This is a first time cruise for us and our two grownup kids. I read some negative reviews so I lowered my expectations but boy was I pleasantly surprised. IT was a wonderful experience. It was almost always positive (except for the slow internet and the same breakfast food everyday) and was well worth the money. For the four of us, I spent about $2700 for everything (no shore excursions arranged)including shopping and drinks.

We stayed overnight Sunday at the nearby Courtyard Marriott and went to the terminal around 11:30 am. Parking was $12 a day. We dragged our luggage for about 100 feet to an awaiting porter and tipped him $1 a bag. Then we stayed in line for about 30 minutes before going into the dome, checked in (I printed our sign and sail documents online so that made it easier) and were at the Paris lunch buffet on the Lido deck by 12:15 PM.

After lunch, we walked around the ship as we were told the rooms will be not be available until after 1:30 PM. We were among the first 200 to board the ship so we were able to check out decks 7 to 10 where all the lounges, shops, restaurants, casino, bars, library, shops, internet center, etc. were. I found the layout very convenient especially at night when with drinks in hand we were hopping from one place to the next. From the atrium lobby, we could see plenty of goings-on The ship was big and very clean. We saw the crew cleaning sections of the ship all the time. Our window was washed while on dock at Ensenada. Muster drill was done in 30 minutes. We stayed in an ocean view stateroom with a queen bed while the kids stayed in an interior stateroom with an upper and a lower bed. The room was cleaned twice a day. At over 180 square feet, this was bigger than a similar stateroom on Royal Caribbean. There were ample closets and drawers, a complimentary safe, nice sized showers and the toilet had that airplane vacuum flush. Since the Riviera deck was the lowest passenger deck and our room was located near the center of the ship, we did not feel the ship moving except on one short duration of 20 minutes. We used the stairs a lot, going up and down 3 to 6 decks, that made us hungry more often. Which brings us to food. I read some negative reviews about the food. Nothing to worry about if you are not a gourmet eater like we are. Except for the same breakfast food every day, all our meals were fantastic. On formal night, I ordered a serving each of lobster and prime rib. I saw one guy order at least 5 servings of lobster. On other nights, we had salmon, steaks, shrimps, pasta. Where else can you tell your waiter you want another entree, a second, a third. The Paris buffets were good. For one lunch they were serving Italian dishes that were quite tasty. Pizzas and ice cream were always available and sushi stand opened at night. I did not even get near the burger and hotdog counters by the small pool which seemed always crowded with sunbathers. Of course, cocktails and drinks of the day were always offered. We did not get a soda card as the free juices were good, especially the fruit punch. The entertainment.What can I say. Very good. I just wished the singers had more vocal range. The shows were typical Las Vegas. On the first night, we watched the show at the Normandie Lounge and the highlight was the comedian who did this hysterical Godzilla act that had us laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes. There was always something going on. Casino, disco, karaoke, shows, the bars,the lounges (there was an entertaining Filipino band called Blood Power that belted out powerful rock and pop songs at Leonardo's.) For kids, they had Camp Carnival, teen disco and amusement center. The gym was big and clean and upstairs on deck 10 and above were a miniature golf course, table tennis and a basketball hoop. We did not arrange shore excursions. At Catalina, we walked around and shopped. I planned to rent a golf cart but after 2 hours we wanted to get back the ship. At Ensenada, we took the bus to downtown where they offered the Bufadora tour for only $15 per person (compared to $28? offered at the ship.) The blowhole was no big deal, had lunch at Habana Banana and had only 30 minutes to shop. We were then returned to the downtown area where we went to Papas and Beer (no big deal either, quite stinky upstairs)then saw Mango Mango on the other side of the street where they had $20 all you can drink before 7 PM, managed to get really drunk with tequilas and margaritas. Plenty of cheap shopping onboard since it was duty free. One shop sold everything for $10. They were selling 18k gold bracelets for like a $1 an inch. All in all, a blast and can't wait for the next one.