We are just back from our first cruise on the Carnival Dream. I have to say that overall we really enjoyed ourselves ( husband and 2 boys ages 12 & 14 ) and had a great time. I had no idea of what to expect so here are a few of my thoughts. I thought the Embarkation went very smooth and was very easy...of course when you arrive at the Port Of New Orleans..it looks like a madhouse however, it is controlled chaos and very well organized. We arrived at the terminal and my husband dropped off me with the luggage. I was able to easily get a Carnival porter, who immediately checked our bags. My husband parked the car in terminal parking and came and met us in under 10 minutes. We purchased FTTF, which I highly recommend..it was definitely worth it and our check in and boarding was very easy. Our bags were delivered very early to our room, and my boys had their suits on and were swimming in the pool within an hour. The food I thought was very good, and we really enjoyed the dining rooms and service. Lido deck food was pretty good, I mean its breakfast/lunch dining. We had lines the first few days but towards the end of the week we never waited. We had the later seating at 8:15 which we liked a lot because we were never rushed to get dressed and get to dinner. We could get back from an excursion and relax and get ready for dinner leisurely...which is nice because you are fairly tired after an all day excursion in the sun. We ate in the steak house 2x, and loved it. Food was fantastic, and what a deal...seriously $35 per person, you cant order an entrée at a steakhouse for that let alone a 4-5 course meal. We loved our room and our cabin steward...he was so wonderful. We stayed in stateroom 7374 , which is the Empress deck. ... it was shockingly quiet...not a peep at night..I would definitely book that room again. There is so much to do on the boat, my husband and I enjoyed the Serenity area..very quiet and spa like .and spent time in the Ocean Plaza bar and loved the live band every night ..my kids enjoyed the pools,water slides, and arcade. We rented a golf cart in Key West... this was probably the most disappointing part of the trip..not a lot to do there...just too hot, humid and the town has changed a lot since I was there 20 years ago ...its like a mini New Orleans to me. We probably should have gone on the jet ski tour. Our next port was Freeport. Town is not great,We booked a day pass at the Lucaya Resort. We purchased the pass before our departure and glad we did. First thing the cab driver said was .. " The Lucaya Resort has been oversold and you cannot get in ...unless you prepaid and bought a pass earlier" the other people in the cab with us had to go the public beach which was not nice AT ALL. Also, make sure and check with your cab driver about pick up times and when we they end because they stop running at 5:30, we were told 6:00 , and almost did not get a ride back. YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET A CAB FROM ANYONE OTHER THAN A REAL TAXI STAND. In Nassau, we purchased the Atlantis Aquaventure...my kids favorite..they loved it. The park is very big. The excursion included lunch which was pretty good ...burger / fries etc.....which was surprisingly a large lunch (burger was huge).

I guess if I had to say anything negative about the cruise..it would NOT be about the cruise, crew or boat..my issues were with the passengers. I mean there are some seriously unmannered, redneck and simply RUDE , gross people on board which is hard not to notice because there are so many of them. However, there are normal people interspersed on the boat as well, just not as many. We did meet a really nice couple with very nice children.. and there are people like that on board but its hard not to notice a lot of the "other" types.

I thought the boat was very clean and they were constantly cleaning and scrubbing EVERYTHING. There was a bathroom near the Ocean Plaza bar and every time I went in there was an attendant scrubbing and cleaning it...I was very impressed at how conscientious they were about keeping the boat clean, and very germ conscientious as well. Read more