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My family and I are going on the Carnival Dream very shortly and I was just wondering is the smell that bad?
Our cabin is located in the middle of the ship… therefore I was wondering if we would smell it from in there?!
Let Me Know!
Sincerely,
Ashley T
I enjoyed my first Carnival Dream cruise on May 22nd of this year.
Everything was great. Boarding the ship was organized, we were able to get into our room immediately, and a short time later our luggage was there. Friendly service, immaculate rooms, delicious ,hot food, was always present. I will again travel aboard the Carnival. We met other “cruisers” on locations, particularly the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas and our cruise was by far better. They had to endure another yet unfortunate ship crew member suicide causing them to miss St. Thomas. Entertainment? Every night we could not decide which show or piano bar to attend. The Lido deck had entertainment each night followed by a magnificient buffet. Cleanliness? Crew were mopping and polishing 24/7. Odor? None….dont know what that was about but our rooms were so clean, our linens changed each day. Looking forward to the new Carnival ships that are to be built and sail soon. My first cruise on Carnival won me over completely.
I just got back from my third Carnival cruise, Dream, May 1 sail date. On the smell, It was there. I hoped I wasn’t the only one, and I heard many others complaining about it. It was in various places throughout the ship. I smelled it about halfways down deck 2, deck 10, out on the lido, and when I was at the top of the slide waiting to go down. I figured I would go online when I got back to see if this was a problem on other trips. Other than the smell, which lingered the entire period, 7 days, the cruise was great. The ship was huge compared to the others I have been on, but didn’t seem crowded at all. Lines were hardly ever long, and I always found a seat at a show. Dinner waiters were amazing.
Let me start by saying this is my second Carnival cruise. My wife and I have been on 3 other cruises with Royal Carribean. The Carnival Dream is the newest in their fleet and yet seems to be years old.
The walls are paper thin in the rooms. I so enjoyed listening to everyone elses TVs, radios and conversations. The ship is thin compared to what we are used to with Royal. We’ve been on the Mariner and the Freedom and the pool areas are double the size of what the Dream has and the deck seems to be about 50 or 60 ft less wide. Every cruise I have been on has music playing out by the pool deck, whether it live or recorded…..not on the Dream. We suffered as we watched the Sheryl Crow concert on the big screen, 3 times in one week. We also had the joy of watching G3 on the big screen in the middle of the day (you know…the kids gerbil movie).
At about 3:30a one night the air conditioning for the whole boat crashed. It was a nice added feature having the sauna in my room as my walls were sweating and the lack of oxygen woke us. When someone answered our calls finally we were told it would be fixed “soon”. 2 hours later must be soon.
Entertainment? There was none. All week we had one pool activity, the hairy chest contest. On friday, the last day, someone figured out how to get the music to come on. There was supposed to be a putting contest in the Atrium at 1:45p. About 30 of us waited till 2p and when no staff showed up and guest services gave us a “beats me” attitude, we went back to the “tub”.
I know this sounds like a lot of crying, but we sound thousands of dollars every year on cruises and maybe I’m just spoiled with Royal, but I can guarantee I will NEVER be on a carnival cruise again. The old saying, you get what you pay for, is so true in this case. We only took this ship to hit the ports that we have not been to yet in the caribean.
For those of you that have not taken a Royal cruise yet, spend the extra $150 a person and you will see the difference for yourself.
scott needs to chill it just a smell now i could under stand if it was worse. he dont need to be a baby about it all hes doing is sucking a passy
For anyone about to travel on the Dream, please ignore all the negativity. From the second we all stepped aboard from the second we stepped off, it was hard to find a complaint. I was so worried from the negative nit picky reviews I had read about lines, crowds, rude staff, no elevators etc. If you cant have the time of your life on this ship, I feel sorry for you. Enjoy. You will love it.
Here’s Carnival’s response to my note:
Thank you for contacting Carnival Cruise Lines. We have received your e-mail message and appreciate the opportunity to be of assistance.
Your continued support and loyalty is valued. At Carnival, we know that great food and great service combined with lots of fun and relaxation are the main ingredients in our recipe for an awesome cruise. We are sorry this was not the case on this sailing.
