Day 3., Chapter 9 - Carnival Dream Review - Cozumel !

Hello readers! Day 3 of our itinerary puts us in Cozumel, Mexico. A couple of cruises ago, we visited Cozumel and something rather traumatic happened to me within the first 30 minutes of getting off of the ship. So, we went back to the ship and didn't experience Cozumel at all. I won't go into details but I'll say that going back to Cozumel was one part of this itinerary that I wasn't looking forward to. So, I booked a Carnival excursion to go to Dolphinaris and swim with the dolphins. I'll get into this more soon.

The night before, we chose room service items to be delivered to us for breakfast since we knew we'd have to get up early to be ready and off of the ship for our excursion. I've never looked at the room service menu for breakfast on previous cruises but was annoyed that there weren't any protein options on the menu. They basically had cereal, bagels, yogurt, milk, etc.

Our breakfast arrived about 20 minutes late which had me in panic mode but no biggie - we wolfed it down. Then we headed off of the ship. Getting off of the ship was really easy on this day as it wasn't a tender port and we probably only had about 10 people in front of us to get off.

We're running a little late because of the breakfast but I want to take a few photos. Latanya is yelling at me.. okay not yelling.. just insisting we need to go. I can see how short the walk is so I am insisting I need to take a few photos real quick. :-) I won so here they are:





The Voyager of the Seas and the Jewel of the Seas were also in port:



Tried to crop out as many people as I could:



We had to walk inside this short shopping plaza in order to get back outside to the hub of where all the tours met up. There was this man wearing a gold pirate suit. There are people in every port that dress up like something and want tips for you to take photos of them or with them. But they're all normally very nice about it and will pose for you first and then hint at their tip jar. This man, however was grouchy and wouldn't pose for anyone. In fact, when someone pointed their camera at him, he'd point at his tip bucket and block his face or turn around really fast to make sure they missed the shot. He might have better luck if he was nice to people. I had a fast enough camera that I got one anyway and while I would have tipped him like I later on tipped several others, I chose not to because of how grumpy he was.



As we walked out of the shopping hallway, there was one of those cut out things that you put your head in. I had Latanya pose in it for me so I could get the lighting and settings right on the camera and then asked someone else to just press the button once I hopped into the photo.



Don't we look... happy? Haha!

Within a couple of minutes, we met up with our group and were waiting to leave for Dolphinaris.

Through knowing each other on cruise critic, we'd already pre-arranged to go with 8 other people so that we could basically be one group comprised of CC members.

While we were waiting in line to start the walk to our vans/taxis that would take us to Dolphinaris, I saw this statue and decided I had to have my photo taken on it. I am definitely not a skinny girl but I sometimes pose like I am a model. lol. I say "own the body you have". Normally I wouldn't post them online though but what the heck! In position for my photo and Latanya takes the shot:



(Unless otherwise noted, all photos that have both Latanya and myself in them are from us handing the camera to someone else with the settings already figured out and hoping they focus well.) :-)



Then we offered to take photos for the others from CC who were part of our group.

First up, Roy and his daughter, Patty.



And then, Naomi with her husband Ben and their friends, Julie and Dan and Josh and I am horrible.. I forget the name of the other girl.



And since it didn't need any people in it to look fabulous, a photo of the statue by itself.



Okay, line moving and we're all following our guide who takes us down to where the taxi's are. These adorable little buggy cars were all lined up on the other side of the street.



We're in our taxi and on the way to Dolphinaris. About 5 minutes later, we pull up and the 4 year old inner child starts to go bananas as we all realize that we're about to touch, play with and swim with these beautiful creatures.

Photos and review coming up!

Day 2., Ch. 8 - Carnival Dream Review

After dinner, we headed directly to the Encore Theatre where we were able to still get really good seats on the left side, 2nd or 3rd row. We were directly next to the aisle. The show this night was called "Get Ready" and again, the entertainment staff, singers and dancers on the Dream are all fantastic, well trained and full of energy.

During this routine, several of the singers and dancers came into the aisle and were standing right next to us. The male singer even sang to me. We felt like we were a part of the show in a sense and that was nice.

I must also give credit to Carnival for having better lighting effects, spotlighting, backlighting and various color gels to really set the mood for their shows than they used to. *claps*

After the main show which was Deck 4, forward, we hustled with Steven and Kim all the way to Aft 5 to the Burgundy Theatre which is where they have the Punchliner Comedy Club shows. Tonight, we'd be watching the midnight show for Jason Blanchard. We had a small snafu with a woman who got rather onry thinking people were trying to cut in front of her and it turned into an uncomfortable situation. I must say though that this one woman was the only one that I felt acted like she didn't have any class during the cruise. I felt that overall, the passengers on this sailing were respectful and easy to be around.

