Our first cruise back in 2002 was the real dream. 4 night cruise with Carnival to the Bahamas that left me wanting to go on another cruise right away. The staff on that ship were literally falling over themselves trying to please us and make sure that we had as good a time as possible.

Skip to our October 2011 7 night cruise to the western Caribbean aboard the Carnival Dream. Boarding was simple, it took us all of about 10 minutes after we got through the terminal. The crew on this ship seemed to be put out by the fact that we were on "their" ship. The only truly friendly crew member was our room steward who always seemed to be there if needed.

Our room was always clean but all of the cleaning carts were left in the hallways continuously and where in the way when two people were walking down the hall. The smells coming from this "new" ship are an assault to the nose. It smelled like skunks were living in the hallways. Trays of food from room service were left out in the hallways for hours (sometimes all day). Read more