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

My sister and I wanted to spend some time together. We sailed on the Carnival Dream she was a lovely ship. We had cove balcony on deck 2. we had the best room steward Erwin. He was very helpful and our room was always clean. Every time we seen Erwin he would smile and ask how we were doing. (We had one small problem with our room the commode wouldn't flush right They had it fixed in the blink of an eye) Our dining experience was very good. We both really loved the broccoli and three cheese soup Yummy wish I could have a bowl now!!! Aleksander and his staff (Christopher and Miljana) were really good and we loved their personalities. The entertainment was really good we enjoyed everything we went and seen. Such high energy and lots of laughes. Gary was our cruise director and he was amazing he had so much energy and was always smiling. He never failed to say "Hello" or ask how we were doing. Guest services helped us with several things and they did a good job. We only did one exursion this time We went to Bacalar Fort & seven water lagoons in Costa Maya. Boy did we have good time so beautiful. Mau and Ed were or tour guides. Mau was so passionete about his homeland and so full of laughter it was really fun. Ed had has laughing he was a bit quieter then Mau but we enjoyed his information that he shared. We both agree that faster to the fun was a great deal for the both of us. We had a great time!!! Thank You Carnival Dream Read Less

This was a 50th birthday cruise. There were 14 of us total (7 couples). We had first boarding time, and despite the gangway not working because of a lightning strike, we were on very quickly. We went right to Guys Burger's for our first one of the trip along with the drink of the day( rum something-too sweet for me) I then got my traditional first Miami Vice and all was good! We walked around a bit exploring and fell in love with the Serenity deck! Lots of room and plenty of shade and sun plus your own bar and water area. Muster Drill was painless, there were several people that didn't attend or were late, so while the rest of us got on with our vacation, they had to stay and do a longer drill lol. We were deck 7 interior cabins mid-ship and loved them! Great location and lots of storage. Room Steward Gusti was the BEST! I only saw him the first day, but our room was made up every single day and extra towels as asked for were always in our cabin. Alchemy bar was a favorite. The drinks, and bartenders are great and always live music which was a plus! Comedian was funny and shows were always packed. Welcome aboard show was ok. Kind of cheesy, but still entertaining. Cruise Director was very energetic and everywhere! I can't recall his name. We did late dining and had three fantastic guys who kept us laughing and very attentive. Only one night the food was not great, but we still enjoy the dining room experience for dinner. Dining room for breakfast also really good! Steak and eggs, eggs benedict and the roasted tomato soup seemed to be the favs in our group. We did Mr. Sancho's in Cozumel and had a great time. Been there several times and it remains a favorite of mine. Shops were nice, piano bar was ok, casino area and bar was nice and always hopping! Guys Pig and Anchor BBQ was yummy! It's outside deck 5 so make sure you find it. Pasta Bella Pasta is a hidden gem that we found last sea day. Upstairs from lido buffet inside. Trust me-you WANT this pasta! Enjoyed atrium bar and live music especially the violin trio and found a new favorite drink called the cruiser! Played Friends trivia but didn't win :/ had fun though! Watched the mixology on pool deck along with hairy chest contest and ice carving. Hairy chest is funny because almost NO ONE had any hair on their chest lol. Great steel drum music on lido and the area above the pool deck is shaded so that is a super nice option! You can see the ocean and everything going on below you. We probably only saw about half the ship. She is huge, but what we saw we really enjoyed. The pizza is still some of the best and those guys and gals work hard back there! Lots of hot tubs, but would have liked to see a pool for only 21 and up. The kiddos have a slide and small water park and still were trying to get in hot tubs on serenity deck which is 21 and up. We mentioned this to them and they promptly left. Super smooth debarkation to shuttle to truck in less than 30 minutes. All in all a fantastic time and what a great way to celebrate a 50th birthday! Read Less

