Carnival Dream Review

We have cruised on the Carnival Dream two times.  Both times were wonderful.  The Carnival Dream is one of Carnival Cruise lines largest ships, and it is definitely one of Carnival’s best party ships.  The first time we boarded the Carnival Dream was overwhelming.  This cruise was for our 35th wedding anniversary, and it was definitely something special.

We boarded her in Port Canaveral.  We always enjoy leaving out of Port Canaveral, it’s a very efficient cruise port, so we were on the ship before we knew it.  For our first cruise on the Dream, we had a balcony cabin.  We had booked an exterior, but because of some problems in the cruise industry that year, prices went down, and I was able to upgrade to a balcony for less than one hundred dollars total.  It was a roomy cabin, and very nice.  I will always get a balcony cabin if I can.  For me, there is nothing like being able to sit on the balcony and relax while watching the ocean go by.  This was our first balcony cabin, and after that I was spoiled for a balcony.  It’s very disappointing to me to not be able to get afford one.  But even if I can’t afford a balcony cabin, I want to cruise, so for our second cruise on the Carnival Dream we had an interior room that was in the very front of the ship.  We thought that would be good because we could sit on the small deck right in front of our room, but we found out that the room was smaller than normal and not nearly as comfortable as our balcony cabin had been last time. There was also a lot of noise in that room because the steward’s closet was right there,  the ship moved more, and the deck was not private.  Plus, people could look into our window from that small deck.  I wouldn’t recommend a room in front of the ship.

The Carnival Dream is a large beautiful ship.  It’s one of the larger ships in the Carnival fleet, holding 3646 passengers.  It’s got the same shops as the other Carnival Ships, the souvenir shop, the candy shop, the jewelry shop, and the liquor shop.  It’s got a large beautiful theater and casino.  It has 2 restaurants, the Crimson and the Scarlett.  It has multiple pools and hot tubs, a waterslide, and an adults only Serenity Deck.  We didn’t use the pools, but we did use the serenity deck.  I really enjoyed it because I love to have a fairly quiet cruise.  It does have a spa and gym area.  I used it once, but it was very nice because you could look out at the ocean while you used the treadmill. It has a good miniature golf, and the promenade wraps all the way around the ship, making it great for walkers and runners.  I did end up getting the dreaded Norovirus the second cruise on the Dream.  I just stayed in the cabin and rested.  Hope I’m immune to it now.

Our first time on the Dream was for our 35th anniversary.  Our first couple of days in the main dining room with Your Time Dining we had a waitress who was just really slow.  We kept missing the shows that we wanted to see or we’d have to skip dessert to see them.  So, we asked the hostess the next day to give us a different waiter.  We ended up with Sacora, who was excellent.  I was impressed that he remembered our name almost right away.  We asked for him the remainder of the cruise.  On our anniversary my husband had arranged for a rose to be brought to the table, and the waiters all sang.  That was very special.  On another day we were walking around the ship and we saw the Maitre d’, Nikolai, whom we had met when we cruised on the Fantasy.  He remembered us, and sent us a bottle of wine at dinner the next evening.  On our second cruise on the Dream we we were at Reynaldo’s table.  It was a table for 12 in the center of the dining room, and we sat at that table the entire cruise.  We ended up meeting another couple, Ed and Leslie, that we hit it off with, and ended up cruising with them again.  And as always, the waiters danced to Gangnum Style, among other songs, and then sang the farewell song.  I love the waiters, they’re so good and they don’t get paid enough for what they do. The Lido Buffet is pretty much the same on every Carnival Ship that you cruise on, and it was the same on the Dream also.  Nothing special, but not bad either.  The chocolate buffet is always the best. Also, the SeaDay Comedy brunch was excellent, as it always is.  I love the Huevos Rancheros and get it every time.

The first time that we were on the Dream I loved the entertainment.  At the Welcome Aboard show I even won a prize, a bottle of champagne, and some jewelry.  I was featured in the Welcome Aboard show that played all the time on the cabin TV.  I enjoyed the daily shows, and we especially enjoyed the comedy shows.  We even got to know one of the comedians, Rob Little, a bit, and got our picture taken with him. Jeff the Fun Dude was the entertainment manager, I liked him.  But on our second cruise on the Dream we discovered that the shows were still the same as the last time, not much had changed.  That’s when we decided to try and sail on a different ship each time.  I did win a few things at the excursion show. The cruise director on cruise #1 was Willie, and his assistant was Gumby.  I remember that Willie was pretty good, but Gumby kind of got on my nerves.  On cruise #2 the cruise director was Hennie Van Heerdon.  He was okay, I guess that since most of the entertainment was the same as the last cruise, he didn’t stand out to me.  They had a lot of shows on the deck, like the hairy chest contest and the belly flop contest.  That’s really not our thing, so we didn’t spend any time watching.

On our first cruise on the Dream we visited  St. Thomas for the first time, St. Maarten for the first time, and Nassau in the Bahamas.  In St. Thomas we took an open air bus into Charlotte Amalie, and in St. Maarten we took an excursion to a semi-submersible sub.  The fun thing about the excursion is that my husband found out that a distant cousin whom he had never met was on the excursion with us.   Another friend made.  The excursion itself was also fun, although I did get a bit seasick on the sub.  You can click on the links for more details on St. Thomas and St. Maarten.  On our second cruise on the Dream we went to  Cozumel for the first time, Belize, where we saw the Mayan Ruins, and then to Costa Maya, Mexico.   That was the day that I was sick, so I didn’t see much there.  In Cozumel we just took a cab into San Miguel, in Belize we went to the Xunantunich Mayan ruins.  That was a really good excursion, we drove through Belize, then after the ruins stopped for an authentic Belizian lunch.  Quite good.

To sum it up we did love the Carnival Dream.  I think that they could have changed up more of their shows in the year and a half between cruises,  but other than that, we enjoyed the company, the crew was great, and the food was wonderful.  The ship was beautiful and very large for a Carnival Ship.