Cruising with a Toddler. Our Photo Intense Trip Recap of the 9-7-13 Carnival Dream

[TeknikDC2]

Its always a good time for Ice Cream so we went back up to the Lido deck to grab some and to just hang out up there. Since our last cruise over 2 years ago the Dream had a dry dock and recieved some of the 2.0 Upgrades. The most notible of the upgrades was the additions of the Red Frog Rum Bar and the Blue Iguana Taquila Bars around the Midship Pool. We don't drink but I thought the bars were well done and more fun then the Plain Bars that were there before.

 

 

We were outside as Our first Sunset at Sea on this trip took place. We always enjoy watching the sunset as its so beautiful on the Ocean. Espcially when there are also cool clouds in the sky. Tonight you could see the sun setting behind a storm around the Mainland.

 

[TeknikDC2]

As the skys began to turn dark we went back into the ship and down to the Atrium where we would look around the fun shops to start getting ideas of what we would want to purchase on this trip. We have a tradition of buying a Christmas Ornament on each trip so we were curious if there were any new ones this year that we would like. There were a few of them we liked but we would make our final decision at the end of the week. Daniel seemed somewhat interested in a Fun Ship Freddy plush but we ended up not getting it.

 

 

It was almost time for Dinner so we started to make our way to the Aft of the ship to the Scarlett Dinning room where we would be eating Dinner all week. We still had about 10 minutes to kill so we went into the Warehouse Arcade area and Daniel lit up like a kid in a candy store. It seemed there were many more games and activities in here then there was the last time we sailed on the Dream. We didn't actually play any games but Daniel had a blast running up to and checking out each one. I was glad to see they still have the Motorcycle game so that I could get my traditional photos on it. Daniel joined in this year too.

 

[TeknikDC2]

[TeknikDC2]

Finally it was time for dinner and the doors were opened. We were on the bottom level of the restaurant and found that we had a table just to our small Family. Our main waiter was named Daniello and his helper was Rammie. They both turned out to be excellent servers and rank up there with the best we've had. You could tell that they really enjoyed there job and they especially had a special bond and love for Daniel. By the end of the week you would have thought they were Daniels best friends.

 

One of the things we missed of cruising the most was the food. We have always found Carnival's Main Dinning Room to be really good and something we always looked forward to. We found that no different on this cruise as the food was great as always. You'll have to forgive me this first night as I forgot to take photos of our main dishes and dessert. We just got too caught up in the good food.

 

 

For Starters I got my usual Ceasar Salad as well as the Cured Salmon and Candied Tomato. Kiera would just go with the Guacamole and Tomato Salsa for her Starter.

 

 

This was the first time we would be ordering anything off the Kids Menu but it was pretty simple and filled with things that kids normally like. You know Pizza, Hamburgers, Chicken Nuggets, Mac and Cheese, Grilled Cheese Sandwich, ect... We decided to get Daniel the Mac and Cheese tonight and they brought it out with our starters. He seemed to really like it.

 

 

For our main dishes I went with the Tender Braised Beef Brisket and Kiera kept it simple with the Atlantic Salmon. For dessert I couldn't pass up the Creme Brulee and I think Kiera got the Orange Cake.

 

If you hadn't guessed yet or if hasn't been obvious we elected to do late Dinner on this cruise. We have always liked having Late Dinning more in the past as we found it typically doesn't require to rush back to the ship when in port to get ready for the night. And Daniel is a night owl who is usually up past 11pm anyways so we figured it wouldn't be an issue for him ether. Looking back now though when traveling with an Infant we can't recommend enough to do Early Dinning. We found ourselves getting hungry around the Early dinning time. And dispite being a night owl Daniel was falling alseep during dinner practically every single night. Its a mistake we made that we won't make again in the future.

 

[TeknikDC2]

After the delecious dinner we returned to our cabin to let Daniel rest up a bit before heading back out. Our room had been turned down for the night and Daniels bed had been made. On our bed was our towel animal and Fun Times for the next day of the cruise.

