Our first cruise in '03 was not a great experience so in preparation for this cruise DH prepared by doing a lot of research on cruise critic and I prepared by going clothes shopping.

Embarkation: - was a vast improvement over our first cruise. There was no sitting and waiting. The lines kept moving through the various steps and we were quickly on board. We shocked the crew by deciding to walk up to the Lido deck with our carry-ons. Stopping for a breather on deck 5 we learned the rooms were ready so we went to our room.

Cabin: - We had what we booked, a VC balcony. SHOCK. It was so much smaller than I remember our room on the Ryndam. But after unpacking and discovering storage space all over and then putting ALL the bags under the bed the room was just right. I don't remember the Ryndam having all that storage space. The bed was comfortable, the room was clean but the veranda furniture was getting ratty. That was ok though, because it might as well get totally used up by refit time. The TV had a mind of its own. We had Ratiman, our cabin steward, replace the remote but that just made it possible to turn it off. The TV worked fine on the ship information channels so I took it as a sign that I was not meant to spend the cruise in my room watching TCM. Our cabin steward gave us excellent service and many towel animals that DH would not take apart. By the end of the cruise we could not sit on the sofa because of all the "pets". Read more