Poor We were very excited about this cruise. We decided to pick this one since it was one of the new ones departing from Galveston ( well 10 years) . However, we found an old ship with poor and outdated decoration. We waited about 45 minutes with at least 800 people in the checking area before getting into the cruise, with almost no air conditioner and not enough space. It was pretty chaotic. Inside, everything was very crowded, amenities were out of shape and most of the time, there was not enough space for everyone. Tons of people everywhere you go, loud music, and no space in the pools. Food in the buffed was plenty, but very poor quality, same with the sandwich and pizza area. The chocolate and cake station was far from exquisite and the pasta bar was completely awful. However, the Mongolian wok was very good, same as the brunch, breakfast and dinner at the Scarlet (main dining). Shows: our second show ( something related to movies) was the best one. The other ones were not impressive. Movies: the movies in the pool were a great idea. Better Our experience at the Scarlet wasn’t great at first. We had to share a table ( late dining) and there was very little space for everyone, plus the waitress wasn’t ideal either. Luckily, we talked to the Dmitry and he give as a beautiful table in from of the ocean for ourselves (in early seating). This was such a plus! Food here was very good. Reagan ( another waitress) was incredible. My only two recommendations will be: 1) work on better desserts, the chocolate cake was the only good one we had. 2) clean better the plates before you serve them (work on food presentation). Mercy, the lady that cleaned our room was the nicest person we met, besides Reagan. She took care of every detail in our cabin, everything was clean and well organized and she was extremely sweet. Overall: we loved the beach. Cozumel and Costa Maya were incredible! We enjoy having breakfast and dinner at the Scarlet as well. Even so, we won’t be going back to this ship. I recommend newer cruises. Read Less

We took this cruise to celebrate me and my best friend's graduation! Since we are both 18, my mom booked the stateroom and arranged all our excursions. My 10 year old sister came along too. Embarkation was more chaotic than usual, as the gangway on deck 3 had a malfunction so all embarkation and debarkation was carried out on deck 0. So, naturally, debarkation was much more chaotic as well. Our stateroom was on deck 11, which comes with spa privileges. However, we learned that the spa privileges are only available to be claimed by 2 people in the room and we had 3 eligible persons staying in the cabin, so an extra spa pass had to be bought at $112. Another issue we had was that when we got into our cabin, they didn't have the right layout for our beds, nor the right names displayed on the "welcome" screen. The bed issue didn't get fixed until after dinner, and the names weren't brought up again. We also soon discovered that our refrigerator didn't work. I attempted to call our steward many times to ask about it or possibly just getting an ice chest set up, but he never answered. Eventually, after messing with the refrigerator for a while (I'm not exactly sure what she did) my mom managed to make it work somehow. I never saw the steward that much the entire trip, although I heard my friend interact with him once when he stopped by to ask if we needed any towels. Dining was amazing, our servers were absolutely stellar with their service. Our dining time was set as early dining in the Crimson dining room. I really wish I could remember the names of our servers so I can give them the recognition they deserve but they were A+. Our table was 366. Since I was 18 for this cruise, I got to indulge in a few more entertainment options than my previous cruise. The Caliente Nightclub had great DJs who were interactive and made sure that everyone was having a great time on the dancefloor. It got pretty wild at times since the only rule seemed to be "no drinks on the dancefloor" but that was okay as nobody got physically hurt but some of the videos that may be posted of the ones doing inappropriate things may be a bit of a blow to the ego/professional life. My friend and I attended a couple of comedy shows. Comedian Johnny Millwater was extremely talented and got a lot of giggles from us. If you have an opportunity to watch his performance I highly recommend it. The main theatrical performance during our cruise was 80's Pop to the Max and it was super fun with spectacular visual work and talented cast members. Overall, I think this cruise had the best entertainment out of all previous cruises I have been on. Our main destinations during this cruise were Costa Maya and Cozumel. In Costa Maya, our excursion was "Beach Escape With Open Bar" and it was just fantastic. Only $40 to have amazing service on a clean and well maintained beach with shaded sitting areas. It was way more than a great deal. The drinks were very good and there were many options to choose from in the open bar with optional paid drinks as well. The port had an interesting layout and I would like to return sometime so I can write more about it, it was very nice. I have been to Cozumel a few times before, but this time we went from Cozumel to Tulum. The ferry ride was pretty rough on a couple members of our party. There was a bar on board the ferry, but I would advise against indulging too much if you have a weak stomach for that 45 minute ferry ride. It was a nice ferry with indoor, air conditioned, seating, though. The bus we took to Tulum was very nice as well. Our tour guide knew so much about Mayan culture and enthusiastically shared information about his culture and community. Our excursion was called "VIP Exclusive Tulum & Cenote Swim with Mayan Lunch" and was not as relaxing or "VIP" as the description said it would be. The entire excursion was very rushed, even after the tour. You can always expect the tour of the ruins to be a little rushed as there is so much to see in so little time, but we were only allowed 10 minutes to use the bathroom/grab a drink by the end of the tour and it was disappointing to not be able to look at some of the more interesting shops. We were ushered to the area of the cenote and Mayan village. Ziplining isn't listed as being on the itinerary but you either zipline or walk a really long ways to the canoes. Oh yeah. Canoeing too. I had no problem with the canoes but I did not feel like doing the zipline. If you were one of the first groups finished with the canoeing, you could rest in the hammocks and wait for everyone else to finish up. Since our group was the last one to finish canoeing, we did not get to lay in the hammocks. Very sad. We swam in the cenote for about 45 minutes, our tour guide showed us the entrance to an underwater cavern which was pretty neat. We were all given snorkel masks and life vests. After we swam for a bit it was lunch time at the Mayan village. It took a little while to walk over there. I felt so sick from the heat that I really couldn't enjoy the lunch as much as I would have liked to. There is no running water in the village, so naturally the bathrooms are pretty rough and you have to be careful you don't get sick. The trek back to the bus was particularly arduous and I would recommend that you don't wear sandals but instead proper walking shoes for the entirety of this excursion. It wasn't relaxing, educational, but not relaxing. I recommend this excursion if you are very active, but it wasn't what we were looking for/expecting. I strongly recommend the Carnival Dream for its amazing service and staff members. I would love to go again and believe that the Dream is my favorite ship that I have been on. Read Less

