NYE Dream Cruise... Random thoughts on food, steakhouse, smoking and more

[SmittyCo]

We did the December 28-Jan 5th itinerary on the Dream from New Orleans (Roatan, Belize, Cozumel).

 

This is just some random thoughts!

The Dream is the biggest ship I've been on ... it's huge and so many people! From the time we drove in the port parking to the time we got ON the boat was 25 minutes. NO is the only port I've ever left from, and have always had a good embarkation.

 

Typically, we can sneak to our rooms and drop stuff off ... but they had the double doors closed to the hallways until 1:30. I've never seen that before.

 

The casino bar was PACKED with smokers - the bar top/counter and ALL the seating, and even the banister behind the seats (dh is a smoker) on the first day. The rest of the cruise, only half the bar top was smoking and a small area to the side. The other seating areas were nonsmoking (with little signs), and they had staff ask you to move if you were smoking there.

 

More smoking.... you could smoke on a section of the Lanai deck (floor 5). There were even beach chairs you could sit at and smoke. Some lady got mad and left with dh started smoking. I figured ... there are about twelve pool loungers in the smoking area and who knows how many hundreds elsewhere on the boat ... she can move!

 

We normally would sit on the lido smoke side and read/smoke/drink and people watch. Being isolated on the lanai was different. I felt like I was missing out of the lido deck action. The lanai side was also the only area you could smoke cigars and pipes ... which (oddly enough) dh was grossed out by the smell! The other smoking area was deck 11 portside ... which we never really saw anyone smoking there.

 

While we waited for the rooms to open up, we got our customary food and DOD. They were offering free champagne ... all over the boat. On almost every floor, outside the elevator was a a nice lady with a tray of champagne. And then about every 50 feet on the promenade deck, there was another nice girl with a tray! Needless to say, it ended up being a game to see how many girls with trays we could find ... and thus we missed dinner in the MDR!

 

Food: We ate dinner in the MDR, late seating upper level of the crimson dining room (except the first night and NYE). Our main server seemed to argue with his assistants EVERY night and was very frustrated with them. The 3rd night our section still had not gotten food at 9:40 pm (we sat at 8:15), whereas other sections were already gone. It was frustrating, especially if we wanted to go to a 10 or 10:15 pm activity. The food was always good, never super-hot though.

 

We ate lunch on sea days at the Lanai seaside BBQ. There was a nice selection of sliders, hot dogs, quesadillas, chips, salsas, etc. Also, inside on the promenade, there was a wrap/salad bar that was quite good. The chef was there and assembled your salad for you.

 

We ate lunch once in the Gathering (lido), and visited the buffet, burrito and pasta bar. The buffet was typical lido food, not fantastic, but not horrible. The burrito bar was a step or two below the Blue Iguana Cantina. It was good though. The staff at the Pasta bar was very rude ... it was 2:25 and they closed at 2:30. I placed my order, took my table number on a stick. I didn't know that you were given an order number and had to stay upstairs for your food. Dh was already seating down below, so I went to get him ... a staff CHASED me down the stairs and told me I had to stay upstairs. I said I understand that, and I'm getting my husband and coming back up. He told me AGAIN that I had to stay upstairs ... I said ok ... and walked away. When dh and I came back up a couple of minutes later ... the staff member and his cohorts were whispering in the corner and looking at us. Oh well. I made dh a alfredo, bowtie, shrimp and eggplant dish. I ordered the lasagna, which was good, but different. The meat was pot roast inside, and the cheese and marinara were fantastic.

 

Other food … we walked by the late night Mexican buffet … the carvings always amaze me, and the food looked beautiful. We were tired and didn’t want to stay up and wait. We never tried the pizza or the deli. The ice cream was good (had it twice). We ate lido buffet on sea days … it was ok. One day the bacon was burnt, the other it was chewy. The polish sausage was fantastic. Dh got an omelet or fried eggs each day and enjoyed those. We never did get to try the Tidor … it looked delish!

 

We ate the sea day brunch twice. Very interesting food items on the menu! The first day I had lox and bagels and eggs; dh had a bunch of meat and eggs. The second day I had the steak and eggs, Caesar salad, and mac and cheese; dh had the porkchop and some pasta dish …. We shared and it was all fantastic!

 

