Jump to content

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


deladane
 Share

Recommended Posts

On 4/4/2019 at 9:02 PM, 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.

 

Sorry to chime in Deladane; just a few tidbits.  Renting a bike to ride along the Mission Trails is awesome.  Go to The Pearl; walk inside Hotel Emma and take a stroll around.  Eat at one of the amazing restaurants there; its near downtown.  Old Pearl Brewery was revitalized and is so unique. Our fave restaurant there is Southerly's.  Favorite Mexican food place near downtown is Paloma Blanca.  It is so, so good.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am looking forward to reading your review. We were on a similar cruise , the freedom on March 9.  We docked right in front of you in Roatan. 

 

‘’I am partly finished with my review and write the same way as you, like I talk, long-winded. But I like to be detailed so people have no questions.  

 

‘’Let me get back to reading and thank you ! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, pghsteelerfan said:

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. 

 

I totally understand not wanting to take the time to write a review if you don’t think anyone is reading it. Cruise Critic now allows people to follow your review such that you can know how many followers you have (as opposed to the old version where people could get alerts of new posts on your thread but you never knew how many people did that). I have nearly 90 followers on this review but most of them have not made any comments. It’s great to know people are reading though!

 

And yes, it’s great to ace that detailed journal to look back on later (I re-read my French Polynesia review all the time lol)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Quilcruisers said:

I am looking forward to reading your review. We were on a similar cruise , the freedom on March 9.  We docked right in front of you in Roatan. 

 

‘’I am partly finished with my review and write the same way as you, like I talk, long-winded. But I like to be detailed so people have no questions.  

 

‘’Let me get back to reading and thank you ! 

 

How fun that you were on the Freedom! I think I have some photos of your ship docked in front of us in Roatan. I’ll have to go look for your review since I’m sure I’ll love reading it!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/1/2019 at 10:28 AM, vicky3vicky said:

I am having such FUN reading your review! Are you going to be platinum soon, because I would love it if you were to do a review on all the specifics on first cruise platinum. How can I find your other reviews? The only other one I have read was the one in Europe in 2015. I have always wanted to see Europe, but after reading your review [and the pictures, OMG the pictures!] I am becoming OBSESSED with the idea! Do you have a blog or a travel channel I could follow? If not, you would be great!

Hi Vicky, 

 

‘’I posted my review for the same week, except out of Galveston on the freedom. My experience with boarding in Galveston as platinum gets better each cruise. I think it was about 35 minutes from the car to the cabin, which is amazing.  

 

‘’Let me try to link to my review (that I have not finished yet ).  We are cruising from NOLA in November . 

 

Sorry for the hijack @deladane 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, deladane said:

 

How fun that you were on the Freedom! I think I have some photos of your ship docked in front of us in Roatan. I’ll have to go look for your review since I’m sure I’ll love reading it!

My son kept asking,”which ship do you want in your background?”   He was the official photographer since it was just the 2 of us on this cruise . 7DF89916-021D-48FA-AB3D-89613E906DBE.thumb.jpeg.c101385b5020584d5788511f7c9aeb11.jpeg

 

 

F631B6F3-D4C0-4A55-9F92-37166401BE59.thumb.jpeg.5e509390f629fa110996bafe3748c4db.jpeg

Edited by Quilcruisers
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/21/2019 at 10:40 AM, deladane said:

Hi Everyone!  I’m baaaack!  After 3 consecutive Carnival cruises from 2012-2015, I’ve been on a bit of a Carnival hiatus for the last few years.  Nothing against Carnival… it was just time to try something new and different.  I always knew I’d be back sooner or later, and now that day has come!