 

 

Being our first day of the cruise it ment tonight would be the Welcome Aboard Show in the Encore! theater. Daniel was still asleep when we left the room but woke up shortly after we got to the theater. Right before the show began the Ships Captain and Officers were introduced to everyone. I don't know if they do this on each Carnival Ship now but they have done this on both of our cruises on the Dream.

 

 

The Welcome Aboard show is not only a celebration to start off your vacation but to also introduce you to the Carnival Singers and Dancers as well as the Cruise Director. The Dancers and Singers start off the show and to tell you the truth we are getting tired of this part. For 5 years now it has been the exact same show on each different ship. Its just getting old. And then to add to it the Dancers and Singers seem to be getting worse each year. This is a part of the show that I think its time to retire and do something new. I told Kiera in the future that made we will just show up about 15 minutes late then we won't have to sit thru this part again as we really are over it.

 

[TeknikDC2]

After the initial opening of the show though we do tend to like it. Thats why we keep going. Once the dancers and singers are finished doing there thing the show is pretty much in control of the Cruise Director who can then put his own twist on the remaining parts of the show. On this cruise our Cruise Director was James Charlton. We had never had James as a Cruise Director before. But we have had him as an Assistant Cruise Director. Twice infact. So we are pretty familiar with James and were glad to see he made it to the head position. This was also his first week as Cruise Director on the Dream. He did a little introduction of himself and then had some guests come on stage to do a little portion of the show which turned out to be pretty funny.

 

 

James then had one of the Comedians come out and do a small preview of what you could expect to see in the Punchliner Comedy Club. We absolutly love the Comedy Clubs and try to go each night they take place. This comedian was really funny and one of my favorites that i've seen over the years. I dont' have my Fun Times with me right now so I don't recall his name but I will have it for you in one of the Day 5 updates as we went and saw him in the Punchliner club that night.

 

 

The show concluded with the Fun Force Team also coming out and doing a demonstration of what they do. Fun Force is Carnivals Break Dance Crew and I think the Dream is one of the only ships that features them. And these guys are good. There are 3 of them and the one who played the part of the "automated ship captain" was probably one of the best poppers i've seen perform. They were all very good and I looked forward to seeing more of them thruout the cruise.

 

 

It was pretty late now and we would be in our first port early in the morning. But we couldn't go to bed without some more Ice Cream. So back up to Lido we went and grabbed some Ice Cream. We went out to the Seaside Theater to relax under the stars and found the Giants Vs. Cowboys football game being broadcast on the large Outdoor Screen. I'm not the biggest pro football fan but it was fun to sit out and watch so many other guests react to the game. I'm glad to see that Carnival now gives out free popcorn (the charged for it last time we were on the Dream) for the movies under the stars which we go tonight. Alhough they were out of salt at the moment but thats ok as Kiera likes it without.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

The Football game was in the final minutes and it was pretty close. Right at midnight though when it looked like the Giants could pull the lead back from the Cowboys the screen defaulted back to its default programing. It was pretty funny to see everyone watching immidiatly get upset that the game was turned off in a moment of suspense. Many went running to I assume there cabins to try and catch the game. After a few minutes though the game did get put back on only to see an Interception was made and returned for a touchdown securing the win for the Cowboys.

 

 

We were up there long enough for the midnight buffet to start. In the past this use to be just your normal grill type items. Basically just Hamburgers and Hotdogs. But now its an assortment of different things. I tried a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and thought it was good. But it gave me heartburn pretty bad.

 

After the midnight snack we decided to call it a night. We went back down the 10 decks of stairs to get to our room. Daniel tried to go down on his stomach on his own but found the metel edging of the stairs didn't feel to good and had us carry him down instead. Back in our room we quickly got ready for bed. We didn't know if Daniel would struggle sleeping on a new bed (especially having a late night nap earlier) but he did good and fell asleep quickly. Soon enough we too were in bed and asleep.

 

 

We had our first port day ahead of us. When we wake up we would be in Nassau. This would be our first time returning to a port that we had already been to. What would we end up doing that we hadn't already. Well you'll just have to wait and find out.

