Fun Filled Cruise
Carnival Dream Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 40
5 Night Western Caribbean (Galveston Roundtrip)
Sail date: July 13, 2019
Ship: Carnival Dream
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 11278
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
This was an enjoyable fun filled cruise. Like any vacation there will be hitches and not every one will be consistent, but on this cruise, we had a majority of great experiences. There was something for everyone and I must again mention the staff in the Scarlet dining room-especially Michael and Ervin- and the pool lifeguard-peace of mind for you if you have children in the pool. They are literally like hawks and anything that doesn't look right gets called out! There was a variety of entertainment and interactive fun stuff to do as well as if you just wanted to chill, a serene adult only spa area. No matter your taste in music, if you want to listen or dance, comedy clubs, casino, and again I must mention the shows! Great productions. Regardless of your diet or palate, there is something for you to eat. You will also be well taken care of as if you are a Celebrity! You will not be bored-well only if you decide to watch TV-I cant lie-the TV is not the best-BUT who goes on a cruise to watch TV?!! Overall 4.9 out of 5-an extra 0.1 point being the icing on the cake!Embarkation
It went smoothly but had a bit of a wait in the port, before actually getting on the ship. However once they started the process it went smoothly and there were a lot of staff available to give directions.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Well let me start first with our waiters in the main dining room-the Scarlet restaurant. We had a trio of waiters, and Michael and Ervin provided, from day one and consistently throughout our cruise top notch service. They made us feel welcome, provided us with all our needs and there was not one night where they did not bring a smile to our face. Food was good too-the prime rib-served with radish and au jus sauce on Sunday literally melted in my mouth/burgers were also great-i am not a pizza person, so the fact that i didn't really like the pizza can be questioned however.
Really for the entire trip our evening meal was the one thing we all happily went to as we knew the service would be great. FYI the waiters in the dining room also dance and sing!!
Also ate at the sea food restaurant which was ok
The buffets offered a wide variety of food and the hamburger and burrito stands were good.
The drinks were good but some of the waiters serving the drinks were not. In the Burgundy lounge one night, one waiter took my order and did not bring my drink and several of the ones walking around on the deck and one particular bartender was quite rude. HOWEVER, they were the exception and the overall friendliness and helpfulness of the majority of the wait staff and servers far exceeded those few instances.
Onboard Activities
Those that i did i enjoyed. The fitness center was great as was the water slide. I still give a five event though my pool experience was maybe a three but only because of crowds. The two man pools were more like tubs as most times we would just be sitting in them, so if you are thinking of doing a few laps..ahm..no. Again, there are adult only areas which were not so crowded and several whirlpools, plus if you don't mind going in the off hours the pool was open until midnight so yup i still got a bit of a swim in
Entertainment
Now this deserves a 5+ For one, there was always something going on. The DJ was phenomenal and every time i left my room which was next to the Lido deck, i would be dance walking to my destination. The Lady on the steel drums was awesome and all the musical performances in the atrium were great. Gary the cruise entertainment director was always approachable, entertaining while being informative and provided great entertainment. The two shows we saw were phenomenal-the 80s show and the Rock and Roll show. The dancers and singers engaged the crowd, provided show stopping entertainment enhanced with the use of pyrotechnics and CGI, and did succeed in entertaining us to the fullest. I also like the movie nights, on the big screen on the deck. Relaxing and you can watch from in the pool, by the pool, overlooking the pool..lol get it? All entertainers were professional and went all out in everything they did. Oh and like i said, our waiters in the main restaurant also danced. Had a pirate with a sword also but cant give everything away! BTW-the TV service sucks! Complimentary movies and the option to purchase movies if you want/some cartoons, a basic news channel and HGTV...But no one is there to sit in the room and watch TV so didn't really matter to us..but it does kinda. There are Adult dance clubs and clubs for kids of different age range so the children are also entertained. Is shopping entertainment? lol well there are shops offering a variety of souvenirs but also jewelry and parfum as well as candy and a whole range of stuff. Is the picture gallery entertainment? The Pixels gallery where you collect your memory was well..go and experience it! Guaranteed you will have fun on this ship.
Children's Programs
My daughter was on board for the Celebrity dance competition and so most of her time was spent in activities related to her competition and with her company.