 

My name is Dana and my husband and I just returned from a 7-night cruise on the Carnival Dream (March 10-17, 2019 sailing).  I always write a detailed photo review when I return home from my cruises, with a journal-style day-by-day format.  I used to have links to each of those reviews in my signature, but Cruise Critic changed their rules (boooo!) and I had to delete most of the links.  You can still search the forums for those reviews (or visit my blog at http://deladane.home.blog), if you are interested in reading them!  Anyway, this review will be just like my old ones.  If you are looking for a short and sweet review, you might want to look elsewhere... I tend to write like I talk, and I can be a bit long-winded, so my reviews are very long and take a few weeks to complete.  On the other hand, if you like reading about lots of details, and if you want to see TONS of photos (including all of the daily schedules and menus), this is the review for you!  I do this as much to help others plan their vacations as to give me a travel log to look back on and remember my wonderful cruise.  Please feel free to ask questions and post comments along the way... I welcome your feedback 🙂

 

It may take me a little while to get all of my photos sorted and loaded onto my computer considering I took nearly 2000 photos on this vacation, so please be patient with me.  Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip as a little something to hold you over until it's time to post the rest!

 

 

 

32483258957_d117f72f3f_c.jpg

 

This photo is stunning. A bit mesmerizing as well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Border Granny said:

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!

 

I just realized I forgot to answer your question about the tablecloths...  They only have table cloths in the MDR on formal/elegant night.  When I took the photo overlooking the empty dining room, that was on our first sea day which would be an elegant night that night so I guess they were already setting up for dinner when I took that photo.  The casual nights just have a plain table without the tablecloth.  The steakhouse has a tablecloth every night. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We spent about an hour out there, with DH reading his book and me jotting down notes in my trip journal.  At 12:30pm, we decided to go to Pasta Bella for lunch.  Pasta Bella is located upstairs in the Lido Buffet on deck 11.  You need to check in with the hostess and she will give you a paper with the menu to check off what you want in your dish, and a stand with a number on it so you can pick your own table and the waiter will know where you are sitting when your food is ready.  I hoped that eating here on the first sea day would mean that it was less crowded because people hadn’t found it yet, but I was definitely wrong!  It was very busy and the hostess told us it would take about 30 minutes for our food to be ready.  We each filled out a sheet, put it in the box at the back of the room, and took a seat to wait for our lunch.

 

46616263655_1a0a5af3cf_c.jpg

 

While we were waiting, a waiter dropped off some garlic bread.  It was a nice flaky consistency, almost like a focaccia, and had the perfect ratio of garlic and butter. It was tempting to ask for a second serving but we held out to wait for our pasta. 

 

46634574325_a55d01c3e5_c.jpg

 

The waiter delivered our food almost exactly 30 minutes after we ordered, so it was impressive how accurate the hostess’s prediction was!  The pasta was hot and tasty, but I wish they put in more of the toppings (I only had 3 shrimp and 2 pieces of chicken).  No worries though, that just meant I would be ready for my next feeding a little sooner!

 

46808010394_9fa6f80fe8_c.jpg

 

Our roll call on Cruise Critic was not very active for this cruise.  I think there were only 4 pages in the thread by the time we sailed.  This was my first cruise when there was a group on that other social media site (pretty sure it is against the rules here for me to mention the site by name… I’ll just call it “Thumbs Up”).  The Thumbs Up group had over 400 members and it was very active, especially in the last few weeks leading up to the cruise, with people posting daily countdowns and asking questions about excursions.  Someone organized an informal meet and greet in the Atrium Bar for 1pm today, so DH and I went down there to check it out after lunch.  We sat at the bar until 1:10pm and couldn’t figure out if anyone else was there for the meet and greet.  It’s hard to meet in a public space for something like this when you don’t know what everyone else looks like, and there can be people there who are not part of your group.  On my previous cruises, we have always worn plastic beaded necklaces to these kinds of events so we can all find each other, but no one suggested that for today.  Maybe this just wasn’t meant to be, so we left because we wanted to get seats in Ocean Plaza for the One Hit Wonders Name That Tune event at 1:30pm.

