This is our fifth year cruising over Spring Break. Our kids are grown so it’s just us, but there are always lots of kids onboard over Spring Break. We park in the Fulton Place Garage and the construction on the Convention Center side caused us a nearly two hour delay in parking! Not sure how long the construction will be going on. Call first if you plan to park here. After finally parking and shuttling to the port, we were late. The good thing about being late is that you move right along. We never sat down. Through check-in, security, and up the ramp onto the ship. Then up the elevator to Deck 11 to our first-ever balcony. I sat down and thought it would be good to take a picture of us on the balcony. That’s when I realized I had left my backpack in the x-ray machine. I grabbed my passport and RAN. It was now after 3:00 and at 4:00 the ship pulls out. The people inside were very nice but also very professional. They asked me to identify it, then describe the contents. Once they were satisfied they directed me to a desk where I signed for it and ran back to the ship! Crisis averted! We sailed on the Dream in 2017 so we recognized a lot of the traffic patterns. We are early risers and head to the Serenity area on the Sky deck and secure chairs with pads on the sea days to sun and read. It’s quiet there. Our cabin was 11273. It was convenient but there was a slamming door somewhere and it would wake us up. It seemed to slam a lot at 3:00 a.m. I sleep with earplugs and one night the vibration of the wall woke me up. I probably should have complained, but I didn’t. The cabin was plenty spacious for two and the couch and sit-under were both nice features. We did not use the balcony much. I would do a balcony again for the sunlight but it wasn’t as much of an upgrade as I imagined. We ate in the dining room maybe four times. It was good. Service was good too. We had 6:00 early dining and next time we may opt for anytime dining. On elegant nights we skipped it and hit the Lido, which was good. One day we stayed ashore until 5:30 so we grabbed a burger and it was remarkably good. The shows were as we remembered. The 80’s show was SO GOOD. As was the Motown show. Skip Flick. We walked out. Many did. Gary the Cruise Director did a good job of keeping you informed but not annoying you. Service everywhere was excellent. Towel animals to the max! Especially on Friday morning. Ports were busy with Spring Break. Montego Bay – we grabbed a taxi (bus) to Doctor’s Cave Beach. Maybe $7 each. Once there it was $6 each to get in $6 each for a chair and $6 for an umbrella = $30. Make sure you take a lot of $1 bills to tip people. No one seems to have any change. We got there early and stayed as long as we could. Lunch right there was very good. Grand Cayman – I don’t remember tendering here but we did this time. There were plenty of water taxis and they moved quickly. We were planning to go to the public beach but the driver persuaded us to try Royal Palms. It was maybe $2 each to get in, but then it started. $15 for an umbrella. $12 each for chairs. And then all the food prices are in Cayman dollars, so add 25%. Lunch was $60 US. The beach was beautiful and water as clear as it gets but this was expensive compared to the free public beach with local guy renting chairs cheap and the liquor store across the road. Next time we will go there again. Finally Cozumel – we couldn’t get off the ship until 10:00. So by the time we taxied to Paradise Beach, it was pretty full. We did find chairs and it’s only $3 each so we LOVE it there. There were seven cruise ships in port and the lunch service was SLOW. But in the afternoon it thinned out and we moved around and enjoyed the pool and the beach. We will be back next year. What can you say? For less than the cost of a condo in Florida for the week, we wake up each day in a different country! I’ve already booked Carnival for Spring Break 2020. We’ve done Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Carnival and shocked even ourselves that we like Carnival the best. It seems to be the best value. Read Less

We’ve only been on 1 other Carnival cruise. It’s typically not our first choice of cruise lines. Positives: clean staterooms, Seafood Shack was fabulous, staff was attentive. Lunch deserts were out of this world. Comedy was entertaining. Negatives: Excursions were poorly described. Based on descriptions, We were disappointed. Not enough pool chairs Pool area was overcrowded Entertainment was really bad, really bad. Let me say that again, really bad. We wer never greeted when we came aboard. We didn’t know how to get a card to enter our room Disembarkation took forever. Carnival missed the opportunity to improve the customers experience by making the excursions clearer, choosing better productions, offering more onboard activities, flexible dinning times, greeting upon boarding ship, disembarkation quicker, offering more buffet areas instead of just 2 ( the lines were insane). This was not a bad cruise, was average based on experiences we have assess from past cruise lines. We’ve had fabulous cruises and average cruises. Read Less

