Embarkation was a breeze, especially that we were traveling with someone who uses a wheelchair. The cabin was ready and clean when we arrived by 1:30pm. The cabin steward greeted us, a gentleman named Joao, who was consistently nice and a hard worker. We headed to the Cafe where the food was good; no complaints there. Following was 2 days at sea where there was not enough interesting entertainment but the Cruise Director, DanDan was amazing; when he was there, the place was jumping. Being at sea 2 days to start and 2 days returning, there was a lack of quality activities and entertainments. We were in an OK cabin on the 8th deck. It smelled like a sewer; when we called, they quickly sent someone to fix it. Also there was some water by the bathroom door, they also sent a humidifier and fixed it. Even on some floors near the elevator the smell was present.

Since I have been on the Gem and the Dawn, and even after reading some of the negative reviews, I still wanted to give it a try. There are obvious signs of wear and tear on the carpets and the cafe furniture. The foods in the cafe were mostly very salty and not appealing. We ate in the Magenta dining room the first night where a waiter was obnoxious to say the least. We did not return and stayed in the beautiful Pacific dining room where all the maitres d' were very nice, especially Karina. We had only good reviews for all the servers there at all times. By the way, one of the maitre d' in the Magenta (from Jamaica) was extremely nice. In the dining rooms, most of the foods were salty, even the caesar salad dressing. The deserts, tough nicely presented, were boring and not tasty. We were a group of 10 and the consensus was the same for everyone and were all cruised more than 20 times before with different lines.

The shows were mediocre, except with the Gem dancers and singers and the acrobate couple from Cirque du Soleil were present. Read more