Dream vs. Dream

[Raspberry Beret]

Granted, those deals are gone, but your statement was "No way we could have worked that deal on Disney". I just wanted to point out that some have worked out deals on Disney in comparable rooms on comparable cruises for the same price as the Carnival Dream.

Actually, the poster was correct. You cannot get that same deal on Disney. Disney does not even offer Spa Balcony Cabins or a comparable stateroom with the same amenities which are:

All Spa staterooms include private access to spa facilities, unlimited use of the thalassotherapy pool and thermal suite, complimentary fitness classes, priority Cloud 9 Spa reservations, and upgraded bath amenities.

A truer comparison would be with NCL and Celebrity who offer Spa Staterooms.

 

[lovethedream]

No, we haven't tried any other cruise line. My kids kind of want to try the Oasis, but we are unsure because we just aren't that big on cruising. Also kids did the flow rider in Margaritaville and they are over that one, had enough bumps and bruises, although they did admit it was fun at the time.

I actually did enjoy some of the adult entertainment on CCL. I wish there was a way to merge DCL and CCL together and get the best of both. lol

I think another reason that we may go with DCL in the future, is they have the 2 stop at Castaway Cay. We have discovered that although the islands are beautiful, once away from the beaches, they are pretty much poverty stricken and we just don't enjoy the atmosphere and having to deal with getting to and from excursions. We prefer the private Island and sea days. But as I said earlier, CCL's private island, Half Moon Cay, is very close to Castaway Cay in distance and therefor is equally beautiful, and actually I thought the water was even prettier in color and clarity. Wow, I am sitting here talking myself into another cruise, didn't think that would happen. lol

At one time we were looking at the Freedom, how did you compare it to CCL? Just incase we decide to give it a try, would love some first hand info.

First, I will say that I will not try to talk you out of trying the Freedom/Oasis. If your thinking about it, go for it! Each person/family should try what their interested in and go with what they like best.

For our DCL (Wonder) cruises, it was the family and other family members that went. For RCCL (Freedom) and CCL (Ecstasy), it was myself and my better half and 2 to 4 thousand of our closest friends .

In order, we like DCL the best, CCL, and then RCCL.

DCL was a different cruise experience than either CCL or RCCL. RCCL and CCL were closer together experience wise for us.

The shows between RCCL and CCL are similar, there was one big dining room that you ate at, no name announcement when you board, etc. In both cases, we all but abandoned eating in the main dining hall of either ship and found elsewhere on the ships to eat. We just did not like the food or the atmosphere and eating in the same place 4 or 7 nights in a row has absolutely no appeal to us what so ever. The only private island we have been to is Castaway Cay, which we loved!

We also discovered that we seem to like the smaller ships. As a matter of fact, our next cruise is on the DCL Magic.

Good luck with what ever you choose!

 

[kaseyC]

Ports of Call on Western Caribbean on Carnival Dream:

We chose the itinerary for the ports. We have visited St. Thomas and St. Marteen several times. We took the Disney Magic to the Western in 2005 but our Cozumel stop was exchanged for Costa Maya due to hurricane damage. We really wanted to visit Cozumel and had heard great things about the changes to Costa Maya.

Cozumel: We booked Nachi Cocum independently and loved it! Our favorite day of the cruise. Very peaceful and free flowing drinks made it a plus! Nachi Cocum limits the number of guests to 100 but I would say there was maybe 40 there that day. We were the only ship in port so all the visitors were Carnival passengers. Easy to get to by cab and we felt safe. Our son had fun trying out his Spanish.

Roatan: We were so excited about exploring Roatan. Carnival usually docks in Mahogany Bay but due to high winds we ended up in Coxen Bay. Once again we were the only ship in port. This worked out better for us because we got to actually see the island on our way to our excursion. We booked ClipNZip independently and had an awesome time!! The company picked us up at the port and took very good care of us. We had a really fun experience!

Belize: You have to tender to this port - it had to be around a 20 to 30 minute tender ride based on how far away the land looked. There was another Carnival boat anchored near us. Since we had 4 port days, we decided to make this our "at sea day" to enjoy the pools and slide. It worked perfect because you really felt like you were at sea. We heard lots of people talk about the great fun they had cave tubing. Maybe next trip we will visit Belize.

Costa Maya: We were excited about seeing the changes from our last visit. This port has a pool complex built right when you get off the ship but we were interested in visiting the village. We had reservations with Steve from the Tropicante for a day relaxing on the beach. We docked around 7 a.m. When we walked onto our balcony I remarked how "angry" the sea looked. Within a few minutes, the captain announced that for safety reasons we would have to leave the dock. We were very disappointed but decided to make the best of the situation and had another fun day at sea!

Thank you for this information. The different ports as well as the chance to spend a week cruising for a very reasonable rate was the reason I booked this cruise. We will get our Disney fix in January when we go to WDW.