The VIP is open to our guests that have sailed with us more than 10 times. We believe in rewarding our loyal guests. As soon as you have sailed with us 10 or more times, we’d be delighted to have you enjoy the perks of Platinum status as well.
You’re right; the ship pins are no longer part of our Past Guest Program. They are very popular and quite a collector’s item. In the future, you’ll find them available in the gift shop.
Also, thank you for letting us know about the areas onboard that need attention. Whether it’s involving staff service, food preparation or ship maintenance, we look at all comments and concerns. Your feedback is appreciated and is a vital part of our efforts to continuously improve the cruise.
Thank you for choosing Carnival Cruise Lines. We look forward to welcoming you and your family back aboard another one of our “Fun Ships” soon.
Cordially,
Carnival Cruise Lines
Beautiful ship however it was our worst cruise experience. We’ve been on 4 other Carnival Cruises, always in suites and found our March 13, 2010 Dream cruise out of Port Canaveral to be the worst. Issues: we looked forward to the VIP treatment that came with our suites and were surprised and disappointed to be told that only Platinum guests (10 or more cruises) are VIPs – particularly missed the ‘pins’ that my family collects. Very noticeable reduction in staff – slow drink service, dinning service. The dining staff tried but seemed to be waiting too many tables to clear and serve them timely. The maître d’ was not helpful – bordered on rude – only seen once in the 7 days. Surprised at the unexpected odor of sewage on several days at sea – this only happened once before on a far older ship and we never expected to have it happen on the newest.
My family and I just returned from a cruise aboard the Carnival Dream. While our overall cruise experience was a positive one there is definitely an odor issue!
We first noticed the odor as we walked to our cabin after boarding the ship. I had read about the odor but had not told the rest of my family about it because I did not want to bias them about the ship. Nevertheless, we all smelled it! Our cabin was located in the forward section of Deck 1 and we never smelled anything unusual inside our cabin. However, outside our cabin was a different story. Where the smell was most noticeable to us was in the hallway near our cabin. Located just down the hall from our cabin was a “crew only” door. If we passed by this door, or other similar “crew only” doors located in the forward to mid ship area (when they were open or after they had recently been open) there was foul odor consistent with what others have reported.
Occasionally, while outside on the top decks of the ship we could also smell the odor. On Tuesday, during our port visit to St. Thomas we decided to cut our visit short and return to the ship to escape the heat. We decided to use the water slides which are located toward the forward section of the ship. Here, the smell was the strongest. Adjacent to the water slides is a large section that appears to be mechanical or ventilation related. This i suspect is connected to the same “crew only” sections lower in the ship.
Did the smell ruin our vacation? Absolutely not. Was it annoying? Yes.
Sincerely,
Bob K.
As mentioned I sailed Dream from New York on a round trip to Florida and Nassau. The only wafting odor that crossed my path was that of turkey roasting for Thanksgiving. I heard no complaints from anyone about a foul smell.
I am acquainted with most of the people Scott talked to, and know if there was any type of problem, it would be attended to “post haste”.
Since his trip is not until March, if I were in his place, i would cast worries aside.
You’ll have a marvelous trip Scott….and clean sea air!
Dear Mr. Editor:
I am writing your publication to make public my “foul” experience with Carnival Cruise Lines. In these tough economic times, vacations are hard to come by. Families need to guard their funds and carefully choose whom they entrust their families memories with. This year, my wife and I, including our 12 year old son, 9 year old daughter and 6 year old daughter decided to take a vacation with my in laws who are in their 70’s for their 50th wedding anniversary. Also joining us on our vacation were my brother in law, his wife and their 8 year old daughter. This was to be a vacation to provide the type of family memories that can be recalled for a lifetime. This could be the only time we all ever get to vacation together. After weighing our memory dollars very carefully, we chose to sail on the newest, largest, Carnival Ship, the Dream.
Excitement was a bound, and anticipation was high. One day while day “Dreaming” about our cruise, I looked at an online site that reviews cruise ships. CruiseCritic.com. To my horror, most of the reviews talked about a fowl, sewer type, smell on board. We originally made our reservations back in August 2009 for a March 2010 cruise over Spring Break. Now it was January 2010 and other options were all booked. Maybe this was just an isolated few upset guests that are never happy. Not so, review after review, even those that seemed somewhat satisfied with their cruise lauded about the odd, sewer type smell on board. I thought how can a cruise ship marketed towards families smell like a dumpster?
