Sunday, February 23, 2014

Carnival Dream Cruise - Final Thoughts & Wrap Up

I thought I would do a separate post for my final thoughts on the cruise and hopefully answer some questions in the process.  Spoiler alert - I didn't love the cruise.  A lot of the things didn't affect our day to day enjoyment of the cruise, which is why I left it out of my daily recaps, but are certainly worth consideration.

Cabin: B
I loved the location of our cabin and the class of cabin.  The Cove Balcony was really nice. It was tucked away and felt private.  I loved being so close to the water.  Everything was clean and though I never actually saw the Steward, he did an excellent job (to clarify, I had no need to actually see him, we had no special requests.)

The not so great parts about the cabin?  The bed was not comfortable.  You could feel where the beds came together.  And oh the bathroom!  I hated the damn shower curtain.  Trying to shave my legs was a challenge every day.  And it was tiny. It was the exact same bathroom that's on the Legend, but I didn't love it then either!

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Carnival Dream Cruise: Days 6, 7 & 8 - Sea Days & Debarkation

Since the majority of our Sea Days included a lot of being lazy, I decided to combine the end of our trip into one post.

Day 6 of our cruise involved sleeping in, reading in our cabin and out on the balcony, and then going to the Main Dining Room for Brunch.  We decided to go a little later on this day so we could try more of the lunch options.  Honestly, I thought they did a better job with Brunch than Dinner.  I got the mac & cheese (I'm sure this comes as a shock to no one) and Geoff got the Steak and Eggs.  Both options were really tasty.

Our next stop was to grab our books and head up to the Lido deck.  One of the things we liked on the ship was the Serenity Adults-only space.  We were able to find a shady spot to curl up a read for a bit.  It was crowded up there since it was a Sea Day, but there were still plenty of chairs available.

Monday, February 17, 2014

February 2014 Birchbox Review

Just for fun, I thought I would start putting up reviews of my Birchbox each month.  I like seeing what everyone else received, so why not!

If you're unfamiliar with Birchbox (referral link if you're interested) it's a monthly subscription service.  Once a month I receive a box with fun samples to try - usually 4-5 plus a lifestyle "extra."  It's $10 and includes shipping.  You set up a beauty profile and I really recommend playing with if you're not crazy about what you're getting.  It asks you about your hair, skin, what you love, your proficiency with beauty products, and what your style is.  My coworker also gets Birchbox and her box was completely different than mine except for one item.

I promise to take better pictures next month!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Carnival Dream Cruise: Day 5, St Martin

Our St Martin day started with a lot of confusion.  We booked a tour through Bernards Tours.  Our Tour was supposed to leave at 9am (Atlantic Time.)  Our ship docked at 8am (Eastern) and St Martin, through Daylight Savings Time, was now an hour ahead of ship's time.  We hurried to get off the ship and over to the tour desk, because I am nothing if not obsessed with being on time.  We checked in...and waited. For an hour.  Oh well.

We finally got going on our tour.  My goal was to go to Maho Beach and Marigot, the tour was surprisingly the most economical way to do both - so everything else we did was just fluff.

Our first stop was at the Iguana Farm.
Posing
The Iguana Farm was fun to see, but I would never go out of my way to stop here.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Carnival Dream Cruise: Day 4, St Thomas

This was our favorite stop on this cruise.  We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous day a little before we actually pulled into St Thomas.

I loved watching the waves break along the front of the ship. 
Before too long, we were nearing land.  Geoff and I went up to the Lido to watch us sail in.