We went into our Carnival cruise with low expectations, but were happily blown away by their delicious food and excellent food and beverage staff! They exceeded our expectations by a lot! Some of the other departments were just mediocre, but food and beverage staff were amazing with their exceptional service and genuinely kind individuals. Our daughter has a gluten sensitivity and they treated her like a princess! Dining staff used our first names beginning the first night and would often see us in other parts of the ship later in the trip and always used our first names there as well. Beverage services in the theater were equally as impressive. The hostess on the Dream was an amazing woman who couldn't have been more sweet to my daughter. The ship was well kept up and very clean. They could use some improvement in their entertainment quality, but overall, we were very happy with the Dream.
Nice cabin that was overall very quiet. It's across the hall from a hostess area, so there were some noises of dishes clanging in the mid-morning, but never during sleeping hours. The room was well taken care of and fairly roomy for the value. Unfortunately, the family before us vomited all over the room, so the smell was unbearable for the first 24 hours. But after that, we had a much better opinion of the room!
Port of New Orleans was fine. No issues boarding or disembarking.