To start off...embarkment went very smoothly. I went directly to the counter and got my sail and sign card....then you had to wait for your zone to be called, which took less than 10 minutes. My first impression of the ship is that it is very colorful. I did get dizzy when i first got on the ship and so did my step mom, but once we boarded and walked around a while, we were ok. We headed to the lido deck for the buffet. At first, it was hard to find the food. There wasn't a big selection for that afternoon. The food did not impress me at that time. We spent some of our time waiting in line to see the maitre de- Ken (Who was very polite and nice). We had to see if we could get a table for my dad to sit with us at diner. He told us that there was no room, but he would make arrangements to ask the people who were at our table to switch if they would like to. After that, we headed to our rooms. We were in room 10220 lido deck. We didn't see our cabin stewart at that time, actually we didn't get to see him until the second day...his name was Rodney. He never got to know our name and never called us by name. That night, the 1,400 children who were on board, decided they didn't want to stay in the kids clubs. Some children were running on our floors,soi put my head outside my door, gave them the eye, and after that i never saw then again. The food on the ship was nothing out of the ordinary...same as on most ships. The Steakhouse also didn't impress me, but this might be all due to the fact that im a picky eater. They do give you alot to eat there. The cruise Director Todd, kept everyone busy. He's just a pleasure to look at. I do have to say,The dream has the best looking crew i have ever seen on my past 8 cruises i have done. The weather was nasty going out of NYC...We had rain for two days, but as soon as we got there the weather got better. In Florida, I went to CoCo beach with the shuttle. It's 5 dollars each way. I walked on the beach...the water was pretty warm and my dad went for a swim. I also went shopping in Ron Jons and then we went back to the ship. In Nassau, it was very windy. We went to Atlantis, but what was supposed to be a ferry turned out to be a small banged up boat. They loaded about 75 people on a boat that could hardly hold 30 people. I really thought we would sink, but we did make it to Atlantis. Atlantis didnt impress me at all. They wouldn't let you on the beach unless you bought a pass. We went shopping in the town and then went back to the ship. Thanksgiving diner on the ship was not good at all. Not like the average Thanksgiving diner. I was disappointed in that and so was my dad and step mom. Freeport was very nice. We went to the beach by van . We passed the casino, but didn't go in. I rode the banana boat, which was a highlight of my trip. I was the only 51 year old, who had the guts to get on it. I was on it with three kids. The banana boat stopped in the middle of the ocean...the guy ran out of gas, so i spent 20 minutes trying to calm down the kids who were scared and starting to cry. I told them not to worry, we will be OK. They called another boat, and got us the gas and then we were on our way. We had the greatest waiters...SASA, MAXIMO- I called him tea man, and Ne mo-my dad nicknamed him Nicholas, because we couldn't spell his name or ever get it right. I'm glad I got to test out the hot tubs on the ship. I never got to go in the pools, they were too crowded. Some nights i would go back to my dads room To meet him for a show and he would have beautiful towel animals (he was on deck 9) I would be disappointed in what i got...i got all flat things, so i wrote on my comment card, that my room steward needs towel making class lessons. I think he could have taking some more time on what i got in my room but that didn't hurt my cruise. I still gave him an extra tip anyway. All of the activities and shows were fantastic...It would have been nicer to have one or two more shows going on in the afternoon. I especially loved the laser shows. The crew did the best they could with all the people they had to deal with on this sailing...and believe me...some of them were not so nice. They are all very hard workers and i appreciate all the stuff they have done for us. All and all, I loved my cruise and will definitely stick with Carnival Cruise Lines. Thank you Carnival.