1st time Carnival cruiser (DREAM) complete review & pictorial (from a NCL cruiser)

[JP4GA]

Love your review. We just got home from the Fansitation, and sail the Dream next summer. So now I am reading everything I can about the Dream.

 

Love the pictures.

[mitsugirly]

So my thoughts on Nohoch Kay. Not at all my "type" of place. Now keep in mind, these are just MY opinions, opinions and taste vary, but this is my experience.

 

It was not exactly what I had expected or hoped for. I did not find the place "pretty", I did not find the place to be anything special.

 

The service was excellent and they bugged you non-stop for drinks and food. If we didn't want anything, we just simply told them so. We knew they would be right back soon to ask again.

 

Yes, there were plenty of people walking up and down the beach trying to sell you things. No, they were not told to leave and continued to come back all day long.

 

OH>>>>>>> I forgot to tell you all mt "peddlers" story. There was a lady who came around over and over trying to sell things and we had told her no several times. So this time around she came back with the huge bubble sticks and was blowing bubbles (using the wind) all over the beach. Of course when they got to our camp, having 2 young children who of course loves bubbles, they started playing in them. They ran up and down the area chasing the bubbles and was having a great time. At one point the lady made the mistake of handing them both their own set of bubbles. I laughed and thought "if this is your strategy to get someone to buy bubbles, you just messed up with this family". They opened them up and started playing and blowing bubbles. I mean come on, they are 5. What kid isn't going to do that. There were bubbles everywhere. Now they were standing a little ways from us (close to the sailboat) and we were just sitting there watching. I noticed the lady say $3 to the kids and pointed over at us. The kids of course walked over to us and "showed" us the bubbles their new friend had given them. They didn't understand what was going on and I played along and said "awww, how fun." LMBO. The continued to play with the bubbles and the lady just stood there. Then finally she looked at me and said "three dollar" and I looked at her and said "no mulla". The look on her face was priceless and it was even funnier to watch her try to coax the kids in to giving her back the bubbles they had been playing with. Let this be a lesson peddlers...don't hand a child something, let them play with it and expect it to be easy to get it back from them. They are children. Make sure you ask the parents first and get your money first before handing something to a child because it will be returned to you only half full. I know, now I'm a bad irresponsible parent, but hey, at that point I was in one of those moods that I was tired of being asked over and over to buy her things.

 

No, there is not really any good snorkeling here.

 

No, it's not really the type of place to swim here either. However, if you have little ones, it could be the perfect place because the water is pretty shallow and the water was calm the day we were there.

 

No, we did not think the food was anything special, but did manage to find something we liked in the end.

 

No, we did not encounter that "friendly owner service" that everyone talks about. He did not even bother to come over and talk to us other than the time I was scolded for bringing the conch to show my daughter. He never even really acknowledged us during the entire day.

 

No, getting a cab back to the port was not an easy task, even with the help of the owner who allowed numerous people to jump ahead of us.

 

If you are the type that wants to just go somewhere and hang out all day doing nothing but eating and drinking non-stop for 1 price, I guess this can be the place for you. We didn't find the drinks to be strong at all, so it would take quite a bit to get you going.

 

We simply did not care for this place. It's just our opinion. For the amount of people we had in our party, it would have cost us an extra $16 pp to go to Maya Chan and I found myself wishing that we had went there instead. But it is what it is and now I can say I experienced Nohoch Kay and the Malecon and now I can also say I won't be going back. ;)

[Rollar11]

Do you know of any places that has clear blue water? I'm going in 3 weeks. Have you been to Tequila beach?

[mitsugirly]

We did the normal thing, shower, throw the hair up and lets go. I really don't remember the details at this point. I know some time after we pulled out of port Sakari and Brayden wanted to head to the "Camp" and we took them later on in the day.

 

They were only there for maybe a few hours, with our "phones in the pocket" and for some reason we decided to go pick them up. On the way up there, we were walking threw the door to CC and the phone was ringing. I stopped to pull it out of my purse and the hubby continued to the window to pick up Sakari. When I answered, they hung up. I had seen that it was the camp calling (yes, the phones have caller ID on them). When I walked in, they were explaining to my husband that Sakari and Brayden wanted to leave. Um ok, I have never known my kid wanting to leave any kids club...ever. Every NCL kids club we have been to, she begged non-stop to go to and would cry when she had to leave. I did notice that this NEVER happened this cruise. We would have to actually ask her if she wanted to go there and she would just simply agree. She never had a problem leaving and she never begged to go. Just weird.

