Being our 7th cruise, we had great expectations for our Dream vacation upon Carnival's newest baby. She looked spectacular upon embarkation (which went off without a hitch) and was tastefully decorated on the inside. SIZE: One fault with the massive size of the ship was that the size didn't actually benefit any additional amenities that I assumed it would...it just increased the amount of space to accommodate sleeping arrangements for the masses. This was a Christmas break/New Year's cruise so of course if was packed (including 1400 children who weren't much a nuisance until the last sea day in the hot tubs---parents should monitor their own children for sure:) FOOD: Excellent variety and flavour (did anyone pass up the melting chocolate cake at the nightly meal?---shame on you!) The venues were plentiful: Wasabi sushi bar, sandwich station, Mongolian Wok, Omelette station, Hamburger grill, pizzeria, unlimited frozen yogurt/ice cream (soft serve). However, the Chocolate Extravaganza on the last sea day was spectacular:) CABIN: we were in cabin 2330 which was the new type of cove balcony. Perfect for a family on a budget to have a balcony space, close to the ocean with enough room for two and coffee (we took our cabin coffee table onto the deck to rest our feet as there was no deck table). Our family of four slept comfortably in this set up of a room. 6A category. ONBOARD ACTIVITIES: the waterworks looked like fun but we never made it that far; loved the Serenity area for adults (wish some conditions of what constituted an adult were posted---like age); Gym was adequately equipped with ellipticals,

treadmills, and weight machines...everyone packed it out the first 3 days and then it wasn't so hard to find a space; pools---for our family, we found them small. We are used to the larger ones on Princess that you can have a good game of water volleyball...they were just fine for dipping in but swimming wasn't actually an option. We also would have liked to see some organized pingpong tourneys as they had two great tables set up. However, we really enjoyed the mini golf course. ENTERTAINMENT: Loved the juggler (EDGE) and his style of bringing us all to laughter. Due to the lack of modesty for some of the dancers outfits, we chose not to take our daughters to the nightly entertainment. The talent was obviously there, but the discernment in clothing choices was too revealing for our family. The children's Camp Carnival brochure warned of this and they were right. Thx Carnival for the warning as this hasn't been the case on some other questionable entertainment nights on other lines. OVERALL: Loved this cruise, the people we meet and the service we received. We will definitely be utilizing Carnival in the future.