Oh yeah.. comedy... :-) Jason was very funny. He told some great jokes, material I hadn't heard before and was worth staying awake for.

After the comedy show, we left Steve and Kim and went back to our room to get some sleep, although we weren't really that tired. :-)

Hope you're all still with me and enjoying the review up to this point.

Still to come:

-Day 3 - Cozumel with loads of photos! :-)

Sweet dreams!

Day 2, Ch. 7 - Carnival Dream Review

We then headed up to the Lido deck to have lunch. The Mongolian grill line was long and I was starving since I had not had any breakfast so I just did the regular buffet line this time. Latanya went Aft to the Tandoor Indian food station and got Indian food. I really don't remember what I ate but I am thinking a lot of salad stuff, if I recall correctly.

The food was yummy, no complaints. We had a frozen yogurt after. If I have any complaint, it is that the tap water tastes like chemicals and the lemonade on this cruise was always too pungent for me which was dissapointing since I normally enjoy it.

I did bring a 12 pack of Cherry Dr. Pepper (the small bottles) on board with me in a carry on so that I could have 1 soda a day with dinner and occasionally have one during a show.

After lunch, we headed back to our room so I could get the camera to take ship photos. Again, remember the spa photos were all actually taken on the last sea day. I just put them in the above posts so you could see it. :-)

We had some time to kill and I wanted to grab a few ship photos.

We headed to the Crimson restaurant first.







I mentioned this early on about the Atrium but in general, I wasn't as impressed with the decor on the Dream. I do believe this is a personal taste thing coupled with how many cruises I have been on. I've enjoyed other ships better. I really loved the decor on the Miracle which we sailed on in 2010.

I did like the hallways on Deck 4 and Deck 5 Aft on the Dream. I also really thought the decor in the Club 02 teenagers lounge was neat. So, even though I don't have any kids of my own, I ventured in there to take some fun photos to show off to the parents out there. If I was a teen, I'd want to hang out here! Heck, I am an adult and I wanted to hang out in there!

Hallway leading to Club 02:









My favorite area of club 02 was the bubble lights area where the lights change colors. This reminds me of a lava lamp - old school with a modern twist.











I took a few more ship photos which I'll mix in on another day and then we headed back to our room to get ready for our first elegant night.

The power in the room worked just fine for my hair dryer and flat iron that I'd brought from home. (It always does but I know this is a frequently asked question.) Many people complain that the power outlets aren't in a convenient location. There is one right where the vanity mirror is in the room which is plenty convenient for me. You can sit down on the cushioned stool and do your hair and make up which I'd much rather do than go into the closet... errr bathroom. The fact that there's not an outlet in the bathroom doesn't bother me in the least. (The bathrooms are perfectly fine and spacious enough to shower and well.. you know.. :-)

Okay, all glammed up and in a dress (rare occasion.) Latanya and I head down to deck 3 to meet up with Steven and Kim. I forgot to mention that they went to visit the Maitre'D and convinced him to let Latanya and I change to the anytime dining option so we could eat with them. This was great news because we were not comfortable at our original dining assignments and because we would get to spend more time with Steven and Kim.

We sat with them and chit chatted for a while and then we all headed up to Deck 5 to have some photos taken. I didn't bring my camera this night (like a dummy) because I figured I'd buy one of the ship photos from this night and that it would be my only purchase. To say that the photos were unflattering and not at all edited would be an understatement. I was very unhappy with them (not really the photographers fault but more the fault of the photo mill type situation). So, we didn't purchase one and I unfortunately don't have any photos of us from this evening.

After taking photos, we started heading towards the Crimson dining room to eat dinner together as a group and Gumby (he's an awesome guy on the entertainment staff) stopped us, microphone in hand and asked if he could interview us for the cruise video. We said sure so he interviewed myself, Latanya, Steven and Kim. Luckily, we have this video where we all looked beautiful. I'll have to see if I can figure out how to get a still image from the video. :-)

Then we headed to the Crimson where we had a short wait and then were seated. I want to pause for a moment to say that during our entire cruise, we had different servers because we did the anytime dining. When we sailed on the Miracle in 2010, we also did anytime dining and we loved it for the convenience but hated it because of the lack of personal attention from the wait staff. This WAS NOT the case on the Dream. I read SO MANY bad reviews about the service of the wait staff on the Dream so I went into my cruise expecting the service in the dining room to not be stellar. Even with anytime dining and with us getting new servers every night, I felt that the service was STELLAR!