 

Somewhere during our walk through the ship, I saw this piece of art… Not sure if you can really call this art?  It kind of reminded me of the painting with dogs playing poker haha  It made me smile, so I guess that’s all that matters!

 

46616263375_3ee2411e4f_c.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right near Ocean Plaza, they have a screen with this map of our location.  I think they also had it on one of the stations for the TVs in the cabin.  We’re about halfway to Costa Maya!

46808010204_d42e865288_c.jpg

 

We arrived at the Ocean Plaza around 1:25pm for the 1:30 trivia game, and it was already really crowded.  We found two open seats off to the side, but had we arrived a few minutes later, we would have needed to stand through the game. 

 

46616262905_13707df6e8_c.jpg

 

The theme for this trivia was 80’s and 90’s one hit wonders, and we had to name the song title and artist for each of the 20 songs they played.  It was worth one point each for a total of 40 points, and we did respectably well, earning 31 points.  We knew the titles for all but one of the songs, but it was tricky trying to remember the artists (after all, they are one hit wonders!).  Even though we didn’t win the coveted gold plastic ship on a stick, we had a lot of fun playing as name that tune is our favorite type of trivia.  We played it nearly every day on our 14-night Celebrity cruise last year, but on the Dream, the timing often conflicted with our plans in port.  Our only other chance to play was on the last sea day, but the theme that day was Country music so we had zero chance of knowing any of those songs and opted to skip it.

 

In our quest to avoid the sun, we went out to the lounge chairs on the port side of deck 5, since the ship was sailing south and it was now into the afternoon so the port side faced east and would be completely in the shade.  I think this is one of the reasons we do better not having a balcony on cruises.  It gives us the flexibility to seek out the side of the ship that has shade at that moment, instead of feeling obligated to make use of our balcony even if it happens to be in direct sunlight at that moment.  Don’t get me wrong, we love having a balcony, but this one factor did help ease the pain of not having it on this cruise.

 

46808010084_aa9fd17037_c.jpg

 

After a little while, I started to get hungry.  I didn’t want to eat too much and spoil my appetite for dinner… after all, tonight was lobster night in the MDR!  The pizzas on Carnival are thin crust, so they aren’t that filling, and I thought a slice or two of pizza would make the perfect snack.  I left DH to hold our lounge chairs and I made my way up to deck 10 Aft.  I must have had really good timing because not only was there no line at all, but there were 3 slices of the Quattro Formaggi pizza sitting behind the counter.  I really only wanted one or two slices, but when I asked for it, the guy working there just handed me the whole plate with all 3 slices!  I was planning to sit in the buffet area to eat it, but now that I had more food than I wanted to eat on my own, I took the pizza back downstairs to deck 5 and forced DH to help me eat some of it.  He’s a trooper like that!  I forgot to take a photo of the pizza at that moment, but I ended up getting the Quattro Formaggi again later in the cruise, so here is a photo from then.

 

46808009964_91184488bc_c.jpg

 

Another perk of the hub app listing all the menus is that I could take a screen shot of the menu to post on this review.  I did that for the dining room menus each night too because it comes out much better than when I try to take a photo of the menu with my camera and have to fight the glare from the lights above.  I know that people who sail on Carnival regularly can probably recite these menus by heart because they have not changed in a few years, but I wanted to post them for people reading along who have never cruised with Carnival. 

 

46616262525_6082285f03_c.jpg

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We stayed outside relaxing on the lounge chairs until around 4:30pm, and then went back to our cabin to get ready for formal night.  I am a firm believer that my fellow passengers can take just as good a photo (if not even better!) than the cruise ship photographers, especially on a formal night (oops, I mean a cruise elegant night).  Last year on our Celebrity cruise, it was fun to find a new piece of beautiful art work each night from one of the public spaces around the ship and use that as our backdrop for a photo.  Unfortunately, the décor on the Dream is a bit flashier and does not make for as good of a back drop.  A lot of the art is very busy and loud, and would take away from seeing us in the photo.  Tonight, we opted to keep it simple and stood by the stairs in the elevator bank (luckily the person taking our photo was patient as a bunch of people came running down the stairs right as we were about to take the photo, so we had to wait for them to pass first).