I chose this cruise based on its ratings for best first family cruise. We booked a midship balcony room. Had late arrival time so parking lot was full and we had to park in overflow lot C. It took a long time to get there due to traffic and we received little direction on how to get there. Our room was ready when we finally arrived on the ship and luggage arrived quickly. Room was not as clean as I expected. Thick layers of dust/dirt around the perimeter of the room and on the counters. The bathroom and beds were very clean and beds comfortable. Loved the Cruise Director Gary. Great kids clubs and activities. For food, the Steak Restaurant was great, and you receive a free bottle of house wine if you eat on the first night. Guys Burgers and Guys BBQ Pig and Anchor were great. The Cantina with tacos and burritos were also great. The buffet was ok at best as was the evening dining. Lots of options, but food was hit or miss and most of the food was not hot. I know they are feeding tons of people so it has to be prepared ahead. Soup was always hot in the dining room. Salads were good. My son loved the shrimp cocktail. The warm chocolate cake is fantastic. Also, brunch on sea days is good as were the breakfast burritos or huevos rancheros at the cantina. All made fresh and small batch, so hot and delicious. Kids loved having pizza and ice cream 24/7 and ate burgers and fries every day! Great shows, movies, and activities. Service was good. They get to know you and your names. I was surprised smoking was allowed in the casino and in designated areas. I’m not a smoker and am not used to being in places where smoking is allowed indoors, so I didn’t spend much time in the casino. We stopped in Key West and went parasailing with Sebago Watersports. Great excursion! Freeport isn’t a great port since it isn’t walkable. You have to take a taxi or book an excursion to enjoy this stop. We took a taxi to Junkanoo Beach. It was $14 round trip per person. There is a free beach or a beach with ammeneties for $5.75/person. You can pay for food/drinks and rent chairs and an umbrella. Much better deal than paying for the excursion. In Nassau we booked the Carnival VIP Dolphin Swim and Lunch at Blue Lagoon. We waited forever! We got off the ship at 7:30AM for an 8 AM tour. We waited at the port until 9:30 AM with little direction or support before they finally lined us up and pointed toward the dock where we would need to board a ferry to the island. There were two other ships also in port with large groups going to the same place. With no one directing traffic we waited way too long! Once we finally arrived, the dolphin swim was amazing and the beach location was fun. Lunch was good, burgers, chicken, hot dog, rice and beans, corn, etc. Great excursion but poorly organized that morning. I purchased the weekly spa pass. It wasn’t worth it to me as I didn’t utilize it enough. Nice steam rooms and mineral pool and adults only area. I traveled with my two children, so the money would have been better spent on a massage or other treatment. I did purchase the relaxation package on the last day at sea as they offered a discount. I also booked a facial based on another promotion. Both services were fantastic. Days at sea were great. Lots of activities. Brunch with extended hours so no rush to get to breakfast. We were blessed with great weather, so Sun and Fun abounded. We would definitely recommend the Carnival Dream and Cruise Director Gary! Read Less

I was able to take my in-laws that have lived their entire lives in Mexico and never had any type of vacation like this. I was so glad to be a part of it. Everything was great to them and it really showed me how much I took for granted and nit picked. I realized that someone remembering my name or not wasn't a big deal, whether I could sit in a deck chair, or whether the shows were exactly like broadway shows or not. So if you are reading this you won't see a review of everything nitpicked, you will read what a great time my family and I had and I will do my best to be objective at times to give the reader something to go on. Saying I loved the food doesn't mean the food was great, it means I found it great. You could read a review from someone on the same cruise as I was and they could say the food was terrible. So what you may want to keep in