Convienence. We could drive to Galveston, Price and we have had good experience with Carnival in the past. Let us start with saying the staff was very good. Everyone was very congenial and helpful. The food was mediocre. In the buffet you had to touch food to make sure it was hot. Much of it was cold.The directions and markings on the ship were somewhat confusing. The cabin was sufficient. The shower was alot to be desired. It left water on the floor no matter how low you set the water pressure. Embarkation was good but disembarkation was an absolute disaster in our opinion. Took over 3 hours to get off the ship and to our car. We will try to avoid Galveston again. Entertainment was ok about a 6 on scale of 1 to 10. We did not do any shore excursions. The price was cheap but the crowd on the ship was somewhat rowdy and loud and coming back late at night loud in the hallway. Would not go on this ship again. Read Less

My office went on a cruise, and we chose this trip based on dates of availability. There were some things I enjoyed - we had a good time playing trivia, the food was good, and most of the staff were very nice. Here are my issues: - It took FOREVER to get a drink at any bar on the ship. Bartenders were extremely slow and I was served one of the worst drinks I had ever had. - The entire fifth deck, where the casino was located, reeked of cigarette smoke. Their air filtration system was terrible. - The cruise director Donkey was very annoying (and I know that cruise directors as a group are annoying, but he was excessively annoying.) - The ship had apparently been recently refurbished but looked like 1975 Vegas. It is by far the ugliest cruise ship I have ever been on. Our room was various shades of orange with hideous lamps that looked like pencils and brown curtains. The bathroom was an ugly green. The art hanging in the hallways featured things like dancing polar bears. - I had a facial and was unimpressed. - We were THREE HOURS late getting off the ship. Allegedly this is because four people were arrested by CBP upon our arrival. Charming. - Finally, this is my last Carnival cruise mostly because of my fellow passengers. Carnival is among the cheapest, especially out of Galveston, and it showed. There were lots of rowdy passengers who were loud, rude and generally trashy. I'm glad I didn't bring family or kids. Read Less

Probably the worst cruise I’ve been on. Very disappointed with my trip. I’ve been on several cruises with both carnival and royal carribean and royal by far beats carnival when it comes to service. The only positive on our trip was our waiters and our room steward. The food for the dinners weren’t the greatest (step it up carnival), exiting the ship was a nightmare with longer than normal wait times (waited almost 2.5 hours over from original time) and staff were inconsiderate and rude. They lack poor management when it comes to certain procedures and left many upset guests on board since most staff had no idea where to direct guests. Now I’m definitely going to think twice about going on another carnival cruise. I’d rather pay extra for a royal carribean cruise when planning another vacation. If anyone plans to go on this boat, do your research first. Read Less

Let me start by saying I have spent the last 20 years sticking up for Carnival. I would tell people I was going on a carnival Cruise for vacation and they would try to take a collection so I could buy up to RCCL. I figured it was fun and had great service, so I could live with the food being mediocre and the bed being basic......and then I had a much different experience. 18 friends on a Carnival 5 day at my recommendation. Mostly first timers. It started with the confiscation of our 8" fan which my wife needs to sleep. After 2 hours of standing in line at guest services and losing my temper, they retrieved the fan that they said couldn't be retrieved. You may think this is an odd carryon but at least 8 other people were standing n line for the same thing. You see, it isn't listed as a restricted item and I have taken the same fan on several other Carnival Cruises. My room steward stopped by while we were unpacking to set up a time for his one visit per day. They leave 1 towel per person, so if you shower more than once you are using a damp towel. On to the dining room where the waiter told me if I brought an open bottle of wine 1/3 of the way full, he was going to charge me a corkage fee......I poured it into a water glass and proceeded. The menu has changed as well and the items we used to look forward to are now an upcharge. Guys Burgers was good, the Taco place was good and the Pizza place was good but it always had a long line late at night. If you have a soda card, expect to wait until alcohol drinkers are served before you get yours. I actually was delivered a second beer before the waiter brought my wife's Diet Coke. The activities crew was good, Donkey the Activities Director was quite entertaining. Both Comedians were good and the port of Galveston did a nice job with crowd control. One more tip, luggage tags are no longer dropped at your room, if you want to check your luggage, you have to go to guest services to get tags Most of our group decided to self carry in order to get off the ship sooner. We were in group 18 for the checked luggage and beat them by 20 minutes..... Read Less

