Marella Dream Review

4.0 / 5.0
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Thompson Dream - Western Caribbean

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Marella Dream

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Sail Date: Mar 2011

This was my forth cruise and it was one of my worst and that's being kind. Before I go any further I read CMANotAHappyBunny's review and I couldn't agree more about the majority being said.But now I will express my own (full) opinion as this is what it's all about.Embarking/disembarking the ship was always a struggle; there were passengers exiting or returning back onto the ship at the same time, so it took a good 10 mins to get where you were going. When checking-in on the first day, I had to go all the way up to deck 8 from embarking the ship on deck 4 which was rather repetitive and tiring after coming off from a 9 hour flight. I was grateful for the welcome drink, but there was no welcome conference to my dissatisfaction.No lifts were able to be used on the first day and this continued for most lifts in the week, due to them being "out-of-order". This needed to be fixed but was not. Not all the lifts went to deck 11 which was a nuisance too.My first impressions of the ship was that it did actually have an okay interior but nothing fantastic (it was shabby looking, in places e.g. deck 9 and 11's outdoor furniture, the games room and water-closet cabins to name a few). The exterior was far more better looking; the ship actually looks new from the outside (everyday the ship was docked there were painters re-painting the already perfect white exterior of the ship, this I found very aimless). More attention needed paying to the interior. Decorators and maintenance are very much needed for the ship's interior for it to appeal to a mass amount of people.Absolutely nothing to do for children, so I was rather happy I didn't bring my 9 year old son along and I was intending to come on this cruise again with my son but that won't be happening anymore from my experience. The day, evening and night entertainment was abysmal especially the Broadway acts; they were weak in star quality. Do not and I repeat DO NOT bring young people aged 2 years old - 18 years old on this cruise as they will be nothing but bored.4 restaurants and none of them satisfied my wife or my taste-buds, we were very letdown. Gordon Ramsay is definitely needed on-board the ship to instruct the chefs but in no way do I blame them for having to cook such bad food, I blame the Maitre D.My cabin was not thoroughly clean to my dismay. The same bedsheets were kept for the whole week after I asked for them to be changed in the middle of the week. Bloodstains (or what appeared to be bloodstains) could be found in odd areas on the sheets. The carpet had odd stains. The only area which was clean was the toilet and sink area. I must mention that various toilets were blocked all around the ship at different times with leakages and smells of sewerage. Whoever did not smell sewerage on the ship was used to bad smells at home. The shower did not work properly, it was either too hot or too cold, trying to get just warm water (after 10 minutes) was a struggle.The itinerary was changed during the cruise so I was not able to visit Falmouth, Jamaica but had been stuck in Montego Bay, Jamaica for 2 days at one of the worst ports I've ever visited. The day at Aruba was changed to Sunday, a day when and where nothing is happening so it was very boring to say the least. Grenada's port was not the original, we were not in St. Georges main area of the island, this again being a nuisance. Barbados on the first day left little to do as we had to be on the ship fast because of previous flight delays. Overall, the port destinations from the original itinerary were a false alarm for a disappointing setback.There were some nice staff on the ship but the cruise isn't about the staff it's about the enjoyment of the cruise overall and for myself to say 'if it wasn't for the nice staff I wouldn't even be able to give the cruise a rating', is very bad on Thomson's part. Besides, the same staff won't be on the same ship forever.

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