mind is what are YOU looking for in a cruise? Do you even like cruises? Do you like the thought of being with the same 3000 people or even more, for a week? Do you like the idea that you will wait for many things? I went on the March 17th cruise out of New Orleans on the Carnival Dream. What a big, beautiful ship I was on for a week. Of course with the newest cruise ships out there, the Dream isn't the biggest. But when you compare the Dream to the Carnival Fantasy it is quite large. The Fantasy was my first cruise in June of 1994. A lot has changed that's for sure. When they started the check in process the ship wasn't completely empty of passengers from the previous cruise but they had a lot of room to wait in the building once we were checked in. We got there about 9 30 in the morning and they started the check in at about 10 15. At about 11 15 they started letting the diamond, platinum, and suite passengers on. Oh before that they let on a wedding group. Then us FTTF folk got let on the ship. I would say we were on the ship by 11 30 but I didn't record times exactly. They said FTTF could go straight to their rooms and I did, but I was allowed to put up my carry on but they kindly asked me to come back a little later as they were still cleaning my room. This was about 11 45 and it didn't bother me and we just went walking around and checking the place out. While my family was still eating I went to the Crimson dining room at 12 30 to ask the maître d if I could switch to your time dining and that was granted. We had a deluxe ocean view room that accommodated 5 people and it was quite roomy. Let me say, it was plenty of space for the 5 of us, but this did include a 2 year old and two teenage girls, my wife and myself. We didn't really go in the room that much but honestly it never felt cramped and we always had a place to put things. Like many other Carnival ships, there was only one 3 prong outlet and people that weren't prepared for that were quite upset. I had two 10 foot extension cords and a power strip that wasn't surge protected. This allowed us all to plug in everything we wanted to. The room also had two bathing rooms. The one with the shower had the toilet, the other room was just a mini bath tub that you could bathe or shower in. I really liked this room. I don't remember the room steward's name but I found him to be pleasant and they cleaned the room very well each day. I didn't hang out much by the pool and none of us had the desire to lay out in the sun. Having said that, I do know that at least 5 people I had talked with said they hated that they could never get a deck chair and that people were reserving them very early in the morning and not using them until later. I believe this is a problem that Carnival tends to have on all of their cruises. I know they have a sign posted that said you can't keep a chair that you aren't using for more than 45 minutes but people said this rule wasn't followed nor enforced by the staff. No problem to me at all but I know there were definitely a few people that were upset by this. The pizza that is available 24 hours a day is all the way in the back of the ship by the aft pool on the lido deck which is deck 10. You can also order a personal pizza delivered to you wherever you are on the ship. I did that once for my older daughter and it was quite a large size and it was pretty fast delivery and it was 5 dollars to have it. On the other side of the back of the ship on the Lido is the seafood place where you can pay extra for and get some seafood. I never even looked at the menu or know of anyone that had eaten it. Then you have the buffets in the lido deck and then by the pool you have blue iguana café and guy's burgers. The line to both of these places were long almost all of the time. I say long because to me it was and I braved the burger line once and I waited about 20 minutes to get a burger. I didn't experience the blue iguana but my wife did and she enjoyed it and she waited about 20 minutes as well. You can check out many places online on what these places offer on their menu. My wife is the queen of eating hot stuff and that place had her in tears so they must have had some heavy duty salsa. I never did the steak house but we did the pasta bar a couple of times. I really enjoyed being able to order some pasta with a salad and bread. It is included in the cost, you just have to be aware that it's typically only available from 12 to 2 30 p.m. The dining room was pretty awesome. It was beautiful and had a ton of hardworking and very friendly staff. The food was always warm or hot and everyone in our group of 7 loved everything they tried. I didn't hear of any complaints about the food from anyone and I was