We booked this cruise in Jan 16 so had been looking forward to it all year. Embarkation was ok, we had to wait about an hour but once we got going we were on quite quickly. Our sail and sign cards were waiting in our postbox outside our cabin. They are not given to you when you check in like normal. On entry into the lobby there was no wow factor given there is no atrium. We were used to the grand high atrium with glass lifts etc but there is none of that. Overall it is like a nice hotel.

The ship has a crammed in feel, so all ceilings are low and all public areas are quite small. So, there is not the big open feel you get with other ships. The balcony cabin itself was ok - smaller than on other ships but adequate. Our steward was very helpful and kept our cabin clean and well stocked (given we tipped him $20 at the beginning of the cruise - which we always do anyway). We didn't eat in the MDR as we couldn't be bothered to go down to an area on another floor to queue up then wait to get called. So, we ate in the Lido in the evenings. Food was ok. All usual pizza, burgers, tacos etc available. You can eat lunch in the Italian and Asian restaurants but have to pay for these in the evenings. We didn't use the sky ride or climbing thing - usually because we couldn't be bothered queuing.

The adult only serenity deck was always full so unless you got up at the crack of dawn you had no chance. On sea days you did need to mark your spot early anywhere on the ship (if you wanted to be in the sun). As usual there were lots of towels left on sunbeds and no sign of bodies all day but that usually happens and we didn't see any evidence of the staff removing belongings. There didn't seem to be as many staff on ship as on previous cruises. We hardly ever saw a waiter come around taking drinks orders on sea days. Everywhere looked clean but we didn't really see many people cleaning like you do on other ships. Read more