We embarked on the Carnival Dream on January 22, 2011, at Port Canaveral for our 7 day cruise to Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Costa Maya. Very fun time but there were some quality issues with Carnival that they need to address if they are going to continue building ships this large.

Embarkation was a breeze. Carnival gets high marks for streamlining this effort. Very little wait time and we were on the boat shortly after 12:00pm. Friends of ours were able to board as early as 11:00am. Able to access our rooms by 1:30pm. Our room was on the second deck, forward part of the ship. It was unusually loud, moreso than I have ever experienced. Not people noise, but engine noise and the incredible noise from waves slamming into the ship. This wasn't a rough cruise. Weather was nice but we were continually awoken by the waves. Tons of lower deck noise while porting, too. Do NOT get a room below the 3rd deck if you want sleep.

This was my 9th cruise, 8 with Carnival and 1 with Celebrity. I had been on Carnival's Destiny and Triumph class ships before, and on the Carnvial Pride. Read more