After booking our cruise on the Spirit, we were a bit taken back by some of the negative member reviews on Cruise Critic. Thankfully we found them not to be true for us! Let me start off by saying we are a young (late 20's) couple from Boston. I have cruised several times before and this was the first cruise for my boyfriend. He was concerned that everyone would be in their 70's, but we found there to be quite a range in age on the ship. Plenty of other couples in their 20's and 30's.
Embarkation: Was slightly messy. This may have been the fault of the passengers, as we were told not to get there before 4 p.m. We got to the port at about 3:40 p.m. and were met with a pretty substantial line. There was a line to check in, and then a line to be seated, where you had to wait to get your keys. Then you got into a line to go through security and finally onto the ship. The receiving of keys was out of order and it made some of the passengers angry. Also, people who had suites didn't have to wait with the rest of the passengers, but it seemed as though no one was informing them of this. I'd say the whole process took about an hour and a half.
Room: We had an balcony stateroom on the 11th floor. We had read reviews that it might be loud, due to the fact it was under the floor with the pool/buffet/lounge, but we had no issues. It was average size, and the shower was amazing. I read some reviews criticizing the mattresses as being too hard, but we asked for an egg-crate and I slept like a baby.