I'm not going to repeat everything that is said over and over in the reviews about the amenities, facilities, cabins, etc. We liked the Journey for our Med cruise and we liked the Journey as a ship this time around as well, just not so much for the Caribbean. Plus I feel that a few things have changed since our cruise in Fall 09.

Have never had a meal in the main dining room; ate in both Prime C and Aqualina and enjoyed the service and food quite a bit. Other than that, we much prefer the buffet for all meals as we prefer to try a variety of items and don't like lingering over a meal. As before, salad bar items for lunch and dinner always fresh. Fruit trays at all three meals - always fresh. Smoothie bar still there and excellent. They have changed the waffle/pancake station to only as ordered as people aren't typically willing to eat anything but a waffle right off the grill. So, just place your order and go get your fruit, etc., while the 2-3 minutes go by for the waffles to cook. Stir fry station still there and delicious. The other food is okay to good, IMO. However, the breads/rolls seemed to always be stale. I love breads/rolls and no matter what I tried - all seemed leftover. Maybe it is just because they sit there for hours uncovered. The desserts are as bad as they were before. I put this on my mid-cruise comment card and the chef called me and asked what was wrong. I couldn't actually put it into words, but they just all look and taste like thawed Sara Lee, but even Mrs. Smith's frozen pies have fruit in them. Cherry pie on Journey is really some type of thick cherry solid substance - YUCK. He did ask what he could do to make the rest of the trip better and I said "cheesecake." And, even though it wasn't the best cheesecake in the world, cheesecake was put out for just every meal from that point on. I appreciated that effort. Final comment on this - if you are looking to avoid carbs - go to the buffet - it won't be hard to resist the breads/desserts. I am a healthy eater, but on vacation, I like to eat everything that I normally don't eat, so I was disappointed.

I noticed a definite switch to selling things this time around. Examples: the first day I went to the fitness center to exercise. I was the only one there and the fitness director immediately came over and introduced himself, asked about me, and what I was planning to do (I was in the free weight area). However, within a few minutes he managed to turn it into a mini lecture on detox as a way to lose weight (I weigh 125 lbs at 5'6"; really no weight to lose here). I didn't want to be rude, but I wanted to say "leave me alone; I'm not going to buy into the detox program." After about 10 minutes, he got the point that I wasn't going to be a customer and he left and never acknowledged my existence again. The spa was offering free 15-minute treatments of your choice one evening. I had the scalp massage and when it was over was shown the product used and given a sales pitch - $48 for a bottle of something - no thanks. (Of course, the woman before me did buy a bottle, so it probably is a successful marketing strategy). I scheduled The Perfect Day, just as I had on our previous cruise, and when that was done, the person started to pull out all of these products to sell to me. As soon as one bottle was opened, I told her that I wouldn't be buying anything so not to take her time. She even seemed a little embarrassed. I think it would be much better to just ask if a person is interested in any products used and they will show them to you and let it be more customer driven. Of course, that isn't a very effective sales approach, I suppose. On the Med cruise, no mention of buying any products was made after my treatment - but maybe that was just an oversight. Read more