My husband & I just finished cruising on the Dream (May 22-29). We've only cruised one other time on the Carnival Legend, but liked that ship much better (the layout of the ship, ratio of amenities vs. people, etc.).

The Dream was too crowded, too noisy, the ship rocks too much even in calm seas & the worst part is it smells like raw sewage, especially on the Lido deck! We loved our Cove Balcony, but you can hear EVERYTHING going on in the cabin beside you. We were kept awake most nights by people & drunks in the hallway shouting, fighting, cussing. One night I called 911 but no one answered! Security never seemed to be around down near us. Every smile and greeting by the crew members seemed forced. The Comedy Club's "Family" shows were pushing the limit of appropriate content for kids. We were very excited about movies on the big screen up on the Lido deck, but they only played 1 movie the entire 7 days. They could really improve what they do with the big screen. The cruise director has a morning show that is so lame! Would love to have more music videos with pretty beach scenes. We did have some GREAT shore excursions that we found off Cruise Critic. The first stop in Nassau Bahamas just wasn't long enough time here though! We went on the Catamaran snorkel & beach - great! In St. Thomas we booked our own sailboat "The Jester" with Captain Jim. He took 6 of us to Honeymoon Beach in St. John for hours of snorkeling, cooked us a fabulous lunch, had snacks, nacho's, & some of the best drinks we had. Worth every cent we spent ($140 per person). In St. Martin we took a cab ($6 pp) to Orient Bay Beach. AMAZING! Highly recommend this incredible beach but beware of some topless women & merchants that come to sell you their wares while you are trying to get some sun. The cost of beach chairs for 4 of us with 2 umbrellas was $36. Booking through Carnival was $56 pp (included lunch), so it was cheaper to do it on our own. Our next vacation we are going to skip the ship & just fly to a resort. We didn't feel like it was worth the money & effort!