Carnival Dream Eastern Caribbean (2011)
Our client Simon from New York is an experienced Disney Cruiser who tried something different for this vacation – a cruise on the Carnival Dream out of Port Canaveral. Simon shares his comments comparing Carnival to Disney and the ports his family enjoyed.
How did your stateroom work out on the cruise?
We really enjoy a balcony cabin, however, on this trip we barely used it! We were aft of a smoker and whether we went on the balcony in the morning ( my wife even went out one day at 3 am) noon or at night, he was either there smoking or he was there within 5 minutes of us arirving on the balcony. He was a chain smoker and it was awful. We both have asthma, so we came back into the cabin and we went on deck. While it was disappointing, it did not ruin our cruise. Our family’s other 3 cabins were also aft of smokers and none of us really could use the balcony.
Any thought of putting smokers aft of midship or only on one side ( starbord or port) of the ship? We understand that smokers have rights, but so do non-smokers. We paid for use of the balcony and couldn’t use it.
Other than that, we loved being on deck 8. 2 decks below the Lido deck and 3 above the casino and the lounges. No noise other than kids running in the hallways. We also liked being more aft (other than the cigeratte smoke) than in the forward part of the ship. Had a great steward- Marvin. He was awesome!!
Did you enjoy your shore excursions and would you recommend them?
We ended up not taking any. At Nassau, we just got off the ship and did some shopping by the cruise terminal. The ship was only in port for 5 hours. We stayed out less than 4 hours. At St Thomas we got a cab (for all 10 of us) and said we were thinking of either Megan’s Bay or Saphire Beach. Said the kids wanted to snorkel. Driver named Gums, said then not Megan’s Bay. He said Secret Harbor is a less crowded beach than Saphire and has great snorkling. So we wnt there for 4 hours. Got there about 11 and he picked us up at 3. He was right. The beach was not overly crowded, the water was wonderful and the kids loved the snorkling! Got lots of great photos of the many fish they encountered! Would recommend Secret Harbor ( it is a hotel) highly. Rented snrkel gear, a float and a lounge chair from the surf shop about 100 yards down the beach, as the chairs on the beach are for hotel guests only. Gums dropped us downtown to shop for about 1 and 1/2 hours, which was just enough.He picked us up again and we got back to the ship about 5:15 and made it to our 6:00 dining time.
At St Martin, we got a taxi to Orient Beach. More precisely, Bikini Beach at Orient Beach. When we were on the last cruise and booked a St Martin excursion for parasailing thru Shore trips, this is where it was. Big Red was our cabbie and he was very friendly and interacted with us all! We got to the beach around 9 and since the kids complained that 4 hours of beach time in St Thomas was not enough, we decided to have him come back at 3, so the kids had 6 hours. Rented 4 chairs and 2 umbrellas for the adults. Very windy, not condusive to parasailing. So we paid $10 per kid and they swam out to the water trampoline and pretty much stayed there for the 6 hours!! It was a great beach, sandy bottom in the water. However, there was a lot of sea weed coming in on the waves. Must have been a storm pushing it (maybe the beginning of Irene?). All but my wife and her sister, went back to ship. They shopped for about a 1/2 hour in the shops at the terminal. We were all very tired after 2 beach days, but made it to dinner again! Would also recommend Bikini beach, even though it was clothing optional. In the 6 hours we were there only saw 2 women with no bikini top. Other than that, it wa like a beach in the US.
How would you compare this cruise to past cruises you have done on other lines (Princess, Disney, etc)
At the time we did the Disney cruise, it was great, the kids weere 12, 8 and 6. As you know, it is very expensive!. The kids have outgrown it and there are other options in our budget range. However, I would recommend a Disney cruise, at least once, to all Disney fans. My favorite is Princess. A bit quieter, less kids, fewer 20 somethings looking to drink all day and night. However, the kids did not like it!
The Carnival Dream is a great ship, we had a wonderful time and the kids (mine are 21, 17 & 15, 2 neices 17 & 14 & nephew 11) loved just hanging out during the day, playing trivia ( our family won 3 “ships on a stick”- 2 for winning trivia contests nad 1 for finding the Fun Patrol), going to the shows and comedy club and 4 of them participated in the kids club activities and enjoyed that too. My sister-in-law’s family enjoyed their 1st cruise and I think Carnival was the perfect line for them. My mother-in-law, wife and I enjoyed ourselfs. My family will probably take another Carnival cruise in the future as a family. But, if my wife and I can ever get a week alone, it will be Princess for us!
We really enjoyed the comedians. There were 4 and we saw them all. I liked the family friendly shows better than the R rated but thats just my opinion. All 4 comics were very funny, especially Tom Brown.
Was there anything you wished you had known before your trip that you’ll do differently next time when you take this type of trip?
Not really. Embarkation and disembarking were really simple. Filling out the paperwork on line really speeds the embarkation process up. Other than booking earlier, so we could have adjoining cabins and maybe asking about smokers, we were just fine.