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Jesse

Age: 24
Occupation: Insurance
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: NCL
Ship: Dream
Sailing Date: January 2nd, 2005
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

This was my second cruise first one with NCL). The first cruise my wife and I went on was with Celebrity to Key West, Costa Maya, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. The NCL cruise set sail from New Orleans going to Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, & Cancun. Overall, the Celebrity cruise was much better than the NCL cruise. The NCL Dream seemed to be a much older ship; it definitely needs a renovation. I am a cheap skate, so we had an interior room; the bed was comfortable; however the couch/seat did show signs of aging. Considering my wife packs enough to supply an army, there seemed to be adequate closet space, and the bathroom was a typical cruise ship bathroom. One thing that I did enjoy in the bathroom was the shower head (it poured water out rather than trickle the water out). The bed was comfortable, and I did sleep well; however, the ship did rock quite a bit. I have read previous reviews about how the stabilizers didn’t seem to work, and I have to agree; furthermore, I saw a lot of people with the patches on (if you get seasick at all, this isn’t the cruise ship for you). The layout of the ship was very odd. In order to get to the forward cabins on Deck 9, we had to walk through The Four Seasons restaurant; needless to say, this took away from the dining experience in The Four Seasons. The food in The Four Seasons was very bland; I was not impressed with the food, at all. However, my wife did enjoy the soup. I can honestly say that Celebrity’s food was much, much better than the Dream’s. The Barbeque on Deck 11 was probably the best food on the ship; we also ate at The Trattoria (Italian food), and it was very good. The Terraces has exactly the same menu as The Four Seasons, and stay as far away from the Pizzeria as possible. The pizza was horrible. As far as the pools, there were 2 pools, and they were not very impressive. The staff on the Dream was nice; however, I do not like the Freestyle Cruising. We didn’t get to know anyone; furthermore, we had different waiters/waitresses every night. Also, I did not like the tipping system. It seems to me that an automatic tip is motivation not to do anything. If you do decide to go on the Dream, please go for the ports of call and not for the ship (). A little advice; do not pay for the Tabyana(not sure if I spelled that right) Beach excursion in Roatan. My wife and I took a taxi to the other side of the island where we were dropped off at Foster’s. Tabyana Beach is connected to the beach at Foster’s. You can get to Tabyana Beach for a lot less money than your fellow cruisers. We did not book any excursions on the ship; rather, we negotiated with the local taxi drivers to take us wherever we wanted. Believe me, this is much cheaper than going through the cruise line. Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the NCL dream as a 4. In my opinion, if this is going to be your first cruise, then this will be the best vacation of your life; however, if you have already been on a cruise, please pick another ship/cruise line.
 

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