I immediately called Carnival to get some sort of an explanation. I figured that they must be aware of the situation and have it resolved by now. I figured what type of company would allow little kids, seniors and young families be subjected to sewer odors during their Dream vacations. Spoke to several people at the customer service area who had no idea what I was talking about and insured me that there was no foul odor aboard any of their ships. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and was connected to Diane. Diane assured me that no odor was present on the Dream ship, but after I insisted, she agreed to call to upper management to address my concerns.
While I awaited a return call, I did some research on the internet and I spoke to Vance Guilikson, Carnival’s media relations spoke person. This was not easy to get him on the phone, but I relented. This is what I read:
Carnival spokesperson Vance Gulliksen responded to our request for comment following multiple reports of a sewage smell on Carnival Dream: “We have been told that initially there were some issues in certain open decks relating to the design of the ventilation systems within those specific areas. The problem was exacerbated under certain heavy wind conditions.
“Working with the Fincantieri shipyard, the ventilation systems in question were reconfigured prior to the ship’s arrival in the U.S. in November. Since the problem was identified, the ventilation issues have largely been contained, however, there have been a few isolated incidents over the past few weeks. The ship’s technical management team continues to closely monitor the situation to determine whether any further corrective actions may be necessary.”
We discussed the issue, and he mentioned that he would put a call into the ship and upper management to find out a date when this situation would be resolved. I never received a return call from him. I did hear back from Diane. I was told that there was in fact a sewer type odor on board, but that it was “only” in certain areas. I thought, oh good, my 6 year old will only have to smell sewage in certain areas, not everywhere on my vacation.
Obviously, I was being sarcastic and upset and couldn’t believe I was hearing the explanation she was giving me. I asked to receive a call from her supervisor Paula Sinclair. I was promised a call from her by the end of the next day. During my wait I decided to e-mail CEO Micky Arison and President Gerald Cahill. I was sure that if Mr. Arison knew of this problem, he would surely fix it, especially since it was his father who started Carnival Cruise Lines with just one ship designed to provide vacations to working families. He wouldn’t let working families pay for a cruise that he knew smelled like a sewer.
No response from Mr. Arison or Mr. Cahill. I did get an e-mail from Shela Wever, a guest solutions manager, that sent me this e-mail –“ …Please be advised that when the Carnival Dream first entered service in Europe, there were some isolated problems identified and corrective action was taken via modifications to the ship’s ventilation system. Since the ship has been operating in the U.S., we have received very few complaints on this issue.
Actually, less than two in every 1,000 guests who have sailed on the vessel during this period. Nonetheless, further modifications are being made which will be completed shortly. We do not have a specific date at this time.” I also received this exact same e-mail from Carlos Villarreal. Sounds like they are getting many inquires about this issue and have developed this form e-mail. Unfortunately, all of the reviews I read dealing with the smell on board were written after these modifications were supposedly made.
Except for the money Carnival wants to make, why wouldn’t they put this ship in port and not let one paying family have to sacrifice their memories and their vacation to suffer through a sewer smell while trying to enjoy themselves. Would Mr. Arison sail on his yacht, the MYLIN IV and invite guests if it had a sewer smell on it? Would you invite guests to stay at your house if one of your rooms smelled like a sewer or dirty diapers as one review said?
I called Ms. Wever and she told me that they were aware of the smell onboard and that they were working on the issue, but that they couldn’t guarantee me that the odor would be gone by the time I sailed with them. Is this a joke? She told me to just have faith in them that they will resolve the issue, although she couldn’t promise it. How could I subject my family to this, a waste of our hard earned memory dollars? In a subsequent e-mail by her she wrote – ” …If you sail and are dissatisfied in any way with your cruise you have the opportunity to take advantage of our Vacation Guarantee program. We will not provide a full refund though due to this.”
The guarantee was that my family could get off the ship at one of their stops and they would refund the rest of the cruise price. How many people reading this want to take a chance on a cruise like this, with a company like this? What do I do? What would you do? Cancel the memory vacation for my little girls and their grandma?
Sincerely,
Scott W.