in group of over 600 people on social media and I didn't see any of them complaint about the food. I know several people complained about their room staying hot but our room was always cool and quite comfortable. I never noticed an overwhelming smell but several had mentioned that they continued to smell a strong musty odor or sewage smell. Many had complained of becoming ill with a sore throat, sinus, head cold type issue. My wife and son were two of the people that had this and many on the group said they were ill. There were many different types of activities to choose from throughout the day. Many different trivia activities, the typical hairy chest contest, scavenger type games, to musical shows. We usually had to pick one out leave a second choice behind because there were so many options. Me and my family enjoyed the shows at night. All of those people involved put so much time in to those shows. Those men and women worked hard and it showed and I was so glad my family and I were able to enjoy those. This was the second time I had been on a carnival ship where they had the lip sync contest and I truly think it is awful. So I asked the group what they think of it and really many people said they quite enjoy it. So there you have it, people like things I don't. This cruise went to Jamaica and we went to a resort for the day and it was your typical resort. We ate, we drank, we swam, we returned back to the ship on time! I had a really good time with my family and enjoyed our time together. We went to Grand Cayman but then we quickly waved goodbye to Grand Cayman as the captain came on and said the swells were to big for the tenders to safely access the cruise ship. Nothing anyone can do about that but cruise on. We got to Cozumel 3 hours earlier because of skipping Grand Cayman. That was pretty cool to get there a little earlier. My family being all from Mexico really enjoyed the extra time. We went to a day resort there too and had a great time with great food and a lot of drinks served. We didn't over do it though and we just had a good time spending it together. For the crew that always works so long and so hard every single day, I didn't see it in their faces. Many of them would stop and talk to my 2 year old boy and they were always so friendly to us. I don't know they can appear to be so happy all the time with all those hours they put in. There's really a lot more to review but I have already written so much. But for this family that finds positives in almost anything, we had a wonderful cruise. It was so fun having all of us together to experience what a beautiful world we live in. So many things a person can find wrong about, but the world is how you choose to see it and live it. We chose to have an amazing cruise. Read Less

We have cruised over 10 times - Alaska, Caribbean, Mexico and Europe - on several cruise lines with our preference being Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. We’ve sailed with Carnival two times in the past and they were passable but not great. We sailed carnival dream out of New Orleans on March 17 and it was the worst cruise experience we’ve ever had. If this had been our first cruise, it would be our last. Luckily, we know this cruise experience wasn’t typical of other cruise lines. We had the poorest service we’ve ever seen on a cruise. The food was fine and our service staff was nice, but service was disorganized - sometimes not bringing our complete order. It seems like the service staff had too many tables to give the service we’ve always had on prior cruises. The majority of the ship’s staff was downright rude - especially the shore excursion desk. Their anyswer to any question was “I don’t know.” Dinner was disorganized, and no lunch served in the main dining room, which meant everyone was on the Lido during lunchtime making it a complete zoo. The shows, games etc were held in rooms so small that unless you arrived an hour early you couldn’t get a seat. The ship needs a lot of care. Rust and chipped paint everywhere you looked. Needless to say, I would NEVER recommend Carnival to anyone and will never use this cruiseline again. Read Less