My 5-day cruise experience to costa maya and cozumel was a disaster from beginning to end! The ship arrived late to the galveston port and the embarkation was delayed. It was very hot, humid, and chaotic! Some people fainted while standing and waiting for their boarding times to be called. We did not want to check our luggage but was relieved that we did because when we finally boarded the ship none of the elevators were working! We had to walk flights of stairs from deck 0 to deck 10 after standing for an extended period of time while dehydrated and hungry. We almost missed them lunch, which was cold and nasty. My roommate's luggage didn't arrive for hours because someone snatched her luggage tag off of her suitcase! The so-called activities on the ship were lame so we were bored at sea. Costa maya shouldn't be a destination! The walking distance there was too long, especially in 100 degree weather and when we got there, there nothing to do and you couldn't even look at what they were selling because the sellers bombard you! There was no beach in sight! The only thing i enjoyed during the cruise was the excursion in cozumel that i paid extra for. I just wished we had more time to shop during the excursion. Cozumel was okay...no access to a beach...didn't feel safe taking a cab to a beach since i found out someone was twice (one being a taxi driver). The breakfast was always served cold and the main dining food could have been better and served hot! Both the guy's burger joint and bbq were better than any other food served on the ship because it was served hot and flavorful! Then they snatch $70 from everyone for gratuity! For what?! The ship shouldn't have been operating. It needs to be painted again...lots of rust and not picture worthy! I didn't see anyone take a picture in front of it. It also needs a lot of work internally, including updating the staterooms! The entire time of the cruise the elevators were barely working and if they were working they took forever! I kept seeing maintenance everywhere! I kept smelling painting and paint thinner in/outside of my stateroom which made me feel nauseous! I worried about my safety. Speaking of safety the safety meeting was poorly presented. No one learned anything! They just mumbled and rushed through their demonstration. The disembarkation was another disaster! There was definitely a lack of communication on the staff's part! Everyone was everywhere, the elevators weren't working of course, and we were told to go to deck 3. We sat in a room for 2 hours while the staff disappeared. We left on our own and struggled with our luggage down the stairs with hundreds of people to deck 0. Mind you our stateroom was on deck 1 which didn't make any sense! We could've have left from our stateroom! I'm never cruising with carnival cruises again!!!!! Read Less