 

So instead of them just leaving it at "she wanted to leave"...which I found out later that she nor Brayden said that....ever, the counselors continued with the negativity and "attitude" that we had experienced during the entire cruise with them. She proceeded to tell me that Sakari (and Brayden) refused to do any of the activities with them. She didn't want to participate in anything. She just sat there and refused. She wouldn't do the projects, she wouldn't make anything, and she didn't enjoy being there. Um ok again. This is not my daughter!! You don't understand, Sakari is my "art child". We don't buy her a bunch of toys for her birthday or for Christmas, we buy her "projects". She gets paint and paint brushes, clay molding, planting flowers stuff, tons of regular drawing paper, finger paints, construction paper, crayons, markers, drawing boards, art easels, sun catchers...and every other kind of art related thing you can think of. Her teachers pulled me aside just a month ago and told me about Sakari's "art" skills. They said all she loves to do is draw and make things. Her "skills" were way above her age level. She goes in to great detail. She loves to draw animals and it's not a typical body, legs, head drawing...it's detailed to the max. She draws pictures non-stop at home of her cruises. She will draw the ship, the port holes, people in the windows looking out, the smoke stack with smoke, the deck chairs, it has the water, she will put whales, dolphins, fish and starfish in the water. She will add the sky and the clouds and the smiling sun. She will draw an airplane, it will even have the runway wheels. That's how much this girl loves to draw. Her teacher told me that some day she would make a good illustrator. They said they get companies that donate paper to the schools and they wanted to donate some to Sakari. They knew it would be put to good use...and it has.

 

So now this PLACE is telling me that she refuses to participate in the activities. Yea...riiiiightttt! Something just did not jive at all. At the time we were picking her up, they had the tee-shirts lined up on the floor and Sakari was sitting beside hers. They were getting ready to "color" their shirts.

 

Remember this?

 

 

Well it sure didn't look to me like she wasn't participating. They yelled for her to come over and told her she was leaving and they gathered up her shirt and handed it to us. She was UPSET!!! She cried all the way out the door and we would hear nothing but complaining the rest of the night because she wanted to color her shirt. We ask her over and over if she had ask to leave or told the counselors that she wanted them to call us to pick her up and she told us over and over that she did not say that. :mad:

 

I also have to add that when we picked her up, this is what she looked like...

 

 

Yep, that looks like a kid that doesn't participate in activities to me for sure. COMPLETELY ROLLING MY EYES AT THIS POINT. So now the hubby and I are starting to feel a little hot under the collar and I didn't even have a collar on. Kendra was a little upset as well. Although Brayden is not the "activities type of kid" like Sakari is, he did come back with his face painted and things that he had made too during the cruise.

 

My blood continued to boil the rest of the day. Especially the two ladies that talked to us about Sakari's inability to participate with the "class". These same 2 ladies and 1 other were the same ladies we always seem to catch an attitude from. I do know that the worse ones name was Svetlana. I made it a point to look at her name tag the following day when I reluctantly took Sakari back to the Camp during our final sea day. She had the nastiest attitude about her and the way she spoke to you was just demeaning and degrading every time. She's one of those people that acts like someone who should not be taking care of someones precious child. Some times I write things off to "they're having a bad day", but I'm sorry, this is just not the case with this lady.

 

We would continue to dwell on this subject for the rest of the night...as much as I wanted to just let it go, I couldn't for some reason. But, I didn't let it spoil the day completely.

 

More on this subject on the next sea day. :mad:

[mitsugirly]

Do you know of any places that has clear blue water? I'm going in 3 weeks. Have you been to Tequila beach?

 

For the beautiful crystal blue Caribbean water, head to Almplena. My review with tons of pictures are in my signature line from our Star cruise in December. :)

[mitsugirly]

I sooooo appreciate the comparison between LFK and Maya Key, Since we are going on Dream in October but also planning to visit once more on Liberty we are probably going to flip a coin, lol. It is hard to decide! For me i am leaning towards Maya Key because of the snorkeling, the abundance of animals, the pool (i like to get in after getting out of the ocean), and the food. Do they offer kayaking for a fee?

 

There wasn't any kayaking at Maya Key, sorry.

 

I forgot to mention in my comparison that Maya Key also offers a sea lion show and you can have your pictures taken with them and I believe they have a swim with the sharks and possibly stingrays there too. By the time we discovered it (not that we could have done it because Sakari was too little according to THEIR guidelines), they were done for the day. We did get to see the sea lions though.

[lovebelle]

I have to say, I really am enjoying your review! Im not even sailing on the Dream or this itinerary but you piqued my interest :)

 

About Camp Carnival, Im not sure what their issue is and I have never taken advantage of them since my little one is too young, but I think it definitely warrants a letter to someone. I can let certain things go, but considering these staff member specifically seemed to have an attitude the entire time also makes me wonder how they were treating your child. Maybe not blatantly mean, but indifferent enough to make Sakari slightly uncomfortable (which is maybe why she never seemed overly enthusiastic about the club). Anyway, Im just speculating but I would at least email Someone to express your dissatisfaction.

