We did 9 days (back to back 5 day and 4 day cruises) starting on 8/23. Embarkation was very quick and easy as we have Platinum status and basically walked right onto the ship after the taxi dropped us off at the port. The line for those without preferred status did look long and miserable as it was very hot. I was glad we were able to bypass that although I remember those days.....

We were on the ship early and I was mad at myself for not bringing a carry on for our swimsuits. I couldn't believe how quickly our luggage arrived to our room so it worked out OK. We had booked an interior cabin but found we had been upgraded to an outside room with a window. It was nice. We have had everything from interior to mini-suite and decided that the window does make a nice difference. I will book at least that from now on. There is plenty of storage and closet space in the cabin. Our cabin steward, Clery, was very nice and did a great job keeping our room in good shape. The bed is actually 2 twins locked together and the first night I felt like I was wedged in the crack between the beds. I asked Clery for a waffle pad for the bed and he had it on for our second night. It made a big difference. The bed was much more comfortable.

Dining: We ate breakfast and lunch at the Horizon Court buffet. I usually skip breakfast and so all I really ate was cereal and toasted English muffin. My husband likes fish (I don't!) and they had some interesting choices of different salmon and other fish dishes at breakfast. He said it was OK. We always do the anytime dining and eat early. We usually ask for a table for 2 but this cruise we didn't want to wait to eat so we ate with different people every night. We had a wonderful server named Brenda in the Island dining room so we asked to sit at her table every night. We really enjoyed dinner and met some fascinating people. Some nights the food was outstanding and others just so so. My husband was celebrating a birthday so that night we ate at the Crown Grill. We love that restaurant and always eat there at least once on our cruises. It is well worth it. The first night of the cruise they always have a crab/artichoke dip thing as an appetizer and it is one of my favorite things on the ship. Because it was a back to back I got to have it twice because they repeated the meal at the start of the 4 day. Yay! Read more