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

[AndrewD65]

6 hours ago, deladane said:

 

Thanks Andrew!  DH wants to know if you are paying for it 😉 hehe

 Ha, ha.. Well Let me get to my cruise next Sunday first.. I really enjoyed reading your review, don't be surprised if I comment on one of your other reviews, because now I'm turning my attention to them. 🙂

 

[Border Granny]

Thanks so much Dana for taking us along on the Dream, and for answering my questions! I would definitely love to follow you to Europe, so I’ll be watching for the link...safe travels!

[2Long2NxtCrz]

Thank you so much for this wonderful, detailed and photo-rich review!

 

I much appreciated all the details because I've yet to sail on Carnival, but I really, really want to sail out of New Orleans again!  Your review was so honest and forthright about everything that I really do feel like we'd be just fine on Carnival once we get the hang of the ship's layout.

 

Also, I'd seen the signs and those masks for Mardi Gras world but had no idea.  I will definitely have to visit when I'm next in NOLO because I love parade floats and it would be cool to see them while being sculpted and then the entire completed floats.

 

Thank you, again!  Also, I would absolutely love to see your review of your European trip in the port area.  There's just not enough activity over there so I'm sure it'll help more than a few people.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

Thanks for the fantastic review! I really enjoyed all of the pictures and details, especially since we are booked on the Dream in March, 2020 (out of Galveston). Looking forward to it even more now!

[deladane]

On 5/4/2019 at 10:29 AM, pd7277 said:

I would love to read and "see" your europe vacation.  I'll look for this thread to pop up again over the summer.  😎

 

I have a question.  We sailed on Carnival many years ago and swore it would never happen again because the food was so awful, but I would also like to take a late spring cruise out of Tampa and Carnival is the only option.  So, has the food improved that much over the years?  And how would you compare it to Celebrity?  

 

Honestly, the food on Celebrity is better.  The options on the menu are more high end (ie: they offer escargots every night, and the french onion soup offered every night in the MDR is on par with the one Carnival serves in the steakhouse).  That said, we always found something good to eat on Carnival and nearly everything we ordered was good.  Just not AS GOOD as Celebrity 🙂

[deladane]

On 5/4/2019 at 10:40 AM, grandmarnnurse said:

I cannot wait to be in New Orleans and have a beingnet! Our hotel is on Iberville St in the French Quarter, so I hope there is a Cafe du Monde near us. They actually look a bit like the fried dough we get at our local pizza parlor. 

 

That's basically exactly what they are... and topped with a ton of powdered sugar!  As far as I know, there are only 2 locations of Cafe du Monde: the one we went to at the Riverwalk, and the bigger location in the French Quarter at Jackson Square.  I think there are one or two other cafes that make them as well, but I don't know exactly where they are located.

[deladane]

On 5/4/2019 at 11:24 AM, kmshea said:

Awesome review, thank you for sharing! What do you use to get your photos from your camera to your iPad so quickly?

 

Thanks for reading!  I bought an adapter that has a lightening plug on one end and an SD card reader on the other end.  It cost about $30 from the Apple store.  Each night, I plug upload the photos from my memory card onto my iPad so I have a back up copy of all of my photos in case my camera gets lost/stolen/broken.  When I get home, I have another gadget that is lightening on one end and USB on the other end so I can transfer my photos onto the USB stick and then back onto my laptop to write my review.  Before I had this second gadget (it was a gift from my brother in law for the holidays last winter), I used dropbox to transfer the photos to my laptop but that was more time consuming.

[deladane]

On 5/4/2019 at 11:52 AM, SenatorsFan said:

Thanks for another great review,  Dana. I've been quietly following along and enjoying your enthusiasm and humour, and of course, all of the wonderful pictures. That Mardi Gras warehouse tour looks very interesting. I'll keep it in mind (and the beignets) if I ever make it to New Orleans. Oh, and I would follow your European trip, also. 