Steakhouse. We debated forever to do this or not. We have always laughed at the people who paid to eat on the ship, when there was free food everywhere! However, we decided it was NYEs and I was celebrating finishing grad school … so why not? We choose to eat at 9pm. There were about 6 other tables in the dining room, and twice as many empty tables. We had two servers and at first I was wary about one … she didn’t seem friendly, but she did warm up. They have a “better” wine list in the steakhouse than they do in the MDR … so I ordered a bottle of my favorite red, and dh ordered a double crown and coke (which was his drink at dinner each night). When they brought his drink (in a normal sized soda glass), it was a lightly brown tinted beverage … or pretty much crown with a splash of coke. The server said in the steakhouse they had “complimentary heavy drinks.” Haha! Dh had to order a coke to be able to drink it! So on the starters/appetizers you could order 3 choices, 2 of the sides, an entrée, and a desert for the $35 price tag. Now, I have never been to Ruth Cris … I have been to Bob’s Chophouse at the Omni in Dallas (where I spent $70 on myself for dinner) … and I think this was just at good as that meal. They served two types of bread … I don’t remember one, but the other was a rosemary ciabatta …. YUMMMMM. The chef sent out complimentary tasters … I got a tiny cup of chilled tomato soup (I don’t like cold soups, or tomato soup/juices) and dh got a sushi piece with parmesan … he enjoyed it. Dh order two of the ESCARGOTS BOURGUIGNONNE, which was completely different that the one served in the MDR … each one came in a small “bread basket.” Like a muffin cup I guess. He enjoyed it. I had the LOBSTER BISQUE WITH VINTAGE COGNAC … it was bland to me … wasn’t the best lobster bisque I’ve ever had. We both had the shrimp cocktail which was amazing! It was served in a martini glass, with lime, cilantro, and cocktail sauce. Dh got the cowboy steak for his entrée and I had the filet mignon and lobster. Both were cooked how we ordered them (medium rare) and were so tender and flavorful. The sides were ok … I thought they’d be better that what we had Sautéed Medley of Fresh Mushrooms, Yukon Gold Mash with Wasabe Horseradish, and Creamed Spinach with Garlic. Dh took “home” the cheese cake with hazelnut crust and I had the CHOCOLATE SAMPLER: Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, Banana Pannacotta, Tiramisu and Chocolate Marquise and OMG …. It was TO. DIE. FOR. Overall, it was fantastic … I’d give it a 8/10 … and would probably go back again!

 

We were only able to see 2 comedy shows . Normally we watch one adult show, and stay in our seats for the next one. This time, they make EVERYONE leave the room, and go stand in line. Any other night we tried to go, it was standing room only, and we literally were in the entrance way to the left side and could not see around the corner. We always enjoy the shows and really missed them.

 

In the ocean plaza on the Promenade, they had the BlackJack band from West Virigina. They were Ok … the lead singer was horrible … she was often off key and her comments in between sets were lame. I wish they rotated where the entertainment played. Greg, who sang in the lobby was fantastic, but since dh smokes, we didn’t like to sit down on the 3rd floor. There were two girls with a catchy name (which of course I forgot) that did violin and guitar and they were quite good. We watched one evening show “8 seconds” which was cheesy country music …. Didn’t feel like seeing the others.

I usually play slots … but tried roulette this time. Although I didn’t know what I was really doing, the dealer kept pushing chips at me.  Yipee!

 

Chair hogs. Ok … so our first sea day … we never found a beach chair to sit in, ended up sitting at a table and chairs on the lanai. The 2nd sea day we sat on the lido, aft deck 10. We got up at 7 am, put two towels down on the only two chair available. Mine would’ve looked out into the ocean, but alas there was a big red box in my way (hence the reason it was the last seat). We went and got breakfast and came out to eat on our seats. We were there for maybe 3 hours … and there were towels on the seats all around us … and NO ONE ever was there. Now, the funtimes state that towels with no one with them will be removed in 40 minutes. I never saw that happen. I did see many, MANY people walking around looking for seats and never finding one to use. I asked someone (staff) about removing the towels and they just shrugged their shoulders.

 

Our Room: We did our first non interior room. Aft balcony. It was nice … but we will never do that room again. I was warned, but thought it would be ok …. I should’ve listened. We were right under the lido deck. So all hours of the day (yup, even at 3 am … darn kids) we heard the beach loungers being moved around. It was very annoying. Lesson learned! We never knew who our room steward was, or his assistants. That was aggravating because we’ve always had a good steward who was on top of things all the time. We had to ask for ice daily (usually we ask the first day, and it’s there EVERY day). We had to ask for robes (never had any), and our room wasn’t cleaned one day! Normally on the first day, we get our “free drink” coupon, and it wasn’t there. The next day I went to guest services where they printed ours for us. The 2nd night, our free drink coupons appeared with our funtimes. Weird?

 

Tendering: we tendered in belize. There was no instruction given about order, etc. So dh went to midship, level 0. When we got there, “Peter” asked what we were doing (duh, getting off the boat). The tenders hadn't started yet (although we saw them tendering Princess and Royal Caribbean) for carnival. He asked if we had a carnival excursion (no), did we have an excursion booked already (yes), and then had us stand to the side (and told another girl NOT to let anyone else come down the stairs where we came from … there was no one there telling us NOT to come down). He got confirmation of tendering over his walkie-talkie, pointed at us and told us to go to the tender … and we were first off the boat. On the tender, we noticed everyone had stickers telling them what group they were in, and that’s how THEY knew when to tender (I guess the different carnival excursions and set tender times). Oh well. 

 

That’s all for now … I really wasn't going to say THIS much. But if you had questions … I’ll be happy to answer!

[gladimhere]

any recommendations on when to get to the show so you can see them

[beta98beta]

I was on that cruise too, balloon drop on NYE was awesome

[catlady922]

Thanks so much for the review. I just booked on the Dream and I was trying to find out about the smoking areas on the ship. I don't smoke, but my friend does.

[erewhon]

Thanks for your review.

[bevnjim]

Hi we do smoke and would rather not be banished away like lepers. The Pride allowed us to be comfortable,on the Lido deck

Is there any such place with nice searing on the Dream please?

Thank you