Our first cruise was amazing!

Carnival Dream Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

davidbradshaw

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 63

Overall rating:

4.3 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 01, 2017

Ship: Carnival Dream

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 9381

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Over all a super good experience. The Spa staff is disturbing in the claims they make (I work for a clinical research organization), in fact I may take a hidden camera to some video of the Spa seminars if I ever go on another cruise, and forward the evidence to the FDA. I also found the mandatory gratuities to be inflated an unconscionable in how they withheld them and attempted to charge my credit card for them without my permission.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

We chose to park offsite to save money (i.e., $70 vs $140 for the Carnival parking lot), but they had a regular shuttle, and we were processed through the embarkation process very quickly.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Amazing!

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

We did the Ping Pong tournament, karaoke, connect 4 tournament, yahtsee tournament, all the shows, comedy club, listened to music, swimming pool ,water slides, hot tubs, and dance parties in the main lobby.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

i wasn't a fan of the raunchy comedy, and the shows weren't that great. The Flying Scotsman was ok.

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Camp Ocean for young children, and the teenage programs were done well enough that our children wanted to go every night.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Room cleaners were friendly, and restaurant staff was amazing. The Spa staff are borderline snake oil salesman, and I won't be surprised if Carnival gets in hot water with the FDA due to the ridiculous claims of the spa staff during seminars. The spa staff is super high pressure sales, and it was a terrible experience every time that I dealt with them.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Impressive floating multi story builing. Cleanliness was great in the open areas. Not so great in the cabins. Didn't make bunk beds nor change sheets often enough. Carnival supposedly does not change sheets daily in the name of "conservation", but I just think that they are being cheap and unsanitary.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Pretty nice, but not amazing.

Ship tip

The super high mandatory gratuities are quite a shock for first time cruisers, to the point that we may likely never go on another cruise. Such fees should comply with the following, and I plan to write my congressmen and US Senator about them: 1) Written consent of customer should be required, 2) Customers should be able to specify and amount or percentage for gratuities rather than the cruise line deciding, 3) Disclosure of fees should be made prior to cruise purchase, 4) Cruise line should not be permitted to inflate market value of meals, or room cleaning. There is no way that dinner is worth $50, which I calculated from the gratuity amounts with held. I don't have to pay gratuities to have my hotel rooms cleaned, why should I have to pay gratuities to have my ships rooms cleaned? Answer: Carnival is being cheap and having us pay their employees, instead of paying their employees themselves.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

New Orleans, Louisiana

5 out of 5

Was fun to visit New Orleans for the first time.

Thumbs Up 5

Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5

Pretty nice, but not amazing.

Thumbs Up 0

Belize City, Belize Did not visit port

Hurricane Nate prvented us from visiting Belize. I was disappointed as I was really looking forward to snorkeling on the worlds second largest reef there.

Thumbs Up 0

Cozumel, Mexico

3 out of 5

Glad that it was more civilized and seemingly safe than Roatan, snorkeling was OK, and water park was OK, but neither were amazing.

Thumbs Up 3

Disembarkation

3 out of 5

Lady who reviewed our birth certificates in New Orleans was pretty much a bossy jerk.

10 Comments

mpgt 7 years ago

Thanks for the review. I also recently cruised on the dream. Absolutely agree with those above that the tips are clearly delineated in the contract. I loved just about every part of the cruise except for the hard sell at the spa. I discovered there are two businesses operating out of the spa and they are in competition with each other. Very strange things happened there and I had a disastrous facial exfoliation. I wasted too much money and time on first sea day. Doubt I’ll ever go back to the spa. But. Oh my the cruise was awesome. And what the heck the spa ladies were a hoot. Trying to sell all kinds of services with scientific lingo. The massage was excellent but whatever ya do don’t get the exfoliation facial don’t go there for that. Just sayin And I still loved the Dream

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Hadaway 7 years ago

Also if any ship was ever registered to USA they would go bankrupt so quick. Some jackass Americans try to get free money anyway they can they would sue for bad tasting food.

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Hadaway 7 years ago

Gratuities are added to everyone’s bill. Your choice if u pay them up front or after cruise. It’s in the paper work. Everyone on those ships deserve every penny granted we don’t know how much they actually get but I like to think all cause they deserve it.

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sunshinel9ver 7 years ago

This baseless review was made by a sick TROLL!!!!!👎👎😩

Thumbs Up 1

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sand77 7 years ago

What kind of claims does the spa make? Just curious.

Thumbs Up 0

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dtrix 7 years ago

I agree with everyone about leaving the gratuities AND I also give cash to the people who take care of us on the cruise. I read the review and was wondering if the davidbradshaw household change the sheets daily, I'm guessing not.

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maryred 7 years ago

Too bad ships are registered in Foreign Countries. Be sure to forward your hidden camera documentary to Panama or Bahamian governments.

Thumbs Up 3

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csaunders11 7 years ago

I am with you. They do make some crazy claims at the spa.

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Summerholiday 7 years ago

Wow what a blast you must of had ...you sound like the fun police .. people chose to have a spa treatment at resorts , cruise ships or just simply on the beach and make up there own mind to do so ... As for gratuitys if you would of paid them in with your fare the cruise company would of not taken anything out of your card but if you chose not to pay before they have every right to take the charge it is like a resort fee that most hotels now have you pay when you book or when you leave . However this goes to much better cause the people who serve you ....all around the ship ,if you are so pedantic then surely you would of known this fee is payable $12 dollars is not going to break the bank you pay for services else where so what's the difference ?......

Thumbs Up 1

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tikishoppua 7 years ago

You sound fun. While you're making your secret video for the FDA, make sure you read your contract from the cruise line. Gratuities are NOT mandatory. They are also not inflated. They are between 12 and 13 dollars a day, which is more than fair. In fact, most folks pay over and above the pre-paid gratuities for service. You get your bill the night before disembarking. If you didn't like the tips or felt you didn't get 13/day worth of service from the many people who work for those tips, you could have gone to customer service and had them removed. Nothing is done without your permission. If you work for a research company, you should have done research for your vacation as well.

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