Best cruise excursions ever!

The positive: The food was good in the main dining room, at the buffet (but they didn't have many chocolate desserts) and especially at the Chef's Table dinner. I highly recommend the Chef's Table experience! You get to eat in the galley and see behind the scenes and a volunteer get to help make a chocolate warm melting cake. We loved our wait staff but weren't wild about "Showtime."

We went on three excursions. In Montego Bay, Jamacia we went river rafting on the Martha Brea river on a handmade bamboo raft with a seat for two. Our guide polled the raft and gave us a bit of history of the river. In Grand Caymon we went on the Coral Gardens and Sting Ray City excursion. The coral gardens and tropical fish were a wonderful sight to see while snorkeling. Then at Sting Ray City we were surrounded by gentle Sting Rays. The guide was holding one and we were all able to "pet" her. These were females about 3 feet in diameter. After watching the guide my husband put out his arms and a Ray swam right to him and let him hold her for about 15 minutes. We were so thrilled. The next day we went on the Beginner's Scuba Diving excursion. After a short bus ride to the dive shop we had a 30 minute class on the basics of Scuba diving and then went outside to be fitted for our gear. There are lockers to keep your things in for a small fee. Then we went into water 4 feet deep for practice breathing underwater and clearing our masks. There was one dive master for 4 people so you got plenty of one on one. The dive master held a buoy with a rope attached for us to hold on to if we wished. One lady never felt comfortable diving below the surface so she held on to the rope and the dive master towed her around so she could see the sights. The rest of us dove down to about 26 feet. They have set up artificial reefs that have attracted lots of fish so while there was not much coral here there were plenty of fish. We even saw an eel.

On the negative side our cabin was on deck six directly above on of the lounges and it was noisy with the drummers practicing in the afternoon and playing at night. It was quiet by midnight. To avoid this study the deck plans and choose a cabin with staterooms above and below. Our cabin steward just couldn't seem to keep track of when we were scheduled for dinner and when was the best time to clean in the mornings. We had to ask for robes and ice and the mini bar was never restocked. Other than that he was pleasant enough and he did make us some cute towel animals.

The Carnival Dream is a well kept ship with a very pleasant crew. With the exception of our cabin location this was one of the best cruises we've been on.