I traveled with 3 girlfriends out of Barcelona and we were pleasantly surprised. I was hesitant to book after finding few reviews and quite a bit of negativity here on the boards on all aspects of both the line & ship. I have to say, we booked it for the value and tried not to set expectations too high, but were thrilled. We booked two premium balcony cabins that were very spacious and extremely clean. Our room attendants remembered our names from the first meeting (even though we don't go by what's on our passports) and always made sure we had everything we needed, including finding robes for all four of us, and allowing us to pass chairs over the side all to one balcony so we could sit together at night since due to the wind they couldn't open them to adjoin like the booking agent said we could.

Embarkation was a breeze, although you don't get your sea passes there and it's not very nice, with no computers or fancy waiting areas. We were on board and in our cabins earlier than promised. We all bought the drink package & had assigned dining, which was great. Both our waiters were very attentive and brought us things to try without asking. The wine selection was great and they kept bottles coming if needed. The food in MDR was as good as I've had on Celebrity, Princess & Holland. I will say that the buffets lacked much variety, but were always clean, with fresh food, and some of the best pizza I've encountered on a ship.

We seemed to be some of the only American women on board, but they did seat us at dinner between two parties that spoke English, one from UK and the other Australia. It seemed the crew all enjoyed practicing their English with us, then again, we're from the South, they likely had fun listening to us. Read more