Detailed Photo Review of Carnival Dream 7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise 3/10/19

[Cairns Cruisers]

Hi Walt fan,

I will be driving from NOLA to San Antonio next year. We are overnighting just north of Houston at

The Woodlands and then on to San Antonio for 4 nights. Would you be able to recommend any tourist things to do that aren't well known(Alamo,Missions etc) or any restaurants apart from the Riverwalk?

FYI we will do 2 days in Fredericksburg after San Antonio before Waco and home from Dallas.

 

[deladane]

57 minutes ago, Walt fan said:

You gave another vote to packing cubes Deladane; yes, that was a great help and I believe I need to invest in some packing cubes.  

 

New Orleans isn't too too far from San Antonio.  We went just past September.  Lots of oysters and Abita and hurricanes.  It was a great time.  I have never been able to sneak a cemetery tour in my visits there.  Your tour was really interesting and just a good length of time.  

 

Oh yea, I've been using packing cubes for over a decade and can't imagine packing without them!  They come in tons of different shapes and sizes you can pick and choose what works best for you and how you use it (one cube per person, per day, per type of garment, or whatever else you think of!)  It also makes unpacking really easy if there's a dresser or shelf in your hotel/cabin because you can just open up the cube and stick it in the drawer or on the shelf and you're all set.  And no, I do not work for a packing cube manufacturer 😜 

[deladane]

5 minutes ago, Cairns Cruisers said:

Hi Walt fan,

I will be driving from NOLA to San Antonio next year. We are overnighting just north of Houston at

The Woodlands and then on to San Antonio for 4 nights. Would you be able to recommend any tourist things to do that aren't well known(Alamo,Missions etc) or any restaurants apart from the Riverwalk?

FYI we will do 2 days in Fredericksburg after San Antonio before Waco and home from Dallas.

 

 

I'll let the locals answer this question in more detail, but when you're in Waco, definitely go to the Dr. Pepper Museum and the Texas Rangers Museum!  And hopefully you can find time to stop in Austin as you will drive right through it between San Antonio and Waco!

[Cairns Cruisers]

3 minutes ago, deladane said:

 

I'll let the locals answer this question in more detail, but when you're in Waco, definitely go to the Dr. Pepper Museum and the Texas Rangers Museum!  And hopefully you can find time to stop in Austin as you will drive right through it between San Antonio and Waco!

Thanks Dana, Those two are on the list with Baylor & Magnolia Market(staying at the Hilton nearby).

Waco is actually our stop instead of Austin(kept hearing too many reports about the homeless in the city centre harassing tourists).

 

[deladane]

7 minutes ago, Cairns Cruisers said:

Thanks Dana, Those two are on the list with Baylor & Magnolia Market(staying at the Hilton nearby).

Waco is actually our stop instead of Austin(kept hearing too many reports about the homeless in the city centre harassing tourists).

 

 

Totally understandable!  Maybe you can just do a drive by of some key places or stop for lunch on your way to Waco 🙂

[Cairns Cruisers]

4 minutes ago, deladane said:

 

Totally understandable!  Maybe you can just do a drive by of some key places or stop for lunch on your way to Waco 🙂

Yeah that might be good.

[MeganGC1983]

38 minutes ago, Cairns Cruisers said:

Thanks Dana, Those two are on the list with Baylor & Magnolia Market(staying at the Hilton nearby).

Waco is actually our stop instead of Austin(kept hearing too many reports about the homeless in the city centre harassing tourists).

 

Get to Magnolia Market EARLY. That place is always packed with long lines. 

[deladane]

The next few photos are all in the Encore! Main Lounge where they did all of the production shows

 

Standing at the top of Deck 5.  You can access the balcony level from deck 4 and deck 5.

 

The seats in the front row of the center of the balcony level were almost always left empty because their view is blocked by the control booth.  We sat in the front row, but one section over to the left of here for an unobstructed view of the stage

 

Standing in front of the stage on Deck 3

 

Funky art work on the stairs

 

Atrium Bar and lobby, looking up from deck 3

 

[deladane]

Information about the internet packages… They charge $8 per day for the social media plan if you wait until you are on the ship to purchase it.  That is double what I paid!

