We drove down to New Orleans the day before our cruise. We were travelling as a family of five: Me, my husband, and our three daughters, ages 8, 11, and 11. The morning of the cruise, we made our way to the dock at around 11:30 am. There we dropped off our luggage with the porters and parked the car. There was a short line at the xray stations, and then a longer line to register and check in. Both lines moved fairly quickly. After checking in, there were boarding pictures and then another long line to the gangway. This line didn't move as fast. By 12:30 we were on the ship. We went down to Riviera deck to drop off our carryon luggage in our room. We were surprised at the size of the room. I was expecting it to be smaller than it was. After we dropped off our things we headed up to the Lido deck to sit and relax for a while. Around 3:00, we went back to our cabin to get our life vests and then went to our station for the muster drill, which wasn't bad at all and was very quick. Then, we took our life jackets back down to the room and our luggage was waiting for us in the hall, so we unpacked. We all headed back up to the Lido deck to watch the ship take off. There was no sail away party or anything, which was kind of disappointing. I don't think most people even noticed when we started moving. The children jumped in the pool and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon swimming and sliding down the waterslide, while my husband and I enjoyed drinks at a table on the deck within view of the pool.

Dining: We ate the buffet on the Lido deck every day for breakfast and lunch. The food was average buffet quality, but we enjoyed the atmosphere on the Lido deck, and the bar stewards constantly came around to take your drink orders. Also, the buffet was convenient with the kids, because they could go and fix their plates any time without us having to all pack up to go and eat. We didn't have to make them get out of the pool to eat, and everyone could go grab some food whenever they got hungry. For dinner, we all ate at the formal dining room every night. The service there was wonderful, and the food was absolutely the best we have ever had. Even the kids didn't want to miss dinner in the dining room!

Entertainment: We went to two shows. The first one was a comedian, and it was pretty funny. The kids enjoyed it as well. The second show was a magician followed by another comedian. The comedian was okay, and we were really impressed with the magician. Only my husband and I attended the second one, but it would have been fine for the kids as well. We didn't go to any of the adults only comedy shows. The games on the Lido deck every day were also very entertaining. It's funny what some people would do for a ship on a stick! We also enjoyed the Newlywed game. My husband and I played in the casino a little. We only lost $100.00, so we did pretty good for the amount of time we played. Read more