My husband, myself, our daughter and 4 yr old grandson went on this cruise. I was nervous if we’d like it, but it proved to be an excellent vacation. We spent one day in New Orleans, stopping at the aquarium. It’s the best aquarium i’ve Ever visited, and worth the cost of admission. The ship is large enough to have much to see and explore but not so large that a person would feel overwhelmed. Since we had a suite, we had priority boarding which made the boarding process much easier when traveling with a child. We had cabin 7312, a grand suite, and there was plenty of room and storage for 4 people. B/c this cabin is mid ship, it’s a convenient walk to either elevator. Our Stewart was Erfron, who was excellent. The location was quiet. About the only negative is one closet door stuck slightly and didn’t glide as easily as the others. We ate a few times in the MDR, and was pleased with the food and excellent service. We had “my time” dining and had several waiters who gave extra attention to our grandson (which warms my heart ❤️); they were Yudi, Fernando, Sevin, and Gusti. It’s not easy for a 4 yr old to seat thru dinner, but they kept him entertained and made our trip so very special. We tried various other dining during the week. Magnolia Wok was good. The pizza was ok ( pizza was good, made to order, but I prefer thick crust). Guy’s burgers were yummy, and the fries to die for. My husband tried the deli and Pig & anchor, and thought both was good. Pasta Bella was tasty. We ate quite a bit at the Lido buffet and enjoyed each meal. Blue iguana was probably my favorite. Between the 4 of us, we visited Swirls daily, and it was delicious. We missed the show we wanted to see (80’s pop) due to lack of available seats (we arrived late). We did attend the Dr. Seuss parade. Although our grandson was too shy to volunteer for a role, he enjoyed watching it. He loved picking his build a bear a animal (bunny). In the evening we sat on Lido and watched dive in theatre. We all enjoyed the Green Eggs & Ham breakfast; Yudi and Sevin again made him feel special. Ports- Jamaica we visited Dolphin Encounter, which we liked; it’s clean, set up well, organized and a cute park. Our dolphin was Alex. We also went into a shallow lagoon and touched a sting ray. The ride was maybe 20 minutes to get there. We then went to Doctor’s Cave beach. It’s a nice beach for kids (level & calm), the sand is soft but Its in the middle of a resort area and I was hoping for a more natural/secluded beach. Grand cayman- we went to the turtle farm. We loved this park; very clean and laid out well. We snorkeled with the turtles, saw a shark, and swam in the pool area. There’s so much to do there I wish we had more time to see it all. We then took the bus to a boat and went to stingray sand bar....it was awesome! The water was crystal clear and the rays were amazing. Cozumel- we did a little shopping before our tour at the dolphin encounter (dolphinaria?). Once again, the park was clean and we enjoyed our visit. This tour included lunch, which tasted good. Otherwise we spent our time in the pools, hot tub and our grandson on the small sliding board. Again b/c we had priority boarding, disembarkation was smooth. We all had a great week and are already talking about booking another cruise Read Less

The ship was nice however being a smoker I found it to not be very smoker friendly (I know there are people who don't like smoking but, why should they have it better than us smokers? We all pay to cruise) there seemed to be more smokers on board than there was room for us all to smoke and be able to sit down and relax with a smoke and drink. The cabin was nice and dinning (food) was okay (our dinning staff was awesome!). The comedy shows were great but, the theater shows not so much. If you were in a hot tub at night (not late at night either before 9:00pm), you had to get out of the hot tub to go to the bar to get a drink yourself. Servers were very scarce. Our other services were on point. We missed our Honduras port which was very disappointing, as the excursion I had booked there was on my bucket list. Overall the cruise was nice and I got to spend quality time with family. Although my first cruise which was with Norwegian cruise line was much better. We plan on cruising again in the future, we may or may not book with Carnival as I am undecided at the moment. Read Less

We chose this cruise based on value, itinerary (going to Roatán and to a lesser extent Belize City was important) and port of departure – the most important. My wife and I have been on 14 cruises together, with this being the 4th on Carnival. We departed on Easter Sunday. Embarkation was the best I’ve ever experienced. From parking the car at the Erato Street Cruise Terminal to entry on the ship took less than one hour. The ship, the Carnival Dream, has a layout that is much improved over the Carnival Triumph. The décor is garish, but better than the Triumph, which is arguably ugly. The pool area has much better seating. The bars have a better location. The rear pool has no retractable rook (which for some reason the crew of the Triumph kept closing on sweltering days). The Triumph has a huge portion of the pool area devoted to chaise lounges, which seems like a waste. The Dream’s layout is much smarter. The best difference is that the Dream has a full wrap-around old-school promenade, something I love. I was starting to think actual promenade decks were a thing of the past except for the name. We had a balcony cabin, 6262, which was great, and to me identical to the Triumph. Our cabin steward did an excellent job. They asked me if I wanted cabin service morning, evening or both. Carnival must be getting cheesy in this regard. I never was asked this before. We had main seating in the Scarlet Dining Room, upper level. The upper level is the better one in my opinion, as the lower level is on a deck that does not allow through passage. The Scarlet Dining Room is preferable to the Crimson (to me) as the Scarlet has the beautiful rear windows to which our table was reasonably close. The service was great. The food was outstanding. The food on Carnival is comparable to that of Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. If you are expecting Commander’s Palace, you will be disappointed. But if you are expecting good-quality mainstream cruise dining room food, you will be pleased. I love how every evening they had wonderful jazz playing at tasteful levels, which added to the elegant ambiance. The lido buffet restaurant was pretty good. Nothing to complain about, but nothing to brag about. The breakfasts and lunch there were pleasant and enjoyable. The layout of the lido is exactly like the Triumph, which is not the best. The Guy Fieri Burger Joint was pretty good. We went there one time. I did not care for the Pig and Anchor, though. There was a Chinese style noodle service area on the Lido Deck, which was quite nice. The bar service was very good. I especially liked the Alchemy Bar, which had an elegance of another era, with knowledgeable bartenders. The pool bars were pretty good, with friendly efficient service with a smile. One great thing was the adult only quiet area called Serenity on one of the top decks forward. It had a small bar there, which was a great find on that last at-sea day on the way home. As far as music goes, if you like jazz, it sucks. They did have some of the horn players playing near the Alchemy Bar at departure. I think they played a couple of short sets after that, but never at a convenient time. The piano bar, which is really fun, does not do jazz. The piano player is really good and entertaining. I don’t want to knock him. There was a really good steel drum player on many of the afternoons playing by the pool. There was a group of three violin players in the atrium who played often before dinner. They were great, playing an eclectic mix of classical, country (i.e., fiddle) and pop music. I enjoyed them immensely. There was also a pretty good rock guitar player we saw one night. There was too much country and kid music for my taste. At the ports, Costa Maya was disorganized, which often happens on Carnival, but Belize and Cózumel were done pretty well without complaints from me. We could not dock at Mahogany Bay on Roatán due to dangerous current conditions. I had this happen on the Norwegian Sprit in 2011, and that captain took us to the other port, Coxen Hole, where we disembarked by tender. They never explained why they never did that. I am very disappointed by that, as we were to meet some local folks there whom we know, to have some machuca (coconut and plantain based seafood soup that is to die for) at Punta Gorda on the north coast. We instead made large circles in the water and eventually sailed towards Belize across the Gulf of Honduras at almost walking speed. It was on that day that they opened the Pig and Anchor which was not their usual schedule. The menu item that looked best was unavailable. I got this sausage that was not good at all. So instead of eating machuca with friends, I started to eat bad sausage and Lido Deck buffet food, which was OK, I guess. In any event I did not let it ruin our trip. All in all it was a great vacation. Read Less