 

Information about the Carnival Hub app

 

They had several of these kiosks around the ship so you could access your onboard account without waiting on line at guest services

 

The photo gallery before they set up all the photos, and a trash bin for rejected photos

 

Heading all the way aft on Deck 5, we get to the Burgundy Lounge which is used for the comedy shows.  Not pictured is the bar towards the left side, and an additional large seating area on the right side

 

The Song lounge for smaller live music acts and karaoke

 

The Piano Bar.  We could almost always find a seat up at the bar, and if not, then there was seating available at the tables.

 

[deladane]

Bonsai Sushi… this was located in the hallway between the entertainment venues aft on deck 5 and Ocean’s Plaza in the midship area.  There was no barrier to keep the people eating separated from the walkway, so I imagine that would make for a hectic dining experience

 

 

 

Crimson Restaurant, midship MDR.  It was really nice that they kept the doors open to this dining room all day long so you could get from the midship elevators up to the atrium, theater, guest services, and the forward elevators.  The galley is just aft of here so you could not go in that direction without going up to Deck 5 or down to Deck 2, but at least you could go forward at any time of day.

 

 

[deladane]

Riding in the glass elevators, looking up through the sky roof to see the water slides

 

 

Looking down on the glass elevators from deck 11

 

There are still a few lounge chairs available at 8:30am at the Lido pool on Sea Day #1

 

Nothing but sun, sky, and ocean

 

Beautiful views of the wake from the aft pool

 

 

Lots of seats available on Serenity Deck at 8:50am

 

[deladane]

My tour of the ship ended at the Lido Buffet as I was getting hungry and needed a little snack before our real breakfast at the dining room. 

 

Banana bread, mini cinnamon rolls (these were what I picked as my snack and they were really good!), and apple danishes

r

 

Croissants and apple panettone

 

Sliced cheeses and deli meats

 

Bagels, waffles, bread, and biscuits

 

Breakfast meats and potatoes

[pghsteelerfan]

17 hours ago, deladane said:

 

If I have to be awake that early on vacation, I may as well be productive!  On cruises when we have a balcony, I sometimes sit out there and write in my journal while DH is still sleeping.  We didn't have a balcony this time so there was no where for me to hide that wouldn't disturb DH's sleep, so I knew I had to leave the cabin anyway and the early morning is a great time to get those photos of the ship.  

 

You said "next time we cruise".... does that mean you have a cruise coming up?????  

My DH is also usually still sleeping so I usually go to the balcony or leave the cabin so he can sleep.  We don't ave a cruise booked as of yet, but we're looking at possibly 2020.  We've haven't been to the ABC's yet, so that's what we may do and there are more than one possibility.  A friend of mine just did one, a 7 day on RCI out of San Juan to Labadee, Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, back to San Juan.  If the price is right, that would work better with DH's work schedule and flying down a day prior.  Carnival also has two, both 8 days, from Miami or Port Everglades.  That would be a toss up and may come down to dates/price.  One is on the Magic (HMC, GT, sea day, Aruba, Curacao, 2 sea days at the end) and another on Horizon (Amber Cove, DR; La Romana, DR; Curacao; Aruba).  That's going to be a tough decision, but both ships would be new to us.  We've never been to the DR, so both stops would also be "new", but I also just love HMC and GT!  We have friends going on the Conquest at the end of the month and they will give us their feedback.  I'd also love to do a Mexican Riviera (Cabo, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta).  We did one on RCI in Jan. 2000 with DH's family and I really liked it.  I did not have a digital camera then, so a redo at some point is a must. 

I see you've updated some more today, so getting ready to catch up.  🙂

[pd7277]

21 hours ago, deladane said:

 

I just can't put a link in my signature anymore because they allow a maximum of 3 links so I opted to post links to my 3 most recent reviews. 

Dana - Send me an email using the link in my signature.  I have a cure for your link issue.

[Border Granny]

Dana, love the pics since our turn on the Dream is a little more than two months away:). I have a couple of questions about the theater and the MDR. My husband has some mobility issues, and will be either using his cane or walker around the ship, so most of these questions are more about accessibility.

