Dream Cruises Review: Cruise To Nowhere Itinerary (Part 1)

by Faith Joan Chua - July 10, 2021

Hey friends! A few weeks ago I went on my first ever Cruise To Nowhere aboard Dream Cruises. The ship was called World Dream. It was a free trip from my boyfriend's aunt who had a free room deal, so she invited us to go with her on this three-night adventure! There are tons of things to do on the cruise from the water activities to the casino and the numerous shows, so today I will be sharing with you our cruise itinerary - which is a recommendation for those who are going on a Cruise To Nowhere for the first time.

This blog post will be longer since there's so much to cover so bear with me!

Balcony Stateroom

The room we got was the Balcony Stateroom which came with a private balcony (duh). I think it's priced from around S$450-S$700 depending on the dates. The Balcony Stateroom was actually rather spacious and had a sofa area as well.

The facilities were very simple but ample, but it was a bummer that they did not provide bathrobes! However, there were room slippers as well as coffee and tea-making amenities.

I liked how the TV provided many entertainment channels and shows on-demand such as Maleficent and Tenet. The list of shows seemed to be renewed each day so I never ran out of things to watch.

The Balcony Stateroom's bathroom was clean but a little small, and it's not the most soundproof so I can actually hear the uncle next door flush! Not many complaints since it's not like we're gonna spend a lot of time in the shower anyway.

The balcony had a gorgeous view and housed two chairs. If you smoke, you are allowed to do so here since there's an ashtray as well. The only thing I didn't like about the balcony is that you can hear the people living beside you since all the rooms are so closely packed together.

Dream Cruises Itinerary

Now let's jump into what we did during the first two days!

Dream Cruises Itinerary Day 1

12pm: Swab test & check-in

We reached the Marina Bay Cruise Centre around 12pm on Sunday and proceeded to do our swab test. We had to take a lift up to this swabbing area and join the queue to wait for our turn. It didn't take too long though, and we were swabbed within 15 minutes - it's the waiting time which took the longest, around 30 minutes to one hour. After receiving the negative test result, we proceeded to check in.

Coming at 12pm is a good time because when we left the swabbing place around 1pm, the queue was so long! Boarding was at 2pm so we had lots of time to sit around and wait after checking in. During check-in, they basically checked our passports and baggage and passed us our room keys as well as the TRACEY token, which is something similar to the TraceTogether token.

2pm: Boarding & WiFi set-up

Boarding started at 2pm and we were released in batches. We were the first batch to board the ship! Once we were onboard and put down our luggage, my boyfriend rushed to all the popular cruise restaurants to make reservations, while I headed to The Lido to chope a seat for lunch.

Ya I know we are super kiasu, but trust us, we had to if not everything would be fully booked!

We also took this time to set up our WiFi, which is about S$10/person for a four-person package. The WiFi was super bad and while you can load Instagram Stories and occasionally TikTok, watching Netflix was impossible.

3pm: Lunch @ The Lido

Lunch at The Lido was buffet-style and they had all sorts of cuisines from Western to Malay, Indian, and Vegetarian. The Lido is at Deck 16 and meals are free. The food here was so-so only, but I was expecting army cookhouse kind of food so this was much better than expected. The best cuisine was actually the Malay food and the desserts. Everything else was pretty meh. The coffee was terrible though...oops.

While we were here, my boyfriend and I also got ourselves Beverage Packages. There are four different categories - starting from the cheapest Refresh (S$90) for unlimited non-alcoholic drinks, all the way to the Premium (S$235) which basically serves everything including spirits, cocktails, and mocktails. We got the Classic package (S$138) which entitled us to unlimited beer, wines, soft drinks, coffee, tea, and chilled juices throughout our stay!

If you love drinking, this package is absolutely worth it. Do keep in mind that even on the cruise, you're not allowed to consume alcohol after 10.30pm in public spaces.

4pm: Esc EXPERIENCE LAB

The Esc EXPERIENCE LAB is a VR arcade gaming arena on World Dream. There were many games to choose from such as VR maze shooting game, scary roller coaster rides, and virtual F1 car racing. Prices start from S$15 for a game, but we got a package that allowed us to play two games for S$22.

The games were super fun and I think it's really worth a try. The one I played (which was the VR maze shooting one) was really scary and I kept screaming LOL.

7pm: Crystal Life Gym

Crystal Life Gym is located on Deck 12 and it's free to use. There are lots of equipment here and the gym is pretty spacious, and most importantly you can work out while admiring the gorgeous view! I was surprised as there were many people at the gym, so it's good to make a booking if you want to visit.

9pm: Dinner @ Umi Uma

Umi Uma is a Japanese restaurant on World Dream and it's also one of the more popular restaurants not included under the free meals selection (unless you stay in The Palace rooms). We booked a reservation for their Teppanyaki which cost S$108/person without service charge. The Beverage Packages we had were also applicable to these restaurants, so we just kept the wine coming all night!

The Teppanyaki was pretty good! Our chef was from the Philippines, and he was funny and put on a good show. We had Australian Wagyu Beef, Hokkaido Scallop, Tiger Prawns, fried rice, Miso soup, and a Matcha cake with ice cream. My boyfriend and I were so full by the end of dinner that our stomachs were bursting. A S$100++ well spent!

11pm: Vision By Vincent Vignaud

It's a sin to go on a cruise and not watch any of their live shows! Now with Covid-19 measures in place, guests are only allowed to attend one show throughout their stay, and the seats are very limited. You have to book through the Dream Cruises app, where slots are released every one hour. You can also view a list of the activities you booked on the app.