We have cruises on Norwegian and Royal Caribbean several times and thought we would try Carnival this trip. What a mistake, the food was terrible. Very poor quality and very few selections. The Guys Burgers was the best place to eat on the ship. The Blue Iguana was second but neither serve dinner so your stuck with the Lido Buffet or the Dining room which serve basically the same quality food. The staff were not very friendly and just par in my book. No going above and beyond on this cruise. My biggest issue was with the Hygiene on the ship. On both Norwegian and Royal you are greeted at the entrance to the buffet by the “ Happy Happy Washy Washy Staff” giving everyone a dose of sanitizer before hitting the buffet. On this ship there are a few hand sanitizer dispensers and several of the ones I attempted to use were empty. Dishes on the buffet were dirty, and many guests return with their used plates and cups to refill. Our cabin, an oceanview, was unimpressive. Linen was dated, as was the overall appearance of the room. We were impressed with the embarking and disembarking process. It was smooth and timely. We will not be cruising on Carnival Again. Royal Caribbean out of Galveston is a much better experience. Read Less

Carnival Cruise September 2 – 7, 2019 We took the Carnival Dream out of Galveston just as a quick escape. Nothing really planned, just some time to relax. We have been on a number of ships, but the Dream was huge. They did a great job of managing people and having enough areas so that when you were on the ship it did not seem crowded. A few lines here and there, but that is to be expected. This was the first cruise we have been on that had all the activities and reservations enable through their app. It made it easy to keep up with everything going on. There was a slight glitch in reserving a dinner time under the my time dining option, but everyone was helpful. They were still working our a few things with the reservations, but I am sure it will get worked out. Food in the dinning room was good, the buffet was average for the most part. The desserts were excellent in both locations. And of course you can't go wrong with Guy's Burgers. There was so much entertainment, you just had to pick and choose. The major productions were excellent, the comedy show we saw was good, and watching a move on the deck was nice too. Definitely entertainment to fit your mood. In Cozumel, Carnival docked at the Punta Maya dock with is the farthest from the downtown area, but only an $8 cab ride to the city center. We have been to Cozumel many times and just enjoy walking around. We made a stop at the Mega store, and I have to echo reports I have seen in other postings. Unfortunately, the customer service is lacking and some sales staff appeared inconvenienced to even be asked a question. Our next stop was Progresso Meridia, were we have never been before. So we booked a tour through TripAdvisor, Sergio’s All-In-One. Once we booked, I received an email with the instructions of where to meet our guide and what to bring with. To get to them you have to walk through the shopping area, with was a longer walk than expected only because I wasn’t familiar with the area, and as we walked through the exit, they were there holding a sign with my name. Uva was our guide and Manual was our driver. Our first stop was El Corchito a manmade Mangrove park with cenotes. You take a water taxi to the park and there we walk through trails to the cenotes where you could swim. It was calm and serene with an occasional racoon walking by. Next we went to the salt flats where we saw how salt was originally harvested and then used for trade. Out in the distance you could see the flamingos. Uva explained the process of how the salt was harvested and how the flamingos kept their pink color. Next we went on the Xcambo Mayan Ruins. Walking around the ruins Uva gave us a guided tour explaining the purpose of the buildings, structures, and historical significance. We really enjoyed the Mayan Ruins. And our last stop was a buffet and open bar at the Techotel which also had a small but nice beach. It was fine, however they were not equipped to handle the number of people they had that day. It was a nice tour that covered a little bit of everything and I would highly recommend for an all day tour of Progresso. I would definitely cruise with Carnival again, and am in the process of planning our next escape. Happy Travels! Read Less

We had a great time on Dream. This was our 4th cruise (2 with Carnival, 2 with Royal). All staff were friendly and attentive. Cabin steward and MDR waiters called us by name. Room and ship was clean, everything worked fine. Easy on and off at Galveston - no issues. It was our anniversary and we were treated well for it. Steakhouse was great, worth the extra cost. Food overall was good to very good. Could use more variety though. Eat in the MDR and let them serve you. You're on vacation, no need to line up for food. We ate all breakfasts and dinners in the MDR. Cozumel was great as always. Progresso is rough around the edges for sure but we enjoyed getting off the ship and exploring a little. Be realistic with your expectations. It's a Carnival ship, not the Queen Mary. Don't sweat the small stuff - enjoy your vacation. We certainly did!! Read Less