 

 

 

 

And thats it for Day 4. Thanks again to all of you following along and checking out the pictures. I appreciate the feedback so please keep the comments and questions coming as i'm happy to answer them. Hopefully I will have another update done soon. It will be our first port of call coming up next. Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

.

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

TeknikDC2 ~ I'm loving your review. What a beautiful family you are! I had to laugh at the picture of Daniel on the lounge, he sure caught on fast.

It was hard to tell who was enjoying the arcade more.;)

 

It's nice seeing the Dream again, my 1st Carnival ship & not my last.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[jenseib]

I am loving this. I even started reading your other Dream report in some spare moments today.

I have to ask since I am not a Carnival sailor. I see you get a lot of ice cream. Ice cream is free right? Is it soft serve or hard dipped? Do you server yourself or do they serve it to you? And lastly is in a dish, cones or either?

 

And the shows. Do they have family friendly shows each night as well? and are they listed in the fun times?

Can you take pictures in all the shows or just certain ones? (I am a picture taking freak!)

 

I am a big fan of late dining too. And I have a night owl as well. She has always been, even as an infant. She also loves to sleep till noon if we let her which cramps my style at times. :o

[Mybearsbaby]

Thank you. Yes we enjoy taking him out and letting him experiance the world. So many people told us that we were crazy for taking him on a cruise and couldn't believe we would do such a thing with a young child. The truth of it is though that he had a great time. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed the cruise more then Universal. We take family vacations. And it wouldn't be a family vacation if we left a member of our family home. He did so great on the cruise that i'm sure he will be joining us again for the next one.

 

 

I have had a lot of people say we are crazy, too for taking our 8 month old with us when we cruise on the 19th. I am looking forward to it though! I know he is small, but I think he will still enjoy all the new sights and sounds. He is quite the little explorer already ;).

 

Still loving your review!! Can't wait to see the rest!

[JaniceB]

Can't wait to show your review to my son. He loves Universal and has a 14 month old he can't wait to take there. Your review will be really helpful.

I am cruising the Dream in November so I am enjoying the cruise part.

[TeknikDC2]

Sorry everyone. I got part of my previous update wrong and now it won't let me go back to edit it. Upon reading my review Kiera informed me that we didn't watch the football game that night. We watched it on Sunday and she is correct. What we watched outside for a bit was the Movie Reel Steel. Everything else was the same though. I guess I should keep my Fun Times closer when I write these things lol.

 

 

I am loving this. I even started reading your other Dream report in some spare moments today.

I have to ask since I am not a Carnival sailor. I see you get a lot of ice cream. Ice cream is free right? Is it soft serve or hard dipped? Do you server yourself or do they serve it to you? And lastly is in a dish, cones or either?

 

And the shows. Do they have family friendly shows each night as well? and are they listed in the fun times?

Can you take pictures in all the shows or just certain ones? (I am a picture taking freak!)

 

I am a big fan of late dining too. And I have a night owl as well. She has always been, even as an infant. She also loves to sleep till noon if we let her which cramps my style at times. :o

 

Yes the Ice Cream is Free and Unlimited. The Free kind is Soft Serve but they do have regular ice cream avalible for a cost down at the coffee shop area. We have never got it there before though. It is serve yourself so you can as much as you want. They do have cones and bowls avalible but you could even get a cup or larger bowl from the buffet if you want more. We also like to bring snacks and use them for toppings for the ice cream too.

 

I would say that pretty much all of the shows in the main theater each evening are family friendly. We didn't go to all of them but the ones we did go to we were fine taking Daniel to. They are listed each day in the Fun Times. The only shows that aren't family friendly are the late night Comedy Club shows as they diffenitly are a hard R rating. But they have Family Friendly comedy shows earlier in the evening which we went to on this cruise.

 

Can't wait to show your review to my son. He loves Universal and has a 14 month old he can't wait to take there. Your review will be really helpful.

I am cruising the Dream in November so I am enjoying the cruise part.