We tried at least 10 times to get seats at any of the shows and finally got two seats to Vision By Vincent Vignaud. The one-hour show was good and really entertaining! The illusionist had lots of tricks up his sleeve and even got the audience to participate as well.

Dream Cruises Itinerary Day 2

9am: Breakfast @ Dream Dining (Lower)

Early in the morning, we woke up to have our breakfast at Dream Dining (Lower), which serves free Western food. The breakfast was okay only, but much better than whatever food was served at The Lido.

For breakfast, we could choose from choices of cereals, fruits, yogurt, the 'Special Of The Day' which was American-style Pancakes, as well as the main course which was the Dream Cruise Breakfast Favourites Set. This one came with a choice of two eggs, bacon, sausages, pork ham, baked beans, hash brown potatoes, and grilled tomatoes.

The food is different each day for all three meals, so we decided to come back again later for lunch!

11am: Casino

After lunch, my boyfriend's aunt brought us to sign up for the Dream Cruises membership since she could use her referral code and earn rewards. According to her, this membership may also entitle us to certain discounted rates in the future. We signed up and got a chance to play this game to get free money. My boyfriend got S$15 and I got S$5, so we took the money and went to play slots.

I'm not one to gamble, but I have to say that playing the slot machines was so addictive. We actually earned about S$50 at one point but continued playing and eventually lost it all. The casino is quite strict with social distancing measures and did not allow more than one person to stand behind whoever is playing the slot machine.

My boyfriend likes to play Blackjack so he would go by himself to play after midnight when I was asleep. The casino is also open for 24 hours!

We also spent a lot of time drinking at Bar 360. Look how beautiful this place is! It almost reminds me of a scene from the Netflix show Snowpiercer.

1.30pm: Lunch @ Dream Dining (Lower)

We went back to Dream Dining (Lower) for lunch and tried the Western Lunch Set Menu. This time we were served a Chicken Pomelo Salad, Cream of Cauliflower Soup, Grilled Snapper Fillet, Roasted Spring Chicken, and Baked Cheese Cake.

Lunch was so good! The chicken pomelo salad was appetizing and zesty, and the roasted chicken was so tender, soft, and flavourful. There was also a lot of gravy on the chicken and my mouth was literally watering as I ate it. The soup was also very creamy and I loved the taste of the Paprika Croutons.

2pm: Main pool & Waterslide Park

We booked the jacuzzi at the main pool the day before at lunchtime. It was really nice having this jacuzzi all to ourselves, and I actually liked how they only allowed those from the same room to use it together. No more soaking with weird strangers!

The jacuzzi is extremely popular so it's best to book it the moment you step onto the ship. We were really lucky to be able to get the slots!

The main pool is a very happening place and there were lots of kids and families here. After our timing for the jacuzzi was up, we headed over to the Waterslide Park on Deck 17 to have some fun! There are six water slides on the cruise - one with a chute leading to a twirling basin, one with a steep drop, and one with a clear segment so it looks like you're falling off the slide and into the ocean!

4pm: Mini-golf

After washing up in our rooms, we went back to Deck 18 and queued in line to play outdoor mini-golf. Playing here is free and you get to try the nine-hole putting course amidst a wide-scale ocean vista backdrop! Proper shoes are needed if you want to play.

There are also ping pong tables and a rock climbing wall in the same area.

6pm: Dinner @ Hot Pot

Just a tip - if you ever want to eat Hot Pot, please don't do it at 6pm. Skies are typically clear when you're out at sea which means there are no clouds, which also means it's still burning hot at 6pm. My boyfriend and I were sweating buckets at this outdoor restaurant with the sun slapping our faces. No wonder we were the only guests around at this time!

Stubborn me insisted on having a Mala broth anyway, and I enjoyed it to the fullest under the hot sun. We ordered the Deluxe Combination Set (S$68) with ingredients such as the Sliced US Kurobuta Pork Belly, Sliced Premium Australia Striploin, Jumbo Tiger Prawn, Hokkaido Scallop, Abalone, Lobster Balls, and Beef Balls. The food was extremely delicious but the portion was slightly smaller than we would have preferred.

Around 7.15pm, the sun started to set and we got first-class seats to view the mesmerizing sunset.

9pm: Arcade

We didn't have anything to do after dinner so we walked around the cruise and saw this arcade. The games here start from S$3. I don't think it's that worth it to play the games here - you might as well visit Esc EXPERIENCE LAB instead!

11pm: Supper @ Deck 16

There's a supper spot outside The Lido on Deck 16 which serves free comfort food all night. A lot of the food is fried such as fries and nuggets, but sometimes they served sandwiches as well, which were soooooo delicious. I may have exaggerated a little, but I was drunk for the majority of the day so everything tasted good to me.

Cruise To Nowhere Itinerary (Part 1)

There were so many things to cover on the first two days and we tried our best to do all the activities. It's very important to book everything on Day 1 such as the restaurants and pool because there are so many people who want to try the same things.

In the next blog post I will review what we did in the last two days, which include the Zouk Beach Club, Rope Course, and other restaurants.

Thanks for reading, and see you next post!

Love this post? Feel free to share and comment below or check out this Cruise To Nowhere Itinerary (Part 2). Follow my Instagram @faithjoanchua and YouTube for more content.

1 comments

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Dream Cruises Review: Cruise To Nowhere Itinerary (Part 1)

Balcony Stateroom

Dream Cruises Itinerary