We visited our local travel agent about 2 years ago and talked to her about booking a cruise. She suggested the Carnival Dream and since we had never cruised before, we agreed. We were very excited and waited almost 18 months after booking to go. I was not disappointed by any means but I guess I had expected a bit more. Not sure if it was our fault for not preparing ahead of time to know what to expect or not. I think the problem that happened to us was this, during the initial tour of the ship we booked a spa treatment instead of going to the cruise director's show. First off we didn't know there was a cruise director's show until the next day (we watched it on TV) as we did not consult the ships paper (Did not see this until later). Don't get me wrong, the spa treatment was wonderful and we were very relaxed the first night but it was the first night and I had hoped to do something else. The only suggestion I would make at this time would be that the spa personnel might be a bit more considerate when booking your treatments. If there is something going on during the time they are booking your treatment instead of just booking it. We didn't know the difference until the next day.

I took advantage of the spinning class during our first day at sea. I recommend that you sign up for any and all classes for the duration of the cruise on embarkation day if you want to do them as they fill up quickly.

I went to the shopping talk which ended up being beneficial to us but wouldn't recommend it unless you are going on a cruise with the intention of buying something. Once again,I did not know what I was getting myself into but it worked out in the end. Domenica was very helpful and I wouldn't have met her and known who to talk to if I had not gone to the show. Read more