Our family of 3 traveled from June 19 to June 26. We live in New York, about 40 minutes from the port. We decided to park the car at the pier, very convenient in my opinion. Embarkation was smooth as well as self disembarkation. The ship is beautiful, tastefully decorated, super clean. We had a balcony room and it was comfortable for the 3 of us. The staff is very courteous, everyone we encountered was pleasant and professional.
My son ( and myself) had a great time at the water slides, ropes course. The pools are way too small, always crowded, as well as the sitting areas on the decks. I knew this in advance, being a popular complain about this ship. If you are a swimming pool lover, this might not be the right ship for you. Also my husband had to go up very early in the morning in order to get a chair at the deck. It gets VERY crowded, no space between your chair and the one next to you. This is my only gripe about this trip. I rather have the "privacy" you have on a resort at the beach or even around the pool, where you do not need to listen to your neighbor's conversation. This actually is the reason I might not become an usual cruiser.
Entertaining got 5 stars. The shows are excellent. The jazz band at Fat Cats is awesome. We also enjoyed Howl to the moon a couple of nights. Bingo games are very expensive. They have activities constantly at the Atrium, which gets crowded at times.
We visited 2 beaches, horseshoe bay and elbow beach. Both beautiful. Elbow beach is less crowded