Unfortunately, the most memorable part of the cruise were the disappointments. I have sailed before on the Jewel and the Oasis. Both of those cruises exceeded by expectations. This one was a letdown.

For this cruise, we booked a Grand Suite to have more room for our family (two adults and a teen). The room was very spacious, with a nice sized private balcony. However, there were problems. The room looked a little tired, with cracks on the walls and ceiling in the bathroom. One of the built in bedside sconces was broken and the light constantly flickered. The air conditioning in our room didn't work properly, even after being serviced. The temperature during the day was in the high 70s in our room. It wasn't quite the deluxe experience we had hoped for.

One of the other issues, which others have also indicated, was the plumbing problems on board ship. Our toilet suffered from an intermittent problem where it was unable to flush. This is a recurring problem due to the vacuum system used on this ship. Other seemingly had worse problems. There was a smell of sewage in some hallways several days during the cruise. Also, the public restrooms smelled and were not clean when the plumbing system was malfunctioning. This occurred on a couple of different days during the cruise. It's just gross. Read more