 

[Wadekind]

Granted, those deals are gone, but your statement was "No way we could have worked that deal on Disney". I just wanted to point out that some have worked out deals on Disney in comparable rooms on comparable cruises for the same price as the Carnival Dream.

I would be interested in a veranda room with spa privileges. I can not find this option on the DCL website. Are there posts in other threads you can direct me to so I can read up on the details?

 

[lovethedream]

To each their own. I preferred staying at the Swan to AKL and WL.

We stayed at the swan once. It was a very nice hotel. We still prefer the cabins, but if it is just the two of us, we will probably stay at the swan again!

 

[kaseyC]

I would be interested in a veranda room with spa privileges. I can not find this option on the DCL website. Are there posts in other threads you can direct me to so I can read up on the details?

DCL does not offer any cabins with spa privileges, not even as a perk for the Concierge Suites.

 

[mhsjax]

First, I will say that I will not try to talk you out of trying the Freedom/Oasis. If your thinking about it, go for it! Each person/family should try what their interested in and go with what they like best.

For our DCL (Wonder) cruises, it was the family and other family members that went. For RCCL (Freedom) and CCL (Ecstasy), it was myself and my better half and 2 to 4 thousand of our closest friends .

In order, we like DCL the best, CCL, and then RCCL.

DCL was a different cruise experience than either CCL or RCCL. RCCL and CCL were closer together experience wise for us.

The shows between RCCL and CCL are similar, there was one big dining room that you ate at, no name announcement when you board, etc. In both cases, we all but abandoned eating in the main dining hall of either ship and found elsewhere on the ships to eat. We just did not like the food or the atmosphere and eating in the same place 4 or 7 nights in a row has absolutely no appeal to us what so ever. The only private island we have been to is Castaway Cay, which we loved!

We also discovered that we seem to like the smaller ships. As a matter of fact, our next cruise is on the DCL Magic.

Good luck with what ever you choose!

Thanks for the info. I never understood the appeal of the dining rotation, that is until I didn't have one. I agree with you 100%, even though the menu does change, a change of scenery is also nice.

 

[NancyIL]

The different dining rooms on DCL are nice, but I don't mind eating dinner in the same dining room every night on other cruise lines. I've done so 14 nights in a row on 2 Transatlantic cruises.

 

[Scillycruisers]

I loved our Disney cruise and I'm sure we will go back many times - I still dream of going on the Queen Mary II, just not sure it's for kids.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

I would be interested in a veranda room with spa privileges. I can not find this option on the DCL website. Are there posts in other threads you can direct me to so I can read up on the details?

Don't know if this is sincere or sarcasm, but regardless, I was just trying to point out that our 2012 Disney Fantasy Cruise was the same cost as a nearly identical cruise on the Carnival Dream leaving on the exact same day for nearly the exact same itinerary. However, Carnival stops at Nassau instead of Castaway Cay and Carnival stops at the same exact ports on the same exact days as the RCCL Oasis. So at each port, you will have the Oasis and Dream dropping off passengers. The Fantasy will be at St. Maarten and St. Thomas on opposite days so the ports will be less crowded.

I did go price the spa rooms on the 6/2/2012 Carnival Dream compared to our Fantasy cruise on 6/2/2012 and the Carnival Dream is about $1,600 MORE expensive what we booked our rooms on the Fantasy for last October. That's a LOT of "free" spa visits!!!!

 

[lovethedream]

The different dining rooms on DCL are nice, but I don't mind eating dinner in the same dining room every night on other cruise lines. I've done so 14 nights in a row on 2 Transatlantic cruises.

On our last Carnival cruise, we decided to try the my time dining just to see if we would like it. Of course, it did not help that my DW did not like the food to the point she pushed away the plate well before she was finished. In either case, we still did not care for it. We did like the food in the buffet and ended up eating there the rest of the time.

Maybe it was just bad luck on our part in the dining room. I mean the buffet food was good!

 

[NancyIL]

On our last Carnival cruise, we decided to try the my time dining just to see if we would like it. Of course, it did not help that my DW did not like the food to the point she pushed away the plate well before she was finished. In either case, we still did not care for it. We did like the food in the buffet and ended up eating there the rest of the time.

Maybe it was just bad luck on our part in the dining room. I mean the buffet food was good!

Wow - I have never thought the buffet food was better than in the main dining room on any ship!

 

[NancyIL]

I did go price the spa rooms on the 6/2/2012 Carnival Dream compared to our Fantasy cruise on 6/2/2012 and the Carnival Dream is about $1,600 MORE expensive what we booked our rooms on the Fantasy for last October. That's a LOT of "free" spa visits!!!!

Did you price the Carnival Dream's spa cabins in October 2010 when you booked your Fantasy cruise, or just before posting this? The price of your Fantasy cruise has gone up considerably, as you have pointed out before, and maybe Carnival Dream's spa cabins have, too.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Wow - I have never thought the buffet food was better than in the main dining room on any ship!

