Overall, the 7 day cruise was still a wonderful experience. I was hoping to be blown away on our first cruise, but I was underwhelmed by certain aspects. The majority of the staff was incredible. We will definitely go on another cruise, but we will be certain we let them know our issues and make sure they correct them, when we are onboard.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The food was mediocre at best. We were assigned the upper Scarlett dining room, and the smell of stale water was enough to turn anyone off their food. Of the 7 nights on the Carnival Dream, we attended dinner in the dining room twice. First night, a casual dining night, was the better of the two nights, while the food still did not impress. The second night, an elegant night, I had ordered a prime rib, which was cold and extremely tough. After two bites, I ordered the Lobster Tail, thinking it had to be better. It was like rubber. That concluded our dinner experiences in the dining room, we never went back. Ended up eating in the Gathering (or buffet) practically every evening.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We utilized the hot tub and pool more often than not. While there were other activities aboard, the mini-golf and water slides were always packed with kids, and we just let them have their fun. Overall, we would still rate the activities highly positive.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
So many things to do on the cruise. They impress with the shows and performances! The Quest show was the funniest, and most entertaining, and the constant music in the lobby was incredible. Lunar Sea band was excellent, and the violin trio will impress anyone!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our room steward, Lilith was absolutely incredible. She is practically the only reason we rate the service so high. She made our trip comfortable and memorable. We experienced very rude bartenders in the Casino the first day we were on the ship, which was brought up to management, who gave us a free bottle of wine. All in all, I still think the service and staff was attentive (besides the rude bartenders), always helpful. But Lilith, the room steward is the real reason for the 5 stars!!!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The Carnival Dream was very clean, and the layout (once you learned where everything was) was wonderful. Easy to access everything from the main elevator lobby.
I’ve been on several ships and CruiseLines and the Dream is one of the better ones. As a first time cruiser you probably did have higher expectations but know that the food is pretty much the same on all ships give or take unless you are in specialty dining which is always worth the extra money. As for the smell in MDR, that’s too bad and sorry you experienced that. You could of asked the maître d’ to move you somewhere else or other MDR. And as for the rude service staff on the first day, that sucks nobody should ever be rude to anyone but try to understand that the staff works very long hours every day nonstop and sometimes being human can suck. I have learned a long time ago to never have too high of expectations because if you do than we always tend to find some little thing to let us down. Cruising is a great way to relax and see different places and enjoy being far away from “the world” with the ones you love. If you keep that in mind than it’s five star on everything every time! Keep cruising 😊
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