We were a family of seven. DH, myself, 4 year old, 2 year old, seven-month old baby, and in-laws. We had connecting oceanview cabins and in-laws had another oceanview cabin closer to the elevators. We can compare this only to the Disney Magic (cruised with them twice before).

EMBARKATION: We flew into Seattle the night before and booked the Radisson SEATAC through priceline. The Radisson called us a SUV taxi to transport us the pier the next morning. The only annoying thing about this was that the driver did not take credit cards so we were scrambling for $65 at the pier. We arrived at the pier around 11am. It was not crowded and they took our bags right away. We went upstairs to get our key cards, and only waited about 20 minutes before they called our group to board. Boarding was easy and the glass of bubbly upon arrival was a very nice touch. We went upstairs to eat at the buffet while the in-laws went to summer palace. The ship was immaculate. Our rooms were ready at 1pm. The first cabin looked like it had been laid out like the internet pictures. The bed had that sign on it that said put luggage here and everything was in order. The second, connecting room however looked a little haphazard. The bed was made but had none of those extras. It looked like the rug had not been cleaned. In addition, I had ordered the romance package and the bubbly/strawberries and letter were not in our cabin. We called for a crib for the baby's nap and they said they would send it. We waited for half an hour and no crib had arrived yet. The baby was crying b/c she was tired but I really needed a crib to put her in. So we called again and they said that the crib would arrive with the nightly turn-down service. I asked if it could be sooner and they said, No. This was a bad start to the trip and left a bad taste in my mouth.

MEALS: We ate mainly at the Garden Buffet. The quality was excellent with a nice variety of dishes. The chilled soups were wonderful. We really enjoy different ethnic food and the Indian curries and rices were great. The hummus and pita were great. The ice cream variety and soft serve were top notch. It was annoying that you had to buy soda but I think we are too used to Disney with the included soda. The desserts were okay...looked better than tasted. The homemade sweet crepes were delicious. Overall, the buffet was a great option. All of the tables were cleared promptly by the servers. The wait staff were very kind to us and our children. There was never a lack of seating. We ate at summer palace for one lunch and we thought that was quality food too. The servers were fast and attentive since we had such small children. We had no trouble making specialty restaurant reservations but that may be because we like to eat at 5:30pm with between 2 to 4 people. Mambo's was okay. We didn't think there was anything that unique there. My husband's burrito was average and the lobster taco was good but not great. The flan was okay. La Cucina was again just ok. We didn't think it was worth the extra $10/person. The antipasti looked better then it tasted. My lobster ravioli tasted too fishy. The marinara pasta tasted the same as the made-to-order on the buffet. The cannolis were awful. The shell tasted stale and the ricotta filling had no flavor. The tiramisu was better, but again tasted not better than average. Le Bistro was definitely worth the extra money. The escargot and sea scallops were delicious. The steak was cooked perfectly and seasoned well. The chocolate fondue for two was very nice. Lotus Garden/hot pot was not worth it. Just a few pieces of chicken and stale ramen noodles. It was not a good hot pot...but we are picky on our asian food and expect top quality for this. The sushi was good and worth the extra price. Cagney's was by far our favorite. We loved the open kitchen. The shrimp cocktail was so fresh with no taste of iodine or fishiness. The lobster tail, steaks, and fries were amazing. The king crab legs were just okay...a little too salty and fishy. We regretted eating there on our last night because we wanted to go back again. All of the dining servers were excellent, friendly and attentive. It may have been because we had a 7 month old baby with us, and they loved telling us about their babies at home, but we never had bad service. All of our requests were promptly filled and never observed bad service that others have seen. We requested fruit for our baby and all of the servers were happy to go out of their way to find her some chopped fruit. We did see some extremely rude passengers that treated the servers like dirt...but if you have some respect for these people that work on the ship for ten months at a time, I think it goes a long way. Overall, we thought the food and accompanying service was very good and compared well to the Disney Magic. Read more