We (Deb and Jack from Florida) cruised to the western Caribbean on February 4, 2016. This was a 4 night cruise. Our cruise experience has been with Royal Caribbean (9), Carnival (5), Norwegian (3), and Celebrity (2).
After reading such bad reviews about this ship, I was nervous about going. However, we have been on enough cruises to know there is no such thing as a bad cruise. When you pay a cheap price for a cruise, usually it is because the ship is older so we do not expect it to look like newer ships we’ve been on.
Getting on the ship was as quick as getting off! This is one area Royal Caribbean is good at. We usually get to the port around 11 a.m. This time, we drove and used valet parking ($20 per day). Well, worth it!
We had a balcony cabin (8088) on the hump of the ship. The balcony was beautiful and extra-large. If you like staying up past midnight every night, you would love this cabin. The balcony was as long as the cabin itself! It had 2 chairs, a regular size table, and a reclining chair. However, if you are like us and do not like to stay up late, do not get this cabin! It is very noisy. The bands play in the centrum of this ship and you can hear the band as if they were in your cabin! Guest Relations tried shutting the fire door for some of us that complained of noise, but people kept walking in and leaving it open so that did not work.