I have been on many cruises, cruise lines and left from many different ports. I'd have to say the Dream was my most disappointing cruise. Maybe it was because of high expectations, since this is one of Carnival's newest and largest ships. I'd prefer the Liberty or Freedom any day over the Dream. Upon arrival at the New Orleans Port we waited in line for about two hours to board the ship. There was some kind of mandatory 6-month inspection of the ship, which was compounded by the ship arriving in port late due to fog. These things happen and if the inspection make the ship and trip safer, I'm all for them. A little communication would have been nice though. The embarkation process seemed very chaotic from that point on. Upon entrance to the ship, it was what I expected, grand and beautiful. We had a premium vista balcony stateroom and it was everything I thought it would be. The balcony was huge and the room had the illusion of being much bigger than it was. The room was a little noisy the first night due to partying going in the public areas below us. We were on deck 6. After night one, it settled down. Our cabin steward was nowhere to be found during our stay but our rooms was always serviced timely and our cooler always filled with fresh ice. Can't complain about that. However we did miss the personal interactions with the cabin steward that we are so used to. They are some of the friendliest people on earth.

Food - we very rarely use the main dining rooms. We are room service and buffet kind of people. The room service was excellent (decent selection, fast service, good quality food). The buffet selection and setup were not so good. The quality of the food also left a little to be desired. Dirty dishes stayed on the tables for long periods of time. Forget trying to move around the dining room. They had those tables so squeezed in there, you really had to plan a route to get to a table. They also did not use the traditional type steam pans to hold the food on the buffet. They had warming platters and pyrex type pans. Every time you went to spoon something out of the pan, the pan would spin/move and end up out of reach. Just a really bad design. The desserts where also in the middle of the buffet line instead of in an area by themselves. Again, I'm not real picky about food. Room service and buffets normally work fine for me, but this did not meet my standard. Another pet peeve, no buffet food from 3:00 to 5:30.

Getting off the ship was also a challenge at the tender port. You had to meet in the Burgundy lounge, to pick up a tender ticket, and then you were escorted to the entire opposite of the ship to the gangway. Read more