 

On a lighter note, hilarious about the canoer getting stuck in the Sea grass. I needed a good laugh and you gave such a good picture of that, I nearly spit my drink out laughing :)

 

My heart broke for Brayden a bit though, Ouch on his sunburn! I admit I found myself wanting to shake your daughter Kendra a bit for Allowing it to get that far. (and admiring your patience in keeping quiet and allowing her to parent her way...my mom is not so patient). But I guess had that not happened you all would have never discovered the noxema trick (great tip btw, my husband burns so easily I will have to pack some on our next trip).

 

Anyway, thanks for your amazing detailed review!

[mitsugirly]

I have to say, I really am enjoying your review! Im not even sailing on the Dream or this itinerary but you piqued my interest :)

 

About Camp Carnival, Im not sure what their issue is and I have never taken advantage of them since my little one is too young, but I think it definitely warrants a letter to someone. I can let certain things go, but considering these staff member specifically seemed to have an attitude the entire time also makes me wonder how they were treating your child. Maybe not blatantly mean, but indifferent enough to make Sakari slightly uncomfortable (which is maybe why she never seemed overly enthusiastic about the club). Anyway, Im just speculating but I would at least email Someone to express your dissatisfaction.

 

On a lighter note, hilarious about the canoer getting stuck in the Sea grass. I needed a good laugh and you gave such a good picture of that, I nearly spit my drink out laughing :)

 

My heart broke for Brayden a bit though, Ouch on his sunburn! I admit I found myself wanting to shake your daughter Kendra a bit for Allowing it to get that far. (and admiring your patience in keeping quiet and allowing her to parent her way...my mom is not so patient). But I guess had that not happened you all would have never discovered the noxema trick (great tip btw, my husband burns so easily I will have to pack some on our next trip).

 

Anyway, thanks for your amazing detailed review!

 

Thanks for following and glad you are enjoying it. I too want to shake some sense into Kendra, well truth be known, about 90% of the time. She's so laid back and relaxed and I accuse her all the time of "not watching her kid close enough". I'm the opposite parent, I'm a worry wart, I don't let my kid out of my site (and I didn't with Kendra or her older and younger brother). I sometimes think I'm a little obsessive with my thoughts and will think about all of the "bad" things that could happen or go wrong at any place I'm at to the point that sometimes it stresses me out. But I think that dates back to being a hospital employee since the early 80's and I have seen first hand things that could happen and I'm always "aware" of my surroundings. The day before we spent the entire day out by the pool and although we didn't "burn" you could feel it a little on the skin. I even borrowed one of Braydens extra tee-shirts for Sakari to cover her up for some added protection (and she normally doesn't burn...she just tans and blends right in with the Mexicans, gosh I love her skin) because I didn't want her to experience any pain. I told her several times that day to put a shirt on him. She paid the price along with Brayden because he made a few of her days miserable just like he was. ;) Some day she'll learn.

[Sh1035]

Ok I will stop hitting refresh since I have been following your review since day one and love it! Could you please run out and do a quick eastern on the liberty since that's my next cruise ;)

 

I have nothing but praise and glad you give all the cruise lines a shot. Like you I never got the room service thing on a cruise even after about 20 of them. I guess if my crutches were too far from my chair??? But like you why sit around and wait when you can just go grab something to eat??? Now I understand for those that can't be out in public until coffee ;) plus I'd rather people watch then eat on my balcony???

 

Not sure what's worse my grandson is only 2 and being raised as a vampire baby. I live on the beach and am out in the surf everyday and he would never be allowed to do such a thing unless he was in a sun proof bubble...:(

[nodogkisses]

Kim, I'm so glad we got to finally meet you over here on the Carnival board. Your Dream review is like a good book you don't want to put down and I, too, have hit the refresh button many times the past couple of days. I got to relive my western Dream cruise through your family. Thanks! I, too, am a psychotic researcher and really appreciate the detail. Now I plan to go and read all you NCL reviews, as I'm planning a cruise on that line next year. I cruised once on NCL in the mid 80's, but I'm thinking it's time to branch out and experience something new and give them a whirl again. Don't have a specific cruise in mind, but I'm sure after I read your cruise reviews, I'll know that I know that I know. Thanks again. Best review on CC EVER!

[mitsugirly]

Ok I will stop hitting refresh since I have been following your review since day one and love it! Could you please run out and do a quick eastern on the liberty since that's my next cruise ;)

 

 

I would love to, where's my ticket? :D I did the Eastern side in Sept 2010 and I'm dying to get back. Where are you going? I have shorter (before I got windy) reviews on St Thomas, St Maarten, and Nassau, in my signature line. My goal is to start doing Eastern again next year (and Southern since that's one I haven't done yet.)