 

46616262245_6a3657a849_c.jpg

 

With that chore out of the way, we found a seat on one of the couches on deck 4 that overlooks the atrium so we could listen to some live music.  This became our favorite spot and we sat up here nearly every night.  We had a great view of whichever performer was in that stage area, we could people watch down to all the people at the bar and on the dance floor, and it was never crowded so it was a comfortable little hideaway on a ship with nearly 4000 other passengers.  Tonight’s pre-dinner performer was Chris Ayden playing acoustic jams.

 

46808009814_065b03e198_c.jpg

 

46616261575_25b2e4c1e8_c.jpg

 

I was pleasantly surprised at how many options of live entertainment were available on the Dream.  I have grown to expect that on Celebrity ships, but I honestly did not think we’d have so many live performers on Carnival.  The Fun Times has a section that lists what acts are performing at what times in each venue, and every night there were 6 musical acts performing, plus Zack in the piano bar, whatever kind of show was happening in the Encore! Theater, and the DJ playing in the nightclub.  Of those 6 musical acts, they had Chris Ayden (an acoustic guitar soloist), Charles and Phoebe (a variety music duet), Machine Company and Horn Troupers (a Motown band with like 6 or 7 members with a full brass section… very unexpected!), Kudos Strings (a strings trio who played incredible arrangements of pop songs… I don’t usually care for strings but these guys were fantastic), Black Jack Duo (a country music duo), and Cavair (Steel Drums at the Lido pool).  There was really something for everyone’s taste, and often two or three acts performed at the same time in different venues so it was hard to pick where we wanted to go!  No complaints though… that’s a good problem to have!  Haha

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, JasperCruiser said:

Fantastic review and I appreciate the time and effort you are taking. I’ll be on the Dream May 5th and your pictures are really bringing things to life!

 

Just 4 weeks to go! You must be so excited!!  Thanks for reading 🙂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, back to tonight… We listened to Chris Ayden for a few minutes, then made our way to the Scarlet Dining Room, all the way aft on deck 3.  Since we ate at the steakhouse last night, this was our first time eating in the MDR and we needed someone to show us to our table.  On the Monday prior to our cruise, I emailed the maitre’d to request a private table for two, hopefully near a window.  I remember from our last Carnival cruise that many of the tables for two get lined up in a row, with just inches between each table, and it’s hard to get in and out of your seat and it kind of feels like you are sitting at one big table with those around you.  While we do enjoy eating dinner with others, that tends to make the meal take way too long, and we did not want to have 2+ hour long dinners every night.  As I mentioned last night, we prefer to keep our dinners to about one hour long, so I thought that if I could request a private table for two, hopefully our wait staff would allow us to eat at our pace and not necessarily the pace of those sitting around us.  I did not get a reply from the maitre’d, but I just assumed the email went through and he was too busy to reply but would hopefully grant my request.  I totally forgot that the MDR is opened in the afternoon on embarkation day, and we could have stopped by to find out our table assignment, so we just left it as a surprise for when we arrived at dinner tonight.

 

We checked in at the hostess stand and they escorted us up to deck 4, and then all the way to the back of the room.  Wow, did the maitre’d deliver a fabulous table for us!  It was table 637, located along the windows all the way at the back of the room.  All of the tables around us were long tables for 10-12 people, but ours was just a small table for 2, separated from the rest, and it felt like we had special treatment!

 

46808009554_4fa1cccf58_c.jpg

 

I even used the little ledge near the window as a place to stash my camera and purse while we ate.  We could not have asked for a better table for the rest of our cruise dinners.  Our head waitress was Prudence from Zimbabwe, and she was supported by I Ketut and Kadek (not sure where they are from).  They worked together really well, and always kept the meal moving so we were finished by 7:15pm at the latest (and that was on the days when we arrived at 6:05 or 6:10pm so it was still just about a one hour meal).

