Phil Reimer aboard the Carnival Dream out of New York—As I sit here and write this it's Saturday morning, but I am not sure when you are going to see it. We are in what I would call rough seas, but not to the point that people aren’t out enjoying the ship—just not outside. One thing that isn’t working is the Internet—due to the rough seas. It's tough for a guy doing a daily blog post. We are far enough off shore of New York so that my Blackberry is not working. So now you understand if I am missing a day. Who knows, it may come back on by midnight.
Yesterday I mentioned that the Promenade and Lanai deck, which is Deck 5, is probably going to be the most popular deck on the ship. I am sticking with that assumption after watching it in action all day.
Let's start in the bow and work our way back. On the outside, the Lanai deck goes all the way around. You have to walk around some wind baffles, a giant chess board, and hot tubs that protrude outside of the ships hull—common among the newer ships. If you’re into walking it's only two laps and you’ve done a mile.
At the bow is one of the floors of the Encore Theatre that stretches over deck 4 and 5. Try and not sit on the sides on both levels. The seats look straight ahead rather than angled toward the stage. I have always wondered why they didn’t learn from some of the new ballparks like Safeco Field in Seattle—angle the seats toward the stage, as baseball does for home plate. Also on the main floor it is more or less flat, very little angling. Acoustics and sight lines for the most part are outstanding.
After you come out of the theatre you will find the shops—surrounding the Atrium—the usual place you would find them on a Carnival ship. Also located nearby is one of the Fun Hubs that are located all over the ship where people gather. You can use them for free to find out what’s going on that day, hooking up with other people with similar interests and so on—at sea social networking. The moment you go online, you start to pay—as you would on all the major cruise lines.
You then move into the sports bar that is actually connected to the casino. I couldn’t find much that made this casino vastly different from others except it is a bit bigger than on most of their ships. This leads you into the Ocean Plaza where you will find dancing, bars, and lots of indoor and outdoor seating. Here you can pick up sushi at Wasabi. Also in the area are pay products like specialty coffees, pastries and ice cream. From that spot, you travel along to Sam’s Piano Bar, all kinds of places for dancing and enjoying the nightlife, along with comedy shows in Burgundy. Three of the shows are for family and two later on in the evening are adult only.
Carnival has given a lot of thought to this deck and it could turn out to be the most active on the ship.
All for now.
Phil