We have traveled with Carnival several times, but this was probably the worst trip. Everything from overcooked food to fights in our hallway by guest. Our states attendant was seen twice the entire trip. She didn't even clean our room during our day in port. We asked for extra towels and pillows, which we never received. We also had to call the day of debarkment for an information sheet. When she brought it to us, it was brought with an attitude. The major issue I had with the cruise is the fact that the staff/management let people come to dinner in bathing suits only. There were multiple nights where people were walking around in thong bikini's and a fish net cover up. That is not okay. The food at dinner was horrible and portions were the smallest I have ever seen. Our waiter, Jose, was the ONLY good thing about the dinner service. Security was called out on our floor for a fight that occurred and nothing was done regarding it. If you are looking to get drunk and just hang out in your room, then this is your trip. But if you want to pay for a vacation and get your moneys worth, PLEASE do not cruise with this ship. Read Less

This ship was selected for us by the travel agent booking our cruise. We were assigned a cabin in the aft with a wraparound balcony. The cabin was small, no seating area. The balcony was very narrow and not very enticing to use. The day of our on-boarding everything went smooth. The elevator attendant complained about having to work the elevator for 3-hours without a break. He said, "I'd kill for a Coke." I just happened to have a mini-Coke in my carry on bag. I gave it to him. He was so happy to get it, he told me his name and said he worked in the casino and for me to look him up - he'd make sure I would win a game. (Hummm! sounds like a winner to me.) On our second day of Port of Call in Progreso, a Carnival employee came through the Lido Breakfast Buffet area with a big cart of bottled water in an over-the-shoulder carrier barking, "Last chance, last chance!" My husband inquired as to the price and the employee quoted $10.00. My husband gave him a $10.00 dollar bill and we got the water. WRONG! Our mistake - you never pay cash on board the ship; your room key is the vehicle for purchasing things. The charges are put on your cabin account number that's attached to the credit card you chose when making your reservations. Oh snap! The employee pocketed $10.00. On our last day at sea another ship's employee (casino auditor) stood beside us at the coffee cafe. We shared our stories and he was apologetic for the unacceptable shenanigans of the staff members. He indicated that there would be some staff meetings and training done to prevent any repeats. Then, he treated us to a cup of coffee. Our cabin was small and it only had (1) one electrical outlet for recharging our phones and plugging in my hair-curler. Our steward brought us a power chord mid-way through the trip. There wasn't a seating area inside the cabin; it was completely filled with bedding. The balcony had rough handrails and rust on the underneath side of the balcony area above us. Several days maintenance crew accessed our cabin to work on balcony refurbishing. Read Less

We chose the Dream because we enjoyed sailing on her out of New Orleans and got a casino offer at a pretty good rate out of Galveston which is where we live. Embarkation was simple and quick. It was really nice that the muster was indoors since it was mid August. Our stateroom was on Lido forward. This meant a lot of walking (I had a knee injury and had to use a cane), but we chose this stateroom so that's on us. The room was clean and tidy, but we didn't see much of our steward. Room was cleaned once per day during dinner hour. This is a far cry from the service Carnival provided in the past, though it's no fault of the steward. He did his best. Smoking areas on 5 and 11 received no bar service. They were very small areas with no access to pool nor whirlpools. Smokers were confined to the very small areas and not allowed to use sun loungers. Deck 5 smoking area was blocked off about half the cruise. Deck 11 smoking was right behind the stack and black oil spots were all over our clothes. Casino area was of course full of smokers. Where else could they go? Carnival makes a good bit of money off of smokers. STOP TREATING THEM LIKE TRASH!! One other thing about the casino...there was a drawing held one night and we were to receive an entry for every 100 points we had. We each had around 1300 points. We realized as we watched the names roll around on the screen that neither of our names were there. That didn't give us a very good feeling. Steakhouse. What happened here? This used to be a very nice experience with yummy food and beautiful composed plates. Now you get a piece of meat and roasted tomato dropped on your plate. Why this change??? Terrible. Raise the price if you need to, but don't just ruin it by destroying the ambience! Main dining Food mediocre as usual, but the service was impeccable. Yaco and his assistants were awesome. Yaco served drinks at the back pool on shore days and was the only server to come up to no man's land (smoking area). Thanks Yaco! Crew They were as awesome as they could be. They are overworked and treated like crap by many cruisers. We always treat them well, enjoy talking with them and tip extra. They are the only really enjoyable part of this cruise. Entertainment Violinists were good. Otherwise really lacking. I know you can get better entertainment. Finally We've all seen the carnival experience go downhill over the years. I understand keeping costs down to allow more people the opportunity to cruise. I've never cuised another line so have nothing to compare it to. I've always loved the cruising experience til now. It was the first time I've wanted to go home from a cruise. If you smoke, be warned you'll be treated by the cruise line as a lower class citizen. I won't say that I'll never cruise again, but right now I sure don't want to. Sad. Read Less

