This was a first cruise for our family - 40 something parents, 3 kids ages 13,10, and 5. We had 2 adjoining rooms on the 2nd floor. Overall we really enjoyed the experience but there are some things I wish I knew before we went. While it may seem like a small thing, we were absolutely shocked that each room only had 1!!! outlet. Yes yes, I know, you are on vacation but seriously we had three phones, an ipod, two laptops, and two DS devices. We spent the entire trip rotating what is getting charged. And there was no clock in the room???? So we were setting alarms on our phones and leaving our watches in the bathroom so that you could check the time in the middle of the night. Once again, minor, but still. . .

We found the embarkation to be completely simple and very organized, I had done the pre-check in on the website which was helpful. We had lunch and walked around a bit and by then our rooms were ready. The rooms were small compared to a normal hotel room but they did have tons of storage which made it very simple to unpack and stow our suitcases. The bathroom also had lots of shelves but the shower is super tiny. Be prepared to shave with your foot on the toilet. With a 5 year old, the idea of a balcony made me nervous so we booked window rooms, which were great since the window sills were deep enough to sit in.

The ship has many choices for food. We had breakfast at the buffet each morning where they had an omelet station, pancakes and French toast, sausage and bacon, all sorts of pastries and bread products, fruit, yogurt, cereal etc. At lunch and dinner the buffet area had main buffet lines but then lots of specialty corners, almost like a food court. There was pizza, grill, deli, stirfry, indian, rotisserie chicken, burritos . . . I'm sure I'm forgetting something. The food in general was good but not outstanding. We did dinner in the Gold Pearl dining room each night. You have the same servers for the week so they do learn your names and preferences. The menu had two sides: on the right was the specials of the day usually a half dozen choices for appetizers and entrees each. On the left was a group of standards that were the same each day. We bought the unlimited soda/juice plan and it probably wasn't worth it. We didn't realize beforehand that water, lemonade, and iced tea is always available for free and they do serve oj and apple juice at breakfast. We bought the carnival tumblers too which were nice to have, they kept your drinks cold for hours, although they would leak a bit if knocked over. Read more