And this one was not too bad... I booked Guaranteed cabin online, so I had no great expectations for our cabin. You get what you pay for, and this one was fairly inexpensive. We ended up with a porthole oceanview on deck 2. The room was a decent size, had a king size bed and a couch. It was clean and comfortable. The air conditioning worked fine and so did the shower. We rarely saw the cabin steward, but he seemed pleasant. The bad part of this room was, it was portside in the front of the ship...I don't know what they were doing in the deck underneath us but it was very loud....it sounded like they were slamming iron trunks into the wall. I didn't sleep very well from 12 a.m to 4 a.m.
Every employee on the ship that we had contact with was very pleasant, no one was rude. I can't say they went out of their way to exceed our expectations, but they were nice. The dinners in the Galaxy dining room were very good. Great wait staff. The breakfasts and lunches in on the Lido deck buffet were okay. The pizza and burgers were a great substituion for the buffet. I will say, that we ordered coffee for room service and they were under par in that area. Maybe because we were low on the totem pole and they served the upper decks first. We saw the band only once -during the free drinks meet and greet time in the Palladium room. We enjoyed that experience. Then we saw one show there as well, and it was okay.
The pools were clean but worn, the childrens pool looked pretty cruddy. The rest of the ship was very clean but some areas were worn. The drinks were only okay but it didn't stop us from enjoying them. The only things I really missed was they used to decorate the buffet with beautiful art-carved fresh melons and fruits...but I guess that was probably wasteful..now it's decorated in cheap plastic looking things.... And they don't have the midnight grand buffet...but again, probably too wasteful.
So, if you're looking for a luxury cruise, book another cruiseline. But if you want affordable, well,,, then you get what you pay for. Oh yeah, embarkation was easy, took about 1/2 hour and we arrive at the port at 2 pm. Debarkation was a breeze, 10 minutes, but we carried our own luggage off. Every one was friendly there too. The taxi back to the Miami airport cost $28 but I think it was supposed to cost $24. I didn't argue with the cabby about it. I don't think I will book this ship again, I think I will save up more money and go on a better cruise...unless I want to go 'affordable'. PS, don't try to sneak liquor on the boat. Even if it's a mini bottle, security will snag it!
