Thread: Carnival Dream or RCCL Freedom of the Seas

We are looking to book a cruise the week of April 17th, 2010. We have done three Disney Cruises so far and are looking for something a bit different. We LOVE the Disney Cruise but there is nothing available in April. We have one child, a girl age 9, and she enjoys the kids club on Disney.

I have read some bad reviews about the Carnival Dream - Particularly the food and food service. I have also read about RCCL and that they nickel and dime you to death for anything you want on the ship. It is really not all inclusive. Is Labadee (RCCL Private Island) a nice stop ?

Both are Western Carribean but Carnival Dream has stops in Belize City, Roatan Bay Islands Honduras, Cozumel and Costa Maya.

Freedom of the Seas stops at Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island), Ocho Rios Jamica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

Both Cruises below are about the same price. I would appreciate any assistance as we need to book in the next few weeks.

They both are great and fun, but Carnival is cheaper and has great price deals.

IMHO, I would do either one of those cruises. FOS is a great ship and your DD would have a great time on it, and so would you. Never sailed Carnival, probably never will but that's just me. Lots and lots of people love Carnival.

I did the one night on the Dream and while I normally don't have much nice to say for Carnival - I'd do the Dream in a heart beat.

I am booked on the Dream in May 2010 - at the beginning the reviews of the Dream were not that great, but she is a new ship and was still getting the kinks worked out - on the message boards you are seeing more and more positive reviews about the Dream, I also find that you have to learn to read between the lines in some of these reviews, some people are just plain negative and will find the bad in everything!

We have sailed both and although they are very different, we have plans to go on both again. I don't know where you read the food on Dream is not good, because, to us, it is better than Freedom of the Seas. I can see if people complained about lines, as there are lines if you go to lunch at noon, as an example.

Carnival has a lot of different venues for lunch. Not only the buffet and the burger bar, where there are freshly made burgers, but also a deli, a Mongolian wok, a burrito bar, a Tandoori bar, and my favorite a fresh pasta bar. Freedom doesn't have all these.

Both ships have a great kids program. I haven't had children on either, but reports from both are good.

The shows on Carnival are better than those on Freedom. Dancin' in the Streets is wonderful and the comedy club (R rated) are lots of fun too.

I'm sure you will enjoy either cruise. I think you need to go with a positive attitude and you will have a wonderful time. No cruise is perfect, but most are nearly so!

While I have not cruised on either ship, I'd go on either one. Carnival is a very good product as well as Royal Caribbean. I've cruised on Carnival 4 times and Royal Caribbean just once on Navigator of the Seas.