Carnival Dream Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,963 reviews

Brad

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Dream
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myersc4
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

Rating by category

Value for Money
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Additional details

Sail Date: Mar 2013
Cabin: Balcony
Traveled with children

We are second time cruisers and I have really enjoyed reading other reviews so I thought that I'd add my two cents. My goal is a fair review of this cruise and to give helpful tips.

First tip, I don't understand wasting $50 on the Faster to the Fun program. Everyone seems to love it but no one likes to admit they've been taken so that explains the positive reviews. It's an Emperor's New Clothes thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that others do it because ultimately, it's a way for Carnival to make money without raising prices on more savvy customers. We arrived at the port kind of late, around 12:30 and although, at the peak of embarkation, we never waited. Carnival has this process down. We were on the ship in less than 30 minutes and our rooms were ready by 1pm. Thus, the faster to the fun would've been a waste of money in our case and everyone else on the ship. Tip your room steward and extra $50 or buy a few drinks but don't buy the "Faster to Separate You from Your Money Program. " Bring a carry on with your swim gear, self-disembark and go to guest services at off hours and you are $50 better off.

Second tip, and biggest tip of all....pack to be able to self-disembark. This will save your hours getting off the ship. Self-disembarkers get off the ship first, before Platinum and before the FTTF folks. Another part of this is that, Carnival tells you that the will self-disembark by floor. Not really true but the truth is better. At 6:45am, they announce that all self disembarkers, from any floor, may proceed to the third floor to exit the ship. We were ready and we were off the ship in ten minutes. We actually were able to catch an elevator being ready so early. We had room service deliver at 5:30am that day.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8E

Our room was on the Lido deck. Perfect location. I was worried about noise at night and during the peak of the day. Not a problem. The Dream is well sound insulated on that floor and the even the midnight deck parties (one or two of them, only ½ hour each) could not be heard from our rooms. Definitely book floor 10 if you can.

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