 

 

Kim, I'm so glad we got to finally meet you over here on the Carnival board. Your Dream review is like a good book you don't want to put down and I, too, have hit the refresh button many times the past couple of days. I got to relive my western Dream cruise through your family. Thanks! I, too, am a psychotic researcher and really appreciate the detail. Now I plan to go and read all you NCL reviews, as I'm planning a cruise on that line next year. I cruised once on NCL in the mid 80's, but I'm thinking it's time to branch out and experience something new and give them a whirl again. Don't have a specific cruise in mind, but I'm sure after I read your cruise reviews, I'll know that I know that I know. Thanks again. Best review on CC EVER!

 

Aww thanks. That makes me feel like I'm an official Whale Tail cruiser now. :D Maybe I'll feel a little more comfortable around the Carnival boards now that I can officially say I have cruised with Carnival. There's nothing worse than a person coming along and giving their .02 on a board that they have never even cruised with. I didn't want to be that person. :)

[nodogkisses]

After you run out and do that eastern on the Liberty, can you quickly get back to NCL and go to Bermuda on the Dawn? I need info.

[mitsugirly]

after you run out and do that eastern on the liberty, can you quickly get back to ncl and go to bermuda on the dawn? I need info.

 

gladly!!!

[mitsugirly]

So after picking up the kids, we decided to go back to the room and take a little nap. Although the day wasn't strenuous, the week had been and I did only get 4 hours of sleep the night before.

 

On the way back, I snapped another picture of the glitzy balls and glitter on our Dream....I didn't realize until I downloaded the picture that Kendra had jumped in there and gave us a "face"...she's always unpredictable, goofy, and full of life. Hmmm, I have no idea where she gets that from. ;)

 

 

Sakari took a picture of her and the monkey from the night before since he was still "hanging around" in the room.

 

 

So the intentions were to lay down for a couple of hours and get up, go eat, and maybe catch a show.

 

I believe we slept for about 2 1/2 hours...well at least I did and it was almost 9:00pm. I decided to get up and go out on the deck to see if anything was going on. (I had no idea what time it actually was). As I was walking around, my belly reminded me that it was hungry so I decided to head back to the room and get the rest of the family up. I woke up Sakari and she just opened her eyes and gave me that "really?" look. I ask if she was ready to get up. Her reply "no, I'm tired." So I said "Are you hungry and want to get something to eat?" Sakari- "No, I'm just tired." Ok, now normally at this point I would pull out all the stops and it would work....Me-"Do you want to go visit your friends?" (Now I said this knowing that she never passes up an opportunity for that, but I also knew that they were going to be closing and after our little problem today, I wasn't taking her, but figured it would at least get her up). Sakari "No, I don't want to go there." :eek: I would never in a million years think that she would refuse this and she did. What does that tell you? Something was not right with that place.

 

I tried to wake the hubby up. He pulled the pillow over his head. Ok, I get it, obviously they weren't going to get up and I was going to have to finish off the night on my own. I do know that Kendra said she had wanted to dress up and get their family pictures taken that night, but I had no clue if they were still doing that. (I found out the following day that they did and they were doing this about the same time I was up and wondering around the ship alone).

 

So first things first...my belly. I headed back to the deli and got one of their wonderful wraps. That did the trick. I spent the rest of the night wondering around the ship taking most of the wonderful pictures of the glitzy ship that I shared with you in the beginning of my review.

 

I stopped in for a moment to see what show was playing and once again, it was the same singers and dancers they had all week long at the shows. I only stayed for a moment and decided even though it was a different show, it was still kinda the same, just different music (and theme) and different props. I know people said the entertainment was terrible on the Carnival ships and I actually thought the shows were pretty good...until I had went to several of them and started noticing it was the same people over and over just a different show. It got kind of repetitive and I was tired of seeing them. I guess this is where Carnival does lack, but yet it was something I can deal with. I don't really cruise for the entertainment, but if it's there, it's an added benefit and gives you something to do.

 

Now I will totally admit, I did not read the Fun Times front to back and I basically did what I do on the NCL dailies. I look along the side column to see what's playing when and decide what I want to do each day. However, on the side with all of the listed times, it would just say something like 9:30pm showtime in the Encore theater. I thought it was strange that it didn't tell exactly what was at the show. Kendra later laughed at me and told me I had to look at the middle of the inside to see the show for the night and what it was about. :rolleyes: I guess the whole thing just read funny to me because I was use to NCL's and didn't pay attention.

