This was my families (ages-44,43,14,9) third cruise together, our first with Carnival. We have sailed on Disney and RCCL in the past. After reading the reviews on the Dream, I was starting to wonder if I made the right choice. I am glad that I did. I want to dispel all the bad reviews out there. EMBARKATION/DEBARATION: This was simply a DREAM. After arriving at the port (Mears Transportation) we were on the ship in less than 25 minutes. When leaving the ship use the SELF-ASSIST PROGRAM. You do not put your bags out the night before, you carry your bags off the ship. We were off the ship by 7am and at the Orlando airport by 9am. This works great if you have an early flight or are staying extra days in Orlando like we did. FOOD/DINNING AREA: When we got on the ship they told us to eat in the Crimson Dinning room (We had the early seating there too -Table #150). The lunch was excellent as was all the dinners that we had. The BBQ ribs are fabulous as was the lobster and grilled shrimp, the steak and braised beef. My wife had the melting cake 6 nights. The food in the Gathering (buffet) was ok. On the last day they have a Chocolate buffet that is out of this world. We eat at the Pasta bar, Burrito bar, Mongolian bar and the Indian grill. All we great and the longest wait time was 20 mins at the Mongolian bar. They have a pizza place and deli shop on the lido (Pool)deck too. My oldest son had his late night snack at the deli every night while my youngest eat pizza. They also have a Mexican midnight buffet on one night. Our wait staff was excellent. Drago- Maidr'd ,Karl-the waiter and Wuljaya-his assistant along with Babu- the magician were great with the kids and my wife. They always had our glasses filled and they always addressed us by name. STATEROOM: We had the Deluxe Family Stateroom on deck 2. This room is great for families because it had 2 bathrooms. There is plenty of space for clothes as there are 3 closets and 4 drawers. There is also room on the window ledge to store cameras, kids toys,etc. Our room was spotless when we arrived and it stayed that way until we left. We had ice 2 times a day in the room and animal towels and chocolate every night. Thank you, Antino and his staff. The only problem we had was a clogged drain and they fixed it within 20 mins. ENTERTAINMENT/COMEDY SHOW: All the shows were great. Dancing in the Streets was the best show that I have seen at sea. The Fun Force dancers were amazing. All 4 comedians were great. I saw the R rated shows and they were great. As for the crowds and seating we arrived 20 mins and never had a problem with seating. The people who complain are the ones who arrive at 8:29 pm for a 8:30pm show. THE SHIP: IT IS BIG!! The ship is nicer then the Oasis of the Seas, which looks like a hotel on a barge ship. The Dream is tastefully decorated. The glass elevators are nice because they change colors as they go up and down. The only deck that doesn't go through the entire ship in deck 3. Every other deck you can walk from the front to the back. Waterworks is great as is the mini-golf. The adult area(Serenity) is great, they have hot tubs and cabanas along with their own bar. Now for the 2 biggest complaints that I had read about the Dream. #1—THE SMELL—I did not smell any sewer smell either in the rooms or in the halls. The only smell that my family and I smelled was in Nassau. We were on the stairs to the slides and the wind was blowing the exhaust from the funnel into the slides. This was not big deal. It smelled like sulfur which is from the diesel engines. # 2 THE MOVEMENT OF THE SHIP—On your way from Nassau to St. Thomas we were sailing into 45-50 mph winds and had 6-8 foot seas. The ship did not move side to side at all. You did hear the ship when it hit a big wave but that was it. The rest of the cruise was perfect as we had sunny weather and smooth seas. THANK YOU CARNIVAL FOR A DREAM OF A VACATION.