 

Here is the menu for tonight’s dinner…

 

46616261055_a25865424f_c.jpg

 

The bottom 2 sections of the menu are available every night, but we never ordered from those items…

 

32589322497_8426de96be_c.jpg

 

Dessert Menu…

 

46616260935_c66f178ee5_c.jpg

 

Drinks menus…

 

32589322427_f22c3796d4_c.jpg

 

46616260885_f5cd8dd1a9_c.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kadek brought over a basket of bread and I picked the cranberry whole grain bread.  One thing I never followed was that on some nights he served us each one piece of bread, and on other nights, he left the whole basket on the table for us to serve ourselves.  Maybe it was elegant vs. casual night?  I am not sure.  Personally, I don’t like to fill up on bread so I never take more than one piece and didn’t care if he left the basket or took it away.

 

32589322367_ff00c65986_c.jpg

 

We enjoyed beautiful views of the sunset throughout the whole cruise.  Unfortunately, these photos really show how badly the windows need to be washed! Haha

 

46616260775_f5fb30611a_c.jpg

 

Caesar Salad… I really enjoyed this and ordered it on several nights when I didn’t see a second appetizer that interested me.  For the most part, I ordered two appetizers and one entrée each night.  Tonight was the one exception because I wanted two orders of my entrée.

32589322207_5e5e83b173_c.jpg

 

DH ordered two soups… first, he had the Sicilian Meatball Soup

40565660693_55a550ec69_c.jpg

 

Then, the Roasted Wild Mushroom Bisque

32589321877_ec5b05ff13_c.jpg

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking through my photos, I just realized I missed taking a photo of DH’s entrees.  Oops!  When I ordered my entrée, I asked Prudence if I could have two lobster tails but only one portion of the side dishes.  I’m not sure if it was lost in translation or if it was just that they pre-plate the dishes in the galley so Prudence can’t honor a special request, but she ended up bringing me two of these plates.  It’s a good thing I only had the caesar salad as my appetizer because I was actually able to finish nearly all of the two entrée portions!

 

40565660593_0aea7ce2e5_c.jpg

 

Such a beautiful sunset!  Try to ignore the filthy windows hehe

 

32589321687_986796477b_c.jpg

 

40565660493_621349258f_c.jpg

 

Just as we finished our dinner, it was time for sssshhhhhowtime!  Being all the way back on the upper level of the dining room meant we had no view of the action on the stairs and on the lower level.  The waiters in our corner of the MDR did a good job of trying to get us excited, and of course we all had to wave our napkins in the air.  Cruising has such bizarre traditions, doesn’t it?!

 

32589321397_7f45af5ee0_c.jpg

 

For dessert, I ordered the malted chocolate hazelnut cake.  It was really rich and right up my alley for a sweet chocolatey dessert, although it was more of a fudgey mouse than a cake. 

 

40565660363_a5401554e6_c.jpg

 

DH ordered the Vanilla Crème Brulee.  He finished every bite of it, so I think that’s a good sign that he liked it!

 

32589321207_c97276dfd9_c.jpg

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don’t think I mentioned this yet… one of the fun features of the Carnival Hub App is that you can mark off the events in the daily schedule which you want to attend, and then if you click on the favorites button, it will just show you those events and you don’t need to scan through the entire calendar.  I think you can also set it up to give you a notification on your phone at the time of the events but I didn’t use that feature.  This is what the favorites screen looks like…

 

40565660163_a7226f4927_c.jpg

 

After dinner, we wanted to catch the 8pm comedy show, so we just walked up one flight of stairs when leaving the MDR and we were there!  How convenient!!  This photo was taken at 7:43pm and you can see that the Burgundy Lounge was already quite crowded.  Our options were limited, but we were able to find two seats together.

