EMBARKATION: Since we live close enough (3 hrs), we drove and parked right at the Pier. We arrived at 9:30, paid to park and then couldn't get into the lot next to our ship until 10 so had to wait in a "holding lot". Getting to the pier and parking were quite easy and we'd certainly do that again (even with the $210 fee!!). Once we got into the terminal, we were given a form to fill out and a number and were called by that number to check in. After checking in, we had to wait for awhile and were finally called to board the ship around 11:30. This process went fairly smoothly and we were able to go directly to our cabins and then go up and have some lunch.

CABINS: We had an outside cabin on Deck 5. There were four adults in our cabin and our sleeping accommodations were two twin beds, one pull-down bed and the couch opened up into a bed. Storage in the cabin was great - we had two good size closets that had both hangers and shelves. The vanity had a lot of drawers and there were two drawers in each of the night stands and an additional drawer underneath the two twin beds. We all took a lot of clothes and shoes and had storage room left over. There was also a chair (which we had removed because we needed the space) and a small table. The bathroom is a generous size with a full tub that has shampoo, conditioner and soap dispensers. There was shelf room in the tub for incidentals. Above the sink were two shelves that weren't all that big and one shelf under the sink. Two of us had hanging toiletry bags which helped save shelf room for the other two that didn't. The two twin beds were very comfortable but the pull-down bed and the couch were harder than a rock! Also...most of our pillows were pretty flat also.

POOLS: Really poor planning in this area - we were extremely disappointed. The main pool is fairly small and has two hot tubs next to it. There are VERY FEW lounge chairs and if you didn't get there early (like by 8:30), you could forget about finding one. Some people tended to hog them all day long by leaving their stuff and not using them all that much. The pool has a retractable roof that was opened very late in the morning. Not really good if you were lucky enough to find a chaise lounge and hoped for a tan! Bar service in this area was sparse - much quicker to go up to the bar and get a drink yourself. Also...pick up of dirty dishes was far and few between. I ate my breakfast on a lounge chair one morning and set the dishes on the table next to me. They were still there by mid-afternoon. I found that if I left them on the little table, nobody took them. But if I put the dishes on the floor in back of me, they usually got picked up within the hour. There are plenty of towels and we were allowed to take them off the ship if we went to the beach. Now the other aquatic area (which I believe is the new one)....I don't know WHAT they were thinking in planning this space. There are four hot tubs and no pool. There are tons of lounge chairs but who wants to sit out there sweating to death with no place to cool off! It's really too bad they didn't put a pool out there - would have made a lot more sense! Read more