Third cruise; first on Carnival. New Orleans, Roatan, Belize City, Cozumel. Embark/disembark very smooth and efficient. Stateroom: Balcony near aft elevators deck 7. Room pleasant, normal, functional. Had two 12-pack cases of water pre-ordered and delivered to room. Good idea. Ship has sub-par water. Small balcony had push open door rather than sliding. Food: Guy Fieri's Hamburger Joint and his themed Pig and Anchor BBQ. If these were in my town I'd be a regular customer. 24 hour pizza: If this was in my town => out of business in a week. Main dining (Anytime): Ok. Good service, mostly good food. Crew gets celebration going regularly during dinner. Ate off the regular menu; good flat iron steak, poor, skimpy shrimp cocktails. creative appetizers, sides of veggies kinda small, deserts ok+. Feast night ordered two lobster tails. Good idea. Breakfast: Main dining room, not crowded. Good. (eggs benedict). Good coffee. Buffet, Pretty good. Deli made good sandwiches. 24 hr soft serve ice cream stations good. Experienced very few and limited lines or much trouble finding a table. Could have been due to 800 passengers for a business conference who mainly were out of site and may have eaten together when not in meetings. We tended to use the stairs a lot; two flights up/down to stuff. Nice, quiet, get away place in Library room. Movies under the stars were ok, but surrounded by several open bars with folks enjoying a good (noisy) time. Catch the comedians at the Punchline club. Shows in main theater were ok+. Cruise director was great. Over all, would cruise again with them (taking note of 800 preoccupied conference people and some other reviewers talking about long lines). Read Less

This was a last minute choice, because I had business in NOLA the following week, and I’m glad we did. Faster to the Fun is worth the extra cost, if you can get a slot! Embarkation was organized and painless, our rooms were ready when we boarded, just drop our stuff off and go explore. We make our own fun in the ports, finding taxis and buses to take us to snorkeling spots and beaches...with a little research we spend more time with the locals and fell like we’ve experienced the place. The food and service in the dining rooms, restaurants, and lounges is top notch. We ate at the Steakhouse twice, so good! That said, Carnival, why can’t you do anything about the lines at the Lido buffet? I’ve never seen lines like that on any other cruise line. Breakfast would have been better if I could have gotten to the eggs in less than 20 minutes. We usually book inside rooms, and this one was comfy enough. There was some kind of weird noise some nights, though, like someone was using a hydraulic punch. We couldn’t figure it out, and none of our neighbors we asked noticed it. Staff were very professional and did a great job taking care of us. One last comment for the casino: there are tables and machines marked no-smoking, and that’s a fair enough compromise for smokers and non-smokers to share the space. It’s not a compromise if you don’t try to enforce it; it’s an insult when a member of the staff walks up to a smoker sitting at a non-smoking machine and hands her an ash tray. Don’t pretend to have a policy, if you’re saying it doesn’t matter then just don’t have one. Read Less

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