We had great conversations with many of our waitstaff, some of whom I'll give honorable mentions to later on. They were always very pleasant and always treated us well. I felt catered to and never felt like I was sitting around waiting for them. Awesome!

The food this night was delicious. Again, no food photos because I left the camera. I had the Lobster and Shrimp. 2 lobsters actually Yumtastical!!

Day 2., Chapter 6 - Carnival Dream Review

Sunday, December 11th, 2011 - Day 2 - Sea Day

Latanya and I woke up slowly on this day and I am pretty sure we skipped breakfast entirely. I am kicking myself for not taking notes but oh well! Like Tim Gunn of Project Runway says "Make it work!"

We decided to go to the spa for some rest and relaxation. Latanya brought her workout clothes and her swimsuit with her so that she could work out in the gym first and then shower off and join me in the spa. I just realized I am making myself look very lazy - well, this was a vacation and I was lazy! Haha.

The Cloud 9 spa, currently only on the Carnival Dream and Splendor has several rooms that you can enjoy as either a Spa Cabin passenger or a VIP Spa pass holder. If you're interested in using the spa facilities, I suggest you start checking early for a spa cabin and compare the prices to see how much the difference is between a regular cabin and a spa cabin. We didn't have a spa cabin because the price difference was too big but we booked on short notice.

The couples spa pass is $250 for the entire week if you don't have a spa cabin. This allows you to go to the spa from 8am-10pm every day as much as you wish. We figured that if we went 7 times (once a day), that it would wind up being about $18 each per day to use the facilities.

There is a Thalassotherapy Pool room which is a mix between a small swimming pool and a jacuzzi in that it's way bigger than a jacuzzi but hotter than a swimming pool. In fact, it's supposed to be around the same as the average body temperature. I thought it was a smidge hotter than that but found it to be comfortable (not too hot like a lot of jacuzzi's.). There are special minerals that are put into the water that are supposed to make your skin feel softer and combo jets that are supposed to make your joints feel better as well. There is also a long lounger metal bench in the pool that you can kind of lay down on with your legs up.

Since this is only day 2, I don't know if they're doing their job well or not so I won't ruin it for you.. I'll just wait until the final day recap of the spa to tell you whether or not everything was worth the money.

Sorry I don't have a great photo of this room .. there were always some people in it so I didn't want to be annoying taking photos.



Another room which became one of Latanya's favorite rooms was the very wet sauna room. The steam was so thick in this room that you could barely see. There are these mist sprayers that lightly mist you with warm water and the room is super hot. I found this room to be great for the muscle relaxation and for making me sweat. However, it was too intense for my face and for me to breathe well. I am asthmatic. So, while I used it on this Sea Day, I didn't return to it. Latanya used it every day and loved it and so did some of our other friends from our roll call.

Another of our favorite rooms, we called the Bamboo Round Room. It has great views of the water and several hot stone loungers. The lounger feels about like having a heating pad on medium heat except it covers your entire body. This room became an instant favorite of mine.

I have a lot of photos of this room (admittedly these were all taken on the last sea day but I figured I wouldn't make you all wait that long into the review to see them!) So, enjoy!













One of my favorites of the heated chairs...







Right outside of the Bamboo Round Room were these walk in rain showers which were super roomy. These were to rinse off and cool down.



Down the hallway is another room with stone chairs that are heated. Most of these are a bit milder in temperature. This room has different decor with only 2 loungers and several chairs. We didn't spend much time in this room because I liked the more intense heat of the chairs in the bamboo round room.







The spa staff were very informative and friendly. They always waved, with a smile and said hello when they walked past you. Luke was the one who most often checked us in every time we visited and he is pictured here in the right.



We probably spent about 2 hours in the spa using the facilities on this morning (again, Sunday, Dec. 11th, Sea Day). Then we headed back to our room to shower off.

Day 1, Ch. 5 - Carnival Dream Review - Heading to dinner!

We went back to the room after using the spa, showered off, got dressed and headed to our first dinner, late seating, since we couldn't change our dining time. We were sat at a table meant for 10 people. Only 2 people were there when we were seated and they both looked seasick and not happy so it was just awkward. 3 more people showed up rather late and they were not talkative. We've been lucky with our dining companions overall in the past but we were just left feeling awkward. I don't remember what we ate. I didn't take photos. I know, I am horrible. I should warn you now that I didn't take many food photos during this cruise, except for one night and that night is definitely worth continuing to tune in to see the photos! :-)

I had fruit for dessert. I'll go ahead and say now that I rarely ate dessert on the ship because in general, I don't care for it. Plus, I wanted to save the calories. I never found any of the food that I ate during the week to be horrible and I am extremely picky and snobby when it comes to food. There were many dishes that I really enjoyed. I never expected amazing food on a ship with 4,800 passengers that all have to be served. More on this later too with some inside information :-)

My fruit plate - yummy!



