Carnival Dream, Fascination and Victory

by Peter
(USA)

Review by Peter Bottom line... everyone's experience will be different for various reasons, so go and experience this ship for yourself!!! We are experienced cruisers (ages 40/34/17/8/5) and have traveled with Carnival on three ships (Dream, Fascination & Victory) We have also sailed with Royal Caribbean, NCL and Princess. I will try to be brief with our experience: EMBARKATION is a breeze.

We arrived @ Port Canaveral (Terminal 10) around 11am and were onboard the ship having lunch in less than 45 minutes.I had no trouble with baggage, my cabin stewart was fine and the waiters were always friendly. However, this is one area I found disappointing. I did not think our waiters had the memorable personalities of staff from previous cruises. They got the job done, but I honestly can't remember their names, and they never seemed to remember mine either. We had a party of 10 and the dining room management is VERY big on having your party arrive at the same time before serving you.


THE FOOD was ok, and I usually think that Carnival has the best tasting food of all the cruise lines we've traveled, but sadly for me the Mongolian Wok was awful and had no flavor. For Breakfast, the only meat available for omelets was ham (which was also a bit disappointing) and the onions were precooked, so much of their flavor didn't get mixed into the eggs. The burgers cooked @ the grill near the main pool are very good, maybe the best eating area on the ship. The Mexican Midnight Buffet was the best food experience I had during this trip, don't miss it. I wanted to try Chef Arts, but because the food was so average in the other dining rooms, I was afraid I would not enjoy it (which would be bad since the cover charge is $30/person). I'm definitely a FOODIE, so this was a big part of the trip for me and it was where I would have most of my complaints. Again, it was average, but less than what I expected from the hype surrounding this new ship.


ENTERTAINMENT was good, but also not what I expected from Carnival. ALL the main shows were great and the comedy club was good, but the excitement and energy on the Dream was missing. The water slides were closed most of the time and had strange hours when they were open. The Seaside Theater was barely used. Yes it showed an occasional movie and even the Superbowl game... but it mostly was used to run commercials, warn about saving pool chairs and a few highlights of events around the ship. Would have been nice to have movies or music videos or something entertaining on all the time!!!! Also, I barely saw any bands playing during the day to provide music around the pool, which was a real shame. The pool should have festive music playing all day, especially if the Seaside Theater is not in use. Also, the usual fun stuff like scavenger hunts, pool contests and other stuff just seemed boring on the Dream and I'm pretty sure of why. The staff that normally gets the crowd started was absent this ENTIRE trip.


John Heald (the acting Cruise Director) was funny in the theater, but he mostly broadcast his "fun" leadership on the TV’s and was not out and about very often with the crowds. This just did not feel like a Carnival "funship". THE PORTS & EXCURSIONS were a mix of good and great.


I am very fond of Cozumel, we've been there four times now. We usually rent a jeep and travel the highway along the coastline to discover beaches and local food/shops. This time we decided to visit the Mayan Ruins in Tulum. WARNING: Most of your trip time is spent in transit to and from the Ruins. Also, you can not access most of the ruins, so many of your photo's will be at a distance.

The best part about this tour was the beach and views of the water/reefs. We spent $400 for a family of 5 and if I could do it again, I would stick to renting a jeep or just walking around the shops/mall areas near the pier. Friends of ours did the Dolphins and had an amazing time. ROATAN is nice. Carnival built a very nice port area with new shops that will cause even the frugal to want to spend money. Fat Tuesday’s is a great spot for drinks and music. The beaches are beautiful, but we did the Pirates, Monkeys and Birds tour. To me it was a total waste of money. Again you will have a good long drive to eat up a lot of your time. They describe it as a place where the monkeys & macaws are wild and come down out of the jungle. But in truth, this is a rescue habitat and a few animals are even caged and/or have a leash. John (the Cruise Director) made special mention of one excursion @ each port of call that he would be attending, but we never saw him on any of them. We thought because of his personality, the trip would be fun regardless, but he was a no show EVERY time. Save money here and just go to the beach.


BELIZE was my least favorite port. We chose the Cave Tubing/Zipline Adventure with an outside company and again... a really long drive. But more importantly than that, it’s also a really long walk from the park entrance to the river where you will be tubing (about 45 minutes). If you don't have "water shoes", you will have to rent them for $3, which isn't bad... but I was HIGHLY suspect of their hygiene once the shoes were returned. The walk there is over a path of small to medium river stones and not very comfortable on your feet at all. It may sound like I’m complaining, but I assure you I'm not. Only trying to give everyone an accurate account for you to be prepared if you choose this tour. We got a couples massage for 1 hour at a cost of $15 each. The massages near the pier were going for $1 per minute, which was cheaper than the ships Spa, but not nearly as good as the deal we got for the short $5 round trip bus ride.


Our kids really enjoyed Camp Carnival and didn't want to leave. I would rather have skipped Belize to stay a full day (and overnight) in Costa Maya. MOST OF ALL, take my review and all others with a grain of salt. Everybody's experience and expectation levels are different, but this is a boat worthy of a visit (maybe even two). I personally expected more having been a past passenger. Carnival has long been our favorite cruiseline because of their "fun" atmosphere, but this ship did not feel like a typical Carnival "Funship". It felt more like RC without all the bells and whistles. What I mean by that is Carnival usually goes out of their way to entertain you. Royal Caribbean give you a bunch of things to entertain yourself, which is fine when you have rock walls, ice skating, flow riders, zip lines and operational water slides… but the Dream has none of this and no exciting staff to make up for the lack thereof , like on other Funships.