Embarkation: I had pretty low expectations about embarkation as everyone I had spoken to had told us there would be this massive line up and wait to get on the ship. Not so... there were a ton of staff working at Port Canaveral and we walked directly to a counter (no line up at all) and were on the ship in less than ten minutes.

Lido Deck: The Lido deck was okay. The pools are ridiculous, how can you call a whole in the ground that is less than four feet deep and is smaller than a child's bedroom a swimming pool? Each of the three pools always looked disgustingly dirty which I am sure was because they were overfilled with people constantly. We only once went in a pool (just to say we did it) and the water was pretty murky so we quickly exited. If you are a person who enjoys sitting poolside/beach side, taking a nice dip to cool off, then I would suggest a cruise is not for you. The hot tubs were similar, though they weren't always full. But I never went into them, I can't fathom why a person would want to sit in a hot tub when it's 80+ degrees outside and almost 100% humidity. The slide was my favorite way to quickly cool off, there were not typically any waits and it was a pretty fun slide to go down.

Lido Food: The buffet/food area was pretty easy to find but I found the fact that the easiest way to get there required going outside and crossing the very busy and loud pool area really annoying. There was never enough seating and the tables were not quickly cleared. I found that the tables though wiped always looked dirty. The buffet breakfast daily was virtually identical, some variety might have been kind of nice. I was pretty grateful for the omelet station. The quality of the buffet food was no different than I would have experienced at a buffet restaurant or all inclusive. Each person I spoke with positively raved about the food on board cruises and frankly this buffet did not agree with those reviews. There were some saving graces though... Guys Burgers were fantastic (though pretty greasy) and I really enjoyed the Blue Laguna Cantina (delicious chicken tacos!). The one day I tried the Mongolian Wok I found two long black hairs in my food and was absolutely disgusted. The 24 hour pizza was delicious as well. The two bars on the Lido deck were consistently packed and as per most reviews pretty overpriced. I enjoyed a few drinks but generally stayed away from the area because it was just way way beyond on the obnoxious meter. Read more