 

Thanks. I think I linked up my Year of Disney reviews ether on the 1st or 2nd page of this report. Daniel was 7 months old when we went to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando and 14 months old when we did Disneyland and Universal Hollywood. Its tough with an Infant but doable. He had a great time. Daniel enjoyed Characters more at 7 months but enjoyed the overall experiance and rides more at 14. But show him those reviews too as they are every bit as detailed and photo filled as this one is.

[FloridaMomma]

Your little guy is SO precious! Really enjoying your review. We are taking our kids on the Dream for spring break.

[dane225]

Loving your review and pics!! We started bringing our girls on cruises when they were 2 and 3 years old. They fell in love with cruising and now they are 9 and 11 years old and will be platinum on our upcoming Christmas cruise. They are super excited!!

[TeknikDC2]

Day 5, Part 1: Nassau, Bahamas

 

Our first full day of our cruise was upon us and when we awoke this day we found ourselves already docked in our first port of Nassau in the Bahamas. Not only was this first port of the cruise but this was the first time we have ever been back to a port that we had previously visited. Honestly though Nassau is not one of our favorite ports. I'm pretty sure if rivales Ocho Rios as our least favorite. So we didn't really plan to do anything in port today. We figured we'd get off for a couple hours and look at the shops and then get back onboard and enjoy the empty ship.

 

Since we were in no rush to get off the ship we tried to sleep in. Which didn't happen when Daniel decided it was time to get up for the day. We got all ready for the day while Daniel played with his toys. He kept pointing at the Carnival Fantasy which was docked next to us and enjoyed watching the people walk by below.

 

 

Before heading out we made the trek up to the Lido Deck to grab some breakfast. Today I decided to get my favorite cruise breakfast item which is a Ham and Cheese Omlet. Of course I also got some toast and bacon and what not. Today Daniel was introduced to those small boxes of Cereal and ended up having to have one each day after this point. He loved him some Fruit Loops.

 

 

As we ate breakfast next to a window looking down on the Carnival Fantasy I could't help but think of my family for a bit. The moved to Charleston over 2 years ago which is where the Fantasy's home port is. We've considered over the years going out and visiting my parents and also doing a cruise on the Fantasy. But its been so hard to justify the cost for a cruise thats less then 7 days. Oh well maybe someday. I would still like to try out one of the smaller Fantasy Class ships some day.

 

 

We finished breakfast and after grabbing the stroller and bag from the cabin we headed to the gangway to exit the ship. Last time we were in Nassau we ended up taking a tour to see the sites of the Island and to also visit Atlantis (which is really the highlight of Nassau). But today we wouldn't be doing much. We just decided to check out the Straw Market and look around. Maybe we would walk to the nearby beach. We were able to get off the ship pretty quickly as we have been docked for a while now and most people were already off the ship.

 

[TeknikDC2]

The Dream was just one of 4 ships docked in Nassau today. In addition to us and the Carnival Fantasy there was also the Norwigien Sky and the Royal Caribbean Mammoth the Oasis of the Seas. I was pretty excited to see the Oasis in person as a ship that large really amazes me. If theres one ship that would get me to try Royal it would be the Oasis or Allure as I really want to experiance one of those ships first hand. It dwarfed all of the other ships in dock with us.

 

 

Last time we came to Nassau it was raining when we got in and got off the ship. Even for most of our tour it was raining but cleared up in the afternoon and was really nice. Today when we got off the ship it was nice and sunny but there were some darker clouds around. After dealing with rain in Orlando pretty much the whole time prior to our cruise we really hoped we wouldn't have to deal with rain again here too.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

After walking thru the welcome center that has a few little shops we were outside and on the streets of Nassau. As with most ports when you exit the welcome center there were locals everywhere offering Tours and Excursions. This was where we found our tour 4 years earlier but since we wouldn't be doing any today we declined each time we were asked.

