I was concerned about my planned vacation with my boyfriend on the new Carnival Dream after reading some of these reveiws. I was very happy to discover that I ship is beautiful and desgined well for the large amount of people sailing. We had an inside cabin on the second floor and usually all the "happening" places are at least on the 8th floor of ships, but I found most inside activities were on the 3-5 floors, which was nice since I'm a stair climber :) We sailed during Halloween and dressed up as smurfs (BTW, anyone that happens to read this review that was on our cruise and has a picture of us, please e-mail me, so many people took our picture but we didn't take our own costume pic) I loved Halloween on the ship but was sad to lose one of my formal nights. Also, the food and service on board was excellent, we did anytime dining and as usual, the service isn't a personable but it's waht you give up to dine at your leisure. I find the feature to be totally worth it, plus some nights, my boyfriend and I sat alone, and other nights we would share and meet some great people. I know most bad comments about this ship address a foul smell and constantly standing in lines. First, I did notice a smell the first two days but only in the Encore lounge and it doesn't ruin you vacation by any means. Second, there can be some long lines for breakfast but I recommend sitting down for breakfast anyway, the service is great and the food is fresh. I didn't feel that these lines were much worse than any other ship I've been on. Also, they have made the back lounge of the ship devoted to comedy, which I am a big fan. The shows back there were very funny and worth your time. So I say relax and have a wonderful time, because we sure did!