 

Also NCL has all of their shows in the main theaters. I guess I also expected this on any ship. I kept wondering why I didn't see any comedy shows or this acrobat show that I had heard of there. It was always the same singers and dancers. I took out my old Fun Times and noticed they were having shows at multiple different places on the ship at night. THAT'S why I wasn't seeing much of anything. OK, lesson learned. I will read the Fun Times from front to back next time around and pay closer attention to WHERE things are located. LOL

 

I stopped by the casino for one last spin for luck and actually walked out about $100 richer in about 30 minutes time. Yea me. :D

 

Since there was no need to get up early the next day I believe I stayed out until around midnight (I know, it's early but I'm out running around by myself and well, I became bored).

 

So back to the room I went and found the family still asleep and I was about to do the same thing. Zzzzzz

[battchief1]

Great review and have loved every minute of it. One question, when visiting Costa Maya have you ever went to the Tropicante at http://www.sandalsandskis.com/Tropicante.html? Just wondering if it is OK.

[mitsugirly]

Great review and have loved every minute of it. One question, when visiting Costa Maya have you ever went to the Tropicante at http://www.sandalsandskis.com/Tropicante.html? Just wondering if it is OK.

 

No sorry I haven't. I have heard it mentioned on here several times along with people saying the owner, Steve, is awesome as well. (Although they said the same thing about Nohoch Kay and the owner Jamie and we didn't find that to be the case). I do believe that Tropicante is basically about the same as Nohoch. It is also located in Mahahual along the Malecon. It seems to be just another restaurant, the malecon walkway, and then the beach, which is the same as Nohoch. So it would be along the same strip that we were. But I do know people seem to like it.

[Knights on the Beach]

Thanks so much for posting your review and pictures; it's been very enjoyable! My niece got married on the Dream the year before last and while we were unable to go on that cruise (schedule conflicts), we did get on the ship and attend the wedding and reception. We had some time to explore the ship before the wedding and I took lots of ship pictures. Shortest amount of time we ever had on a ship! ;) Anyway, we're seriously thinking about doing this itinerary on the Dream next year, so your exoerience has been very interesting. We actually visited the exact same ports on Valor and also went to Playa Mia and did a cave tubing tour in Belize.

 

I've sworn by Noxema for sunburns since I was 12 and got burned at summer camp. The nurse gave me some to use and it was like magic!

 

Our kids are adults now, but our youngest used to love Camp Carnival. I would have been livid if we'd had a similar experience to yours with CC. Thanks again for sharing your cruise with us!

[mitsugirly]

Our last full day...and a sea day. We were going to make the most of it and probably spend most of the day at the pools. We really hadn't swam at the big pool or the pool in the back, so it was my goal to at least spend a little time there today.

 

We actually got up a lot earlier than I had originally planned, but that was because we (they) got so much sleep the previous day and night and I was ok with that.

 

Up, showered, then headed down for breakfast. Today I would pass on the omelet station and just have some french toast and waffles plus my usual bacon. Now one thing I TRULY missed about NCL was their "cream" that was used on the waffles and their crepe stations. They are to die for. I couldn't find this amazing cream anywhere. It's my favorite and I have even tried to find something, anything, that comes close to it and I can't. It is just so good. (Maybe I missed it? If I did, please someone correct me so I'll know next time).

 

One thing I did notice, which was neat but I didn't try it, was they had different flavored "butter". Every day I would notice something different. Blueberry butter, strawberry butter, well you get the picture. I imagine it was pretty yummy, or at least it sounded like it, but I just have never been one to put butter on my waffles or pancakes, so I didn't start now. I have never seen that on any NCL ship.

 

So we decided it was time for some pool fun and we started at the water park and slides. Yes, it was only like 9 in the morning. LOL

 

We did the water slides over and over and over again. When mom and dad had to rest, Sakari would head over to the kiddie water park area. On the top little deck (a few steps up on the platform to the small slide) they had a control wheel that you could turn the water coming up from the floor on and off. Sakari loved "surprising" the "new" swimmers of the day with blasting them with water as they climbed up the steps on to the platform.

 

 

They also had areas that you could pull a cord down and water come down on you (remember the picture of her giving Brayden a drink?).

 

 

Some of the kids had showed her the improper way to go down the slide and she took full advantage of it and so did the other kids.

 

 

I would continue to take picture after picture that day of every angle of every area of the water slides and park...you know, just to make sure I got a few that I liked. I took tons of videos too. I plan on putting them all together and making 1 video. I should have thought about this sooner, but I'm really not a "video" person although I use to be. My husband was the one that had to keep reminding me to capture some video.

 

Today would be the day that we went on the Twister more times than I think I have ever went down a water slide. Before long, Sakari was climbing all the way up to the top and going by herself. I was just wearing down quickly. My knees can't handle going up the steps the way they could a year ago. I have some crepitus in my right knee and although it doesn't hurt yet, the sound bothers me and I tend to baby it some.

