We sailed on Carnival Dream on the Jan 22 Western itinerary. There were 11 adults, 5 of them were first time cruisers. The rest of us have taken 3 - 8 cruises, mostly all on Carnival. This was our first time on the Dream for all of us. We are ages 32 - 58.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip and all the first time cruisers have said they will do it again. We have decided that we prefer the Conquest class ships but please don't mistake that preference as a negative about the Dream, just a personal preference.
The Ship: We have mostly cruised on the Conquest class of ships before so the Dream was not much different. One thing we noticed is that many of the public spaces were smaller or more enclosed so there wasn't the feeling of openness as there is on other ships. When you walk into the atrium on the Triumph or Conquest class, you are simply in awe of that amazing space. The atrium on the Dream was mostly closed in and did not inspire awe but it was beautiful.
Cabin 9259 was awesome - a great location because we were steps away from the main elevators (glass elevators).
My BIL was in 2501 which is an oceanview facing out the back of the ship. He was very disappointed because there was a lot of noise and vibrations at various times throughout the week. He wants to be higher up next time.