EMBARKATION- Very easy. We parked off site and took a quick ride over to the ship around 11am. No lines when we got there and we were onboard in no time.

NCL comparison- I've never had an issue embarking on any line. I do like that NCL creates a 'party feel' when you get on board...music, people welcoming you, ect. We stepped on board the Dream without a welcome. Not a big deal, just an observation.

DINING- I realize this is a touchy subject. I honestly wasn't impressed with Carnival's food at all. We were assigned late dining- not what we wanted but early dining and ATD were both full (we booked in June, but being a holiday sailing we understood it'd be busy). We ate in the dining room the first two nights and after that, we were done. We were a table of 6. Not sure why, but we felt ignored. We were last to get our orders taken, last to receive our food, last to get anything really. We finished at 10:30 both nights (the first night we skipped dessert because it was so late). Other tables around us would be ordering their dessert while we were just getting our entree. Getting more water or bread was impossible. Because we didn't want to make dinner a 2+ hour event, we stuck with the buffet the rest of the week....which- again- was just average. Nothing really seemed to be hot. Everything was just sort of lukewarm. Read more