First, let me say, I am not a huge fan of cruising. I love sailing, but being stuck with 1000+ strangers in a hotel you cannot escape from is not my idea of fun. Second, I used to cruise a fair amount --- living in Miami and working for a top radio station has its advantages. So when my college-age daughter wanted to cruise for the first time, I thought okay -- we'll do this. Having a limited budget (2 kids in college), we admittedly chose the cheaper line. And despite the fact that it was college Spring Break, I honestly expected more variety of guests. While there were some families and some older guests, most on this particular cruise were heavy partyers --- not just kids --- we saw many continuously drunk 30-40 year olds. But that was not what was most disappointing. First, the good though. The staterooms are much more spacious than I remember from the early 90's. We chose an oceanview and I was pleasantly surprised how nice it was. Even the bathroom was better than expected. Our porter was gracious and wonderful --- I asked for ice once and every time we came to the room, we had a full ice bucket! Noise level is not great --- but for the most part, we had a good stay in our room. The boat was clean and all of the staff were extremely attentive and helpful.

Now the negatives ---1) Internet. It's a constant upsell and it did not work most of the trip. I took pictures with my camera phone of every time I went to log on and could not.

2) Food --- unlike what I remember from cruising and what is commonly assumed, food is not plentiful and available nor is it easily accessible. I remember going on cruises where it food was around every corner on easily accessible buffets. On this cruise, the food was hard to find and not that great. The only thing plentiful is water, bad tea and even worse coffee. But to get to it, you have to go through the crowded pool area. There was also soft serve ice cream and frozen yogurt available all of the time. There was supposed to be pizza and subs available, but each time we tried, they were out or the lines were long (did I mention that feature was at the very back of the ship?). Room service was quick but only offered the option of just so-so sandwiches and desserts. No pizza, no burgers. We saw people eating burgers, chicken fingers, fries, etc. but never got to partake because that was only in the pool area during limited times and lines were really long. The breakfast buffet was good --- despite long lines, it did move quickly and of all the food we ate, breakfast was by far the best tasting food. We ate in our assigned dining room twice. It was just okay. The portions were really small and the food was really just okay. I had mahi mahi our second night and the portion was only about 3 inches. We did order a bottle of wine, but I was disappointed that they did not offer a bottle of any of the wines that we wanted --- so we had to go with a substandard choice. Read more