 

What floor do you enter the Crimson on? We would not be able to do the stairs, I assume the main entrance would be on the lower level. I was surprised to see tablecloths, I thought Carnival had done away with them, or were they already set up for elegant night?  I’m not a picky person at all, but am sort of partial to the tablecloths on the ships.

 

My other question is about the theater.  Is there a ramp on the lower level? We used to sit in the balcony on other ships but my husband is not able to do stairs anymore so I’m assuming we would have to do lower level, but still couldn’t do those stairs, and I know we’re not the only ones in the predicament!

 

Again, thanks for the wonderful review!

 

 

[deladane]

16 hours ago, Border Granny said:

Dana, love the pics since our turn on the Dream is a little more than two months away:). I have a couple of questions about the theater and the MDR. My husband has some mobility issues, and will be either using his cane or walker around the ship, so most of these questions are more about accessibility.

 

What floor do you enter the Crimson on? We would not be able to do the stairs, I assume the main entrance would be on the lower level. I was surprised to see tablecloths, I thought Carnival had done away with them, or were they already set up for elegant night?  I’m not a picky person at all, but am sort of partial to the tablecloths on the ships.

 

My other question is about the theater.  Is there a ramp on the lower level? We used to sit in the balcony on other ships but my husband is not able to do stairs anymore so I’m assuming we would have to do lower level, but still couldn’t do those stairs, and I know we’re not the only ones in the predicament!

 

Again, thanks for the wonderful review!

 

 

 

You and your husband have absolutely nothing to worry about!  We had several people on our cruise who used wheelchairs and they were at the shows and ate in the MDR, so you should have no problems at all 🙂  For the theater, the balcony level is only accessed by stairs, so that won't work for him.  On the lower level, there is a gradual slope leading down both aisles towards the stage, but I do not think there are any stairs to access the main middle 3 sections.  I'm not sure if there were stairs to access the seats along the outside of the lower section (the seats directly below the balcony), but the main middle 3 sections were definitely wheelchair accessible and your husband should be good to go with his cane.  Just something to think about... I'm pretty sure those little pedestal tables are anchored to the floor and cannot move so he probably would not fit through with his walker (but he can definitely sit on one of the aisle seats without a problem!)

 

For the Crimson MDR (and the Scarlet MDR too, for anyone wondering...), they have an entrance on both the third and forth deck.  Once inside the MDR, there is a staircase, but you would never need to use it because if your table is on deck 4, then you can take the elevator directly there and just walk right in.  I recommend that you email the maitre'd on the Monday prior to sailing (assuming your cruise leaves on Sunday... do it one day after embarkation for the prior sailing so he has time to straighten out all the issues for that cruise before thinking about our cruise!).  Tell him that your husband cannot manage stairs because the middle section of deck 3 is accessed by stairs (and I don't remember seeing a ramp, although there may be one that I just didn't see).  The outer perimeter of deck 3 is all flat on one level (no stairs), as is most of deck 4 (I think!).  The email address is: drmaitred@carnival.com

 

Based on your signature, I know this is not your first cruise, so I assume you thought about this, but just in case...  Did you book an accessible cabin?  There is a step to get up into the bathroom in the regular cabins.

 

Hope that helps!  Let me know if you have any other question (I am a physical therapist so I can't help but notice details like that around the ship!)

[deladane]

Update to the 3 links limit in my signature... I published a Google Docs page with links to all of my old reviews and inserted that link into my signature.  Can someone try it out and let me know if it works??  This is the first time I've done something like that so I don't know if I did it right.  It's working for me, but I don't know if that's because I have access to the document or because I did it right! haha  Thanks!

[deladane]

Last night before falling asleep, DH and I made a deal.  I knew it was highly likely that I would wake up long before he was ready to get out of bed.  He is not the biggest fan of early wake up calls while on vacation, but he’s a good sport and goes along with it on port days.  I promised him before going on the cruise that I would let him sleep in on the morning of the 2 sea days as well as Costa Maya day since we didn’t arrive there until noon.  Last night, DH said I should go explore the ship if I woke up early, and I could come back to wake him at 9:15am so we could go for brunch.  As expected, DH was still in bed when I returned at 9:20am, but he was awake and ready to start his day.  While he got ready, I read over this letter that was left in our mailbox.

