First Cruise trip with extended family
Carnival Dream Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 91
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 13, 2019
Ship: Carnival Dream
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 11220
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Overall we had a good time. We enjoyed spending time with our family. There were some things that could have gone better but we enjoyed ourselves. We are planning another cruise soon.Embarkation
Embarkation was very easy. We used Fulton Place for parking and they shuttled us to the port. We were able to snag Faster to the Fun and we on the ship in less than 15 minutes. My only complaint was that our bags were not at our door when we arrived unlike our previous cruise. In fact my husband and I had to go to guest services to inquiry about our luggage since other cabins had already received their luggage. The lady at the guest services did give us a refund for what we spent on Faster to the Fun which I wasn’t expecting but it was nice that she did that for us.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The main dining room always gave excellent service. We had three different servers during our cruise and each was extremely superb. The buffet was hit or miss on its selection. Guys Burgers and BlueIguana Cantina was excellent. Pasta Bella service was very slow but they didn’t have enough staff to cover the amount of people they were serving so the people that were working were trying their best.
Onboard Activities
My husband and I had a spa pass so we enjoyed spending time in the spa. The thalsso pool was really relaxing and they had different sauna/steam rooms based on your comfort level. I had a hard time trying to find a locker that would work. Many of them would not lock and were hard to close. Mini golf was great fun!
Entertainment
The comedy club was great fun. Most of the performers around the ship were wonderful musicians. We enjoyed sitting in the bar listening to music or in the atrium. The main performances weren’t that great to me. Some of them were off key and it made it hard to enjoy.
Service and Staff
Our room steward was very friendly but could have done better at cleaning our room. My husband and I found a marriage renewal certificate and a small baggy of drugs on top of our safe in the cabin of our room. The marriage certificate was dated three weeks prior to our sailing that no one had noticed. We took the certificate and the small baggy to guest services and told them where we found it. They made a log of the incident. Hopefully they will contact the previous couple to get back their certificate.
Also we booked a massage at the spa as a Christmas gift to ourselves. The massage itself was wonderful but the massage therapist decided to do a health evaluation after the massage. They told me that I was overweight and that my feet were swollen. I had been on my feet walking in port most of the day. They tried to sell us all these extra stuff that supposedly would help with all of our health issues and didn’t tell me any of the prices until after the order was charge to our account. I did not authorize the charges and made them take it off my account. They made me feel very self conscious and I did not feel relax after the massage. I would avoid getting a massage there if possible.
Ship Quality
Overall the ship was clean but some of the carpet in certain areas needed to be removed because of mold such as the spa and on deck 11 by the outside area.
Cabin / Stateroom
The room was a decent size for two people. The closet space was nice and had plenty of storage. The cleanliness could have been better but overall was okay.
Ports of call
Key West was a great place to walk around and explore. The hop on hop off trolley was great for exploring. They had wonderful shops and Sloppy Joes was a great stop.
Thumbs Up
8
My husband and I did the See and Sea excursion. Getting on the excursion was very frustrating. The people who organized the different excursions did not have any signs up for our group and would tell us to start in one group but then tell us to go into another. We needed up going on the later group by the time we had our bracelets and checked in even though we arrived 30 minutes earlier. The overall excursions was wonderful. We got on the glass bottom boat and saw sharks, turtles and string rays. We also spent 1.5 hours on the beach then went to an animal sanctuary. The drive around town was informative.
My husband and I went to Blue Lagoon and did the VIP experience. The trip to there was wonderful on an open catamaran. The beach was great and we had a wonderful time enjoying the sun. The buffet had wonderful food as well.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was very easy. It did not take us long to get off the ship. Customs was a breeze.