We decided to take this cruise as a Christmas present to the children. We went with another family that has five sons, and we have two daughters and a son. We thought that this cruise, leaving from Bayonne, NJ looked like a great choice, since we were traveling with eight kids, and we could drive to the port. Also, this cruise is a ten day, nine night voyage, and we thought that a couple of extra days on board sounded very nice.
There were some problems from the start. First, we received an email telling us that the ship was delayed coming in from its previous sailing, and to come to the port no earlier than 4pm.(previously, it was 1-4pm boarding time). I thought that a phone call would have been better than an email, what if I didn't have time to check my emails?? anyway, we get to the port at about 5pm, and the mess we encountered was horrible. The ship hadn't even emptied its previous passengers yet. They put all five thousand passengers into the port building, and we waited for 4 hours until we could board the ship. Can you imagine, standing in that building for 4 hours with eight kids, with not even a chair to sit in? I can completely understand that the ship got delayed, but be realistic about how long it takes to get ready for the new passengers.
When we finally got on the ship, instead of the regular dinner, they just had a casual, go when you want dinner, that was fine, we were exhausted. Having sailed on other lines before, I found the service crew to be not nearly as polite and helpful as other ships I have been on. I had a faulty hair dryer in my room, and it took three calls on three different occasions, until they finally came in and replaced it. The crew just don't seem to try to make you feel important and special, like they do on other lines, sometimes boarding on rudeness. There were other occasions of this, but I wont go on about it.