My husband and I have an annual, child-free anniversary cruise and it is always with Carnival. When we cruise with the kids, it's always Disney. We are Carnival fans, no matter what the media says!
Prior to the Dream, the biggest boat we've sailed was the Disney Dream. I am generally afraid of larger boats for personal reasons, but, I let go of my fears and sailed on.
Embarktion: The smoothest Carnival process ever!!!! We embarked in Miami in 2012 and it was a HORRID experience. No organization at all! We relayed our glee to the agent processing our keys and she was shocked because they are always being told...BY THE MIAMI PORT...that the Port Canaveral embarktion process was slow and they are doing things wrong. We filled her in on our experience and she asked that we speak to her manager, which we did and she was so happy to hear that "her" port was well praised. Seems Miami is always giving them a bad rap. From parking lot to cabin: 35 minutes