Chose this cruise based on Port of departure and date of sailing. It being our first cruise we decided 5 nights was plenty, and I was correct. The Pros: All the staff were professional and courties. Embarkation was quick. We had faster to the fun, and were on board by 11:30am Fellow passengers were friendly, met a few regulars who gave me some good tips. The Cons: Food in Buffet was not warm, poor selection of entrees. Evening entertaiemt was not to our liking. We are a gay couple who enjoy the disco. Most evenings after 11pm it was hip hop, some evenings we were in bed by 11pm as nothing to keep us entertained. Pools are too small for the amount of passengers the ship can carry. Drink prices are what you would pay in a nightclub. $10 for a Capt and Coke! Over all the cruise was ok, but find our money is better spent some were lile Puerta Vallarta. We felt confined even before sailing off, like we were stuck in a shopping mall with over priced drinks. Cruising is not for us, to each there own. Read Less

Dream is a conquest class ship so it has the atrium elevators that hit most floors. It is really a shame they put this extra elevator bank in the Forward of the ship where the elevators are needed the least. They would be much more useful mid or aft, especially when they reserve elevators for luggage or repairs (elevators showing floor X). I would say the Dream is close to what I recall Magic being when we went 5 years ago. I prefer parts of the Dream over the Vista we went on a month before. My wife prefers the Vista. I didn't notice any issues with teenagers acting up on either ship like we have seen in the past. A lot has to do with the current passengers for your ship experience as I've noticed from reviews. Entertainment: Piano guy Mike was more friendlier on Dream than the guy on Vista. The 3 violin female group had MUCH better synergy on Dream than the group on Vista. The duo on Dream was better than the duo on Vista. The latin on Dream sounded awesome in the Song room! Not sure if they mixed it well, had a good sound guy, or just themselves had a good sound but they did sound great. Never did have much of a crowd for them though, probably because Song is kind of hidden away in the back of the ship. Dream had 2 comedians whereas the Vista had 2 and then switched for another 2 midway through the cruise, hence, had many, many more performances of comedy. The steel drum female on the Dream I didn't care for nearly as much as the steel drum guy on the Vista. Wish he had sold cds. Apparently Carnival does not rebroadcast the main events on the tv anymore like they use to for ice carving, marriage show, morning show, etc. So we went to see the ones we missed on the Vista but expected to see. The remote controls previous channel button never worked on either ship. Dream still has a lido deck cam whereas the Vista does not. Vista has more cams showing outside the boat. Food: Overall service in the dining rooms was lackluster. Reading other reviews, and previous trip on Vista, it seems this is currently a Carnival norm. I had to constantly ask for refills on tea and waitstaff was usually scarce in the dining rooms (even though there are 3 people assigned to your table). Food was average. I stayed Keto so I stuck to staples (chicken, fish, steak without gravy when it was 'allowed') as all desserts and gravies on Carnival are filled with sugar (even the soups!) and cornstartch thickeners. The dinner waiter said he asked chef about leaving gravy off a number of dishes I asked about and was told it had to be a 'special' request at the start of the cruise. One chicken item was "marinated 2 days" in orange sugar sweet stuff, forgot how it was said exactly. I seriously doubt they have room to marinate food that long unless that is simply how it is stored for the duration of the cruise. I ate breakfast in the dining room so I could ensure my eggs (sunny side up) were real and not from a starch powder or liquid carton like cruiselines use for scrambled/omelettes). Next time I'm definitely taking my own atkins bars to eat as desserts or snacks to make the week more bearable. I'm not going to lie, it was somewhat depressing not eating a lot of the food and getting tacos/burgers and not eating the shell/bun. I got some relief after returning home to see I stayed within a 5 pound range for the week, go me! Room 9302 just under lido deck of rooms was good, and got cold! We actually increased the temp some to get comfortable (and we normally prefer it cool as opposed to luke warm). As for Cozumel and Progresso, we just stayed in the tourist traps and then get back on the boat. Read Less

The cruise in general was very smooth and awesome. sometimes at certain parts of the boat it would smell bad, but the rest was great. I’m only 13 so I really love entertainment and circle c was the most of it. The advisor Josh was amazing. He cared for everyone there, made conversations, and always made sure nobody was doing anything bad. I’m going to miss circle c only bc he was so great. In all the experience was memorable. Today was the last day and I am home but i really miss it already. I forgot to mention but the customer service was also awesome too. So as the Arcade which was a blast, bingo, and the pools as well. I know i’ve said this many times before but i really really really love this cruise and i recommend to use it. In all I had a awesome time and really hope to come visit again sometime. Read Less

