I wanted to post a review of the Carnival Dream from the perspective of a first time cruiser. I was actually talked into taking the cruise from my fiancee as I was initially hesitant due to sea sickness worries and a few other things. I also was concerned to see so many negative reviews (after we had booked the Dream) for this particular ship. However, I am very happy to say that I loved the cruise and had a great time!! It was just the two of us on this cruise, and it was the week prior to Easter. The ship was packed to capacity, and apparently there were 1,600 kids on board. However, this was never really a problem for us. We avoided the kids as much as possible by hanging out in the adults only serenity area (loved it!), buying a week spa membership and spending time in there, and hanging out on our balcony. We had a suite with a balcony for the week which was fantastic. Some of the negative reviews have mentioned smoking, kids and overcrowding. We only once had an issue with someone smoking on a balcony forward of our cabin, but we were probably only about 15 cabins back from the front of the ship. As far as kids, there was some running in the halls from time to time but never really a major problem. Overcrowding was really only an issue in the buffet which was absolutely packed on sea days. We only did it twice (once on a port day, arriving prior to port departure) and decided to have a sit-down lunch on another day because it is just too crazy at the buffet. I will say that it can be a bit noisy in the cabins because all the doors slam shut. I am a light sleeper, so packed along a white noise machine and was fine. Other than the above items, the Dream is a spectacular ship! Both my fiancee thought that the food in the dining room was great, the staff were very friendly, and the cleanliness of the ship was unbelievable. We enjoyed walking around the lanai which always seemed pretty empty in the evenings. We tried one of the hot tubs that hangs over the side of the ship and that was fun - we were the only ones in there. I think people tend to forget about these hot tubs as the other ones on the ship usually seemed pretty crowded.We enjoyed each of the ports and were very happy to dock at Roatan after the issues of the Dream often missing this port. It is not a port that you would want to miss as we thought Roatan was the most beautiful/tropical stop of the cruise. We booked all excursions independent except one at Costa Maya through Carnival (the boat blast and snorkel). This excursion ended up being cancelled due to the weather conditions (too choppy) so we booked a golf cart for the day and explored the island, as well as a couple of beaches. This ended up being great and probably half the price of the Carnival excursion. In Cozumel, we did parasailing and a snorkely trip. In Belize, we did cave tubing and Altun Ha ruins through cavetubing.bz (great tour!). In Roatan, we booked through Christopher Tours and had a great city tour, stop at the monkey farm and private snorkeling excursion. We loved all of the ports. The Costa Maya port is very tacky - the first thing you see off the ship is a 'Hard Rock Cafe' sign. In that port area, there are shops and a large pool with swim up bar. People seemed to be trashed getting on the boat from this port, so doubt many of them made it out of the port area to see some of the more beautiful beach areas - shame. Anyway, if you are considering the Dream or already booked, no worries - you should have a great time!! Just remember the adults serenity area is a great way to avoid the kids. :-)