We chose this cruise based on its itinerary, cost, and the nearby port. We are mid-50's, Platinum on Carnival, with a few other cruise lines in our history. The itinerary of three ports and three sea days was ideal for us; the Carnival Dream has plenty of opportunities on sea days. We have been to all the ports before and enjoyed our return. This December 4 week looked to be the least expensive of the year - except for September 24, 2011, when we plan to book again! Port Canaveral is ~45 minutes from our home so DD can drop us off and we save the parking charge.

We chose to eat at Fishlips restaurant on the port's channel to the ocean. It gives us a few more minutes with DD and ensures we can go right to our room at 1:30 once we board. We can live without the buffet lunch. Fishlips is great! We watch the small boats; we see pelicans and, every once in a while, a dolphin escorts a boat down the channel.

We enjoyed meeting Butch the cruise director two years ago on the Carnival Glory; he is an entertaining CD and he is training his ACD George to be an excellent host as well. Greg, Christian, Mel, and Stephanie hosted various trivia games during the week, danced at the Groove for St. Jude event, and added to our enjoyment as social hosts. We also discovered Capt. Carlo Quierolo when we met the officers. He brought the Carnival Glory out in July 2003 when we cruised on that inaugural voyage. He was amazed that we remembered. Read more