Carnival Dream 2020 Cruise Review With Fun-Times & Photos!!

[thecruiserofships]

Club 02 Youth Program Lounge:
                 While walking on Deck 4 I came across the youth program lounge for Club 02. This lounge is located near the back of the deck. Club 02 is the youth program for 15-17 year olds. The lounge consisted of a variety of a dance floor, large screens, several places to sit, and games. 

 

Circle C Youth Program Lounge:
                    After leaving Club 02's lounge I continued walking towards the front of Deck 4 and quickly came to the Circle C youth program lounge. These two lounges are located very close to one another. Circle C is Carnival's youth program for 12-14 year olds. This lounge also consisted of a small dance floor, games, and several places to sit. 

 

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  After walking around the ship and looking around I decided it was time to head to my stateroom. My stateroom was located near the front of Deck 2 and since I was walking on Deck 4 I needed to go to front elevator/stairwell area and head down two decks. As I walked to my stateroom I noticed the atrium was crowded with several guests boarding the ship and the front elevator area was very crowded. Almost all of the front elevators were out of service because these elevators were being used to transport boarding guests. However, the atrium's elevators (located in very close proximity to the front elevator area) were able to be used by guests so people needing to use the elevators at the front of the ship could use these. I took the stairs because I did not want to use the crowded elevators. 

                     Staterooms were scheduled to open at 1:30pm for all guests, but guests that were priority (Platinum, Diamond, Suites) and Faster to the Fun were able to access staterooms after boarding. The stateroom hallway fire doors were all closed, but guests with priority stateroom access were allowed to open up the firedoors and go back into the stateroom hallway. When we got to our stateroom door, we found our Sail & Sign cards in a sealed envelope that was located in our stateroom's mailbox. Sail & Sign Cards are used for room keys as well as a central way to make purchases onboard the ship during the cruise. Staterooms that did not have guests with priority room access did not have envelopes out yet. This was to prevent anyone from accessing their stateroom early because stateroom stewards were still working on cleaning rooms and getting everything ready. 

My Stateroom: Deluxe Ocean View
                   My deluxe ocean view stateroom was located on Deck 2 near the front elevator/stairwell area, but not close enough to hear any noise from the elevators. I stayed in this exact stateroom the last time I was on the Carnival Dream in 2014 out of New Orleans. One feature that makes a deluxe ocean view stateroom different than a regular ocean view stateroom is there are two bathrooms, one that is a regular bathroom and another that has a bathtub. The stateroom consisted of two twin beds, a TV, a long narrow counter space, large mirror, a couch (that was converted into a bed), and a large window. We also had two small nightstands with lamps. Since the Carnival Dream did not turn around prior to docking, our window gave us a view of the cruise terminal and pier below.  

Here are some pictures of the stateroom area of my deluxe ocean view:

 

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Stateroom Bathroom #1 (Typical Stateroom Bathroom)
                      The first bathroom in the stateroom is just like the typical bathroom you will find in a regular Carnival stateroom. This bathroom consisted of a toilet, shower, sink, a counter space (with shelves). Inside the shower, shampoo and shower gel were able to be dispensed from a wall dispenser. Small shelves were located in this bathroom for storage of toiletries. 

 

 

Stateroom Bathroom #2: Bathtub 
                    The second bathroom in the stateroom was very small and consisted of a bathtub and sink. The bathtub had a curtain and could also be used as a shower. Soap and shampoo were also available from dispensers on the wall in this bathroom. A very small sink was also available in this bathroom too. However, there was no counter space in this bathroom and a very small shelf for storing toiletries or other items needed to be stored in the bathroom. The actual floor space in this bathroom was extremely small because the bathtub took up a lot of room.

 

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The view from our stateroom window was interesting. A large green lift was on the pier and being used by the ship's crew members to paint the ship. I enjoyed looking out the window and seeing them paint. 
 

