Carnival Dream Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,963 reviews

Booze Cruise

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Dream
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Mav442
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jun 2014
Traveled with children

No need to get the $49 board early pass! Arrive no later than 11am for easy and pain free embarkation. Sailing out from NOLA takes a long time but enjoy the time as it's the last you'll get cell coverage. Of course you can spend $100s of dollars while on hour cruise for wifi. If you have kids 11 and under this is probably not the cruise for you. The Camp Carnival was dismal. It's basically two large rooms (opposed to Disney's half a deck), typically two counselors to watch 40+ kids, with one having to manage kids coming and going. We took our kids here once and vow never to go back again. Counselors did not seem interested in showing the kids a good time in a safe environment. The kids's activities are limited to one activity per hour (unlike Disney where there are many options to choose from) and not always a good one. It's not a big ship but one of the bigger carnival ships. The main pool area on deck 10 is small. Folks starts saving seats around 7am. Come late and you'll be lounging on the side of the ship with no music or view of the video screen, Entertainment on the ship is spotty but at least the DJs are great. Food was good as cruise ship food goes. This is the first cruise where I saw folks lugging cases of soda and water on the ship (rum runners for alcohol in their luggage) so imagine seeing 20 folks in the breakfast buffet line trying to grab good for 50 people. The fast food line is great with simple hot dogs and burgers. Forget getting omelette and Mongolian stir fry...see note about 20 people in line getting food for 50 people. It's like standing in line at a food harvest bank. Dinner was a lot better but we opted for the signature steak house dinning on two of the nights. The food and service at the steakhouse was awesome. I asked for a custom surf and turf ($20 extra on top of the $35 pp charge). So if you are taking kids and opt for the steakhouse order the kids a complete menu. I always ordered a tuna tartar for the kids just for me. Great wine selection. Folks can walk-in and have dinner at the bar. There is a dress code. There is two elegant dinner nights, Many opt not to attend dinner and ordered room service or the fast food by the pool. I wore a tux but most wore suits. It's a good opportunity for formal portraits. The rooms were great. We had the deluxe ocean view. Towels animals and chocolates was always a welcomed surprise. Pictures on the ship. Some folks were taking pics of pics with their cell phones and not buying it. It's confusing how they set it up. I finally managed to find our pics...it was in the wrong section. Check regularly otherwise they place all the photos in a bin and makes it harder to find. We got the ultimate spa package which included access to all the spa room and a couples mud facial. Gym was great for cardio but limited in weights. Gym opens at 6am. The track is 225m and is also the walkway for folks going to miniature golf. It's hard to run during peak morning hours so try to get your run in before 7am. The comedy show was great. We did the family version (kids) and adult version and also saw the legends show. Casino was typical. The $3 blackjack gets filled quick. The $6 tables are abundant. The game room was adequate and dangerous since you just need to sail card to purchase games. Don't bother trying to collect tickets for prizes unless you plan to spend $$$ to earn thousands of tickets. Tickets are added to your sail card. There is a machine in the back to redeem for prizes. Shore excursions: Definitely book through carnival. They are really tight on the schedule so if you book from a non carnival tour company and don''t make it back in time you may find yourself buying a plane ticket. Take your passport on shore excursions if you want it stamped (and if you need to fly). We need the Mayan ruins in Cozumel and Belize and it takes literally the whole time on shore with minutes to board the ship. The only thing I would do different is not get a tour in Roatan. Just get off the ship take the sky lift ride to the beach and enjoy the day. Roatan was the best for shopping. Getting off the ship was okay. We opted for the hassle free and had our bags ported rather than lug it off the ship which meant we had to wait till all the self-serve folks got off. It's not a bad option unless you have a schedule to meet.Oh, and at some point while waiting to exit the shop the toilets stop working. Overall, great cruise just keep in mind it's still a booze cruise

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