 

 

One place we planned to visit was the Straw Market. The Straw Market is a short walk from the ship and is a place where there probably hundreds of locals selling all sorts of local gifts. The market looked much better now then it did 4 years ago. Now its a actual building where last time we came it was just a large tent. Although there were a ton of stuff for sale in the Straw Market we were pretty dissapointed in it. Last time when we came it seemed that the roof was stacked to the celing with products. Espcially the knock off products like purses. But now those things were nowhere to be seen. This use to have the best selction of those type items but we didn't see them anywhere today.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Having been dissapointed in the Straw Market we walked over to the waters edge next to Senior Frogs. When the sun is out the water in the Bahamas is incredibly pretty. Most the shops would have the same things as most of the other cruise ports so we decided tried to decide what we should do next.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

So we decided to walk down to the Beach to see how Daniel would like it since we had Beach days planned for other ports on our cruise. The Beach is called Junkanoo Beach and it probably took us about 15 minutes to walk to it from the Straw Market. The walk is pretty uneventful and its not a strait shot to the beach. You'll walk up and down streets but as long as you follow the road along the waterfront then you will get to it. Theres also signs to help you find your way. The walk was easy to make and there were many other tourists from the 4 ships also making the walk towards the beach.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

For how many people were walking to and from the Beach we were surprised to find it not packed at all. Now Junkanoo isn't the prettiest beach in the Caribbean but it was significantly better then the beach we were taken to on our tour 4 years earlier. As with most beaches you could probably spend the whole day here if you'd like. The sand was soft and the water gorgous plus it had the facilities that you'd probably like most beaches to have such as Restrooms, Showers, and places to Eat.

 

 

We had brought Daniels Swimsuit with us but we didn't know how he would like the beach. In hindsight we probably should have put it on him before we left the ship. We have taken Daniel to a beach twice before. The first time was Newport Beach in California. But it was in December so we never went in the water as it was too cold. Then just this May we went to Myrtle Beach for a few days. But again it was too cold as it rained and stormed the whole time we were there. So this was really the first time Daniel got to play on a warm beach. Kiera walked into the water with him and he was hisitant at first about the water but before long he flopped himself down and into the water. Yes in his clothes and everything. But that was ok. He was loving life.

 

[TeknikDC2]

[TeknikDC2]

 

As we walked further down the beach line the skys started to get dark quickly. Soon there was a very loud crash of thunder and light rain started to fall. This was our que that we should probably wrap up our time at the beach as a storm was rolling in. Dispite being scared of Thunder and Lightning and being a bit startled by the loud crash of Thunder now every few minutes Daniel didn't want to leave the beach. He was really mad when we took him out of the ocean. Not expecting it to storm we left our Umbrella and ponchos back on the ship. A little rain doesn't bother me but since tonight was Elegant Night on the ship Kiera really didn't want her hair to get wet so she started trying to protect it all that she could. After stripping Daniel down and washing him off at the beaches showers we started our walk back to the ship as the rain started to come down harder.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

We walked quickly and right before we got back to the shop area of Nassau the sky gave us all it had and it the rain started to come down harder and faster. We thought what we saw in Florida was bad but it was nothing compared to this downpoar. This was one of the hardest rain falls we have ever witnessed. And it came from practically nowhere. And then to make it worse we were stuck in the middle of it.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

Luckly for us though this must happen regularly in Nassau as most of the buildings are designed for it. We made it back to the shops just as the hard rain started to come and all of the sidewalks outside the buildings are completley covered. So although the rain was coming down hard and we still had a long walk back to the ship at least the walkways were dry and other then crossing the streets we would be able to keep out of the rain.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

As we slowly made our way back to the ship we stopped and looked in many of the shops along the way. We didn't plan on buying anything in Nassau other then our traditional post card but you never know what you might come across in the shops. As we took our time the rain started to let up which was good as we would have a stretch of sidewalk back to the cruise center that wasn't covered. I mentioned that there were shops in the Welcome Center and this was out last stop before heading back to the ship. Dispite stopping at all those shops on the way back we still hadn't found a postcard. Good thing out of all the shops in the welcome center we found one that sold postcards and then after waiting in a long line we were thru the security check and walking the dock back to the ship.