This was our 11th cruise in the last six years with Carnival, Norwegian, Princess and Royal Caribbean and it was a pleasant surprise. We had sailed previously on the Serenade of the Seas so we were familiar with the Radiance class. We planned a trip to the Tampa area to visit my wife's parents and decided to squeeze in a cruise while we were there. Most of our previous cruises were 7 to 10 nights and we have had a balcony or suite on all of them. We enjoyed this cruise as much as any of the others.

Embarkation - One of the smoothest we've experienced. Despite seeing on the morning news that the ship was anchored in the gulf because of fog in Tampa Bay we drove to Tampa, dropped the rental car at the airport and took a cab to the port. The ship arrived in port about 2 hours late at around 9am and we got there about 11. Check in was fast with no real lines anywhere. We were having lunch in the Windjammer shortly after noon. The ship actually sailed 1/2 hour early to avoid predicted evening fog. Great job on turnaround.

Cabin - This was our first aft facing balcony but certainly not our last (actually we have our second one booked on Celebrity Summit to Bermuda in May). The balcony was huge. We had 2 lounges, 2 chairs and a table on it. Our cabin attendant Maks was excellent. Read more