This was our 2nd cruise. Our kids are all grown now, so my wife and I have started to plan 1 cruise per year as our vacation. Last year (Nov 2015) we took a Princess cruise to the Caribbean and were very impressed. Some comparisons with this Carnival ship were:

1. Balcony access was better on Princess with a sliding door that could be slightly open at night for the ocean sounds. On the Carnival dream it was a swing door with a difficult to turn handle. The handle was so difficult I was a little fearful of getting trapped on the balcony as the door was either open or closed - no in between unless you propped it open.

2. The thermal tubs on the Carnival dream were not "hot tubs" and the water was really only warm instead of hot. This did have the benefit of allowing you to stay in the water longer without overheating, however, once you became accustomed the water no longer felt very warm. Princess had actual hot tubs next to the pool which were lovely after a dip in the pool. Read more