Continuing My Walk Around The Carnival Dream: 
                     I did not stay in my stateroom very long because I wanted to continue exploring the ship. Since I was already near the front of the ship I went up three decks to Deck 5. The Carnival Dream's Deck 5 is one of my favorite decks on the ship. Besides all of the interior lounges & venues, the Carnival Dream's Deck 5 has an outside area called the Lanai that goes around the entire ship. Here are some pictures I took of the Carnival Dream's Lanai:

 

 

[thecruiserofships]

  Unfortunately, my time being outside did not last too long because it started to rain. It was light rain, but after I went inside it got worse and was pouring. I was very thirsty so I went up to the Lido Deck (10) to get some water from the buffet. The Deck 10 level of the buffet was crowded so I walked up to the Deck 11 level of the buffet. This area at lunch is used for the Pasta Bella pasta bar. Guests eating up here at lunch can have a customized pasta bowl. The pasta bar was already closed when I walked up here so here are some pictures of the Deck 11 area of the buffet empty:

 

 

Safety Briefing (Muster Station Drill): 
              The Muster Station drill is always a required event for every passenger on the cruise ship. My muster station was "A3" which was located at the Encore Theater on Deck 3.  All of the Carnival Dream's muster stations are inside which was great compared to other classes of ships. The drill was much more enjoyable being able to sit in the air conditioning compared to other cruises of having to stand outside. The drill was scheduled to begin at 3:00pm and began on-time. Announcements were made prior to the start of the drill to inform guests and crew what would happen when it was time for the drill to begin.
           For this muster station drill, we were told to bring our Sail & Sign cards so the cards could be scanned. During the drill, crew members walked around with tablets to scan cards.  During the drill we learned about wearing lifejackets, what to do in an emergency, and received some other general information about onboard safety. This drill the exact same as every other muster station drill I have attended. 

 

 

A Rainy & Wet Sail-a-way From Galveston:
                  The Carnival Dream was scheduled to set sail at 3:30pm from Galveston. After the muster station drill I quickly went outside to the Lanai in order to find a spot at the back to watch sail-a-way. Unfortunately, the minute I stepped outside I realized it was raining hard and a cold breeze was blowing. There is a small area underneath the balconies that was dry so I stayed under a small cover to take some pictures as we left. This was the first time I have ever had a rainy sail-a-way when sailing from Galveston. However, I was glad I was able to watch us leave from Galveston. The Enchantment of the Seas had already departed from cruise terminal 2 and was turning around before we left. Here are some pictures I took during our rainy sail-a-way:

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[Joe817]

Loving your review! Fond memories of our cruise on her last July.   👍

[overeasy]

Sailaway Day!  Always exciting.  I hope to sail on Dream - I like the Joe Farcus decor.  Thanks for the photos!

[mexicobob]

Great pictures. Great review. Keep it up.

[pamici]

On 1/9/2020 at 4:11 PM, Saint Greg said:

 

Thanks! Stick around. Next entry is tomorrow.

Glad I found this review. Going on Dream in September, and I didn't even know about the Magic blog review - double win!

[grandmarnnurse]

On 1/9/2020 at 5:11 PM, Saint Greg said:

 

Thanks! Stick around. Next entry is tomorrow.

You started a new review? I stalked the site and didn’t find it! Help me, Greg! I can’t miss your reviews!! 😎

[Jamman54]

Great start to your review. Thanks for sharing! 😎

[heffy2]

Great review so far! Thank you very much!

[thecruiserofships]

On 1/10/2020 at 5:41 PM, Joe817 said:

Loving your review! Fond memories of our cruise on her last July.   👍

 

Thank you! Glad to hear you like the review!

[thecruiserofships]

22 hours ago, overeasy said:

Sailaway Day!  Always exciting.  I hope to sail on Dream - I like the Joe Farcus decor.  Thanks for the photos!

 

Thank you! I really like the Joe Farcus decor too. The new style feels a little too standardized sometimes (although I like the new style too)

[thecruiserofships]

22 hours ago, mexicobob said:

Great pictures. Great review. Keep it up.

 

Thank you!

[thecruiserofships]

19 hours ago, pamici said:

Glad I found this review. Going on Dream in September, and I didn't even know about the Magic blog review - double win!

 

Have a great cruise on the Carnival Dream! 

[thecruiserofships]

9 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Great start to your review. Thanks for sharing! 😎

Thank you! 

[thecruiserofships]

5 hours ago, heffy2 said:

Great review so far! Thank you very much!

Thank you!

[thecruiserofships]

First Dinner On The Carnival Dream:                  I had Your-Time Dining which means I could dine in a specific dining room from 5:45pm until about 9:00pm. My assigned dining room was the Deck 3 level of the Crimson Dining Room, which was printed on my Sail & Sign card. The entrance for cruisers with Your-Time Dining was in the Carnival Dream's atrium on the Deck 3 level. A few minutes prior to the dining room opening, some of the hostesses came out to start organizing the line. One line was formed for guests that were checking in for Your-Time Dining with the Carnival Hub App. I considered doing this, but guests cannot make table requests with the app so I stayed in the other line that was for guests wanting to check in with a hostess. At exactly 5:45pm the doors opened and we were seated very quickly.                        Our waitstaff did a very good job and the food was good. On this night of the cruise I had a caesar salad, smoked chicken quesadilla, sweet & sour shrimp, and banana split. The banana split is available each night of the cruise to any guest, but is on the kid's menu.