This review is for the Carnival cruise ship The Dream. The staff were super nice but could not understand or speak english very well. The ship was begining to show its age and had several rust spots on the balcony . But the worst part was the unkept look of the entire ship. All of the windows were dirty and had streaks of dirt that looked as if it had been there a while. The carpets in the hallways were stained and looked in need of replacement. The balcony sateroom that we were assigned to was 2 doors down from the exit hall. A large family made it a meeting point every day at least 3 times a day. They would yell up and down the hall for their other family members and scream and yell at their children as they disciplined them. This happened several times a day. Right after we embarked our steward stopped at our door to deliver complimentary water bottles. She knocked and banged on the door and stated that she had complintary water to which I replied not now. She then used her pass key to let her self in. Imagine my surprise when the door opened and I was standing there with no clothes on and my husband was in the bathroom. There seemed to be a lot of confusion in the dinning room also, as most of the crew did not understand or speak English very well. However, our main waiter Walter did his best to try and smooth things over. The Food....The Mahi Mahi was over cooked and was replaced with Salmon that was undercooked. While the food was very well presented it lacked a lot in taste. The overall cleanliness of things was discorning. There was often drinks and ice spilled in the elevators and crew members that were looking the other way at the girls as they were cleaning the plexiglass of the stairs. Overall we were very disapointed in our cruise. We were a repeat customer but have decided that next time we will choose a different ship and propably choose a different cruise line. Read Less

Where do I start? The food was AWFUL. We paid extra for the steakhouse the last 2 nights just to get a tasty meal. The food was bland and tasteless. The food service was great, but the food was terrible. The pools are completely crowded and the buffets have monster lines and are completely full. 4500 people is too many people for that amount of square footage. The only time I felt comfortable was when everyone else got off the boat. Then we got to enjoy the water slide and pool. Make sure you have swim shoes for the kiddos if they are going to do water slides as the floor is crazy hot. If you hate crowds this is not for you. To get off the boat we ate breakfast at 8:30 (the latest we could sit down) and 3 hours later we got off the boat. Then to make things worse they started loading passengers for the next cruise before we got off. The shows were enjoyable and the staff were great, but overall for a first time cruiser I was not impressed. I will do an all inclusive in Mexico before taking another cruise. Read Less

This was my second ever cruise, the first was 12 years ago. This ship was so much better and the service was excellent. The nightly entertainment was great and our cruise director was awesome. We did the Salsa and Salsa tour into Merida and I highly recommend that especially if you aren't an avid beach-goer and want something different for a day. We also did the Faster to the Fun option and that was definitely as promised. We were able to go directly to our room upon boarding and were in our cabin right at noon on embarkation day. The food was well presented - we ate in the main dining room every evening and our servers were excellent. Even though we had anytime dining we tended to go at the same time and have the same servers are anyway. I liked not being tied down to a time though although if you want to see the early show you'll need to eat early anyways. Lot of families on board as it was mid-July and school is out but there was always something to do. The Build a Bear experience was chaos - they need two times to do this on summer cruises to spread out the crowds. My daughter didn't seem to notice though. I do wish Carnival would update their photo experience, it seems a bit old school to be choosing printed photos instead of getting the digital image. Overall an excellent experience and a great value. Read Less

We choose this cruise because we have been on Carnival cruises in the past and enjoyed the party atmosphere and service from the ships staff. We decided to take this cruise 4 day cruise because we have little kids and wanted to test out there sea legs before jumping into a longer cruise. Day One Embarkation went smoothly with faster to the fun. Once on the ship my kid wanted a soda so we went up to the bar requesting a drink the bartender asked for our sail and sign card but we only had boarding documents because the sail and sign cards weren’t handed out yet. I told him we were told to use the documents but he seemed annoyed by that and took the papers in a forceful manner. I ignored this and moved on. The Barbecue served was horrible and we didn’t get to our rooms until 1:30pm. We were told that rooms would be ready when we boarded because we had FTTF. Dinner at the steakhouse was not great the waiter there was impatient and I was ready to leave. The rooms light fixtures were filthy. Not sure if it was bugs in there or just large debris but eww! The balcony was grimy so we did t enjoy that very much. The shows weren’t great but I’ve seen better on carnival. Day 2 at sea was okay until we went to the coffee bar and the waiter was frustrated because we asked questions about the drinks. Not the typical carnival experience. Camp Ocean was great my kids enjoyed that. Later that night vomit was in the halls and it smelled from that point on until we debarked. Day three was gray only because of the dolphin swim encounter and beach snorkeling. The $300+ couples message was relaxing but the best part of the cruise. Day four just sad couldn’t wait to get home. Read Less