 

About that time, we ask Sakari one last time if she wanted to go play with her friends. I was really interested in knowing what her answer might be this time. She answered yes. Hmmm, ok. We would see how this goes. It was about 11am I think and we got her fed and dressed and went to drop her off. They informed me that I was to pick her up at 12:45 because they were closing for most of the day. :eek: What??? "Most" of the day? On a full sea day? Are you serious? Who does this? Obviously just Carnival I guess. When I ask them what time they would be opening, they mumbled sometime around 7pm. "Sometime? you don't know?" I thought this was ludicrous and couldn't believe what I was hearing. They were going to be closed, on a full sea day, for 6+ hours. Wow...definitely a F- Carnival. Do you realize what money you could potentially be losing by parents not being able to drop their children off on a full sea day and being able to head to the casino or drink or whatever? We confirmed with her one last time if she was sure she wanted to stay awhile because she was only going to get to play for less than 2 hours and she said yes. We signed her in, I gave her a little "Have fun with your ACTIVITIES today" loud enough to be heard by the counselor speech, and we went on our way.

 

However, we would continue to "spy" on her during the time that she was in there to see what "activity" she wasn't participating in while she was there. We wanted to be prepared in case they told us something and then we could confirm whether or not it actually occurred.

 

Now, we had went by several times to check on her during the week, both inside to the door where you pick them up and also outside and peeking in the windows (because the deck you walk around and chairs are out there) and I have to admit, I didn't actually notice this until I started thinking about it after our little "talk" with the counselors. But...every single time that we had came in or looked in, the children were ALWAYS sitting in front of the tv area either watching a movie or having a book read to them. It was always quiet in there and the kids were always SITTING, doing no activities other than listening and watching the tv. Now of course I KNOW that's not all they do, but I'm just saying they seem to be doing a lot of it whenever we checked up on her. This time would turn out no different. When we peeked in on here, she was sitting with the group.

 

***MAKE NOTE*** Doing this review has made me pull out the Cruise Activity Schedule that I ended up getting for the kids club and I'm looking at Friday: A Day At Sea and the times of activities and I just discovered this....it specifically states on there that they CLOSE AT 3PM!!! Not 12:45 as they had me pick her up at. It states to pick up the children at 3pm. From 3-4pm they are closed for the Beary Cuddly Workshop, which cost money and is done with the parents. Closed from 4-6pm for the Fun Force Show and cleaning. Yes, this so called show they told the parents that their children would be dancing in and mine wasn't. Then it states from 6-6:50pm is a "Kid's Only Dinner". Um ok, so you are telling me that my child isn't invited to this? Because you just told me not to bring her back until 7pm. This makes no sense at all to me now that I'm looking at it. No sense at all!!! Now I do take responsibility of not checking out the schedule like I should have, but I can tell you that NCL not only gives you the schedule, but will inform you of upcoming events that day as well and ask you if you'd like to participate. If you tell them yes, they tell you what time to drop them off. Camp wasn't telling me of any events and I guess I should have been reading the schedule a little better and I could have questioned them about the things on there...like telling me I couldn't bring my child back until 7pm when in fact they were having a child's dinner at 6pm with the children. :mad:

 

Another incidence that occurred during the week was I had dropped Sakari off at the Camp and we ran in to Kendra about an hour later. I told her that Sakari was at the Camp and she said she was going to go drop Brayden off as well and would meet back up with me. Well, she came back WITH Brayden and I ask her what was going on. She told me that they said they were not open until x:xxpm (I can't remember the time or day, I would have to ask Kendra) and not to bring him back until that time. Um what? If they're not open then where is my daughter? Are you serious? I'm confused again. So she dropped him off at the instructed time and she said "Sissy was just standing there and she looked bored". :confused:

[mitsugirly]

Thanks so much for posting your review and pictures; it's been very enjoyable! My niece got married on the Dream the year before last and while we were unable to go on that cruise (schedule conflicts), we did get on the ship and attend the wedding and reception. We had some time to explore the ship before the wedding and I took lots of ship pictures. Shortest amount of time we ever had on a ship! ;) Anyway, we're seriously thinking about doing this itinerary on the Dream next year, so your exoerience has been very interesting. We actually visited the exact same ports on Valor and also went to Playa Mia and did a cave tubing tour in Belize.

 

I've sworn by Noxema for sunburns since I was 12 and got burned at summer camp. The nurse gave me some to use and it was like magic!

 

Our kids are adults now, but our youngest used to love Camp Carnival. I would have been livid if we'd had a similar experience to yours with CC. Thanks again for sharing your cruise with us!

 

 

There was actually a wedding and reception going on when we boarded the ship. Then we would later run in this couple at one of the shows and they were hilarious!! Details on that later. But this couple had been on the Dream 2 or 3 years ago and that's how they met. So, they decided to actually get married on the Dream this time around since they met that way. The whole family was there...mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles. They were a hoot.

