Just Back NCL DREAM

[skylock]

First NCL cruise.

 

Execellent Cruise.

 

Weather was good. Small amount of rain.

 

Found nothing to complain about.

 

Checked in around 12. Simple and painless. Was on the ship by 12:30. (may have been sooner, everything moved so fast I didn't have time to check my watch.)

 

2 rooms on deck 4. Port Holes. More than enough room. Plenty of storage including the bathroom. 4 adults 1 child (9)

 

Staff was the greatest. Dining couldn't have been better. Loved almost everything we ate.

 

My 70+ year old mom smiled the whole time and if you knew her, you would know how unusual that was.

 

Now to specifics.

 

Poolside BBQ's were good. Hamburgers were well done, but still good.

 

Ate every meal on the ship in one of the dining rooms.

 

Grabbed a bite at the bbq or the buffet or the pizza place occassionally.

 

I did not like their pizza, but there was plenty of other stuff to choose from.

 

Ice cream hours are limited out by the pool, but was available in the dinning rooms at all meals.

 

Cozumel: rented a nice car. $50. Drove to Dhuh Ha. Snorkeled approx 1 hour. Very nice. Saw many fish. It is rough to get into the water. Take water shoes. Spent 4 hours at Paradise Beach. Drove around the island and back to town for a little shopping.

 

Roatan: snorkel/scuba boat trip with Los Roca (I think that was the name).

Reef was unbelievable. Very good trip. Many, many big fish. Food here was great. And a tour of the area.

 

Belize: Did the horseback riding at the spa. Was picked up at the pier by a tour guide. The ride out was about 1 hour 15 min, but was interesting. Only saw a few monkeys in the trees.

 

Horse Ride was about an hour. We were all beginners and had no problems. The horses are well trained and very gentle. It was a lot of fun. The spa is beautiful.

 

Cancun: We chose Graffon Reef through the ship. Good snorkeling and the whole area was very nice and relaxing. You go on a tender from the ship straight to the resort which was very nice then returned to the boat. It is all day, so I am not sure how you go about shopping in cancun, but we had no plans to shop there so didn't ask about that.

 

There was some rocking on the ship, but the 3 new cruisers with me had no problems with sea sickness.

 

I was very pleased to find a well maintained ship. They were constantly cleaning. Carpet looked new.

 

Too many activities to make them all and fit in meals too.

 

Traffic patterns on the ship were a bit weird, but after 2 days, we had it down.

 

We loved the Dream. In fact, it is my favorite ship now.

 

Forget the negative you hear. I can't imagine what those people were looking for.

 

A few more observations. I had heard how poor the ports of Roatan and Belize were. I don't know where you live, but it looked like home to me. There are chickens running around and clothes hanging on the lines, but everyone looked fine to me and in both places we had tours of the area that took us to places we asked to go. True, they are not prospering, but they look like they were doing pretty good to me. The roads could be better, but again, not a whole lot worse than our county roads. Bridges all looked solid and safe. And we drove all over in both places. Stopping here and there as we liked. I was told over on honduras the living conditions can be pretty bad.

 

All in all we all enjoyed the cruise. Son had so much fun, he wants to go again and this from someone I had to pay to go on this cruise because he had not really really enjoyed the other cruises. I think it was the freestyle dining that made it so much better for him. We ate when we could fit it in and never had more than a 5 min wait. It was like going to a place at home.

Neice was crying because we had to get off.

 

With freestyle you can eat fast and get on your way, or have a long meal to talk over the day. And at a time that fit our schedule. Couldn't have been happier. There was nothing I ask for that wasn't provided. They even went to other restraunts to get me something I had seen, like the fish and chips from the sports bar one night.

 

Now knowing that I live in a rural, depressed area, maybe my expectations were lower from the beginning. I don't know. All I know is I will definately be going on NCL again. (only cruised Carnival before)

 

To let you know how much I enjoyed everything, On the other cruises, I have decreased the auto tips. This is the first cruise I not only left all the tips in place, but added to them.

 

It was Thanksgiving week and I heard there were 400 children, but I don't know where they were. Kids crew did a great job. I would see them walking around sometimes. Painted up or dressed up, but all looking like they were having fun. Neice went everytime she could fit it in. She has never had such a good time.

 

That is my report. So you can take that with you, and I am interested in hearing other reports.