Carnival Dream is a gigantic ship with an awesome crew. Do the rooms need a freshen up? Yes! However the rest of the ship was clean, stylishly decorated for a cheesy cruise ship. The food overall was pretty good. Pig and Anchor was absolutely tasteless though. I’d skip if I were you. I was fortunate enough to win 2,500 bucks in the casino after only spending 3 dollars! My husband, 700 bucks only spending 100 dollars. My parents won a total of 3,600 but gambled it back. Lol! They usually do this because they have no self control. The fact it YES you can win in a ship casino. The pool areas are crowded but you can easily find a place to sit whether it’s directly in front of the pool or on a quiet area on deck. The staff was so friendly! Each and every one of them! The Captain was superb. We actually were cruising through Hurricane Barry and crew made excellent choices to keep us safe. I was also impressed by the fact that we had only been in our rooms a matter of minutes and a crew member came to double check that we had a life jacket that would appropriately fit my six year old. I’ve been on several Carnival Cruises and they all have been fun. If you’re a miserable person who never has any fun, you won’t enjoy a Carnival Cruise. If you are expecting The Beverly Wilshire, you’re going to be disappointed. If you’re cool with Holiday Inn accommodations and Applebee’s quality food and drinks, you’ll enjoy it. Cozumel was great. We went to a free beach that had table/chair rentals for 10 bucks. It was called Playa Palancar. The beach was sandy and clean. It’s not like some of those other Cozumel beaches that are full of rocks. I wasn’t interested in doing the whole beach club things. Been there done that and an absolute waste of money. Read Less

This was our first time on the Dream. The Ship seemed a little smaller that the other two Carnival Ships we have been on. The embarkation and disembarkation went better than I expected. Very easy to board the Ship, with very little wait time. We had a Spa Cabin, which is great if you enjoy the Spa. You get some great Spa perks and access to the Thalassotherapy pool, which is awesome!. The room comes with Spa robes, slippers, and Spa accessories for the bathroom. The dining was good. We had an excellent dining staff, which can make your dining room experience great. The ship was not very crowed, so we could get around the ship with ease. We did 1 excursion at Cozumel, Mexico. The Twister Boat ride to Passion Island was amazing. This was my second time doing this excursion. Your food and drinks are included. They also have shops and offer massages for a fee. The beach in nice with swings, hammocks, and a volleyball net in the water. You can also ride canoes for free. The excursion is about 5 hours including the boat ride. You get back in plenty of time to shop at port if you choose. The Entertainment on the ship was OK. We did have a few showers, which moved some activities inside. Our second port was Yucatan Progreso, Mexico. If you want to go to the beach, you have to take a bus (it's free). There are some shops at the port, but you must bus to get to the mainland (you can not walk). You can purchase some things cheap, but the people bother you Nonstop! They try to sale you everything! Overall, it was a nice 5 day cruise. Read Less

The ship is absolutely stunning. Everything was very clean and easy to navigate after the first day. The staff was some of the best! Mercy was our room steward and she is the sweetest! I was traveling with my grandmother and my son who is 10 months old. He loved her as much as we did. Everyone was so nice to us. Eat in the dining room! The food was excellent along with the wait staff. Alvaro, Richard, and Budianna took great care of us. They made sure we had everything we needed and made the experience very personable. They were so sweet to my son as well and very patient. Our cruise director Gary was so much fun and hilarious! The entertainment was so much fun. The trivia games were a blast and the shows were amazing. If you are going on the cruise in the near future make sure to catch the show Flick! This was such a fun and relaxing vacation. I just got home and I am already looking to book my next cruise. Great job Carnival! Read Less