This is my second and husbands 3rd cruise with Carnival. We went on this cruise in 16 and had a wonderful time so we brought our family with us for this cruise. So our party of 8 with 6 first time cruisers had some great experiences and some not so great. So here is what I took away, Theodoro and Nordam our cabin stewards could have not been more wonderful. They and our wait staff Arlianty, Naw, and Ramil were also the light of our evening and we loved seeing Dandy in the mornings for brunch. The Spa staff specically Emma was quite RUDE and we won’t use the sap again. The staff otherwise just seemed less enthusiastic this trip and Guest service staff was also rude not only to us but we heard them being rude to others just asking questions. The Crimson matradee was also quite gracious. The camp ocean staff also was great to our 4 year old granddaughters. Ms. Cheese and Ms. smiley were a hit with them. We were so excited to take our children and grandchildren on this family vacation because of our last experimece but we felt a little let down as staff didn’t seem as present in their position, and from someone who has been in customer service and healthcare for many years the staff who on the last cruise made us look forward to this trip have now made us feel like we definitely wouldn’t travel on the Dream again but we may need to try another cruise line all together. Read Less

Our Nightmare Started with prepaid parking (from their site's link) in NOLA, paid 2 month's in advance. Got to NOLA, 3.10.19 - major traffic issue, got to parking lot @ 901 Convention Center Blvd only to be met by NOLA PO told us, NO can NOT PARK, IF we prepaid - lot was closed. 4.5 HOURS later, less than 1.5 miles away & following others in same Boat, then having to pay for parking @ $140 AGAIN, were we able to finally board. Anxiety-Panic Attack, and seemed to never end, unless we got off ship. Drunks in pools with minor kids, 2nd day, drunk drew up in LIDO DECK pool with kids in it, had to drain pool. Oh Well, stay far away from that insanity, that Carnival Promotes Whole Heartedly! While I was able to find the BEST spot for Adults - 15th Deck up on Serenity Lounge Deck- total cruise enjoyment, but warning must walk through Cloud 9 SPA on 12th to get there. Sell, Sell,SELL, SELL, If interested, Great, other than that just keep walking & No thanks. First Cruise, we made multiple calls in advance to ask lots of questions and was mislead every step of the way. Purchased insurance in case needed to be seen by Dr or had to cancel. Very sick, upper respitory from sinus & so many chemicals used in elevators to keep us all smelling great, BUT still had to pay up front to see Dr. They were very nice, but still was very sick. No clue what the pills were, but didn't help had to seek ER after returning home. Now have to argue with the folks that we purchased this Gimmick Inusrance Policy with AFTER the fact & who knows if they will reimburse me? Will NEVER SET FOOT ON ANOTHER CRUISE SHIP during Spring Break, unless I want to be around so many unattended minors & drunks. It made for a bad 1st cruise experience on top of being physically sick. A++ to ALL employees who work on the ship, I can not safe enough positive things about them. They salvaged our entire trip with their Professional Kindness & knowledge of true Customer Service (we are not demanding guests), but we truly appreciated the Room Service as I was too sick on a few days to get out of our Cabin on 8th floor. Great news as well, always pay extra and get a balcony, worth every penny we spent! In front of ship, far away from the Crazy drunks & unattended minors. Plz ask lots of ?s about how many minors, don't be dumb like we were & not understand when peak season is for Spring Break Crazy, with or without families. Too many parents were drinking and when I asked one couple up on Serenity Deck where were their 6 minor kids, answer was, we don't know & kept on drinking. A cruise ship is not your babysitters folks. Try to be responsible and teach your children manners. I saw the Best & the Worst on board, from the begining it was very sad to know how much money we had spent for the Nightmare to start before we even boarded. They only offered me a cheap bottle of wine to attempt to make us feel better for 4.5 hours of HELL out on the street. Trust me, when we got off this ship Sunday at 7am, no one was allowed to push or break in line. We were greeted by the best parking vendors in NOLA with smiles, put on shuttles & taken immediately to our car, where we gladly left. Any wonder we aren't so well loved over the globe. The employees on the ships deserve 100% Respect and are not there to treated less than any guest! I loved the shows, shore excursions and will never pre-pay to park again. Read Less