 

 

I knew that FTTF would get us priority access to the tenders in Belize, but I was very surprised that we would also have priority debarkation in Costa Maya tomorrow.  There was likely to be a big rush of people all trying to get off the ship ASAP when we docked at noon, and we needed to get to our private tour by 12:45pm, so this priority access was much appreciated to take off some of the stress.

 

Sea Day Brunch was held in the aft dining room from 8:30am until 1pm.  Carnival started rolling out a new brunch menu on some of the ships, but the Dream still had the old menus on our sailing.

 

 

 

I was tempted to get the French toast, but instead opted for a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and 2 fried eggs.

 

 

 

DH ordered the huevos rancheros (and the flamin’ tomatoes soup, but I forgot to take a photo of that… it looked like a bowl of marinara sauce, and that’s basically what it tasted like too!)

 

[deladane]

After brunch, we went back to the cabin to get a DH’s book and my trip journal, and we were greeted by this cute little towel animal.  It took me a few days to get used to seeing the towel animal in the morning instead of with evening turn down service like they used to do, but I still always appreciate the friendly reminder that I’m cruising with Carnival!  (Celebrity and Paul Gauguin don’t do towel animals and I missed them on those cruises!  To me, towel animals are one of the best cruising traditions.)

 

 

I asked Jennifer if we could keep our towel animals through the whole week of the cruise so I could make a little collection on our window sill.  Today, our little guy looks a little lonely, but he will soon be joined by lots of towel animal friends!

 

We made our way back upstairs to the Lido Waves Pool and it was way more crowded now than when I was here 3 hours ago!  They were doing the ice carving demonstration in the middle of the deck space, so lots of people were crowded around to get a good view.

 

 

As much as I love beautiful sunny days, I try to stay in the shade as much as possible to avoid getting a sunburn.  On port days, the sun can be unavoidable depending on what excursions we have planned, so I try to stay in the shade on sea days as I can usually find a place to sit  that is close by the “action” but also out of the sun.  One of the things I really liked about the set up of the Lido pool area on the Dream was that it was 3 decks high from deck 10 to 12, leaving lots of spots in the shade under the deck above if we stayed on decks 10 or 11.  Deck 10 was usually very busy between the pool, the bars, and the many food venues, so we spent a lot of time on deck 11.  That gave us a great view over the action below us, but we could still hide out in the shade from deck 12 above us.

 

I just loved the different shades of blue we saw throughout the cruise

 

Looking straight down, we could see lots of people using the lounger chairs on deck 5.

 

I just noticed the reflection of the lifeboats on the windows below us… that’s a fun effect!

 

[candigirl41]

8 minutes ago, deladane said:

Update to the 3 links limit in my signature... I published a Google Docs page with links to all of my old reviews and inserted that link into my signature.  Can someone try it out and let me know if it works??  This is the first time I've done something like that so I don't know if I did it right.  It's working for me, but I don't know if that's because I have access to the document or because I did it right! haha  Thanks!

Just wanted to let you know it worked for me.  

Candi

[deladane]

22 hours ago, pghsteelerfan said:

My DH is also usually still sleeping so I usually go to the balcony or leave the cabin so he can sleep.  We don't ave a cruise booked as of yet, but we're looking at possibly 2020.  We've haven't been to the ABC's yet, so that's what we may do and there are more than one possibility.  A friend of mine just did one, a 7 day on RCI out of San Juan to Labadee, Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, back to San Juan.  If the price is right, that would work better with DH's work schedule and flying down a day prior.  Carnival also has two, both 8 days, from Miami or Port Everglades.  That would be a toss up and may come down to dates/price.  One is on the Magic (HMC, GT, sea day, Aruba, Curacao, 2 sea days at the end) and another on Horizon (Amber Cove, DR; La Romana, DR; Curacao; Aruba).  That's going to be a tough decision, but both ships would be new to us.  We've never been to the DR, so both stops would also be "new", but I also just love HMC and GT!  We have friends going on the Conquest at the end of the month and they will give us their feedback.  I'd also love to do a Mexican Riviera (Cabo, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta).  We did one on RCI in Jan. 2000 with DH's family and I really liked it.  I did not have a digital camera then, so a redo at some point is a must. 

