Since my boyfriend and I live in New Orleans, it was a no-brainer to take a cruise on the Carnival Dream. We did not bring kids, but there were many on this cruise. It was a real mixture of age ranges and races on the ship, which was nice. We were dropped off at the Port of N.O. at about 1pm, the line was long but embarkation went pretty quickly and smoothly. We noticed that a lot of people in line had boxes of soft drinks with them. The ship only gives you water, lemonade, and iced tea from the machines on the Lido deck. There is a charge for all other drinks, including the bottled water in the cabin! We were able to get into our cabin just after 1:30pm, which was located on the 8th deck. Our steward was Rubi, a very nice man from Indonesia. I would highly recommend him. The cabin was fine. My complaint was that we did not have a sliding glass door to enter the balcony, it was a regular glass door. I like to keep the door open when we are relaxing to hear the ship moving through the water, but that was not possible in this cabin. Our bathroom had soap, shampoo, and body wash, but no hair conditioner. There is a blow dryer in the cabin. Pack a sweater since the air conditioning on the ship is quite chilly. Bring earplugs for the Encore shows, they are at a high decibel level for sure.

The food in the Scarlet dining room was really good. Appetizers, entrees, and desserts all 8 or 9 on a 10 scale. At dinner we were seated with 4 other couples and we all got along great. The buffet food on the Lido deck was also quite good, generally 7 or 8 on a 10 scale. Of course everyone loves "Swirls", the soft serve ice cream machine! The decor on the ship is what I would describe as "Tacky 1970s", but after a while we stopped noticing it so much and really began to just enjoy our time there as the week went on. We spent lots of time swimming in the pools, which are salt water, and also we enjoyed the hot tubs. The shows at night were very good. We saw a Motown revue, an 80s music show (my favorite), a tribute to movies called Flick, an American Rock show, and the cruise director (Chris Williams, aka The Flying Scotsman) had his own show as well. He is a terrific singer, funny, and super talented. Chris also hosted "Love and Marriage", which was hilarious. We even went to the "Towel Animal Theater" which was cute. We did not do any excursions on this cruise. If I were to go back to Montego Bay, I would check out the Community Tour through Carnival. I would also check out scuba diving options in Cozumel. We got off the ship in each location and spent a little time at Bayshore Mall in Grand Cayman. We took a cab in Cozumel to get to the main shopping area. ($8 each way) In Montego Bay we hired a local driver named Dave Heavens to take us around the city for an hour. He charged us $35. He is really nice and dependable and I would recommend him. Overall, we had a fun and relaxing time on the Carnival Dream and I would do this cruise again.