Not our best vacation

Carnival Dream Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 84

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Dream

7 Night Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 30, 2017

Ship: Carnival Dream

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 2220

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

This ship is in need of some serious overhaul.  Ship had problems with water leaking into corridors and rooms during rainstorm.  Service was poor in many areas and had to stand at service desk many times to deal with overcharges on our accounts.  We had booked this cruise to celebrate a family members birthday.  There were 11 family members on board.  Every cabin had difficulty with our finances.  The wi-fi phone package never worked for anyone.   The cabins had air circulation problems. Lights were burned out on arrival in the suite and still out on departure. Several of our group had difficulty with rooms not being serviced on a daily basis. The dining room had difficulty seating our group on multiple nights even though this was prearranged prior to departure.  Water excursions had to be cancelled in Cozumel due to windy conditions.  Our excursion to the ruins was nice and had a very informed tour guide.  Our bus had a leaky air conditioner that dripped down my arm every few minutes.  Our food stop was awful.  We were charged $12.00 for a SMALL plate of soggy nachos that were supposed to be chicken nachos.  NO CHICKEN what so ever.  We had to chase down the waiter for the bottle of water that was purchased at the time our bus left.  We did have a great snorkel adventure in Grand Caymans.  The adventure was everything that was advertised.  We went to Hard Rock for beach time in Montego Bay, jamaica.  We could have easily walked there.  We got on a bus that was supposed to be free.  The driver informed us that we had to pay $5.00 per person once we were underway.  Every spa service for our group was double charged to our accounts.  Spent a lot of time at service desk trying to straighten this out. Not our best vacation and left us wondering if we want to travel with this cruise line again.  

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Food was excellent. There was controversy on being charged different prices for the same drink at different bars.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
Good variety. Played bingo. Sister won $750. Nephew won $700 on slots. Weather put a little damper on our first 2 days.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Enjoyed the variety offered. Went to several comedy shows. Very funny and enjoyable. The musicals are well performed by the staff. Also saw a variety show with a hypnotist. Had all the audience mezmorised.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
My room steward Darvin was outstanding. Dan in the dining room went out of his way to solve our dining time seating dilemma and made sure we were taken care of.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
The ship needs repairs. Lots of things were not working correctly or not at all. Rain caused flooding in rooms and hallways.

Cabin / Stateroom

The porthole windows were hard to see out of. They looked like a pair of binoculars. Our steward Darvin, was awesome. He kept our room clean and kept all our bath towel needs met. Only thing we would have had different was having our beach towels returned when he took our wet ones. This room is at the front of the ship and we had an excessive amount of ship noise. made it hard to sleep. We were also near the theater and would get some noise from activities.

Ship tip

Check out the Blue Iguana Food Bar for great tacos and burritos.

Ports of call

New Orleans, Louisiana

3 out of 5

Montego Bay, Jamaica

3 out of 5
The beach at the Hard Rock. Nice stafff.

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5
Snorkeling the Wreck of the Calli. Good shopping. We found the local Dairy Queen nearby. Great ice cream.

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5
The Mayan ruins at San Gervaisia.
Was this review helpful? 62

23 Comments

albga1peach    7 years ago

Everybody is not going to love everything you do and everybody is not going to hate everything you hate. Everybody experience is different. On embarkation day in May our room attendant asked us if we wanted am or pm we checked and stated to him pm. He came in the am. Not a problem we just rolled with it.

jdcrowe1eaglesusiedu    7 years ago

Some of the comments people leave are ridiculous. People have different opinions so what? It's always one or two of the same people responding to EVERY comment.

WhoDatCruisin    7 years ago

no past cruises doesn't mean they don't have a review to submit. you have to physically enter the information. from what i can tell alot of ppl dont have their past cruises on their profile but i actually cruised with them. idk how but some cruises roll over from another site. I thought the same thing a couple years back.

WhoDatCruisin    7 years ago

yea i absolutely agree with ya about that!!

gamer1    7 years ago

I would say something to those people also because a REAL review is going to have good and bad. I know the reviews you are talking about and EVERYTHING about a cruise cannot be that bad. Just because some entitled idiot thinks the world is supposed to cater to them and acts like a child when it does not affords them no protection in my book. They need someone to tell them to figuratively and literally STFU. LOL

WhoDatCruisin    7 years ago

and just because someone says their room wasn't cleaned twice a day doesn't mean their lying 😂. different porters different experiences. my room was not cleaned everyday on my wedding cruise but I chose not to allow it to ruin my cruise.