Heather

 

Hi Heather,

New Orleans is definitely worth a trip, even if it's just for a long weekend and you aren't taking a cruise.  And thanks for letting me know about the Europe trip review- if I do write it, I will post a link on this thread so you can find it in July 🙂

[deladane]

On 5/4/2019 at 1:44 PM, pghsteelerfan said:

Dana, thank you again for taking the time to share another of your wonderful trips with us, and as always, I also enjoyed the beautiful pictures you got.  I'm so glad that the weather was sunny and beautiful for you.  I think I mentioned before that I also really enjoyed your pre-cruise stay in New Orleans, especially since we were just there last May.  We didn't get to Mardi Gras World last year but did go when we were in NOLA in 1996, but it was across the river then, so we had to take the ferry over to it.  The same building we went through in 1996 was still there last year, and still had Mardi Gras World on it, but the one you got to go through was MUCH larger and nicer.  What we saw was more of a warehouse where floats or parts of floats were stored.  It didn't appear that anyone was working on them either.  After reading about your tour, I think that is something that will be a must next time we get to NOLA.  And the Beignets...yum!   And yes, I'd be happy to read about your trip to Europe this summer.  I can't believe it, but it was six years ago today that we flew down to San Juan one night before our cruise on Valor.  It really doesn't seem like 6 years ago!

 

Hi Holly,

Oh wow, that's interesting about how the Mardi Gras World has changed over the years.  I didn't really notice it while we were there, and I didn't ask our guide what year this facility opened, but it looked like a fairly new building.  I wonder if the original location was damaged during Hurricane Katrina and they had to move?  Or maybe they outgrew the old facility and needed more space?  This place was HUGE!  The section we walked through with the people working was just a tiny portion of the building.  There are only 20 full time employees who work on the floats, so they don't take up much space.  The rest of the building was filled with row after row of floats.  There were hundreds of them!  It was hard to capture on camera (probably only possible if you used a drone, which I doubt they would allow inside during the tours haha), but you could spend hours walking up and down every aisle if you wanted to look at all of the floats.  It's definitely worth a second visit the next time you are in New Orleans 🙂  

[deladane]

On 5/4/2019 at 3:22 PM, AndrewD65 said:

 Ha, ha.. Well Let me get to my cruise next Sunday first.. I really enjoyed reading your review, don't be surprised if I comment on one of your other reviews, because now I'm turning my attention to them. 🙂

 

 

Have a wonderful time on your cruise next week!!  And if you do read my old reviews, I'd love to hear your feedback and comments 🙂

[deladane]

On 5/4/2019 at 5:06 PM, Border Granny said:

Thanks so much Dana for taking us along on the Dream, and for answering my questions! I would definitely love to follow you to Europe, so I’ll be watching for the link...safe travels!

 

Thanks for posting your comments and questions!  I too am guilty of just being a lurker and reading reviews without commenting and letting the writer know I am reading along, but it is much appreciated when you (and everyone else!) take the time to interact and post comments/questions so I know I'm not just posting this to sit in cyberspace with no audience 🙂  If I do write the review for our Europe trip, it will be sometime in July and I'll post a link on this blog.

[deladane]

23 hours ago, 2Long2NxtCrz said:

Thank you so much for this wonderful, detailed and photo-rich review!

 

I much appreciated all the details because I've yet to sail on Carnival, but I really, really want to sail out of New Orleans again!  Your review was so honest and forthright about everything that I really do feel like we'd be just fine on Carnival once we get the hang of the ship's layout.

 

Also, I'd seen the signs and those masks for Mardi Gras world but had no idea.  I will definitely have to visit when I'm next in NOLO because I love parade floats and it would be cool to see them while being sculpted and then the entire completed floats.

 

Thank you, again!  Also, I would absolutely love to see your review of your European trip in the port area.  There's just not enough activity over there so I'm sure it'll help more than a few people.

 

Thank you for pointing out that perspective- you are probably right that if there isn't much activity in the Europe forums then posting my non-cruise review would be better than nothing! haha  I do feel a little funny posting a review like this for a land-based trip when this is a forum for cruising, but lots of people visit Paris and London before and after their cruises from Northern Europe and the Mediterranean because it's a hub for the airlines, plus some people visit Paris from the Le Harve port of call, so my review wouldn't be completely irrelevant lol  If I do go ahead and write it, it will be sometime in July and I'll post the link on this thread 🙂

 

I think opinions about cruise lines are personal and individual, so the best way to know if you would enjoy cruising with Carnival is to give it a try and decide for yourself!  Considering they are such a huge company with so many ships and itineraries, they do a good job at pleasing the masses and there is something for everyone to enjoy.  If you wanted to cruise out of NOLA but on a different cruise line, the NCL Breakaway also sails from there, and did nearly the same itinerary as us (subbing their private island in Belize when we went to Belize City).  But I would definitely say it's worth giving Carnival a try because they have a lot to offer! 🙂 

[deladane]

1 hour ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Thanks for the fantastic review! I really enjoyed all of the pictures and details, especially since we are booked on the Dream in March, 2020 (out of Galveston). Looking forward to it even more now!

