After a 3 hour delay the boarding process was horrible we were hurded like cattle with little to no direction. 5 min after boarding the ship you are mustered on lockdown in a dinning hall then it’s a free for all to get to the elevators or move 12 decks back to your room. When I say the ship was overcrowded you could not move about with out being up in someone’s business. It took almost an hour to get settled in not fun at all. The schedule your dinner meal in an overcrowded restaurant and expect you to eat at odd late times. This is designed to force you to buy food. The whole time they are pushing you to buy crap it’s loke a 7 day locked down time share convention with boose total waste of money. This is not what I expected from a trusted cruse line like carnival needs to say I will never cruse with carnival again. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was going to several places we were wanting to go. The port was within a hundred miles from our house. We have cruised Carnival many times in the past. It is not our preferred cruise line but having not been on a Carnival ship in several years we thought we would give them another try. Hoping that their ships were modern and clean it was very disappointing from the very beginning. The interior of the ship reminds me of a 70’s nightclub. Red, orange and brown decor adorned the entire ship. So with this disappointment we were still optimistic about our week on board. Hoping that suite accommodations would be our saving grace we proceeded to our cabin with excitement. Our room was exactly what we had expected and our cabin service was good. Downside... room was located on 9th floor directly under an outside dining area with a wooden deck. The sounds of chairs and tables being moved began at 5:00 am and continued past midnight. It only stopped for a few minutes in between guests. So our suite oasis was never a peaceful retreat as once thought The hallway of the 9th floor had an odor that smelled like raw sewage. I reported this odor and inquire as to weather this was a health concern. I was told they were aware of the problem and should have in fixed in the near future and that it posed no health risk. This odor continued throughout the week. Read on... Read Less

We sailed on the Carnival Dream this past week. . The reason for my review is to help someone else who may be looking at cabin 7398 or others in that area. In and around this cabin there is a strong odor that smells like sewage. The smell hits you as you walk down the hall starting around cabin 7374 and smells very strong until about cabin 7408. Sadly this smell also permeated inside the two cabins we booked on that hall, 7398 being one of them. On port days the smell was even stronger. If we were on the ship on port days we could not stay in our cabin, it was awful. When we first boarded the ship the smell in the hall and cabin was immediate. My hope was that it would go away once we sailed but it did not. I brought a Bath & Body wallflower and it didn’t even help to cover the smell. This being a balcony room my thought was “at least we will get some fresh air sitting outside”. Wrong... This balcony is located right above the smoking lounge are two decks below. Even with the breeze from the ships movement you will still smell cigarette smoke. It may not bother some but it just wasn’t what I expected. Overalll the ship was nice, our room steward was great, dining staff could’ve been a bit more attentive. We didn’t always get what we ordered, glasses were often empty and food was subpar. We ate at the steakhouse one evening. I personally wouldn’t do it again on this ship. Again, food was subpar and service was terrible. I’ve had better steakhouse experiences on other Carnival ships. Again, the main reason for this review is to put the word out there about the room smell. I would’ve like to have know this before selecting our rooms. Read Less

Our experience on the Carnival Dream was superb. The staff was amazing! A special shout out to Viktor the bar waiter, Julian the Jr hostess, John our Stewart and Assadee our head waitress! They were all superb & made our trip extra special! We also loved Lee the cruise director! The entire dream team we give an A+. We also did the chefs dinner. Such an amazing experience & outstanding food! Thank you to everyone on the Carnival Dream! Cayman islands was our favorite stop, would liked to have stayed longer. In Montego Bay, we were not happy with how so many people aggressively try to sell drugs in multiple formats. We ended our time there to go back to the ship. Cozamel was nice, though it rained while we were there. As for the show, go to them all! And the comedy shows we're hysterical! We will definitely recommend this ship! Read Less

Not been on Carnival before and we won’t again. Food was okay but that was all. Decor very dated. Certainly needs brightening up - everything is brown and orange. Daytime activities are rubbish. They have this thing with hasbro and the games are juvenile. Lack of trivia’s and the odd one they did it was like the staff didn’t want to be there. On one day after they did a music trivia the host decided the next trivia would be fairy tales - everyone but a few got up and left! Well she was only 20 and it’s what she wanted to do so never mind the people! Last day was at sea - nothing going on on board and no show in the evening - unheard of. Finally they held the meet and mingle on the last day....we had water and several biscuits on offer with a wonderful Roberto who spoke about the wonderful shows they put on. If you want to stay outside and sunbathe all day - fine but for everything else it was very poor. Read Less

My wife and I had this cruise scheduled and a hurricane named Harvey changed our itinerary for us. This was also the only cruise on the Dream we had not sailed as anyone that has looked at our profile of cruises will see and our 5th on the Dream. Liked Carnivals new embarkation board with boarding pass, sail and sign card in mail box by cabin door and we love the Cove Balconies on deck 2. The Glory nor the Valor have cove balconies so that will be missed. The entertainment had the best vocals of any of our Carnival cruises since Chris Williams moved on. One of the dancers, Josh looked a lot like Shelton Cooper (Big Bang Theory) The service was fantastic with the exception of the Dream Steakhouse.(read below) Ports and excursions we do not do, mobility problems and to far from soft-serve machine. Son and his wife and their two boys going with us in November all riding the City of New Orleans. First of all this is not a rant against Carnival more of an observation in general and particular this one cruise that I hope will be just a one of. We have two more cruises scheduled on the Dream in November 2018 and Feb. 2019 then sadly the Dream moves to Galveston in May 2019. Now the rest of the story! My reasoning for the claim of (Profit Gouging). 1. Onboard credit has changed from per person to just cabin in other words we would get 25.00 for my wife and 25.00 for me onboard credit booking a 7 day cruise, now just 25.00 for the cabin booked. 2. Gratuity on top of gratuity, I know that a lot of people don't tip any extras and some shame on them do not tip at all. Carnival does charge gratuities either on the front of the cruise or the back of the cruise now another gratuity is added to every sail and sign purchase. My wife and I tip in cash (room service, bar etc.). 3. It could just be me, but appeared to be less staff causing longer wait time and confusion, this also could be for profit over comfort. Now for my one and only big complaint and the end of steak house dinning. We always eat at the Dream Steakhouse our first night and loved it until this cruise. Arrived at Steakhouse at 6:00 PM table for 4 seated and ordered our drinks, all four ordered steak baked potatoes and salad and that's exactly what we got. At 6:45 our steaks arrived, I was about full from all the bread and butter eaten while I was waiting. Halfway through the steak about 7:00 our baked potatoes arrived and at the end of our steak you guess it our salads arrived and my wife's salad wasn't what she ordered. Read Less

