i would like to begin by saying that my husband and i have travelled with carnival before as well as royal and celebrity. there is no such thing as a bad cruise in my opinion. but i will try to go over some of the very good points that carnival has as well as some areas in need of improvement. we were 7 couples that travelled together for this cruise. embarkation was as usual effortless. we were on the ship in minutes and up in the dining area having lunch. what i did notice is that with this ship, carnival has allowed for more passengers but not enough public areas for them to eat/lounge/walk. it just seemed that most of the week except sea days, that there were line ups and i always felt like i was dodging people when i was trying to walk from one place to another. our dining experience in the scarlett dining room was exceptional. the food,variety,choice and taste were excellant. not one of our group had much to complain about judging by the weight we all gained and the amount of food we ate. it was all good. we did not do the buffet that much, a few times for lunch and it was good as well. the lines for the mongolian wok were not so much long but it takes time to cook to order and there are only 2 people employed by carnival to do this, so it was a good 20 mins before you got your food. i went once. it was ok and i didnt think to go again as there was so much else to choose from. the decor on the ship is typical carnival, bight colours,lights and far out designs and furniture. some call it tacky...to each their own. i didnt mind it. the cabin was a bit smaller than i have had on previous sailings....i was on the destiny in december of 2009 and the cabin was larger....but again, i dont spend a lot of time in there so it didnt bother me. bathroom was good size, lots of amenities and our room steward was very good. our service in the dining room was excellant as well. our waiter elder was very good. he took very good care of our entire group. entertainment was fantastic. dancing in the streets was the best show i've seen on a cruise and the motown one was very good too. didnt see the country one. the seaside theatre is not utilized enough and there could be more music on the lido deck during the pool hours. it seemed to me that the fun part of the this cruise compared to prior carnival cruises has decreased. not sure why. dont like the layout of this ship compared to say royal. its confusing that there is not a through passsageway from one end of the ship to another on some of the decks. it takes some getting used to. overall the dream is a beautiful ship but it has too many people for the amount of public space it has to offer. i would take this cruise again if it offered different ports. this is the area of my cruise that i found somewhat disappointing. we travelled to cozumel.....good port. been there before and we did the bar hoping tour. this allowed us to travel to the other side of the island and it is beautiful. the other ports, belize,costa maya ....i feel are not suitable for tourists. in belize, if you attemoted to leave the port area, it was downright scary. people would NOT leave you alone for pestering you to book their tour and if you said no, they would not leave you alone. we ended up going right back into the fenced in port area and some of our group went back onto the ship. some of us went on a tour to bannister island and then manatee spotting, this was a great tour and worth it. book coral breeze tours or hammerhead tours for this excursion. but whatever you do, dont think that belize is somewhere that you can go off on your own. it was awful. costa maya has still so much damage from hurricaine dean that again, the port area is ok but you get this fake sense of the place you are visiting. it seems to me that the cruise line picked these ports as they offered us a place to get off but dont leave the fenced in man made cruise port/beach/shops. i like to go off on the island and see things and check out the local scenery and culture not just stay in some sterile man made spot provided by the cruise line. roatan was very picturesque and we had a great time with our victor bodden tour guide and spent some time at west bay beach,eat at celeste's. good food,good price. i would go to back to roatan and cozumel. the other 2 ports were not much to see/do. costa maya had a small town mahaual and it consisted of a nice beach, a few shops and restaurants that offered their services and it was a very good deal but i almost felt like i was taking advantage of these people's misfortune. the backs of the beach area were so run down and poor and damaged but i guess they are trying to rebuild and need our $$ to do so. so as for the ports of call, some were ok , some were not. it didnt ruin my holiday but i did notice the difference from previous cruises where we traveled to other islands that had much more to offer than just a man made cruise pier.

in summary for the price that carnival offers, this is a good deal. if you have a few more dollars, royal is a little bit better. but i would travel carnival again. and i did not smell ever not even once that sewage smell that other posters were mentioning. ?? it was windy the week we sailed so maybe that is why.

the only thing that made me kind of nervous was the last night at sea it felt like our ship was lurching to the far right. like the ship was tipping over. i was in the shower and noticed that i was leaning to the far right at one point and then after a few seconds , i was straight up again. we found out later that the ship listed to the right for a few seconds so much that the water from some of the hot tubs spilled out onto the decks and actually rushed right into the enclosed area of the ship, near one of the lounges near the sushi bar. floors had to be mopped up and the captain and quite a bit of officers were in the area i guess investigating what had happened. no one ever said anything or offered an explanation that i know of. Read more