Recently, I was able to experience the Carnival Dream as more of a guest than as a travel professional as I was on the trip as a guest of a fellow travel agent. She had her annual group going and invited me to tag along. The Cruise was the first week of October and departed out of New Orleans. As you know, 2017, has been quite the year for weather events particular hurricanes. And as luck would have it, we weren’t spared a taste either as our cruise was impacted by the arrival of Hurricane Nate. Weather event aside, my overall experience on the cruise was good. I had a fun, relaxing time while making new friends. I will give you my highs and lows of the ship experience in the following as well as an extra treat as I was able to get three of my new friends from Kentucky to write up their own account of how they felt the Dream was. An extra treat as their material is unscripted and uncut by moi.

First the Carnival Dream is one of the largest and newest ships in the Carnival sailing family. This cruise was to port at Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel, but as mentioned Hurricane Nate did cause some disruptions and we were unable to port at Belize and had an additional day of cruising at the end of the return to make our cruise 8 days instead of 7. I must say the captain and crew did an amazing job and if it weren’t for the announcements and some rain you would have never known anything was amiss.

I stayed in a balcony cabin. I always recommend ocean view or higher and took advantaged of having the balcony to go out on each morning. Thankfully for my roomie we had that as I am such an early riser. We had a fabulous cabin attendant and the room had plenty of storage though lacked sufficient outlets for charging phones. Some of the outlets in our cabin were European voltage and not US. Would recommend bringing an adapter set with you.

My take overall was there was plenty of food and drink available with a varied array of options. I would highly recommend splurging and trying the dining venues such as the steak house and Chef’s Table that have up charges to them. You can read my take on the Chef’s Table experience here. My favorite tanning location was either the 12th deck or down next to the pool on the lido deck where the day activities and music were going on. For you smokers, there were some designated deck areas. One was on the 11th on one side near the DJ.

In the evenings, we would stop at the Alchemy Bar before our late seating at 8:30pm. By fare the best bar on the ship with the best bartenders. After dinner, it was off to a show or the Punchliner Comedy Club. By far one of the best activities to enjoy and have a great laugh with friends.

The trip to me was of good value and I would cruise again with friends. Traveling is great when you go with a group!

Now as an extra treat, here are what me new friends had to say. I asked them if they wouldn’t give me a little blurb to include in my blog to you. I’d like to introduce you to Laura, Dustin, and Tammy of Kentucky.

Laura says….
Room: nice except not nearly enough outlets. That was not adequate.
Food: dinner was good. I️ would like to see a real salad bar everyday, got tired of burgers and pizza. Maybe there was salad and I️ didn’t know it.
Entertainment : loved the comedians!!! Feel like the night club needs to be more adult friendly… too much rap yuck. I️ think if the ship dancers or either of the cruise directors would open the dance floor, more people would go. They get the party started.
Movies on deck more for everyone . Play it one night and then pick another.
I️ felt like you better had selected all your options BEORE you ever travel or you are out of luck
It was an over all good experience though
Meeting you !

Tammy says…..
We went on a 7 day Carnival Cruise the first week in Oct.
We sailed out of New Orleans on The Carnival Dream.
This was one of many Carnival Cruises we have been on and one of the most unforgettable.
The Dream was supreme and had most anything you could ask for. The staff catered to my every need, all I had to do was ask.
They offer a vast list of things to do through the day and evenings. I saw some first- rate musicals, as well as comedy shows that left me hurting from laughter.
I adamantly suggest going to the dinner any night you can as they offer a large list of different foods. I ate so many things I had never had the chance to try and loved every bite.
Oh and the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake you will NEVER forget!
They offer so many shore excursions, at any of the ports of call; you almost can’t decide which one to go on! Our group decided and the ultimate dolphin encounter, which gave us all various reactions of happiness and feelings we will not soon forget.
Over all the vacation was more than I could have ever imagined and can’t wait for my next one!

Dustin says…..
So Carnival Cruise was my very first cruise and I am not mad about it. The Dream was a huge ship with plenty of room for everyone but it seems we saw the same people all the time, which gave you a chance to build comradery. Yes it was in the middle of Hurricane season, “lesson learned,” and we didn’t get to go to Belize and we were stuck on a ship out to sea, but I made friends, created a little family. Carnival did a great job keeping all of us entertained with amazing vocal performances, dances, comedy shows and many activities for children as well as adults that are too numerous to mention. The Flying Scotsman was our Cruise director and I can still hear his voice in my head when I think about our trip, and when I do I truly smile, because it was amazing. There were several food choices on the ship, and while some weren’t my favorite, there was always something for me to eat whenever I was hungry. My only real complaint would be getting to get into the actual places we visited instead of the touristy sites Carnival owns, but then again for our safety that is what is probably best. Overall I would give the cruise an 8 out of 10, and that is just because of some hiccups along the way that could have been handled better, and the fact we lost a port and was only refunded $15.80 in port fees per person, but I’ll get Belize on another day, and the memories I have from our shore excursions are enough greatness to mask anything that was not perfect, because I mean after you swim with dolphins and get to kiss and touch them, nothing else really matters, right?
As you can see, tastes vary, but in overall, the opinion was the cruise provided a delightful vacation experience. If you are looking to cruise Carnival or any other cruise line with a group of friends, please reach out to our office and let one of our skilled travel specialists walk you through making the right selection and taking care of all those pre-booking items Laura referenced.

Happy Sailing!