Summary: our cruise on the Carnival Dream was our 10th with Carnival. This was our first cruise as VIP's - Yipee! My wife and I are in our mid 30's and have no children. We have sailed on the following ships: Sensation, Jubilee, Paradise x3, Legend, Glory x2, and the Splendor (and also on the Norwegian Pearl). This was our 50% off cruise because our last cruise was a disaster (swine flu cruise of April '09 on the Splendor) so Carnival gave us 50% our next cruise. The itinerary was Nassau, day-at-sea (DAS), St Thomas, St Maarten, DAS and DAS.

Embarkation: our plane was ultra late arriving in Orlando so we didn't reach the pier until about 2:15. There was little to no line by this time so we really didn't get to experience the benefit of being VIPs. Embarkation was smooth and pretty much uneventful. Note to self - fly in the day before next time!

Entering the ship: we entered into the atrium as always and I have to say, it was quite impressive. We made our way to our Spa balcony room on level 11. We took the 8 flights of stairs to the room from the atrium. Read more