 

40565660073_03781edca8_c.jpg

 

I liked that the cocktail waiters were always walking around and eager to take drink orders.  Sure, one of us could have walked up to the bar to get the drinks, but we’re on vacation and it’s okay to be lazy.  DH ordered a martini and I ordered The Punchliner drink.

 

32589320777_4e56f597d9_c.jpg

 

It took about 10 minutes for the waiter to return with our drinks.  Mine was fruity and sweet, just how I like it!

 

40565659943_81d5f00119_c.jpg

 

This show was the family friendly show with the same comedian we saw last night, Geoff Keith.  Sometimes I actually prefer these shows because the material content tends to be funnier instead of just relying on cursing and dirty humor to get a laugh.  I didn’t take any specific notes on the theme of this routine but I did like how he had a pre-written script rather than just improving and making fun of the audience.

 

32589320597_c090c2a1e7_c.jpg

 

The comedy show ended at 8:30pm, so we made our way all the way forward to get seats for the big production show in the Encore! Theatre.  When we arrived, the doors were still closed.

 

32589320387_1a6944565a_c.jpg

 

No worries!  They have a display case right outside of the entrance so we checked out some of the awards that the Dream has won over the years.  This record seems like it was made to be broken…

 

40565659843_11f0721a5a_c.jpg

 

40565659723_513566df2c_c.jpg

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We still had a few minutes before they were going to open the doors, so I left DH waiting there and went downstairs to talk to someone at Guest Services about our experience with FTTF on embarkation day.  Our assistant stewardess indicated that she would speak to her manager about her mistake in not realizing we had purchased FTTF and therefore not having our cabin ready by the time we boarded at 11:45 yesterday morning.  I expected a phone call or letter in our mailbox with an apology, but I gave it the remainder of the day yesterday and all day today to no avail.  With nothing better to do in the few minutes before getting seats for tonight’s show, this seemed like a good time to voice my concerns at Guest Services. 

 

As I expected, it wasn’t very busy at this time since the late seating for dinner had just started and most people were enjoying their evening on the ship right now.  There were one or two people at the general line, but I was able to walk right up to the desk and be helped immediately in the FTTF/Diamond/Platinum line.  I explained that we were disappointed to not receive two of the benefits we paid for when we boarded the ship yesterday… having immediate access to our clean cabin, and having priority delivery of our one checked suitcase.  At this point, it was water under the bridge for us, so to speak, but I did want to make sure that someone higher up the chain knew what happened so they could work to make sure it does not happen to other passengers on future cruises.  The representative took notes on what I told him and said he would pass the information along to a Guest Services manager.  The whole thing was very quick and DH was surprised to see me back upstairs within 10 minutes of leaving.

 

Shortly after that, they opened the doors so we could get seats in the theater.  I prefer sitting up in the balcony level so I can have an unobstructed view of the whole stage and not need to worry about someone tall sitting in front of me and blocking my view.  Unfortunately, that does make it hard to take clear photos of the performers, especially without using a flash.  Every night, they opened the doors 30 minutes prior to the start of the show and there was a big rush of people all arriving at that time.  This photo was taken at 9:05pm and already, most of the seats in the middle sections of the lower level were taken.

 

32589320037_e22c246334_c.jpg

 

While the theater never filled up completely for the late shows, most of the good seats were taken pretty early leaving just the back of the balcony available for people who arrived later.  Perhaps this was a sign of sailing on a ship filled to capacity during spring break with lots of 3rd and 4th passengers in the cabins, or maybe it’s just how things always go on the Dream because it was the biggest ship we’d ever sailed on, but either way, we made sure to arrive early for all the shows to get a decent seat.

 

Tonight’s Playlist Productions show was Motor City, featuring Motown and R&B hits from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.  I had seen this show already on the Carnival Sunshine in 2013, but I enjoyed it then and that was over 5 years ago so I didn’t mind seeing it a second time.  At around 9:20pm, they started the pre-show and pulled up a few daring members of the audience to dance on stage.  Sitting up in the balcony meant we were saved from that embarrassment!