 

Thanks for reading!  Hope you have a great time on the Dream next year 🙂 

[Charm2018]

On 5/4/2019 at 12:13 PM, deladane said:

By the time we finished eating, it was 1:45pm and we were kind of ready to wrap things up and head to the airport.  We originally planned to walk around the French Quarter a little longer, but we were tired and decided to skip it.  We walked through the food court in the mall looking for something we could buy to bring to the airport to eat for a late lunch, but none of the options looked like they would travel well.  I used Google Maps to search the area for a better option, and saw that there was a Subway sandwich shop located across the street from the convention center just a few blocks away.  Thanks to the construction on Convention Center Boulevard, it was a little tricky to get there, but we eventually found a place we could cross the street and get our sandwiches.  It was very crowded when we arrived, and when we tried to order our sandwich, they said they only had the plain Italian bread available.  I’ve never been to a Subway before when they only had one kind of bread!  No biggie, we ordered our sandwiches to-go, and walked back to the Hilton to retrieve our luggage from the porters.

 

Another huge advantage to checking our bags here instead of at the cruise port was that it was really easy for an Uber to pick us up.  Had the Uber needed to pick us up near the port, it would have taken forever to get through all the traffic of people being dropped off for their cruise, so it was much easier to direct the Uber to the front entrance of the Hilton where there was space for him to pull over and load our luggage in the circular driveway.

 

The Uber driver picked us up within minutes of submitting the request, and it took about 30 minutes to drive to the airport.  There was virtually no line to check our bag, and luckily it weighed in at 48 pounds so no need to shift things around in the airport.  There was a small line at security, but it moved fast and we had plenty of time to spare anyway so it wouldn’t be a big deal if we did have a long wait.  We found seats near our gate and waited for an hour until it was time to board the plane.  At the last minute, they changed us to a different gate on the other side of the terminal, so everyone marched down the hallway like a parade to reach the new gate. 

 

The first thing I did when I got to my seat on the plane was to look at the airplane safety information pamphlet.  I think this is the first time I have ever looked at it, but I just wanted to make sure that we were not on a 737-Max plane!  Of course, by now, President Trump had announced he was grounding all 737-Maxs so it was highly unlikely that this was that style of plane, but I needed to double check for my own sanity.

 

 

While I was looking through the pamphlets in the seat back in front of me, I took a look at the drinks menu.  Today was our lucky day… literally!  It was St. Patrick’s Day and Southwest was offering free drinks on all flights today!  They do this for random holidays throughout the year, but it was surprising that they picked this holiday as it fell on a Sunday which is a popular travel day.  In the past, I have seen them pick Valentine’s Day and Halloween because they fell on random days mid-week when there were fewer people flying, so we were excited that they happened to pick today for the free drinks. 

 

 

The flight attendants made no announcements or mentions of the free drinks, so I think they were hoping people wouldn’t notice as that would make way more work for them haha  Luckily, DH and I have a radar to detect free drinks in any situation so they couldn’t hide this from us!  In fact, we were able to order a second round later in the flight and that was free too!!  Southwest really knows how to lessen the sadness of the last day of vacation.

 

The flight was nearly 5 hours long, but the time passed quickly as I spent the whole time sorting through photos on my iPad.  We also had some beautiful views as we flew over the Rockies.

 

 

Our plane landed on time at around 7pm California time, so it was just in time for a beautiful sunset over the Bay.

 

 

 

Of course, our long day of travel wasn’t over just yet.  After collecting our checked bag, we called the shuttle to bring us back to the off-site parking lot to get my car, and then had a one hour drive to get home.  By the time we walked in the door, it was 11pm New Orleans time and we were exhausted after waking up at 7am to Gary’s announcements.  We dropped our suitcases in the living room, unpacked just the essentials, and got ready for bed as we both had to wake up early on Monday to return to work.

