We sailed on the Carnival Dream July 2-9. We were celebrating my husband's 40th birthday, so in addition to myself, my husband, and our 7 year old daughter, our party also included my father-in-law ans some family friends (husband, wife, 2 teenage sons). It was mine and my husband's 4th cruise and our daughter's 1st. We have only sailed Carnival-Jubilee, Paradise, and Glory. My daughter and I shared a balcony cabin #6208 and my husband and his dad shared a balcony cabin 2 doors down #6212. I use a walker and wheelchair, so I needed a handicapped accessible cabin. 6208 is the first cabin on the floor (farthest forward on that deck) and had many good features.

To begin with, the key card slot automatically opened the door and there was also a switch inside the room to open the door. My only complaint was that the switch was not labeled and it took about 2 days before I realized this. The cabin was large and the doorway was a little larger than the regular cabins (as I realized when trying to fit my walker through my husband's door) and there was no step into the bathroom or out onto the balcony. On the issue of the balcony, though, the outer wall was at least 4 feet high and solid metal. I don't know if this was due to the cabin being in the front of the ship or being handicap accessible. It was okay for me, since I am able to stand on my own, but if you were completely wheelchair bound, the balcony would be useless. Another nice feature of this room (again if you are ambulatory) is that there is a door right outside leading to a secluded area in the front of the ship. This is where we hung out as we left port to start our cruise and it was a great hidden treat! There were lots of grab bars in the shower, as well as a fold down shower chair, but the downside was the grated drains in the floor that made a lot of noise and gave off REALLY bad sewage smells at times. Luckily, this smell wasn't all the time as it could have caused a big problem.

The ship itself is very nice and elegantly decorated. Our daughter loved to ride in the glass elevators, but the elevators took a long time and there were not enough for a ship of this size. For those of us who did not have the option to use the stairs at times, the wait for elevators seemed interminable. We were even late to dinner a couple of times because we were waiting for one that was going down. Read more