 

40565659513_74edcabe03_c.jpg

 

32589319647_90585179cd_c.jpg

 

They also had everyone in the audience stand up and learn a little dance routine as a fun way to get us excited for the show.

 

40565659373_fa330f5475_c.jpg

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The show itself started around 9:30pm and ran for just over 30 minutes.  Before I share my views about this show, I need to put in a little disclaimer…  As with everything else in this review, these are my personal views and you may or may not agree with them.  Any negative opinions are not meant to upset or offend anyone, but merely to educate you about my experiences.  With that said, we were not impressed with most of the production shows on this ship.  Maybe it was because this was a relatively new cast and it was only their third cruise performing these shows, but the singing was pitchy (and sometimes downright cringe-worthy), and the dancing was often sloppy and out of sync.  We enjoy going to theater and have held season tickets to the Broadway traveling shows in San Jose for 6 seasons and counting, so maybe we were being overly critical?  We did not expect Broadway-caliber performances on a cruise ship, but we expected more than this.  I actually think the song selection for all the shows was great, and Carnival knows how to pick crowd-pleasers that appeal to a mass audience, so maybe we would have enjoyed the shows more had we seen the prior cast last month, or even if we saw this cast after a few more weeks of practice?  We really did want to love the shows as that’s usually one of our favorite parts of cruising, and we went into each of the 4 shows on this cruise optimistic and with an open mind, but sadly this cast fell short for us.  There are 8 performers in the cast… 4 men and 4 women.  Within the cast, there are singers who dance, and there are dancers who sing, but perhaps none that excelled at both.  To give credit where it is due, I will say that there was one male and one female dancer who we could tell had good training and technique, but we almost never heard them sing!  With all of that said, we did attend all 4 shows and stayed through the whole production each time, so they did have some redeeming qualities.  We had fun and enjoyed it for what it was. 

 

32589319307_8d6793fd65_c.jpg

 

40565659213_fde3b08e84_c.jpg

 

32589319017_2eaea17acc_c.jpg

 

When the show ended, the cast danced out into the lobby for an after-party.  As you can see from the people lining the railing on decks 4 and 5, and from the packed dance floor down on deck 3, everyone was having a good time as the DJ played more Motown hits and Gary had us all up and dancing.

 

40565659023_d55d1d130e_c.jpg

 

We sat in “our spot” on deck 4 to observe all the excitement, then went back to Ocean Plaza to listen to Machine Company and Horn Troupers play more Motown classics.  This band was fantastic, and it was refreshing to see a big horn section in a cruise ship musical act as we don’t see that very often.  We stayed until around 11:30pm, then headed back to the cabin to rest up for tomorrow in Costa Maya!

 

40565671553_a780a8d216_c.jpg

 

Step Tracker Daily Total:  11,042 steps; 4 miles; 22 flights of stairs

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, deladane said:

The show itself started around 9:30pm and ran for just over 30 minutes.  Before I share my views about this show, I need to put in a little disclaimer…  As with everything else in this review, these are my personal views and you may or may not agree with them.  Any negative opinions are not meant to upset or offend anyone, but merely to educate you about my experiences.  With that said, we were not impressed with most of the production shows on this ship.  Maybe it was because this was a relatively new cast and it was only their third cruise performing these shows, but the singing was pitchy (and sometimes downright cringe-worthy), and the dancing was often sloppy and out of sync.  We enjoy going to theater and have held season tickets to the Broadway traveling shows in San Jose for 6 seasons and counting, so maybe we were being overly critical?  We did not expect Broadway-caliber performances on a cruise ship, but we expected more than this.  I actually think the song selection for all the shows was great, and Carnival knows how to pick crowd-pleasers that appeal to a mass audience, so maybe we would have enjoyed the shows more had we seen the prior cast last month, or even if we saw this cast after a few more weeks of practice?  We really did want to love the shows as that’s usually one of our favorite parts of cruising, and we went into each of the 4 shows on this cruise optimistic and with an open mind, but sadly this cast fell short for us.  There are 8 performers in the cast… 4 men and 4 women.  Within the cast, there are singers who dance, and there are dancers who sing, but perhaps none that excelled at both.  To give credit where it is due, I will say that there was one male and one female dancer who we could tell had good training and technique, but we almost never heard them sing!  With all of that said, we did attend all 4 shows and stayed through the whole production each time, so they did have some redeeming qualities.  We had fun and enjoyed it for what it was. 