 

Step Tracker Daily Total:  15,769 steps; 6.37 miles; 4 flights of stairs

 

Well, that’s all folks!  We had a wonderful vacation, so I hope you enjoyed sharing the memories with me.  As always, please let me know if you have any questions.  We don’t currently have any future cruises planned, but we are going to Paris and London over the summer.  I would love to write up a similar review of that trip to post on this site, maybe in the Europe ports of call section?  We won’t be going on a cruise during the vacation (unless you can count the 1-hour sightseeing “cruises” of the Seine and Thames Rivers?? LOL).  Would you be interested in reading it?  If there is enough interest, I will write it up and post a link to it on this thread so you can follow along.

 

 

I would definitely be interested in the Paris and London info as I will be headed there with my daughter for her 16th birthday in a year or so.

[Dvelocity]

Thank you sooo much for posting.  It was very enjoyable to follow along on your adventure.  

[pghsteelerfan]

3 hours ago, deladane said:

 

Hi Holly,

Oh wow, that's interesting about how the Mardi Gras World has changed over the years.  I didn't really notice it while we were there, and I didn't ask our guide what year this facility opened, but it looked like a fairly new building.  I wonder if the original location was damaged during Hurricane Katrina and they had to move?  Or maybe they outgrew the old facility and needed more space?  This place was HUGE!  The section we walked through with the people working was just a tiny portion of the building.  There are only 20 full time employees who work on the floats, so they don't take up much space.  The rest of the building was filled with row after row of floats.  There were hundreds of them!  It was hard to capture on camera (probably only possible if you used a drone, which I doubt they would allow inside during the tours haha), but you could spend hours walking up and down every aisle if you wanted to look at all of the floats.  It's definitely worth a second visit the next time you are in New Orleans 🙂  

Hi Dana,
Yes, the one we toured through was definitely much smaller and on the other side of the river.  That was in 1996 though and before Hurricane Katrina.  I do remember after our tour when we were waiting for the next ferry, we walked along the levee area, which seemed pretty high but I don't know if it was breached during the flooding or not.  We went in (small group) but there was no movie, but there was a man who explained the history of Mardi Gras (Krewes, floats, and parades) that took about the same amount of time and then we were turned loose to walk around and look at the floats and figures.  It definitely wasn't as organized as the one you went through and they were basically scattered about with no apparent order.  Out of curiosity, I searched "Mardi Gras World" and found on Wikipedia that Mardi Gras World was created as a tourist attraction in 1984, but in the late 2000's, it "nearly quadrupled in size, expanding from 80,000 to 300,000 square feet", so that would definitely explain.  But they actually still have "Mardi Gras World" still on that old building across the river that we were able to see when we rode the ferry across and back last year.  I'd definitely love to check out the updated Mardi Gras World, so I really appreciate the information AND the pictures.  🙂

I have a pic I took from the ferry during our trip last May of that building across the river where Mardi Gras World was in 1996 (actual view and zoomed in of the building with "Mardi Gras World").  We actually thought that's where it still was so never even looked into doing another tour if it.  Had I known...LOL!!!

 

 

[cricketgirl]

On 5/4/2019 at 11:13 AM, deladane said:

Well, that’s all folks!  We had a wonderful vacation, so I hope you enjoyed sharing the memories with me.  As always, please let me know if you have any questions.  We don’t currently have any future cruises planned, but we are going to Paris and London over the summer.  I would love to write up a similar review of that trip to post on this site, maybe in the Europe ports of call section?  We won’t be going on a cruise during the vacation (unless you can count the 1-hour sightseeing “cruises” of the Seine and Thames Rivers?? LOL).  Would you be interested in reading it?  If there is enough interest, I will write it up and post a link to it on this thread so you can follow along.

 

 

Great review Dana, I felt like I was joining you on your adventures!  Thanks so much for sharing with all of us!

 

We went to London and Paris last year and had a wonderful time; looking forward to hearing about your trip.  We too scheduled boat rides on the Seine and Thames and they were equally fantastic.  Have a great time and enjoy your planning!