[MAHICK]

We are taking the Dream to Alaska next June. Have a 10 yr old and a 7 yr old. Would love to know how the Children's Program was and if yours participated.

 

Mark

[albertiger]

glad you had a good time. NCL should hire you as you have a knack for putting a lot of info in very few words and getting the meaning across! was on the Dream's sister, Wind last year and i loved it. might do the Dream in a few years if she's still around as im doing this itinerary on the Sun in 2 weeks! :D

[mmark14]

Skylock,

Thank you for your upbeat, positive comments. Freestyle is the main reason we are sailing again with NCL on 12/26. I am so glad your experience was a great one and you shared your thoughts for all us future Dreamers.

[racerxyz]

we also took the Dream last week an skylock is right about the kids program my son 11 had a blast there. The counslers really did a great job with them email me at racerxyz33@yahoo.com if you would like a copy of the kids 10-12 dailys

[skylock]

There were 5 of us.

 

1 child (neice 9)

 

4 adults (son 22, mother 70+, sister, and me)

 

Neice went to kids crew most nights. They had a theme every night. (Pirates etc)

 

On Pirates night they were painted up to look like pirates. She had supper with them one night. A Pajama party. They made ice cream sundays one day. She loved it, and she is a very shy kid that doesn't join in real easy. Kids Crew may have changed that. (her mom MADE her go the first night, after that, she wanted to go)

 

Only problem we had was kids crew interfered with other things going on but there are only so many hours in the day. So we would check out the next days freestyle everynight and mark the things we were wanting to do, then if she could fit it in somewhere, she went. Sometimes it was a hard choice, so, we are going again next Thanksgiving. On the Sun which will be replacing the Dream out of New Orleans.

 

After reading the negatives on the Dream, I was a bit worried, esp taking new cruisers with me, but if I had designed the cruise from scratch, I couldn't have had a better time. There was something for everyone.

 

And while we do live in a rural area, we do get out and see the world. My goal every year is one vacation in the US and one outside the US. Just so you know it wasn't country goes to town impressed.

[ColoradoJuli]

Judyh - Did you arrive at the port via car, transport or foot. We are planning on walking from our hotel. Curious how the traffic was.

 

Also - what did you think of Paradise Beach? Did you snorkle there?

 

Thanks for the review. It is always nice when people who are happy take the time to post. It seems like the unhappy ones always find a way to gripe and those that are happy don't seem to post. Thanks again..

[jellens]

Thanks for the upbeat, concise post. I am getting excited about our cruise on the Dream 12/12.

 

Thanks again.

[skylock]

We drove to the port and parked there. $84 for the week, paid up front.

 

The traffic to the Port of New Orleans was fairly heavy, but it moved fast. Carnival Conquest leaves on Sunday too.

 

Paradise Beach was great. We really didn't snorkel there because we had snorkeled at the other place and it was much better. We did use it but basically just to keep the water out of our eyes. I did see a few fish here and there. I think I mostly saw angelfish, but some of them were big.

 

Paradise beach does have a couple of areas marked off to snorkel at, but they were pretty far out.

 

Paradise Beach was very clean. We paid the $5 for the beach toys for 4 of us. My mom was free because she didn't do any of the toys.

 

The food was good, Price was good. The fried shrimp were Great. The portions were large. 2 people could have easily shared.

 

I don't think anyone in the family would be bored there. Between the boats, trampoline, climbing iceberb, and everything else, there is something for everyone.

 

We did not pass a single worker in the hall of the Dream that did not speak.

 

I also like the fact the drink host were not intrusive. They were around and all you had to do was raise a finger. Or look at the drink menu and someone would be at your side. I am not a drinker and I hate to have to keep saying, no thank you, I am fine. Didn't have to do that here. Now if you do drink, you may like them asking.

 

Another thing to add about the coke card. We brought some drinks with us and an ice chest that my room stewarts kept filled with ice, but son didn't want to have to keep going to the room so he bought the coke card. He never had one problem getting a drink. The drink host would bring one, walk up to any bar and he got one, in the dining room. If you drink soda, I reccommend one.

 

On my last Carnival cruise I ordered a coke when we sat down one night and I didn't get it until dessert. So I was surprised how fast his coke would come.

 

Also, the coke card says fountain drinks only, but he was poured a drink from a can at every bar. If you use the drink cup they give you, it will hold a 12 ounce can. If you just show the card, you get it in a glass, and it is less than 12 ounces. But you can go back as much as you want.