WhoDatCruisin    7 years ago

gamer1 this is not about defending this particular post. it's in general...every single post. regardless if there's zero past cruises or 20. there's always some person in attack mode. it's always the same ppl calling names. fake or not I stand by what I said. if it's a troll FINE...but they don't ONLY attack trolls. they attack EVERYONE who leaves a review they don't agree with.

gamer1    7 years ago

Once a person has lied about one thing on their post EVERYTHING else in their post is suspect.

gamer1    7 years ago

MrsNOLAjae if the original poster does not respond after 1 or 2 criticizing responses their post is fair game. Critical reading skills also play a huge part in these posts. If your experience on a ship has always been one way, like stewards clean twice a day unless you specifically choose not to, and you read other recent posts saying the same thing you can bet that the person saying that their rooms were not cleaned are lying. So while your heart is in the right place you sound silly defending a fake post.

WhoDatCruisin    7 years ago

sunshinel9ver I basically said the exact same thing....what is WRONG is people like you who attack ppl whether it's believable or not. as I stated there are ppl who will complain about their beer being too cold (as if that's a problem) that's THEIR issue...the trolls with fake profiles, yeah we can attack them all day. but just because YOU don't think it's believable doesn't mean their lying. and it doesn't give you the right to go into attack mode like you're the carnival line owner. as far as you being positive...when? Almost every time I see you comment you are attacking someone. I just smh at all the keyboard thugs 😂

sunshinel9ver    7 years ago

MrsNOLAjae There is NOTHING wrong with a negative review IF it is believable. You cannot possibly go on a 7 day cruise and find fault with everything!!!!!I am diamond on Celebrity and RCCL and have been on 15 Carnival ships. Every single cruise I have been on there has been a thing or Two that I have found fault with, but not every single thing. It is impossible unless you are looking for things to make you angry!! I tend to be a positive, not negative person.😀😎

WhoDatCruisin    7 years ago

rod2014 I get so tired of folks attacking ppl for leaving THEIR review...lmao I cant understand how "adults" get so butt hurt about a simple cruise line review. 😂 I would swear they have purchased stock in carnival and the negative review will hurt their pockets. 😒 I despise the trolls who attempt to discredit cruise lines for whatever reasons and of course you will have those hard to please people who will complain that their beer was too cold 😲....but this person only left THEIR review some of the issues were probably their fault, some was on carnival, two was the fault of mother nature BUT it is what it is.... a cruise is what you make it and a comment is only ONE person's perspective.

pacrat    7 years ago

rod2014 read what they posted and compare what is said by other posts on same trip. it just doesn't add up. the op just whines away about not having room cleaned and that is just not my experience with Carnival was.

Rod2014    7 years ago

Why are people attacked when they give their honest opinions? I have gone on quite a few cruises, some good and some where there were some issues. We went on the Dream last year and had to choose between morning and evening room cleaning. All you folks on here with the name calling need to get a life and show a little respect for other people's opinions.

gamer1    7 years ago

The only way your room is not cleaned twice a day is if you ask them not to or you don't leave your room till after 1 or so when the stewards are hopefully done with A.M. cleaning. My last steward told me their team tries to be done by 1 at the latest but if someone leaves their room and they are still there they MUST clean it.

tayoung    7 years ago

Sunshinel9ver, I have to agree. Sounds like once something didn't go right it ruined EVERYTHING for them. But I have trouble believing rooms weren't cleaned. On the 3 cruises I've been on Carnival (all ships) clean EVERY room TWICE a day UNLESS you leave a card out for them not to! They go from room to room so I just don't see how that would happen 😳

sunshinel9ver    7 years ago

I do not believe most of this review!!!!!!Have sailed on the Dream 3 times and have a 4th booked. Carnival has the best staff at sea. Rooms never cleaned? Come on!!' You are apparently a very unhappy person. You could have received a free vacation and would probably find something wrong with it. Geeeze!!!!!!!!!

vegas248    7 years ago

But I should mention....We still had a great time!!

vegas248    7 years ago

We were just on the Dream 4/16/17 and although it just came out of dry dock. Other than the food additions. It sure didn't seem like anything else got "refreshed" especially anything cabin related. The cabins looked old and the hallway carpeting and cabin carpeting were old and stained.

tayoung    7 years ago

Murrah86, I'm with you on the recent reviews. So many great reviews it seems odd that this was so far opposite!

Murrah86    7 years ago

when did you cruise? I have been on this ship and will be on this ship in June. From all the recent reviews everyone love the ship why was your review so far left? did you select any time dining or a certain time because seats are assigned and guaranteed for set dining and with 11 people it would be hard to find tables at any restaurant. Just wondering.

gamer1    7 years ago

Ship just came out of drydock this year....

picalo    7 years ago

sorry so many things went wrong. maybe next cruise will be better. did you like hard rock? 🎸

Other reviews of this sailing