The new check-in process is uncomfortable and not very customer friendly. Walking in the ship is like any other ship that you have gone before. No wow factor. The food was consistently blah to bad through the cruise. We went to the sushi on the second night and I got food poisoning, so my 3rd day was basically ruined by stomach aches and nausea. Good thing we were in Mexico and I was able to buy meds there. On board stores were pretty crappy, nothing really nice to buy: jewelry extremely expensive or dirt cheap but ugly and VERY cheap looking, the clothing items low quality and nothing to sneeze at. Drinks are more expensive than I thought they were going to be. Tonight is our last night and we are going to the steakhouse. Hoping that the $38 surcharge is worth my while. Ship needs cleaning and maintenance. The crew does what they can but they don’t look too happy. I feel quite underwhelmed by this trip, and I’m a seasoned cruiser. Sad. Not sure if I will cruise again with Carnival in the future. AFTER CRUISE UPDATE: ok, so the steakhouse was pretty good, service was great. Definitely worth the almost $40 per person. We did self debarkation and it was pretty smooth and we were able to get out the ship and on the line for immigration in less than 30 minutes. Our immigration line of course was the slowest, we were there for about 40 minutes but were lucky to be able to get on the shuttle to the parking lot right away. Overall it paid off to be ready to go as soon as possible and not using the “relaxed” debarkation. My mom and daughter enjoyed the cruise and feel that the food was good but not as good as usual. They would go back on another Carnival cruise. Myself? I am not sure if I am up to deal with so many people in such small spaces again. We’ll see... thanks for reading my review/rant. Read Less

Our 1st cruise was on the Carnival Valor, we LOVED everything on the Valor, not so much on the Dream. Everything from cleanliness, food, drinks was a complete let down. The ship stunk on the Lido deck like sewage/urine. The food was nothing special, the dining room basically had the same menu night after night, with only a few items different each night. The desserts were unimpressive, quality inconcistent. We were in the Crisome dining room stuck in a back corner, asked if the window coverings could be opened, so we could see out to the water, was told they never open them, their entertainment show was nothing entertaining about it. The best meal we had was the Dr. Seuss breakfast that was $5 per person extra. We did enjoy Trivia, Sorry and the 50's/60's Rock and Roll show, we went to the 80's music show also, it was ok. The waterworks area was nice and the grandkids enjoyed it. The only 2 times our faster to fun helped us was getting on the ship and getting off the ship in Galveston. The Blue Iguana Bar (Tequlia bar) was closed most of the time, which then back up the Rum bar, so most of the time we waited for a deck server to get us a drink, sometimes taking as long as 30 minutes. Read Less

I do want to say there was one individual in Customer Service that was absolutely amazing! Cudo's to Neo! He was the one that earned the 3 stars. Thank you, Neo you are absolutely the best part of the Ship! The food was horrible in the buffet area would have eaten in the dining room but my anytime seating was replaced with an 8:15 P.M. dinnertime which I am one not to eat that late at night. The Matre D' in the dining area we were assigned was the worst the last night he did come through for us and we were able to have a decent meal in the dining area. We were on a cruise that allowed for free drinks so it stated in the package but when we arrived we realized it was only if you are playing in the casino. While in the casino, not one waitstaff showed up to take a drink order. If you try and order at the casino bar they will turn you down and tell you to order from the staff on the floor. No waitstaff to be found for most of the cruise. Beware of the free drinks while in the casino could not even get water just a real scam as far as I could see. We finally opted to just purchase a cheers package which you could then purchase from the casino bar. The first day we had a woman meet us at the cabin to introduce herself very pleasant asked us if we wanted service once or twice a day. We opted for twice a day if that was an option however we would see her in the morning and she was nowhere to be found in the afternoons so we would seek out new towels after showering and getting ready for our buffet dinner. Service was scarce all around. The funniest part about the room set-up was that the towel design left on your bed that Carnival is known for was just a towel draped in the middle of the bed but could not identify what it was they were trying to create. On the last day at sea, we decided to sit by the pool in the back of the boat 'Lido Deck' woman's restroom backed up staff could not handle shutting down the bathroom, I literally pulled over two wet floor signs that were on the deck and put them in front of the door! This was a hazard waiting to happen. The woman kept ignoring and pushing aside the signs and into the bathroom. The water was up to my ankles and people are walking in there. No one outside to stop them or get someone in there immediately to stop the water flow. I moved out of the area and went up to the Serenity deck which was overcrowded given they had to close the second floor due to high winds. Next morning and by no fault of the crew's we came into port with a huge bang due to the high winds. We had someone else's empty Dr. Pepper cans and a white hanger land on our deck. The vacation was not what I had expected to say the least! The worst part is I have another cruise scheduled for August through Carnival that I do not even want to go on. To be fair though out of the several Carnival Cruises we have taken this is the only one I have complaints with! The others were great so I will give it one more try :) I am hoping it was just bad timing, shortage of staff, too many people booked on the cruise, etc.. Read Less

