Suzanne and I have had a good time reading the reviews of the cruise posted to *the* cruise message board forum. I figured it would be good to grab some of those comments because it would help me remember what I/we thought about the cruise.
Wfpse wrote (in part, and was not happy…I’ve included comments on their comments below):
Go Carnival Dream if...
1. You want to see people carry around iced down tubs of beer, drink to excess and then pass out...decks, shows, family events (never saw this…..never saw anything close to it….)
2. You want to experience a boat load of unattended children running around at all hours (did see this. It’s Carnival, what do you expect. With Fric and Frac, it would take a lot of boorish children for me to really pay attention….I only really remember getting on the elevator with three kids who had already pressed all the buttons below 7 (and I was going to 1) and going “Really?” and having them laugh…I just got off at 7 with them and took the stairs…)
3. You want to experience drunk and stoned teens being served alcohol by cruise staff (again, didn’t see or experience any of this)
4. You want to watch flaming gay men and women prance around as cruise directors while making eyes at each other...and then getting mad when their lover checks out someone else...CAN ANYONE SAY BUTCH! (this is a common complaint….I’ve seen it other places as well. Don’t agree with it)
5. You want mediocre food (it is what it is…you went on a ship with 4,200 other people, what do you expect)
6. You want really bad entertainment...oh my god, i have seen grade school productions that were better (must be really advanced grade school productions then. Most of the entertainment was just fine…there is one exception to that that I’ll handle in another review commentary)
8. You want to get up at 6am to get a lounge chair on the lido deck...or any other for that matter. (still don’t agree with this….yes, it’s hard, and I waited, patiently, for 20+ minutes to find a table one afternoon for the family to have lunch at. But, it can be done….and there are many other option on other decks to eat and sit)
9. You want to see staff ignore the scrolling sign that says no reserving of lounge chairs (another common, and true, complaint. If the policy is 30 minutes and they are going to remove stuff, they should do it. Get the security guys with good English skills and go for it….after an hour)
10. You want to waive at Roatan as the Captain is unable to dock this technological marvel in 25K winds...oh yeah...the sister ship made it in just minutes before (said enough about this already)
Mavrington says (he mostly had a good time):
In a few words the Dream was a good experience overall with good food, lots to do, and nice staff, but I wouldn’t book it again because it is way too crowded.
On board: The first thing you will notice is THE ANNOYING PHOTOGRAPHERS! They never stop. Please make them stop. All day on board, on the way to dinner, arriving at ports, leaving ports, they NEVER stop. (amen. I do think we as a family should have stopped for more photos, but, man, just all the time everywhere. As bad as the natives in Costa Maya)
Entertainment: There is a lot to do if you are looking for entertainment. They have dance lessons and a lot of trivia on Sea Days. In the evening you have dinner, dancing, live singers, comedy, and shows. They have a good variety of shows that change nightly. Dancing in the Streets was cool, and they had a good juggler/magician one night. We saw one ok comedian and one great comedian in the Adult comedy show. The great guy was Will Marfori, who has cerebral palsy. (this is the guy Suzanne liked and I just couldn’t get into…)
The Asian singer in the atrium deserves her own paragraph because she sings all day long and totally butchers every song she sings. It’s “Like a Virgin” and “Holiday” as you’ve never heard them before. Madonna must be rolling over in her grave. (oh, she was horrible. I only heard her as I walked by a couple of times and I could only think that this was what it must have sounded like in Saigon back in the early seventies. Truly horrid…)
Pool areas and hot tubs: There are two small pools teeming with children. Hot tubs are constantly overrun with splashing teenagers. The waterslides close at 6pm, which is too early since that’s when the line finally dies down a little when early dinner starts. Expect a 30+ minute wait for the big slides. (I never waited more than 10 minutes when we did it)
Random notes:
? The ship does not stop rocking . . . EVER. I’ve been home for 4 days and I still feel it. (Suzanne thinks I made too big a deal about this, but seriously, it moved…a lot)
? I had no issues with smoke (I’m a non-smoker) even on the Lanai where smoking is allowed. The wind takes care of it. (some commenter's really harp on this….Suzanne and I didn’t think it was overly bad, even on Deck 5 where people complain the most. It was annoying that the balcony had people right next door who smoked, and it would be cool if Carnival could limit that to one side of the ship, but, again, it wasn’t a deal breaker…)
