game

 

The Captain has the ship flying!

The head wind. Brian has a picture of it reading 95 km/hr

 

Here is a link to a video of the ship cutting through the waves..

 

I know I didn't finished the day, but unfortunately I need to get to bed. I will finish up tomorrow and give an overview/summation of the whole cruise.

[hckyfan68]

Sorry about the delay, but here is the rest of the 2nd sea day along with my overall thoughts of the cruise.

 

We found ways to pass the time. The rain would stop and we would venture out on deck, but it never took long for it to start up again. Unfortunately tomorrow we would be leaving the Dream, so we headed back to the cabin to pack the clothes we wore during the week and we got ready for dinner.

 

I'm sure you can't tell, but they made it snow in the atrium.

[hckyfan68]

The night before, Dragos (our bar waiter, who was excellent!) promised Nicole and Jenny that he would bring them some special drinks tonight at dinner. He had seen the list they were working on and he wanted to help any way he could. Dinner was excellent once again as was the service.

 

The drinks Dragos had made for Nicole and Jenny

 

Crab cake

Potato and cheese soup

Frog legs

Panko crusted fried shrimp

Mahi mahi

[hckyfan68]

Showtime tonight was a song.

 

Our Maitre D ( I have no idea what is name is, we never met him)

 

I Made (our assistant waiter)

Florian (one of two bar waiters we had during the week)

Arris our head waiter and Nicole

[hckyfan68]

Espresso Ice cream pie (AWESOME!)

 

 

Brian and I love cheese, we are from Wisconsin after all and the cheese plate we something we had joked about all week.

I know a cheese course is quite common in fine dinning, we just thought it was funny to have it listed in dessert. It was very good.

 

After dinner we went back to our cabin and finished packing. And got ready to head to the comedy club to watch the second comedian's adult show. He wasn't nearly as funny as the first one we saw, but he was still very entertaining.

 

Because of the weather, the Dream was rocking and rolling quite a bit. So after the show, we all decided just to try and get some sleep. Me, of course was interested in sleeping yet. It was only 11:00. So I roamed the ship and took a few more pictures.

 

The Atrium

[hckyfan68]

They closed the front quarter of the ship because of the wind

 

The famous whale tail

 

Debarkation was as easy as embarkation, and in no time we were at our shuttle and headed to the airport.

[hckyfan68]

Like many of you, I have read many reviews on the Dream. Quite a few of them were very negative. It go to the point where I just stopped reading them as I was afraid I would start doubting my choice. I can say we didn't have any major problems with the ship or crew. In my opinion, the ship didn't rock any more than the Liberty did. I never encountered the "smell". The food was always good, as was YTD service. Well, except that one night, but I chalk it up to the fact we had never sat in his section before.

 

Brunch wasn't anything special, and if we didn't have a free drink I don't think we would have gone. While having the comedian do his thing didn't bother us, it really didn't add anything to breakfast.

 

I want to give a shout out to a few crew members. Dennis our room steward, he was excellent! If you get him, you will be very happy and satisfied with his service. Maria, a bartender at the Blue Iguana. She was great, very friendly,and she makes great drinks! Nice and strong. Nicole will recommend the guava margarita and I recommend the Green Iguana.

 

If you have YTD, and Arris is still on the ship, definitely try to sit in his section. He and his crew will make you feel welcome every time. They are very friendly and you will have a lot of fun with them. Depending on where in his section you sit, you could have either Dragos or Florian as your bar waiters. Both excellent. They are prompt in taking your orders and they check back on a regular basis to see if you need anything. Both very friendly and personable.

 

I would recommend the Dream to anyone who asked and my last tip is take all reviews with a grain of salt, including mine. This is my view and opinion and while we did have a few problems through out the cruise, none of them were bad enough for me to complain or to ruin my cruise. Go with an open mind and your cruise will be fantastic!

 

You know, maybe I should have complained about how it rained so much during the last day and a half and asked for a full refund! After all, why can't Carnival guaranty the weather while I'm on board! LOL just kidding, I couldn't help myself. :D:p

[hckyfan68]

Can't wait for your review - we are in the SAME cabin in less than 17 days!!!How did you like it? I know it is a bit more narrow than the other wraps, but it is our first cabin like this kind.

 

How was your room steward?

 

Did you sneak on any liquor? ;)

 

How about the piano bar?

 

Here is a video of the balcony. I hope it gives you an idea on how big it is.

 

[demos]

Enjoyed reading your review with photos. I don't think I will ever figure out how to post pics. Thank you for taking the time to write a Dream review there are never enough. :)