We were on the Dream for the Mardi Gras cruise. It was also our first cruise. Overall, I would have to say that we enjoyed the cruise. Embarkation went very smoothly (no FTTF) , we had the 11:00-12:00 boarding time and I was in my lounge chair with drink in hand by Noon. The ship was in great shape. Our cabin stewardess was awesome. Next the food: The buffett was pretty good (especially for breakfast), there was a little lady named Wassana who was always so happy and nice directing traffic..her enthusiasm for the guests was very contagious. We very much liked Guy's Burgers, the Pig and Pull anchor BBQ, Blue Iquana Cantina and Pizza Del Capitano ... all very good. Pasta Bella was mediocre. DW and I have mixed views on the Steakhouse. I liked it...her not so much. The main dining room dinner food was disappointing. (Except for chocolate melting cake...yum!), so much so, that we only ate there twice.
We didn't see lot of the shows..we did see two of the late night comedy shows and liked them. Other than that, we really didn't see any of the other shows on board.
Loved the bars! Alchemey Bar is very cool. Blue Iquana Bar and Red Frog Rum Bar were also very good..* Blue slightly being my favorite of those two..but it was close. Even the jackpot casino bar made some excellent drinks. I did find that well placed cash tips at the beginning of the cruise =stronger pours for the rest of the trip! :-)
Cabin was good size for a ship. Everything fit. Stewardess did a good job. We only requested one service per day and it was fine.
We got into NO Saturday morning and took in the Saturday night festivities..had a great time.
We took a taxi to Dr. Cave beach. it was fine...it was a beach in the Caribbean. Margaritaville was cool too. Port was kinda dirty...