[CruzerDeb]

Thanks for the great review!  I loved reading (and seeing) about all your great cruise adventures. 

[leight]

Just love your reviews! We have a cruise on the Elation in Nov with friends to celebrate a birthday. But I have so enjoyed your reviews that while my sister asked me to plan something just for the two of us, I think I have settled on a 4 day cruise on Carnival Liberty in Feb 2020. Just waiting for my new work schedule to be assigned for the next year at the end of may before we book. Always been a loyal Royal Caribbean devotee, but for a inexpensive getaway for my sister and I to relax, it sounds like we can still have a blast on Carnival. Going back to read your other reviews, having a great time obsessing and planning! Thanks 

[Walt fan]

Thank you so much for this review!  It was so much fun and you put in so much detail, I can take a mini vacay while reading.  Count me in for a vote to your Europe review.  I will keep a lookout!

[deladane]

20 hours ago, Charm2018 said:

 

I would definitely be interested in the Paris and London info as I will be headed there with my daughter for her 16th birthday in a year or so.

 

That will be such a wonderful trip for the two of you!  Not sure if you have started planning yet, but she can get in to a ton of museums for free at her age so definitely take advantage of that! 🙂

[deladane]

20 hours ago, Dvelocity said:

Thank you sooo much for posting.  It was very enjoyable to follow along on your adventure.  

 

Thank you for reading!

[deladane]

20 hours ago, pghsteelerfan said:

Hi Dana,
Yes, the one we toured through was definitely much smaller and on the other side of the river.  That was in 1996 though and before Hurricane Katrina.  I do remember after our tour when we were waiting for the next ferry, we walked along the levee area, which seemed pretty high but I don't know if it was breached during the flooding or not.  We went in (small group) but there was no movie, but there was a man who explained the history of Mardi Gras (Krewes, floats, and parades) that took about the same amount of time and then we were turned loose to walk around and look at the floats and figures.  It definitely wasn't as organized as the one you went through and they were basically scattered about with no apparent order.  Out of curiosity, I searched "Mardi Gras World" and found on Wikipedia that Mardi Gras World was created as a tourist attraction in 1984, but in the late 2000's, it "nearly quadrupled in size, expanding from 80,000 to 300,000 square feet", so that would definitely explain.  But they actually still have "Mardi Gras World" still on that old building across the river that we were able to see when we rode the ferry across and back last year.  I'd definitely love to check out the updated Mardi Gras World, so I really appreciate the information AND the pictures.  🙂

I have a pic I took from the ferry during our trip last May of that building across the river where Mardi Gras World was in 1996 (actual view and zoomed in of the building with "Mardi Gras World").  We actually thought that's where it still was so never even looked into doing another tour if it.  Had I known...LOL!!!

 

haha how funny!  I only knew to look into it because I was looking on Groupon for discounted tours and stumbled upon the one for Mardi Gras World.  The tours are very organized now, although they still let us loose at the end and we could have spent as much time as we wanted looking at the floats.  The good news is that this facility is probably going to be around for a long time so you can just add it to your to-do list for the next time you visit there 🙂

[deladane]

17 hours ago, cricketgirl said:

 

Great review Dana, I felt like I was joining you on your adventures!  Thanks so much for sharing with all of us!

 

We went to London and Paris last year and had a wonderful time; looking forward to hearing about your trip.  We too scheduled boat rides on the Seine and Thames and they were equally fantastic.  Have a great time and enjoy your planning!

 

Thank you!  The planning for Paris and London has been like a marathon since we booked the trip last October, but at this point I think I have booked everything that needs to be pre-booked (except the Sky Garden in London, but can't do that until 3 weeks in advance).  The tricky part is figuring out what to do each day so I maximize our time there without overbooking our days.  Posts in the Trip Advisor forum say to only plan for 1 major museum/attraction per day, but that's not my style, especially when we only have 5 full days in Paris and 4 full days in London!  I think I have a good itinerary planned out so fingers crossed everything goes according to plan when we are there!  

[deladane]

16 hours ago, CruzerDeb said:

Thanks for the great review!  I loved reading (and seeing) about all your great cruise adventures. 

 

Thanks Deb!