We arrived at the Black Falcon Pier at 10:45 and by 11:30 we were in our suite. Truly the easiest and fastest boarding of any cruise line we have traveled.

We(Wife, Daughter and I)had Aft Facing Penthouse 9232 and our Son and Daughter's Boyfriend had balcony 9210. AFP was spacious and nicely appointed, but kind of poor planning in certain areas, such as the balcony is long but not deep. The two lounge chairs can not be moved much to follow or avoid the sun as the balcony is so narrow. Never the less we used it a lot and was a great place to relax. The smells from the bakery below were incredible, the views even better. The last sea day we watched whales for about thirty minutes and I swear they were putting on a show for us, jumping completely out of the water. The bathroom is good size but I don't understand the little cubby that they stuffed the toilet into. I can't imagine how large people can possibly use the toilet. Lighting in tub/shower is terrible and the shower head controls are such that you get hit in the face with water when you turn the shower on while standing outside the tub. The guys balcony room was small but fine for two people. They were jealous because we had a doorbell and they didn't!

Joseph, our room steward was excellent and kept the room spotless. Rama, our butler was very helpful. The room steward for our guys room (never got his name) was excellent and always filled us in as to their whereabouts if he saw us in the hallway. He was tipped very well at the end as the guys are pigs! Meals were in my opinion (and we all agreed) the worst of any cruise line we have traveled with the exception of MSC. The first night(and two other nights)we ate in the Venetian dining room, which is a beautiful dining room especially if you get seated at the rear of the room in front of the large windows. Service was excellent. The food was ok. The Aqua we found extremely noisy, cramped and the food was horrible as was the service. La Cucina was good and service was good. Cagney's was a total waste of money in our opinion. I had strip steak that after two bites I was done. It had a very strange taste as did the prime rib that my wife had. We noticed this with all beef dishes we ordered on the ship. Not sure where they buy the beef products, but very strange flavor. Service at Cagney's was excellent. Le Bistro was good (escargot excellent) and service excellent. I am not sure what the big hype is about Suite guests perk of breakfast at Cagney's...we did it the first morning and it was the worst. We ate at the Venetian or the buffet the rest of the week. The Garden Cafe was your standard cruise ship buffet. The kids (22, 19, 17) loved the Blue Lagoon buffalo wings and started the tradition of ten wings at 1:00AM as a before bed snack (thus the extra tip for their room steward, the poor guy!) Read more