My husband and I took the Transatlantic cruise on the Carnival Dream. This was 16 days/15 nights, leaving Rome, stopping in Barcelona, Malaga, Mallorca, the Canary Islands, 5 days across the Atlantic, then 2 days in Bermuda and ended up in New York City. We had already planned on a trip to Greece in October and this one-way passage back to the USA ended up being such a good deal we couldn't pass it up. We booked the trip in May thru Carnival on the Early Saver program for the October 2009 cruise. We embarked from Rome at 7:00 PM. We used the very easy train from the Rome Termini train station, which cost about 14 E., I think. Give yourself time though; it's quite a walk in the station from the central station to the gate. Walked a little at the end in Civitavecchia and got the free shuttle to the ship. Virtually no wait to embark. Luggage showed up in about 2 hours.

Cabin: I liked our cabin #9470, an inside stateroom. It's aft on the port side- one short walk to the steps up one flight to the Lido deck for breakfast and lunch, out the back door to the sunset deck for the adult pool and hot-tubs. No negatives about the cabin- liked the fluffy robes, shower is bigger than other ships I've sailed on, loved the temperature setting on the shower (you set the temperature on the right and it keeps that for the trip-I want one!), plenty of storage space, really comfortable mattresses. A different towel animal every night. Room was quiet. People who had balconies seemed happy, but we always go with the cheapest cabin.

Dining: We choose late dining at 8:15. I go back and forth on this. I hate having to wait till 8:15, but 6:00 is simply too early. The one or two times I opted out and we went to the buffet line, it's just too hectic; my husband likes the table service. One night in Bermuda everyone ate at the anytime dining and that also seems too hectic. Had nice tablemates in the dining room (both main dining rooms look the same) but 15 dinners was too long a time to sit with the same people. They should have a shake-up mid-way thru a long cruise and reassign everyone. Probably 90% of people would welcome a chance to sit with new people and no one's feelings would get hurt. Read more