My wife and I travelled with 3 other couples. We have been cruising since 1998. We have cruised on Royal Caribbean and Carnival before. We prefer Royal Caribbean. We chose the Carnival Dream for 2 reasons; size of the ship and itinerary. The cruise had 4 ports of call, Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Costa Maya. We had previously been to Cozumel but the others were new to us.

The Ship The Carnival Dream is the largest ship that we have ever sailed. Needless to say our expectations were pretty high. The ship was nice but did not have the "wow' factor that I was looking for. At any rate, I was disappointed with the layout of the ship. The main pool deck was divided into 3 separate decks. This made seating and spacing limited. There were a couple of functions (lasers shows and buffets) on the main deck where all of the passengers were encouraged to attend but there was not enough room to accommodate all of us. The jogging/walking track went around the over-sized miniature golf course and an engine room. It would have been nicer to have it go around the main pool area.

Since we have been cruising, we have graduated from cabins with small port holes to ocean view cabins to balconies. The cabin was nice. My wife and friends said the cabin was larger that the other ships we have traveled. I didn't notice the difference. I did notice that there we more children on this cruise. Regardless of the sign on the balcony doors, most guest, especially the kids, let the doors slam shut and you could hear them from 3 cabins up or down the hall and on the decks above. Read more