First of all, let me just say that we loved this trip, loved the ship (for the most part), but learned a couple of things we want to share. My wife and I are in our early 50’s and have traveled a fair amount but we are not experienced cruisers. I read a lot of reviews before we went any many provided good information, so I’m going to try to fill in the gaps of those and not just repeat what they had to say.
The Ship: It was modern, beautiful and well designed – except for two things. We like to walk several miles a day and were counting on the jogging track being our answer. Sadly, it is a circle around just the pool area so, yes, it is absolutely useless during the main part of the day. There are good machines on the ship, but we wanted to be outside. We actually found it easier to try to go to the deck with the lifeboats and walk up and down it outside – which also happens to be the smoker’s area, but we could live with it. Oh, it’s back and forth because you can’t circle across the bow or the stern.
Also, this has been said, but I will repeat this one. The Lawn Club area is a total waste of space. It’s reserved for people who are willing to pay more to use it, but there was hardly anyone there while the whole pool area was packed. This makes no sense. That space could have easily accommodated another pool and given people room to breathe.
We had a veranda room and LOVED it! While you only have about a 50% chance of having sun on it, that 50% was a lot better than trying to do the pool lounger shuffle. As always, there is no saving of lounge chairs, and absolutely everyone saves their lounge chairs. The veranda was private enough to really make for a serene experience. For a cruise ship, we thought the room was great considering we were not the upper class of the ship.