Embarkation: While things were a bit confusing on the street in front of the Bell Street Pier, we were able to grab a porter who checked-in our luggage. The check-in process was relatively painless, my daughter was handed her ID bracelet, we doused our hands with Purelle, received a glass of champagne and were shown to our room by a very solicitous steward. The whole process, from street to room, took about 20 minutes.

Food/Dining: Judging by the vastly different opinions expressed on this website, we were ready for anything. While we are not obsessive foodies, we are from New York and are used to a wide variety of interesting eating experiences. Given the tremendous number of people that have to be served at a given time, we were not disappointed. Main Dining Room: The Trellis is a large, two-tiered, and somewhat old-fashioned and elegant room, in an attempt to recall the great dining rooms of cruise ship travel of yore. We were at our own table (there were only 3 of us) on the second level (Deck 5) and were very pleased with the service (kudos to Darwin and Lin). The new menus were only two weeks old, and the kitchen really seemed to have gotten the hang of things. There were always several things I wanted to try each evening and each plate was presented very nicely. (FYI - previous reviews have complained about the quality of the beef. I found the beef to be perfectly fine as was the seafood (which was excellent, by the way) as well as the pasta dishes. My wife and I both agreed that the desserts, while perfectly fine, was the weakest course. The sea day brunch buffet was beautifully presented and very copious. Ocean Bistro: While we didn't take advantage of the S.S. United States (a waste for my daughter), we did go to the Ocean Bistro for dinner on two occasions, which was a wonderful respite from the large, and somewhat noisy MDR. The service there was excellent, as was the food. Both times we got a table by the large windows and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Ocean Grill (Buffet): Endless choices (including Asian, Italian, Deli, international entrees, - the pizza was especially good) and great homemade ice cream (different flavors every day) and if you chose a table towards the rear of the ship, it was relatively quiet. The food at the buffet was superior to the buffet on the Disney ships. Breezes (Grill by the pool): Good burgers, fries, onion rings, nachos Aqua Spa - We had breakfast there every day - it's quiet and the food (hot and cold cereals, salmon, breads, yogurt, fruit, omelets) was quite good.

Dress: So much is written about the dress code that it deserves a mention here. We found that passengers paid attention to the "rules" regarding dress pretty regularly. On formal nights, approx. 20% of the men were in tuxedos, while most were in dark suits. We scanned the crowd pretty carefully in the MDR and did not find any jeans, shorts, sport shirts or sneakers. The women were pretty dressy, some in long gowns, many in cocktail dresses or formal pant suits. On "smart casual" nights, polo or open necked sport shits with khakis seemed to be the favorite combination for the men. The women made it a point to look "good" in well-appointed sportswear. My wife did remark that most people made a real attempt to groom themselves in the evening. Be forewarned: there is an 'elegant tea' on the last sea day (Wednesday) in the MDR - we were all in shorts, and were turned away at the door. The maitre'd said he'd be more than happy to seat us if we changed into something "more suitable". We did not take him up on his offer, but I did applaud them for holding to the standard. Bring layers for the Alaska days, shorts for the beginning Read more