After dinner, we headed to the Encore Theater Lounge to watch the "Welcome Aboard" show. Just when we thought it was the same show we'd seen over and over again, (and the beginning was), we were introduced to a new addition called Fun Force. Fun Force is a team of guys that do acrobatics, break dancing and a guy that does amazing pop and locking. They did a very brief routine and we were informed they'd make a grander appearance later in the week which we were super excited about and looked forward to for the entire week.

Since photos were allowed during this night, I took some photos of the show.

Meet Gary, our Cruise Director.



And our amazing captain that got us everywhere safely!:



Six ladies dancing...





This next shot of the dancers makes me smile because Shane, the guy supporting the girl is an awesome guy from Hawaii who we later got to know and he is very sweet. Shane is an incredibly talented performer and very energetic. In general, the dancers and singers on the Dream seemed to have more energy and were happy people.



A photo of the Fun Force dancers breakdancing (They're motion blurred because I didn't have a flash with me. I do have more photos of them later in the week.)





After the Welcome Aboard show, we headed to the welcome aboard Laser Show. I read incredible things about this on the Dream so I was beyond excited to go to it even though I was very tired. We all started cheering as they prepared the fog machines (The fog helps you to see the laser beams better). I'd love to say this was amazing. Unfortunately, it wasn't and we thought maybe it was due to the wind pushing the fog down and not being able to catch the laser beams well so we decided not to be too critical of it.

Steve (from our roll call) found us out there by the pool in our loungers right before the show and watched it with us. Then, he stayed with us after it was over and we chit chatted until around 1:30am. Great conversation so that made it worth being out there. I also grabbed a sausage dog without a bun and some fries from the Lido outside grill and they were both yummy!.

2am - Snore! See you tomorrow!

Day 1, Ch. 4 - Carnival Dream Review

After our meet and greet, Latanya and I headed to the Encore Lounge for our Muster Drill. Everything ran very smoothly and was quiet and well organized. We waited for the majority of the theater to clear out and then we left. The reviews about the wait times of the elevators aboard the Dream would prove to be true today. Many more passengers, same amount of elevators and it took a long time (About 30 minutes) to get the elevator up. I am fine to take the stairs 1 flight up and several flights down but I do have knee problems so waiting was a must for me.

I should note that they were still using a couple elevators during this time to get luggage to everyones rooms and the wait time on this day was not the standard for the rest of the cruise, although some wait times did seem long, this would be by far the worst wait of the week.

We made it back up to our room and Latanya wanted to call her family to tell them we were off for the week. No signal in our room so she walked out into the hallway, where she was greeted by our Cabin Steward, Mon. He was a friendly fella but not very talkative which wasn't a big deal to us. He told her the best place to get a signal was literally 5 feet away out a door at the front of the ship on our deck. What a great surpise! Our room was literally 3 rooms away from the front of Deck 7 and I didn't know that we'd have access to a door that would lead out to a small deck out there. I was super excited by this easy access to get to the outside world. Throughout the cruise, there was rarely anyone out there and it was nice to be able to walk a few feet to check the weather, to feel the breeze, etc.



We stayed on our small deck that almost nobody knew about for the sail away and passed the Carnival Ecstacy as we pulled away.





LOVED this little fishing pier that we passed as we pulled out of port!



We headed back to our room and decided that we wanted to check the spa out. We'd heard great things about the Cloud 9 spa from other people in our roll call. Out of 14 ships, I'd never even went to see the spa on any of them. Latanya was interested in seeing the gym too because she likes to work out on the ships to keep the extra pounds off from the food!

The spa was conveniently up on Deck 11, literally a few floors above our room. They gave us a tour immediately and showed us through the different rooms. We were immediately sold on the relaxation aspect and decided to purchase VIP Spa Passes for the week. $250 for a couple and allows you unlimited use of the spa facilities (Doesn't include treatments.) I didn't know whether or not I'd feel like this was worth the money but decided to try it. I'll get into this more later and will review the spa itself.

We went back to our room real quick, changed into our swimsuits and robes and went to use the spa for our first time. Again, I'll review this soon - I want to post photos with the review of it and I don't have them ready yet so might as well leave some suspense. :-)