Great Crew - terrible Embarkation and Debarkation and the elevators did not work

Carnival Dream Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 36

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Dream

5 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 13, 2019

Ship: Carnival Dream

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7283

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

The only major complaints were embarkation 4 hours and debarkation 3 hours. The other major complaint was elevators. We arrived on the ship not the normal gangway, but through where you exit/enter during excursions, so we were on floor zero. they had 3 elevators to take people up to the higher floors or you had to take the steps. I was with someone who could not take steps so we had to wait for the elevator and it took another hour to reach our room. I lost one full day on the ship getting on the ship. By the time we made it on board it was dinner time. During the stay they only had 3 elevators working in the FWD even though we had 9 elevators in this error. We had to start getting on the elevators going any direction up or down to be able to make it to our floor in a timely manner. This was the worst experience ever. This was my roommates first experience and she is disabled she will never do a cruise again. Getting of the ship was same only 3 elevators. 2 only took you to floor 2 and 1 took you to floor 1 and we had to catch another elevator to floor zero, another hour lost. I don't think I will ever use carnival again. The crew was great, but the long wait for elevators during the cruise and the long wait to get on and off the ship were so bad.

Embarkation

1 out of 5
The ship was late, which was not the problem. It took 4 hours to get on the ship. Carnival sent a message stating to show up an hour later than our original embark time, if we showed up early we would be turned away. so we followed directions but others did not and they were not turned away. All this caused was a traffic jam of people waiting in line for 4 hours outside in the heat. It was terrible. This was my forth cruise and never ever has it taken more than 45 minutes to check in and wait to board.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Most of the time the food was good and some meals were really bad. We did lunch multiple places and anytime dining every night. The staff was great. Yaco, Jimmy and Sharmaine during the fine dining. During the buffet the food was never really hot it was always warm or cold.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
These were ok, but we went to relax and brought our own tablets and books.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
We enjoyed the comedians and the crew performances.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Our fine dining crew was the best Yaco, Jimmy and Sharmaine. The steward was great as well. Gusti. Everyone on board was helpful and friendly.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
Everything was well maintained and clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
Great cabin, a little small than I thought, but always clean.

Ship tip

Don't sail out of Galveston.

Ports of call

Galveston, Texas

4 out of 5
This was the worst embarkation and debarkation ever and I have completed many cruises. This is my fourth on carnival. I think this experience will have me never use carnival again or go out of Galveston.

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

4 out of 5
Great Shopping

Cozumel, Mexico

4 out of 5
Good Shopping

Disembarkation

1 out of 5
This took over 3 hours, maybe the most ever was 1 hour. This was such a back experience.
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2 Comments

Mydogluke    5 years ago

Love the Dream and Carnival

steveG62    5 years ago

Agree 1000%. I was there. Embarkation was awful. But, this was a unique circumstance, since the ship was repositioning from New Orleans AND it was late getting to Galveston. Generally things are never this bad.

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