Mas Band Review 2019: The Dream Carnival Caribana

The “dreamers’ original pickup was scheduled to begin Wednesday at noon. That time was quickly pushed one day to Thursday 10a than pushed to 7 pm. Revellers that arrive Thursday at 7p said they were met with an unorganized mas camp, miscommunication and lies. Some were even sent home with half costumes or without costumes at all that evening after waiting for two-five hours in line for proper information.

Now Friday, this is where things start to get messy. Friday costume pickup was originally scheduled for noon with a long line already forming outside the door. Again with no communication with those outside the door the band leaders pushed back pickup time to 2pm…20mins before noon is when they decided to make that announcement. At this point tensions were high, people annoyed, some pissed because of the lack of professionalism and communication. It was hot, the lines long, multiple lies being given, no answering of questions, fights breaking out, it was a lot. I would be amiss if I didn’t also mention that most mas camps are about 40mins from downtown so people were worried about time in travel to and from, cost if using uber/lyft, prepaid events that they would miss and other interference with person schedules.

After wasting my morning waiting and planning to arrive early or on time right at noon for pick up and the time push again I decided to enjoy my day and head over to the mas camp right before close. Why? I had greatly prayed that on the last day of pickup, at closing, just hours before the parade that the camp would have their crap together. I. was. Wrong! Arriving at almost 10.30p I was met with the same madness that I had heard about and seen on social media so I had a moment to prepare myself. Upon arrival, there was still no organization still at almost 11 PM!!! However, I was not able to just wait in a line without asking questions. Luckily my questions got me in and out in under 30mins which made me feel even worse for those who had spent seven-plus hours at camp that day.

Now for the actual pickup. It was terrible. I made it into the building, the person assisting me was rude, unprofessional and worst of all rushing me as if I didn’t come prepared with my proper ID and receipt that housed all the necessary information for pickup. My first thought was ‘look, ma’am, you guys lied and inconvenienced us, the least that could have been done was to be respectful.” I should have known that would be too much to ask considering how everything else had been going and how reckless the band owner had been speaking to other revellers. Anyway, the costume was not packed and was just thrown into a basic white box with the wrist band. I took time to examine my costume, which seemed to annoy the person ‘helping’ me even more. The sizing was off, sequins already falling off, thread hanging, stitches not secured, front complete see-through, piece missing and guess what…my feathers nowhere in sight. When I asked about my feathers I was informed they would be ready to be distributed at 10a the next day. Mind you the next day is the parade and lineup is at 9 am. Between the issues, low-quality costume and not trusting my backpack would be ready by 10a I decided at that moment not to jump with Dream Carnival Band. I decided to cut my loss and save some disappoint by quickly requesting a refund before leaving. Guess what, the person who checked me out, also no ounce of empathy, apology or anything resembling professionalism.

To wrap it up, my costume pickup was delayed several times, was unorganized, unprofessional, assisted by rude people, there was no goodie bag or special extras and no amenities while waiting outside for hours in the scorching sun.