Carnival Dream - Is it really?

It is day six on our spring break cruise and we are at sea.  I am sitting here on my balcony looking at deep blue ocean as far as the eye can see, sunny, with a nice breeze from the slowly moving marvel at sea.   It has been a while since we have sailed a full seven days with Carnival.  They have made many changes and upgrades with their new ships and Fun Ship 2.0 enhancements.  Having a travel business is tough!  We need to give our clients firsthand experience and knowledge on the products we recommend.    We hear all the time ‘I do not want Carnival - they are a party ship’ …. Well I have to say on this cruise during spring break that was not the case.  That reputation is from many many years ago and the focus now is on fun and multi-generational offerings for all – not a drunk fest or ‘party ship’ in the slightest.

There are 4500 passengers on board this week and about 1400 are kids under 18 years old.  I can honestly say we have not noticed that there are that many passengers on board which is a great comment about how the ship handles crowds – we even found pool chairs by the pool mid – afternoon!  Below are my thoughts on the pluses and minuses from the Carnival Dream.

Pluses:  

Crew – They have been fantastic from our room steward remembering all of our names after the first day, to the dining room staff accommodating our Gluten Free dining requests.  A quick story …. It was Donna’s birthday this week and as she is gluten free she cannot have cake and desserts have been hard to find for Donna on board.  At the last minute right before dinner I asked the Maitre’d if he could maybe bring some chocolate covered strawberries for dessert since I could not order the cake.  Well after dinner out comes not only a gluten free cheesecake (not on menu) with a candle but 6 beautifully decorated strawberries on a plate with Happy Birthday Donna written in pastry frosting.  I thought this went well above my last minute request … well done Carnival!!

Waterworks – For the kids you cannot beat the longest waterslides at sea with four distinct slides, play areas, and pools.  Kids loved to use them whenever they could.

Dining – Again exceeded my expectation.  There is usually one meal I do not care for on a cruise, but everything the family ordered was delicious.  We did not have one bad meal and lots of variety.  Our dining staff was some of the best as well!  The lobster was scrumptious and the quality above what we have had on any of the other main cruise lines.

Carnival is a great value … but since we have started our business I look at our cruises from a different perspective now.  Below are some cons I see on where Carnival is ‘saving’ money in order to have lower pricing than some competitors.

Cons:

Ship Design – Frankly I dislike the design of their ships from a logistics standpoint.  It appears they are designed for maximum utilization of space and in some cases in disregard to the convenience of guests.    Case in point the sports desk is two decks down and across the pool area from where most of the sports actually are.  

Staffing – Even with the helpful and pleasant staff, at times there do not seem to be enough staff from the ship stores, to pool attendants, and bar staff.  This does reduce the level of service you might receive on a Carnival cruise … still good but not up to the level of other cruise lines.

Activities – Less than others lines – especially during the day.    Nighttime entertainment was where the focus is on Carnival.  Many of the day time activities focuses on selling opportunities rather than some shows or other type of activities or entertainment.  Even the pool deck activities were limited.

Overall – Carnival is a great cruise line for the right client looking for a specific type of vacation.  Staff and Dining room food completely exceeded our expectations.  When you are getting a well-priced cruise there are some trade-offs such as a lower staff to guest ratio, a bit less daytime activities, and more basic entertainment.  With that said Carnival is a great value and we are planning our next Carnival Cruise on the brand new Breeze next year!!