[cruisinqt]

I just had to pipe in and tell you how sorry I am about your camp carnival experience. :( Our daughters started cruising at the ages of 3 and 5. They will be 14 and 16 on our cruise on the Dream this summer. Many of those cruises were with carnival and they loved it. They made candy jewelry, painted, loved build-a-bear workshop, and always had a blast. :) They fussed when I picked them up because they didn't want to leave and begged to go to the late night pajama parties. Camp Carnival has always had wonderful caring counselors that had tons of fun activities planned. I hope you don't let this one negative experience sour you on Camp Carnival. The way you describe your kids experience with the kids club on NCL is how we've always experienced Camp Carnival.

[falkcor]

just wanted to say this has been a great review, and i have spent more time reading it than i'd like to admit lol. very much looking forward to reading the rest of it and your comparisons from an ncl perspective. it's still early so i hope this is another night owl session, because i want to read more :)

[mitsugirly]

We headed out of the Camp and around the corner. There is a hot tub there and we found Kendra and family in it.

 

I snapped a picture and should have known by the "darkness" of the picture that I was on the wrong setting. However, I didn't bother to check and just thought the photo was a little "off".

 

 

So we chatted for a few and told them we had been at the slides and waterpark all day and had just dropped off Sakari and would be back to pick her up in about an hour or so.

 

We decided after awhile to walk over to the window to see what Sakari was doing and when we peeked in, she was sitting down and they were reading a book to them...or that's what it looked like.

 

About the time we walked away and started to head toward the back of the ship, we heard this LOUD, VERY LOUD, SUPER LOUD sound and all I wanted to do was hold my head and duck. I felt like the world was about to end. Oh my gosh, last year I was on NCL's Star on the day the world was supposed to end (LOL) and now I had talked myself to going on a Carnival Ship where if the world WAS going to end, it would be there. (haha, Carnival joke). Just before cruising the Dream, the Carnival ship lost it's engines and they were stranded, then the Dream was stuck in St Maarten with the back up generator not working and those "poor people" were forced to be stuck in St Maarten to explore the beautiful island for days and could come and go and then flown home with their transportation paid for a another cruise in their pocket (I would have given anything to be on that poor cruise), then a ship caught fire, then I was thinking there was something else in the news right after that...now...now we were all going to die on the Dream and we were about to blow up!!! How did I convince myself that it was ok to try out Carnival? What was I thinking. The beauty a great time we had all week was just a cover up. We were about to die.

 

Well it turned out being some type of jet fighter plane, now I'm not a plane person, so I have no idea about them, but this thing was FAST and doing tricks and was flying super close across the top of the ship sideways. It was actually a little amazing. My mom use to have property in South Carolina on Edisto River and we would visit her in the summer months and these jet fighter planes would fly over and the sound would make you drop to the ground thinking you were going to die any minute now. It's so neat how you don't hear them coming and then they break that sound barrier and the sound is so loud following them.

 

I was hurrying to get my camera out, still on the WRONG setting and we headed to the back of the deck and waited. Everyone that was sleeping on the back deck was now wide awake and it had brought every person back there to a standing position. We all sat around and waited...then out of the sky it came again. I was video taping...poor quality. I knew that I would never be able to get any pictures...it would turn out a big blur and I wasn't going to miss it.

 

So these shots are from my video instead. Ignore the poor quality.

 

 

 

I zoomed right by us flying low

 

 

 

Once it got past us, it shot straight up in the sky to where we could no longer see it and then all of a sudden it come flying out of the clouds headed straight down for the water twisting and turning, doing circles all the way down and then darted off back in the other direction. They were definitely putting on a show for us. I say they because Mr Jetfighter Spotter could spot them in the clouds from a very long distance (I was standing beside him) and he was counting them...I believe there were 3. He would let us know when he seen one coming (I swear this guy had xray vision or something) and we would all prepare to take pictures.

 

One last visit within our viewing range and then they were gone.

 

 

We lived to tell about it and I guess Carnival was a good choice after all. :D

[mitsugirly]

I just had to pipe in and tell you how sorry I am about your camp carnival experience. :( Our daughters started cruising at the ages of 3 and 5. They will be 14 and 16 on our cruise on the Dream this summer. Many of those cruises were with carnival and they loved it. They made candy jewelry, painted, loved build-a-bear workshop, and always had a blast. :) They fussed when I picked them up because they didn't want to leave and begged to go to the late night pajama parties. Camp Carnival has always had wonderful caring counselors that had tons of fun activities planned. I hope you don't let this one negative experience sour you on Camp Carnival. The way you describe your kids experience with the kids club on NCL is how we've always experienced Camp Carnival.

