We chose this cruise mainly due to the week it was traveling. We enjoyed the ship, although apparently smoking is now allowed everywhere, or the smoking sections were just not enforced, that was not pleasant as we spent our time trying to escape the smokers. The water slide was also out of commission for a little while during repairs and the movie screened had a large glowing 1 in the upper left hand corner which was distracting sometimes. The stops were nice with our favorite being Cozumel. We did a "Swim with the Dolphins" excursion is Cozumel and a Wildlife and Zoo Safari in Belize, our guide in Belize was exceptional. She was very knowledgeable and friendly and truly seemed to enjoy her work. That excursion was over 6 hours long though and my teenage daughter was upset there was no time for shopping. The port in Mahogany Bay is very nice. It was pouring down rain that day so we didn't go further than the port. The people on the Dream are all very friendly. Our cabin steward Ayu was wonderful. Our cabins were on Deck 12 the spa deck and unfortunately by the outside door. There were lots of kids running in and out of the door all hours of the night and running on the deck right above us. This made sleeping difficult. The cruise director Lee did a great job keeping everyone entertained. His co-host Olivia also did a great job. We never ate in the formal dining rooms as we do not liked to get "dressed up" for dinner while on vacation. Guys burgers are good and the pizza is phenomenal. The buffet is average, probably a lot like a Golden Coral here in the South part of the U.S. My largest complaint are the fees. I think Carnival fees you every time you turn around so that you are paying for the crews salary. Every time you use your sail and sign card there was an automatic %15 gratuity added, didn't matter what is was for. Then we we received our statement there were qty 4 $90.65 charges for gratuities. I called and requested they remove those charges but was told it is "Corporate policy to charge everyone over the age of 2 that fee." This is Ridiculous, especially given how much the cruise cost, the gratuities you are charged when you use your Sail & Sign card and given that we tipped cash to those employees who assisted us. I hope every cruise line doesn't add those extra fees. Because I think we need to find a different one.
Cabin was decent, nothing special. Door wouldn't dead bolt and the safe broke on day 4. This ship is showing her age.
What's there to say about New Orleans!!! We ate at Manning's which had a neat atmosphere and the food was decent.
Port is very nicely done. Even though it was pouring down rain we enjoyed walking around, shopping and we stopped at the bar there Fat Tuesdays. Would like to go back.