Service and Staff
There is always someone to ask for help and direct you and they for the most part were able to help or direct us where we could get help. Let me say this, not all waiters and servers were friendly and helpful BUT they were like only about five instances when I was caught off guard by the distinct unfriendly, rude and unhelpful behavior of a staff member. I give an excellent because every day on returning to my room, it was cleaned with a towel animal on my bed. Our steward Kadek introduced himself on the first day and subsequently was always visible for us if we had any questions and to ask if everything was ok. The cleaning staff was friendly and approachable also. AGAIN-i have to give a shout out to Michael and Ervin in the Scarlett dining room. They also work in other areas of the ship, but they were our personal waiters in the dining room and the worked very hard, were professionals, provided excellent service and basically made us feel at home every time we went to eat. Michael can dance..but i wont give away too much..just expect great service if you happen to get them. Sadly, it was in that same restaurant at breakfast that we did not receive good service, our head waiter seemed annoyed with us being there but the other two were great..so i guess..meh. That one roving waiter in the Burgundy Lounge also was a disappointment, BUT, overall, the wait staff, including the ones in the Gathering/buffett area were wonderful. Ship personnel otherwise were helpful, everyone we approached tried to help-bear in mind most do not speak English so may have to repeat, but otherwise..thumbs up
Ship Quality
Common areas were clean and well maintained. I mean to almost an OCD kind of maintain. Plates were quickly removed where food was served. In the buffet in particular, the servers, waiters and cleaners were meticulous in keeping the area clean. THE POOLSIDE..on the Lido deck, the waves pool...there is an area that I will not comment on except to say, take note! That is where stuff happens and extraordinary events take place and you never know what you will find in that area when you get there in the morning.
Now i may be unfair in my 4 out of five and if i had another day then maybe, forward mid-ship and aft would begin to make sense but i found we got lost quite a lot of trying to get around. There are signs at every elevator and instructions are clear but somehow, little things like, having to go down and under then up because there is no mid-ship on certain floors, for a first time cruiser, can be disconcerting. Which is why, we were glad that everywhere there is a staff member to ask and help. Additionally on embarking, its immediately made clear several times the important floors-3, 5, 10 especially to that part of the ship where the shops were (forward? Aft? midship?..oi) Well near the casino and the LIDO deck 10-dubbed the Pood area-pool and food(choice between Pood and Fool we chose Pood-sigh). So in the end, on a 5 day cruise was when we were finally getting a hang of where stuff was from our location (deck 11-best deck ever ha! ha!-On deck 11, you are secluded yet exit right out into where everything is happening!)
Cabin / Stateroom
Size was a bit surprising for us. We had two cabins on that deck and one with the king bed and one with two queen beds. They were small...ish but were much bigger than other cabins that we saw. Couldn't dance or somersault in them but wasn't hitting my shins against anything. These cabins are actually for two people max although they feature a sofa bed option. My balcony was awesome. Spent a lot of time there and the room itself overall was cozy and comfortable. Our cleaning staff was in and out during the designated time, leaving, yes everyday, a different towel animal-they brought us joy, to come in from the pool, excursion, etc and be welcomed by our towel pet-simple pleasures
Ship tip
I think our experience was unique as there were quite a few children on board given that the Celebrity dance Nationals at sea was on-board. For myself, Pool early or late, slide down the slide--yes-catch a ship show. Go for dinner in the dining room most evenings. Catch a movie. Just go and experience as much of what they have to offer. So my one piece of advice-Catch as much as you can!!!!Its worth it!
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Embark and disembark-seamless process for us, not sure if it was because we were with Celebrity Dance Competition, but we simply did a walk through following the signs and instructions and it took us a minimum of 10 minutes from entrance to being seated in the waiting lounge for embarkation. And we went through security checks and identity checks. Most if our luggage was in our room by 130pm. Another piece arrived later and for some in our group, their luggage not until the next day. Stuff was removed from our luggage that we could reclaim upon disembarking-steamer. Of course on disembarking we didn't get to pick it up. Disembarking was a tad bit confusing for us but again only because we were with Celebrity so we were not crystal clear about which gangway, however, our luggage was where they were supposed to be. Our baggage handler knew where to carry us we went through customs without a wait and to our shuttle. The process was so seamless and quick that we didnt get our steamer. No long lines.
This is a vibrant colorful busy port. There are folks there for you to take pictures with on disembarking. A quick hot walk to the port entrance and then you are in merchandise heaven. You start seeing merchandise form entrance into to the exit of the port-prices decrease the further from the ship you get and varies along the way so if you have time shop around- and negotiate. The port was colorful, clean and beautiful with a wide variety of souvenirs. We did an impromptu excursion-walked out and took a taxi tour through downtown Cozumel into all the areas before heading to the beach side-saw lizards as big as our arms in the country, Touristy stuff mostly on the coast before stopping at a beach that had minimal seaweed-yes seaweed for some reason abounded so much as to make the beaches un-swimmable-(is that a word?) We finally found a delightful clean uncrowded beach and got to swim and go great food...really great variety of food. Beer is also quite cheap as well.
Progreso (Merida), Mexico Did not visit port
It looked very uninviting and extremely hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So initially intended to but then started down and at breakfast looked at the port and ...nope
Disembarkation
We had two disembarkation instructions and we finally got it right. I fell it would have been better if we went with the Ship process only rather than try to do something different or improve on the Celebrity Dance instructions. Having the ship also letting us know in their presentation what we should do would maybe make the process better. But once we figured it out it was quick. Found our gangway-yes that thing that connects the ship to land, breezed down it and down and down and down and yeah its a process, found our luggage, got a baggage handler, through custom and off to the shuttle.