***Exclaimer***I’m realistic, so my opinions and review take that into account. That being said I don’t hand out excellent evaluations unless I feel it is absolutely deserved. Our cruise was to celebrate our anniversary, we traveled without our children but with another couple who were on the lido deck. We originally booked a lower level balcony cabin but were offered an upgrade to a Spa balcony room. At first my wife was a little worried being that high up and so close to the bow of the ship. We were pleasantly surprised with this choice in cabins, my wife was not affected by any motion sickness, and the convenience of the Spa and Serenity deck was a definite plus. Embarkation We purchased faster to the fun, not knowing what to expect at the port and because the couple we were traveling with had as well. In my opinion I don’t know if the value is there, other than the priority boarding, I think that’s where the value ended. Our bags did not arrive in our rooms any earlier and there is really no other FTF lines on the boat or perk worthy of the fee. The bonus we had for FTF was we were able to get on ship when they opened the doors per say, we had our fill of New Orleans the night before so getting on the ship earlier than our scheduled embarkation was nice. Cheers package I will start with the Cheers package, we pondered that for some time and ultimately purchased it. We are social drinkers so 15 alcoholic drinks were probably do-able on sea days for me, not so much my wife…but on port days we felt it would be a little more of a stretch. Here is how it actually panned out. I got my moneys worth, I met the 15-drink maximum on one occasion. It was a sea day with some pool, casino and comedy club time involved, so a long day of living it up. The rest of the days I am positive it was worth the money for me. My wife on the other hand, she had the 5 break even drinks on most days and on the days she didn’t, my drinks made up where hers missed. The drinks I had were $9 dollars on average all trip (maybe more if I actually do the math), so the total cost for both her and I including the other non-alcoholic drinks and additional waters etc. was worth it in our opinion, so much so that we plan on purchasing the Cheers package again on our next trip, even with our children going. I will say aside from the occasional bartender with a heavy hand, the drinks were pretty tame, so maintaining a “good” buzz will almost guarantee you having to have the 5 drink minimum to break even. Meals I am from Nevada, home of the buffet line so I do not expect 5-star meals to be doled out one scoop at a time, but I didn’t have anything from the buffet that made me cringe. That’s the greatest thing about a buffet, if you have something you don’t like, you can go get something else, something you love, go get more. The American dream, right? We tried a little something from just about every specialty food Guys burgers, Pig and Anchor the tacos, pasta bar Mongolian Wok…all good, nothing bad to report other than wait times because of the limited hours of operations for those areas. Nothing truly vacation ruining. Bonzi Sushi and the Seafood Shack were great as well we had lunch at both and would spend the extra money again Scarlet Dining Room Our experience was wonderful bordering excellent (see exclaimer). Our wait staff was great the head waiter Christian worked his tail off! He was very good at what he does, he took the time to get to know our table. Treated us as if we were his only table, I can say that he was excellent! I hope our paths cross again someday. The food, we had 4 of our 7 dinners in the SDR, all were great. The selections, the appetizers and deserts were all paired very well. Christian was very knowledgeable and attentive to all of out likes and dislikes and made great suggestions when we were not sure and even made a point to order both dishes if we were on the fence and doubled our order when he knew we would love something. Stake house We were cruising to celebrate out anniversary and on our last cruise we didn’t get the chance to try the Steakhouse, so why not right. Well frankly it left a lot to be desired, again not vacation ruining, but our SDR dinning experience was just better. The additional money spent was just not worth it in our opinion. The ambiance was much quieter yes, the presentation was wonderful and our waitstaff was good. BUT at time we felt like we were being squeezed for that extra $80 bucks by Carnival. I don’t think I’m a snob by any means, and the $80 was not a game changer but we have had better steakhouse experiences. Again, I want to be realistic with my review, I just can’t say that our experience was worth the added expense. Overall Experience Our over all experience was very good, there was not enough mediocre or bad to rate the experience any lower, so it was a great time and I would not hesitate to take this cruise again. I could write about all of the little things that were bad but looking back on it, not many of them were Carnivals fault, sure certain things could have been more enjoyable. But I was able to make my trip the best by enjoying my beautiful wife and good friends and just go with the flow…just relax you’re on vacation. Hope this helps :) Read Less

Arrived a day early to explore some of New Orleans. Had a great meal at Felix in the French Quarters. Arrived on Sunday at the port around 10 am. Parked at the port cost was $140 for the week. Going through check in was pretty fast about 20 minutes but had to wait in the holding area until 11 am when they started to let people aboard according to the zone you were in. We were in zone 4 and got on the ship around 12 pm. Rooms were not ready unless you had a suite or faster to the fun pass until 1:30 pm. We went and had lunch at Pasta Bella which is complimentary for lunch but for dinner there is a fee. Lunch was very, very good highly recommend it. At 1:30 the rooms were available and we had 2 cabins on the 1st floor deluxe oceanview. We had 2 in one room and 4 in the other room. I must say the deluxe oceanview rooms on this ship were OUTSTANDING!!!! The room is very, very spacious, it has a bathroom and a half. One room you have a sink, toilet and shower (with the curtain) and the other is a junior size tub with shower and sink. The room also has 4 closet!! What cruise ship that has 4 closet?!! This was not a suite but and oceanview room and the view was very good. A very large window. If I ever cruise with Carnival again this will be the room I will alway try to get. Our room attendant for the week Mr. Oktav was EXCELLENT!!! Room was always clean and neat everyday and anything that we needed he went out the way to provide it for us. We had 1st seating in the main dining room (The Scarlet dining room) and we had 3 servers, Mr. Acer, Ms. Dandy and Mr. Arnold and they were very, very GOOD!! They gave us great service and was very friendly, professional, courteous and then some!! After the first night they remember our names and our drinks were waiting for us each evening when we arrived at our table. The food was great each night at dinner. The selection at breakfast was ok not great. Lunch you had many different places to chose from especially on sea days. Guy's burgers were excellent and well as Guy's pig and anchor. Overall the food was great can't complain at all. The entertainment was very, very good. The cruise director Gary and his staff did a wonderful job to keep you entertain and busy. Overall I must say the staff was one of the best we've ever encountered. I didn't have anyone on staff to have an attitude with anything that I may have asked them about. The staff went above and beyond to make sure my family and I have a wonderful vacation. I would give the staff a 10 out of 10 for the service they provided. The only thing I would say was negative was the disembarkation. The way the luggage tags was given out to have your bags to be taken could have been more organized. It took a very long time to disembark the ship so if you're driving and you're not walking your luggage off the ship you will be on the ship until at least 9 am or longer before you can get off. Even with that we still had a great time because of the staff. I would highly recommend the Carnival Dream if you're looking for a great cruise and I look forward to cruising with them again one day. Read Less

recently had a caribean cruise on carnival dream,which was absolutely excellent,so much so they we have already looked into booking our 2nd one!! we embarked at new orleans,which was very smooth,we had embarkment time of 12.30 -1.30..we were on the ship by 12.30!!so many good memories from start to finish..everyone is made to feel welcome,the ship is large,yet never felt crowded...lots of activities going on day and night..Gary the cruise director does an excellent job,as do all the staff on board.the ship looked beautiful,and was clean,food was hit and miss,seemed to be the same,each day in the buffet,and at best just warm.the main dining room(we were in scarlet)the food was a little more varied,though perhaps not as good standard,as other cruise ships i have been on..the waiting staff however were excellent and work tirelessly to ensure,evrything go well..they really do a great job.guys hamburger joint and pig and anchor,were excellent.most of the crew/staff we met we very courteous,happy and wanted us to enjoy every minute..we saw quite a few theatre shows..my favorite had to be the mr and mrs show,with audience participation..it was hillarious,and again Garry as well as participants were star of the show...deck parties were very good fun,as were dive in movies..the atrium on board is beautiful,and popular place to hang out ,have a drink and watch/join in entertainment the piano bar was good too..just loved,basically everything about the whole cruise,our room was port hole cabin,which was spacious enough for us 3 ladies...i would highly reccomend carnival dream cruise Read Less