I see you've updated some more today, so getting ready to catch up.  🙂

 

The ABCs were all wonderful (although you already know about our bad luck in Bonaire) so I would definitely pick an ABC cruise over one to the Mexican Riviera (if I had to only pick one!).  And ooooh, another cruise leaving from San Juan?  That's an added bonus! 🙂  I hope you write up a review for whichever cruise you pick!

[deladane]

4 minutes ago, candigirl41 said:

Just wanted to let you know it worked for me.  

Candi

 

Yay! Thanks for letting me know!

[pd7277]

1 hour ago, deladane said:

Update to the 3 links limit in my signature... I published a Google Docs page with links to all of my old reviews and inserted that link into my signature.  Can someone try it out and let me know if it works??  This is the first time I've done something like that so I don't know if I did it right.  It's working for me, but I don't know if that's because I have access to the document or because I did it right! haha  Thanks!

Success!  Both the link to the Document and, at least the link to PG I tried, worked.  Now I can get back to Bora Bora! 

[Border Granny]

4 hours ago, deladane said:

 

You and your husband have absolutely nothing to worry about!  We had several people on our cruise who used wheelchairs and they were at the shows and ate in the MDR, so you should have no problems at all 🙂  For the theater, the balcony level is only accessed by stairs, so that won't work for him.  On the lower level, there is a gradual slope leading down both aisles towards the stage, but I do not think there are any stairs to access the main middle 3 sections.  I'm not sure if there were stairs to access the seats along the outside of the lower section (the seats directly below the balcony), but the main middle 3 sections were definitely wheelchair accessible and your husband should be good to go with his cane.  Just something to think about... I'm pretty sure those little pedestal tables are anchored to the floor and cannot move so he probably would not fit through with his walker (but he can definitely sit on one of the aisle seats without a problem!)

 

For the Crimson MDR (and the Scarlet MDR too, for anyone wondering...), they have an entrance on both the third and forth deck.  Once inside the MDR, there is a staircase, but you would never need to use it because if your table is on deck 4, then you can take the elevator directly there and just walk right in.  I recommend that you email the maitre'd on the Monday prior to sailing (assuming your cruise leaves on Sunday... do it one day after embarkation for the prior sailing so he has time to straighten out all the issues for that cruise before thinking about our cruise!).  Tell him that your husband cannot manage stairs because the middle section of deck 3 is accessed by stairs (and I don't remember seeing a ramp, although there may be one that I just didn't see).  The outer perimeter of deck 3 is all flat on one level (no stairs), as is most of deck 4 (I think!).  The email address is: drmaitred@carnival.com

 

Based on your signature, I know this is not your first cruise, so I assume you thought about this, but just in case...  Did you book an accessible cabin?  There is a step to get up into the bathroom in the regular cabins.

 

Hope that helps!  Let me know if you have any other question (I am a physical therapist so I can't help but notice details like that around the ship!)

Thanks so much Dana, all that info really helps.  We have YTD so I figured they will seat us at a table on the lower, just didn’t know if we could enter from the third floor so that will work out fine. We’re in a regular balcony cabin, and he can manage the small step into the bathroom as long as he just grabs the door jam. He manages the step up on our porch and threshold just fine. It is mostly walking longer distances that he needs either his cane or walker, and we’ll have both with us. He just can’t manage many steps, of course especially if he is using his walker.

 

thanks so much for your help, and you mentioning my signature reminds me I need to update it!

[pghsteelerfan]

3 hours ago, deladane said:

 

The ABCs were all wonderful (although you already know about our bad luck in Bonaire) so I would definitely pick an ABC cruise over one to the Mexican Riviera (if I had to only pick one!).  And ooooh, another cruise leaving from San Juan?  That's an added bonus! 🙂  I hope you write up a review for whichever cruise you pick!

If we cruise next year, it's most likely going to be the ABC's.  I'd love to go on the one out of San Juan, but it's RCI so we'll just have to see about the price.  After the last review, I said "never again" cause it just seems not too many read them anymore, but they are nice to have to go and look up and relive a great trip, so I just may.  I also said that after each of the other reviews I did.  Lol!!!

I also want to add that your link to the page with links to your other reviews also works for me.  🙂  I am still really enjoying this one and I have always loved the beautiful pictures you get.