 

32589319307_8d6793fd65_c.jpg

 

40565659213_fde3b08e84_c.jpg

 

32589319017_2eaea17acc_c.jpg

 

When the show ended, the cast danced out into the lobby for an after-party.  As you can see from the people lining the railing on decks 4 and 5, and from the packed dance floor down on deck 3, everyone was having a good time as the DJ played more Motown hits and Gary had us all up and dancing.

 

40565659023_d55d1d130e_c.jpg

 

We sat in “our spot” on deck 4 to observe all the excitement, then went back to Ocean Plaza to listen to Machine Company and Horn Troupers play more Motown classics.  This band was fantastic, and it was refreshing to see a big horn section in a cruise ship musical act as we don’t see that very often.  We stayed until around 11:30pm, then headed back to the cabin to rest up for tomorrow in Costa Maya!

 

40565671553_a780a8d216_c.jpg

 

Step Tracker Daily Total:  11,042 steps; 4 miles; 22 flights of stairs

I am so glad you mentioned your opinion of the playlist shows on Carnival, because that was our exact impression, also. We sailed the Breeze in early March, and it was our first cruise back with Carnival since 2007, sailing RCCL and NCL., so after viewing those other lines Broadway caliber shows, we just couldn’t help comparing. We knew they wouldn’t be as good, but we didn’t realize just how bad they were. I’m sure some people may attack me for that honest opinion of mine, but it is what it is. As for the entertainment all over the ship, we were over joyed by how great it was. We actually prefer Carnival, so please, no hateful comments, people, but I know that I will be skipping their “productions” in the theater on my next cruise (I have a B2B booked and plan to do many, many more on Carnival)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, deladane said:

 

 Wow, did the maitre’d deliver a fabulous table for us!  It was table 637, located along the windows all the way at the back of the room.  All of the tables around us were long tables for 10-12 people, but ours was just a small table for 2, separated from the rest, and it felt like we had special treatment!

 

46808009554_4fa1cccf58_c.jpg

 

Wow! is the right word for a table with a view like that! Well deserved. You guys make a very happy-looking couple.

Norris, window table seeker.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, grandmarnnurse said:

I am so glad you mentioned your opinion of the playlist shows on Carnival, because that was our exact impression, also. We sailed the Breeze in early March, and it was our first cruise back with Carnival since 2007, sailing RCCL and NCL., so after viewing those other lines Broadway caliber shows, we just couldn’t help comparing. We knew they wouldn’t be as good, but we didn’t realize just how bad they were. I’m sure some people may attack me for that honest opinion of mine, but it is what it is. As for the entertainment all over the ship, we were over joyed by how great it was. We actually prefer Carnival, so please, no hateful comments, people, but I know that I will be skipping their “productions” in the theater on my next cruise (I have a B2B booked and plan to do many, many more on Carnival)

 

I debated over how honest I should be, but like I said, this was my opinion and others may not agree.  We really enjoyed the varied options of nightlife on the ship, and most of the live performers were fantastic, but sadly, the production shows were not up to par. Like you, we have no issues sailing with Carnival in the future (although we don't currently have a cruise booked on any line), but I'm not sure that I could really see myself skipping the production shows completely.  Despite our experience on the Dream, I think we would still end up hoping for the best and planning to watch all of the big production shows on future cruises.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...