Carnival Dream Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,963 reviews

Great Friends, Disappointing Ship

Review for the USA Cruise on Carnival Dream
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asirs
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jun 2012
Cabin: Ocean Suite
Traveled with children

I was hesitant to posts a review, because there were some good parts of our cruise; however, the bad parts were disappointing and I wanted to share! It is glaringly obvious that Carnival has taken major cost cutting measures and it definitely shows! Through Cruise Critic Roll Call we met and sailed with a group of 60+ fun, amazing people who I will not soon forget! If it wasn't for them, I think this cruise may have been our last. So, here it goes...

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at the Port Canaveral terminal at 11:30 and we were on board by 11:45. Like everyone else, we headed to the Lido deck for lunch - I went to the Grill, my son to the Pasta Bar and my DH to the Mongolian Wok. All were good, not great...just good. I bought an unlimited soda/juice card only to find that since our last Carnival cruise when you order a soda you no longer get the can...now they just fill your glass with ice and then put as much soda in as the glass will hold. I ordered my soda with no ice and got ice from the buffet drink stand. The Pizza, Hamburger/Hot Dog Stands, Tandoori, and Grille stand offer a nice variety however only the Pizza bar is only open 24 hrs. The others have limited hours outside of normal dining times. (another cost saving measure I guess?) Buffet food - what you'd expect, typical salads (same stuff every day) then hot items. If you like to eat Pork Loin, Ham and Turkey you'll love the buffet for lunch and dinner (cheaper alternatives.) However, if you do not eat pork products you'll have to settle for one of the chicken or fish dishes floating in cream or oily sauces. My husband waited all week for the carved roast beef but it never showed up at the buffet. On the last night it was on the dining room menu but the slices were paper thin and my DH ordered 3 sliced to get a "normal" portion.

While we're talking about the Dining room...we selected the anytime dining option. We figured without 6 yo son we would have the flexibility to feed him around Camp Carnival activities. The Dining Room opens at 5:45. People start lining up at the door at 5:15! No joke! We would go around 6:15 and were disgusted to find that Carnival allowed large family groups to select Anytime Dining as an option - I'm talking groups of 36, 42, 23, etc. AND, when they arrived at the Dining Room the Maitre D sat them all at once splitting them into smaller groups and filling every table. Shame on Carnival and the Maitre D for not stopping this after the first night when everyone else had to wait over 1 hour to be seated! We only got to eat in the Dining room twice due to this (both times no earlier than 8 pm) and found the wait staff tired, over worked and the food lukewarm at best. To say "sorry" they sent a small plate of tiny pastries to our stateroom. We did (by default) eat at the optional Steakhouse 3 times! IT IS AWESOME and worth every penny of the up charge! Next time we'll be selecting a specific dining time so we don't get locked out.

Cabin Review

Ocean Suite

Cabin OS

Lots of storage, great bathroom, comfortable beds. Paper thin walls and some noise from Atrium entertainment but nothing too disturbing. Only 2 electrical outlets in the room. One in the dressing area the other at the bar area. TV positioned in awkward location so when you are lying in bed you have to hold the remote up in the air to change the channel or adjust volume. Very convenient location.

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