Port in driving distance and desired ports of call. Food definitely not what it is to be. Did by go hungry, but nothing to write home about. Steakhouse food was amazing, but service could have been much better. Staff in general was ok.... Definitely standouts, but majority was just there for a check.... Or so it seemed. They like to tell you not to bring drugs on board from ports ..... But enough people did that it was completely obvious I could have carried anything on board. Won't be traveling the dream anymore.... Ready for a nice, more to to date ship. Faster to the fun was a waste of money ... We received no benefits other than or luggage was delivered slightly earlier than normal. No priority services at all. Save your money for the steakhouse or a fabulous excision in port or shopping in Port. Overall decent cruise but nothing spectacular. Read Less

This was my very first cruise, and by the end of the trip..I am already ready to start planning my next one! Never in my entire life have I experienced such amazing hospitality on a vacation before. The staff are incredibly friendly and personable and make you feel like you are all family. I absolutely LOVED all of the shows Carnival Dream had on the ship, you could find me jamming and singing to all the songs they were playing or laughing till i cried because of how well they were put together. The food was outstanding, and if there was something you didn't like, the staff offered to have it recooked or asked if you wanted something else. We were always early to our ports giving us more than enough time to explore, and we had an amazing cruise director, Lee!! Never have i ever met a person with so much enthusiasm and fun put into one body. I highly recommend cruising with Carnival Dream! Read Less

This cruise left close to home and it was the best vacation ever. We picked the bobsled excursion in Jamaica. The wait at the the top was longer than expected due to a group riding the breaks of the bobsleds and slowing everyone down. However, the weather was perfect and the view incredible. The skylift was peaceful and Dunn's waterfall is a must for Jamaica. We went snorkeling for the first time in Grand Cayman. The guides were very good and kept a close eye on our safety. Plus, this excursion allowed a lot of time for shopping. In Cozumel, we chose to do our own trip by getting in a taxi and traveling to a local beach by Chankanaab. Only $15/person including a drink and free rentals of kayak and snorkel equipment. The Dream is a wonderful ship. All the staff was eager and happy to assist with whatever request we had. One of us is gluten free and the restaurants all had options. The entertainment was great, especially the comedians. We left the kids home and got the Cloud 9 package, which we used everyday. The food in the main dining room was some of the best we every had. We tried the BBQ and buffet, but were not impressed. Guy's Burger Bar was worth going back for. There were plenty of children on the ship, but we only encountered them during meal times or when the teenagers hung out at night at the back of the ship. Also, we were lucky the weather was perfect for this time of year. We would definitely choose another Carnival Cruise. Read Less

After attending a nephew’s wedding in MS this was a very convenient port for us to cruise from. This was the first time during August after seven previous cruises. We had previously done one in early July on RC Empress of the Seas, 4 during Spring Break with our children on RC, and 2 in early May after college classes were done for the year but before public schools were out. One of these was on RC and the other on Carnival. Two of the cruises sailed from Ft. Lauderdale, and the others had all been from Galveston. Embarkation was the fastest we have ever experienced but we boarded the latest that we ever had too. We were able to walk straight to our cabin and leave the carry ons before heading to the Lido for lunch. Luggage was delivered shortly after returning from the safety demonstration. We had the late dining time and ate in the dining all but two evenings. Service was just average and the same could be said for the food quality. We did try Bella Pasta for lunch one day but once again it was just average. We did like Guy’s hamburgers and BBQ as well as the Blue Iguana. We stayed on the ship in Montego Bay and enjoyed a quieter ship that day, we toured the turtle farm in Grand Cayman through an Carnival excursion that included lunch. We had booked Nachi Cocum for Cozumel and also enjoyed that. We have been there 3 times now and the service did seem a little off this time but a good time was still had. We only attending one show during the cruise and it was good. Due to late dining time it was hard to be back in time to attend the shows. We did watch several movies on the big screen and as always enjoyed those. We stayed in a Cloud 9 Balcony stateroom so we enjoyed the spa most every day and also worked out in the fitness center every day. We never had any issues with machines being busy. We did self assist debarkation and were off of the ship very quickly. We had parked in Fulton Parking Garage so we had a short wait to get a shuttle to the garage. Only one person could get the car and bring it down to have the luggage loaded so that process also took a little time. Not sure we would use them again just because of the additional time that it took for the shuttle and then the loading process. We will not plan on sailing again during a time that many children will be on board. It was amazing to us how many of them were running around at all hours and with little respect for others. Overall it was the much needed break that we needed from a very busy year. Read Less