                 The dining room menus for the night were able to be viewed prior to the start of dinner through the Carnival Hub App. I took screenshots of the menus that were posted to the app to share on here with you. For those on the ship without the Carnival Hub App, the menus were posted outside the dining room each morning. Of course, once we were in the dining room we were given a paper copy of the menu to order from. Here are my screenshots of the menus from this night of the cruise:

 

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[thecruiserofships]

Welcome Aboard Show: 
                At 7:30pm, the Welcome Aboard Show was scheduled to take place in the Encore Theater. Typically, the Welcome Aboard Show consists of the cruise director speaking, some sort of interactive game, and the Playlist Productions dancers giving a short 10 minute sneak peek of the show. However, this Welcome Aboard Show was very different. Our cruise director, Gary, came up and spoke a few minutes and then did a competition. This only lasted about 15 minutes because instead of the traditional Welcome Aboard Show we were getting a full length Playlist Productions Show at 7:45pm. This format was much better and I wish other Carnival ships would fit a full production show on the first night of the cruise. 

First Playlist Productions Show: 80s Pop to the Max
              The production show for the night was 80's Pop to the Max. Due to this being the first night of the cruise and having a mini-Welcome Aboard show prior to the show, 80s Pop to the Max was only performed one time. The Fun-Times activity newsletter listed the start of the show as 7:45pm and this was the only time this show was performed. Due to this being the only performance and nasty weather outside, the Encore Theater was packed. This show consisted of a wide variety of 80s music including some popular one hit wonders. The Playlist Productions cast members were very talented and did a great job singing & dancing for us. The show lasted about 40 minutes and went by extremely fast because it was a good show. 

 After the show ended I went up to the Lido Deck. It was lightly raining, but the Lido main pool area had people standing under cover watching the Dive In Movie for the night on the Seaside Theater. I went into the Lido buffet for some water and then went back to my stateroom. When I got back in my stateroom I saw our stateroom steward came by and left us a towel animal. Our steward did a great job!
                     I was very tired and fell asleep quickly after getting back to my stateroom. However, I was woken up a few times during the night because as the ship cut through the waves a loud noise that sounded like a cannon was made. I did not have this problem the last time I stayed in this stateroom. I could see from the window that it was pouring outside throughout the night. Luckily, I managed to fall asleep again despite the noise waking me up a few times. 

[thecruiserofships]

First Morning Walk Of The Cruise:
                Each cruise I will typically take a morning walk around the ship prior to eating breakfast. During my morning walk I will usually look inside the ship's public spaces and take pictures for this review. Before going to bed on the first night I set my alarm for 5:45am. However, my alarm malfunctioned and did not go off until nearly 6:00am. After getting out of bed I got ready for the day and left my stateroom by 6:20am. I started my morning walk on Deck 3 at the front of the ship in the Carnival Dream's Encore Theater. The Encore Theater is the same venue where the first night's Welcome Aboard Show and 80s Pop to the Max Production Show took place on the first night. Today, the Encore Theater was going to be used for a variety of events including the Morning Show, bingo, Fun Ashore Presentation, the Fun Finds Shopping Show, and the production show known as Flick. Since it was very early in the morning, the lounge was empty and most of the lights were off. Here are some pictures of the Encore Theater's Deck 3 level:  

 

     After walking out of the Encore Theater, I went into the Carnival Dream's atrium. The ship's atrium has four glass elevators that go up to Deck 12. Although the atrium's lobby is on Deck 3, the glass elevators go down to Deck 2 despite that deck not being a part of the atrium. In the center of the atrium is the atrium bar and a spiral staircase that goes up to decks 4 & 5. On of the sides of the atrium, there are several areas to sit and mini-Fun Hub internet cafe stations.          
                   The Guest Services and Shore Excursions decks can be found on Deck 3 on the sides of the atrium. The Guest Services desk is on one side of the Carnival Dream's atrium while the Shore Excursions desk is on the opposite side of the atrium. At this time of the morning, the Shore Excursions Desk was closed. Shore Excursions can be booked through stateroom TV's, on the Carnival Hub App, and at Guest Services when the Shore Excursions Desk is closed.