''Carnival Dream'' is a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

operated by

Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel (ship), funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue colo ...

. She is the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of her namesake class, which includes '' Carnival Magic, Carnival Breeze'', and '' Costa Diadema.'' Built by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

at its

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Venetian language#Regional variants, Bisiacco: ; ; ; archaic ) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Gorizia, Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Tr ...

shipyard in

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

, northern Italy, she was floated out on October 24, 2008, and christened by

Marcia Gay Harden Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. Harden's breakthrough came in 1990 with the Coen brothers' film '' Miller's ...

. At , ''Carnival Dream'' was once the largest Carnival Cruise Ship. It lost this title to the , when she was introduced in 2011. Carnival_Dream_2

Facilities

''Carnival Dream'' and her sisters were the largest ships ever built by

until the introduction of the ships in 2016, which were also built by Fincantieri. The ship was the first in the Carnival fleet to include a water park with multiple slides. She also has an 18-hole miniature golf course and a wide outdoor promenade deck that includes an outdoor café and a whirlpool Jacuzzi in four places along the outside edge of the deck.

Drydock refurbishment

''Carnival Dream'' went into

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

Freeport, Bahamas Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone on the island of Grand Bahama in the northwest part of The Bahamas. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier with lumber interests in Grand Bahama, was granted of pineyard with substant ...

in 2017 receiving new carpeting, lighting, and wall coverings and new restaurants. The ship went into drydock in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in 2021 and received the blue/white

livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol, or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery often includes elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

seen on some of the cruise line's other ships.

Areas of operation

''Carnival Dream'' has been based in several US ports cruising to Caribbean destinations. The ship was based in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana up until late 2019 when she was re-positioned to

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

, Texas.

Successors

The ''Carnival Dream'' not only introduced the of cruise ships, but highly influenced Carnival's highly popular ''Vista'' class of ships.

Incidents and accidents

In July 2011, ''Carnival Dream'' had issues with one of her engines, forcing a change in her travel schedule. On March 14, 2013, ''Carnival Dream'' experienced a back-up generator malfunction while performing regular pre-embarkation testing. No power outages occurred but Carnival Cruise Line decided to stay docked in port at

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten Philipsburg () is the main town and capital of Sint Maarten, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The town is on a narrow stretch of land between Great Bay and the Great Salt Pond. It functions as the commercial center of Sai ...

. The ship was scheduled to leave port around 5 p.m. ET the day before. The U.S. Coast Guard said they were notified by Carnival Cruise Lines that ''Carnival Dream'' was experiencing problems with her generator. Carnival was paying to fly passengers back to

Port Canaveral Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo, and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States. In 2022, the port has the busiest cruise terminals in the world with over 4 million passengers passing through it during the fiscal year. Additional ...

, via

Orlando International Airport Orlando International Airport is the primary international airport located southeast of downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2024, it had 57,211,628 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the state and ninth busiest airport in the United St ...

, or their home cities and canceled ''Carnival Dream''s March 16, 2013 departure. The ship set sail on her first cruise after the mechanical problems on March 23, 2013. Michael Moses Ward, also known as Birdie Africa, the only child survivor of the

1985 MOVE bombing The 1985 MOVE bombing, locally known by its date, May 13, 1985, was the aerial bombing and destruction of residential homes in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, by the Philadelphia Police Department duri ...

, died in September 2013, at the age of 41. His death occurred in a hot tub aboard ''Carnival Dream'' while sailing in the Caribbean. Initial reports indicated an accidental drowning. Sources say he may have had a stroke in the hot tub. On May 3, 2018, a pipe, which was part of the ship's fire suppression system, burst and flooded deck 9. About 50 staterooms were affected by the flood. On December 29, 2018, lifeboat number 28 broke loose from ''Carnival Dream'' for unknown reasons and was excessively damaged. Carnival decided to abandon the lifeboat at sea and plans to purchase a new replacement. No one was on board the lifeboat at the time and no injuries were reported. On October 24, 2019, a few hours after ''Carnival Dream'' left Galveston, a man went overboard by jumping off his stateroom balcony. Carnival stated "the ship's command promptly began search and rescue procedures, returned to the area near where the incident occurred and notified the US Coast Guard." After covered by the search in 48 hours, the US Coast Guard suspended operations.

Filming location

About 20 minutes of the movie '' Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked'' was filmed aboard ''Carnival Dream''. Although unseen, it is mentioned in the 2013 film ''

World War Z ''World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War'' is a 2006 zombie apocalyptic horror novel written by American author Max Brooks. The novel is broken into eight chapters: “Warnings”, “Blame”, “The Great Panic”, “Turning the Tid ...

'' that the ''Carnival Dream'' is a part of a fleet of ships from around the world taking refuge in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the United States.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Official website
{{Carnival Cruise Line 2008 ships Maritime incidents in 2013 Ships built by Fincantieri Ships built in Monfalcone

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...