Worst accommodations ever on my 14 cruises! Room 6237 was like being at a rock concert for 5 days! The walls, the bed, and the floor were booming during every show! If you go to bed early or enjoy some quiet time at night this is not the room for you! It is above the encore theater and there is no padding whatsoever! They offered to move us but we needed two rooms beside each other and they didn’t have that. I do believe that there should be some type of disclaimer on these rooms when people are booking them! The food and service was excellent and that was a plus! Our dining room staff was amazing and fast and the food was really good! Our ports of call were good, we had booked our excursions thru 3rd party to get a better rate, it was worth it. If you love music everywhere this is the ship for you! Read Less

I purchased a 5 days cruise for my wife and me to celebrate her retirement as a school teacher. We left May 27th for Costa Maya and Cozumel and returned on June 1st. So here is the breakdown of our cruise. 1) Embarkation - we had Fastest To The Fun so it was an absolute snap. We were through the Galveston terminal and on to the ship in 5 minutes. If you can afford this service, I highly recommend you purchase it. Our bags were delivered late, however; With FTTF, they should have been delivered immediately. Carnival realized this and comped me with a free strawberry plate, which I do appreciate. 2) Entertainment - the best show on board was in the comedy club. You should go at least once. There are R rated shows and PG shows, so be sure to choose the version that is to your liking and sensibilities. We went to see one show in the Encore lounge - the Flick show, with singers and musicians. I personally didn't care for it, but other folks found it enjoyable. I also went to see the raffles, bingos, and trivia shows - and generally, they were well run. I even won a free Wifi package, which I used liberally. I thought that cruise director Gary did a fine job in running the cruise and representing Carnival to the passengers. 3) Food - The best meal by far on the cruise was at the steakhouse, which was tremendous. It was one of the best steak meals that I have had in a long time. The service was also exceptional. The only drawback to that meal is that the restaurant itself is on the 14th flood, which does tend to vibrate when at sea - it took some getting used to. The food in the main dining room was also very good - and the service by the crew there was impeccable. Elizabeth was our waiter and you can tell that she really cared a great deal about her guests. We also ate once at the seafood shack - the shrimp there was really good. At the lido buffet, the food there was at least passable; I would instead recommend dining in the MDR when possible. The pizza restaurant was also passable - honestly, I have heard a lot of complaints about it, but it an OK slice of pizza. Carnival could improve the quality of that food, in my opinion. 4) Physical plant - Our cabin was well cared for and comfortable. There was one issue with our stateroom - the safe did not work when we checked in. The stateroom steward did a good job of calling the technician to get it swapped out. Everything else worked properly. Armando was our steward, and he really kept the place clean. The AC kept the room cool, and there was no smell or odors. Some of the elevators were not working - I saw those complaints in other reviews, and yes, Carnival should fix that. It did cause some problems on day embarkation day. 5) Shore excursions - In Costa Maya, we used the Port Pass excursion, which you have to purchase on the dock itself. Apparently, you cannot get this via Carnival. This allowed us to see the bird exhibit there, which was the highlight of the trip for us. We also toured the chocolate factory, which was also enjoyable. Be forewarned - there are issues with sargasso this year in Costa Maya, so you may want to hold off on booking any beach excursion that could be impacted by these plants. In Cozumel, we went to Chakannab, which was also a great deal of fun - although very crowded. The day were were there, 5 ships had docked in Cozumel, and the place was packed. If crowds are not your thing, then you may want to skip this place. But the staff was friendly and the beach was fine, so I would go back there (on a less crowded day.) 6) Spa - my wife had three spa treatments: the seaweed wrap, the acupuncture, and the teeth whitening. She had positive experiences all three times - the acupuncture was particularly helpful with her arm pain. The spa offers a 10-20-30 plan, with increasing discounts for each service you purchase. So this is a good way to save on multiple spa services. On the first day, there is a spa tour, at which point the staff will demo the various services they offer - you should honestly see those demos before deciding on what you want, or paying for anything. 7) Disembarkation - it was a bit slower than we expected. We chose to self-disembark, and with Fastest to the Fun, it was certainly faster. But it still took 2 hours to get off the ship, clear customs, and get to our car. We used the Galveston Terminal parking in lot A, so leaving from there was a quick. All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves, and I am sure that we will be back with Carnival at some point in the future. I would recommend this cruise, and cruise line, to my friends. Read Less