 

Trust me, it did sour my taste for the crew on this ship, but it will not affect any future thoughts of Carnival. Sakari has always loved going to the kids club...begged to go...cried to go...cried when she had to leave. I don't for one minute believe that they all could be this bad. I see it as an issue with the counselors on the Dream...well not all of them. Some were very nice and polite. There was one that we really liked. Just 3 that were not so polite that we had the problems with. Although they do reflect on Carnival and the Camp program because they are employees of Carnival, they do not make me believe that the program itself has to be that bad. I'm hoping it was an isolated experience and when we sail with Carnival again, I hope things are a lot better.

 

just wanted to say this has been a great review, and i have spent more time reading it than i'd like to admit lol. very much looking forward to reading the rest of it and your comparisons from an ncl perspective. it's still early so i hope this is another night owl session, because i want to read more :)

 

Too late, you have just confessed. You have spent too much time on here. :p I'm still working on it in between reading chapters in my book. More to come tonight trust me. ;)

[falkcor]

Too late, you have just confessed. You have spent too much time on here. :p I'm still working on it in between reading chapters in my book. More to come tonight trust me. ;)

 

awww man, busted. :o

 

anyhow, there are not many reviews i read from start to finish... but yours is one of them, so kudos! :)

 

i've got a few hours left in me. bring it on ;)

[mitsugirly]

I'm sorry, I had to stop for a moment to regain my thought trail of this day. Sakari just came to me to inform me that whales eat krill and so on. She cracks me up with her knowledge of animals. I know her teacher thinks that she will grow up to be an illustrator, I hope she grows up to be a doctor because she is so loving and caring and she actually does all of my "homework" with my lab performance test with me (she listens to your heartbeat, takes your pulse, wraps your boo-boo's and tells you to go to bed and rest for 2 days LOL) She even has her own medical cart with supplies (it's a kids real medical cart I bought, I mean Santa bought her for Christmas this year), but honestly I think she's going to be a marine biologist or something. Or the next "Jack Hanna". Do you all know who that is? The famous zoo keeper that is always on tv and shows. Well, his zoo is here where I live.

 

Anyhow, back to the review. The jet fighters had just gave us a show and I was pretty upset that Sakari had missed it. She would have loved to see them and I know it would have excited her to no end.

 

We would take another peak in the room and then go pick her up early.

 

Then it was back to pool time. I told you we were having a day at the pool. I don't even know why I actually dropped her off at the time. I really only wanted to ask her if she wanted to go because I was sure she would say "no" after the night before of being so upset about not getting to color her shirt. But, she shocked me, so I had to at least let her go for a little while.

 

We decided that we wanted to head to the "big" little pool in the middle of the ship. Every day that we had even considered it, it was super crowded with no place to swim. For some reason, it wasn't too bad at the moment. I'm not sure where everyone was since it was a sea day. I would hope they weren't on some excursion I didn't know about in the middle of the sea.

 

Sakari jumped right in and I pre-warned her that the pool would taste like the ocean so she needed to keep her mouth closed. On our previous cruise, she jumped in the pool and it shocked her so much to find out it was sea water that she flailed her arms around like she was drowning and the staff thought I was the worse mother ever by watching such a small child just jump in to the deep end. I got the evil eye for a long time from them because they didn't realize that she could swim. After awhile, they figured it out and they were more at ease and I recovered from the "terrible moma" award of the day. So today was different thank goodness. She jumped in and swam and knew ahead of time that it was not going to taste good if she opened her mouth.

 

She swam everywhere while I seen much older and bigger kids that didn't know how to swim while I over heard a few parents say "Well, she's probably about 7 years old or so and can swim." Um ok, she JUST turned 5 two weeks before the cruise and she hardly looks the size of a 7 year old. Their children looked to be about that age, if not older, so telling them that she is about 7 should not have brought them comfort if that's what they were trying to do. LOL I don't know, I just thought it was strange, but yet I'm so proud of the things that she can do at her age. She just has that adventurous I can do it by myself attitude and she does. All she needs is her goggles. You take her goggles away from her and she will act like you just took her site and she can't swim. Weird.

 

 

 

Then we decided to head to the back of the ship for some pool time in the even smaller pool. Since my husband had reminded me most of the day that I needed to get some video footage, I then forgot to take pictures. So, these pictures where once again pulled off the video. Sorry for the quality.

 

 

Yep, she ended up with several bruises from the first sea day and the water slides. We were pretty banged up by the end of the cruise. But it didn't stop her, nor did it make her want to stop going on them.

 

Tell me that isn't the face of a happy water kid!!!

 

 

Swimming out to mommy

 

 

We hadn't been in the hot tub since we got on board and we would like to at least say that we did. So we got in one of the hot tubs beside the pool there in the back.