As the leader (financer) of a family of 7, we had four 5 star votes and three 4 star votes for the cruise. Obviously we all thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. Embarkation was delayed until 2:30 pm because of the well-documented issue on the previous cruise with norovirus, but that was a minimal imposition. Also, they made numerous announcements urging passengers to go out and enjoy NYC during the delay, so we were not exactly held hostage (and once you cleared security and had checked in, could breeze in and out of the terminal without going through any lines). Once aboard the ship we enjoyed lunch at the Irish Pub (although that was the slowest service of the entire cruise). Once we were released to go to our rooms, we found them spacious and well appointed. Our balcony suite was on deck 11 aft, and provided easy access to the rest of the ship (although the fastest route to the pool and pool bar area forced us through the "Garden Café" buffet where we had to pass through the mournful souls in mass who largely took issue with the fact that you were unable to serve yourself and could touch NOTHING - the staff handed you EVERYTHING as a precaution against norovirus). On the bright side, you could not get to the pool area without having your hands disinfected, so I am pretty sure my hands were cleaner for 10 days than they've ever been.

Our room was very nice with an adequate sized balcony. One small complaint is that our room steward never converted our couch back into a couch after converting it into a bed on the first evening. That made it a little more difficult to maneuver to the balcony, but no big deal I guess.

The comedian (Tim Kaminski) was quite funny from what we saw, but obviously lots of other people had been told the same thing so it was standing room only when my wife and I went to see him. We lasted as long as we could, but finally succumbed to the heat and aching legs. Read more