Background: 4 women in our mid to late 20's from the NY and Boston areas, all experienced cruisers, 2 Carnival vets and 2 Carnival newbies. This was the first time on the Dream for all of us.

Pre-Cruise: 3 of the 4 of us flew in Thursday night prior to embarkation and stayed with friends in the Orlando area. We rented a car Friday night from the Orlando airport Budget and drove to Port Canaveral from Orlando Saturday morning. Budget was fantastic and upgraded us for $20 to a brand new SUV. The drive was easy, a little under an hour on one high way. Once we reached Port Canaveral we had plenty of time to drive into Cocoa Beach and stock up on any missing essentials and hit the liquor store.

Embarkation: Embarkation was a total breeze as have been all of my experiences with Carnival. However, I will say that Port Canaveral was the most organized port and all the employees were very friendly and informative. We had not a single problem. Once through the main security line (20 minutes), we sailed right through check in and onto the ship by 1pm. All in all it took us a little over an hour to get from the shuttle bus from the rental car company to our state room. We dropped off our bags and made our way to the lido buffet for lunch which was delish! Read more