On Carnival, much of the same food that's offered in the dining room is offered at the buffet on deck 9 (for people who prefer casual dining, shorts, t-shirts.) Not all, but some of the same food.

I still much prefer the dining rooms though. It's nice to have the food brought to you.

 

[Edd]

On the Carnivals I have cruised on, there is a distinct difference in the food between the buffet and the dining rooms. Ever see a steak, lobster, lamb, red snapper, soups, rolls, desserts and many more chef creations on the buffet that you got the night before in the dining room, chocolate melting cake, the best dessert wver, is not served on the buffets. The buffet on all ships is good, but I always look forward to the dining room meal.

I havge never been on a ship that has a better buffet menu than what they serve during evening dining.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Did you price the Carnival Dream's spa cabins in October 2010 when you booked your Fantasy cruise, or just before posting this? The price of your Fantasy cruise has gone up considerably, as you have pointed out before, and maybe Carnival Dream's spa cabins have, too.

Good point so I went back and double checked the price on the original apples to apples Dream cruise comparison to ours and the Carnival prices haven't changed a bit since they first offered the 2012 itineraries earlier this year. Since those prices haven't changed, I assume the spa cabin prices haven't changed either, but I could be wrong. Regardless, they are more expensive than our cabins even on Day 1 booking if you go off the assumption that they are always more than normal balcony rooms.

Why is it so hard to make the point that Disney prices were very comparable to both Carnival & RCCL when Disney first opened up the 2012 bookings? I agree that Disney has since raised their prices to a point of absurdity!

 

[TXDCLfan]

On the Carnivals I have cruised on, there is a distinct difference in the food between the buffet and the dining rooms. Ever see a steak, lobster, lamb, red snapper, soups, rolls, desserts and many more chef creations on the buffet that you got the night before in the dining room, chocolate melting cake, the best dessert wver, is not served on the buffets. The buffet on all ships is good, but I always look forward to the dining room meal.

I havge never been on a ship that has a better buffet menu than what they serve during evening dining.

Edd I just got back from the Carnival Liberty and had late dining and quite a few times I would go check out the buffet and yes they did have rib eyes one night leg of lamb and lamb chops another night also had fish most nights I also saw that they had a soup being offered each night but not chocolate melting cake. They buffet was basicly identical to what was being served in the MDR This has been the norm on all 6 of the Carnival cruises that we have been on!!!

 

[woody73]

I just got back from the Carnival Liberty and had late dining and quite a few times I would go check out the buffet and yes they did have rib eyes one night leg of lamb and lamb chops another night also had fish most nights I also saw that they had a soup being offered each night but not chocolate melting cake. The buffet was basicly identical to what was being served in the MDR

We had a similar experience recently on RCCL's Voyager of the Seas. The Windjammer buffet served ALL the dishes offered in the main dining room, except for lobster tails and a few specialty desserts. Plus, they had some dishes not available in the dining room, like sushi rolls.

We liked the option of having dinner at the buffet. After a long day in port, sometimes we did not want to wait hours until 8:00 or so for late seating -- especially if we had an early port the next morning.

We liked being able to go to the buffet when we wanted to and without having to spend 1-1/2 to 2 hours at dinner if we were tired. This was especially important to us at overnight ports -- such as St Petersburg, Russia; Alexandria, Egypt; Sydney, Australia; and Shanghai, China.

Woody

 

[lovethedream]

Wow - I have never thought the buffet food was better than in the main dining room on any ship!

I am trying to remember exactly what my DW ordered in the main dining hall on Carnival that night. I took a bite and agreed, it did not taste good at all. We did not stay for dessert, we left and went up to the buffet area.

There was quite a variety of food and what we really liked about it was that you could get a little bit of everything. If you liked something, you simply went back and got more of it.

So far, Carnival has been the best dessert ship we have been on. They have special tables set up with a variety of desserts and a pretty cool setup for serving your own ice cream.

 

[lovethedream]

On the Carnivals I have cruised on, there is a distinct difference in the food between the buffet and the dining rooms. Ever see a steak, lobster, lamb, red snapper, soups, rolls, desserts and many more chef creations on the buffet that you got the night before in the dining room, chocolate melting cake, the best dessert wver, is not served on the buffets. The buffet on all ships is good, but I always look forward to the dining room meal.

I havge never been on a ship that has a better buffet menu than what they serve during evening dining.

Well actually, except for the lobster, yes we did! And they usually had a rack of something laid out also. As a matter of fact, the buffet area had some of the best dessert tables I have ever seen on any cruise ship!

The best part for us was we could go dressed as we wanted at anytime during the evening, get our food fairly quickly, (if there was a line, it usually moved very fast as they had 2 separate serving stations) eat what we liked and go back for seconds if we wished.