We decided on a last minute cruise having checked the prices for last minute all inclusive deals and realised they were matched price for price. The choice was a well-informed one.

We upgraded to an outside cabin as I didn't like the idea of not having any daylight permeate the room. I was so glad that I made this choice. We flew from London Gatwick to Palma on an early morning flight. The check in was simple and effortless. We paid for pre booked seats as last time we got separated by about 16 rows on a Thomson plane. The flight was on time and we arrived as planned. The coach transfer(about 20 minutes) was without problem. At the port we arrived in the air conditioned check in and were greeted with a drink of juice or water which was very welcome considering the heat. The queue was long and moved slowly, made worse by the photographers wanting snaps of everyone boarding the ship. We requested a safe at this point and paid the £15 for the week. Having labelled our suitcases with the labels we were given, we left them on the quayside handed in our completed health questionnaires and made our way onto the ship. Having previously read the forums on here we had packed our swimwear and some sun cream in our hand luggage so we could get to the pool prior to our luggage being delivered. We were immediately taken to our cabin which was along the longest corridor I have ever seen (went from one end of the ship to the other). We were impressed with the size of the room, the availability of storage and hanging space and the standard of cleanliness. The bathroom smelt musty and damp but was adequate but the same couldn't be said for the shower which was totally temperamental. This was not common to other cabins so we were just unlucky. Sadly our safe hadn't yet been set so we had to take our passports etc. with us to the pool side. The first copy of our Cruise news was in our room when we arrived and this gave us valuable information as to what times the restaurants were open, what was happening where on the ship and what channels were available on the TV including my favourite one, the web cam from the front of the ship. The cruise news was delivered every evening and together with the information supplied on the ports where we docked including a map, these were invaluable. You could miss an awful lot if you don't read these thoroughly.

The farewell party on the top deck was fun but I had expected some sort of countdown or fireworks to symbolise the start of the cruise. The atmosphere was one of excited expectations. We attended the welcome show with low expectations having witnessed many rep shows. How wrong we were!! The talent from these performers was outstanding. Each night they put on two very full and entertaining shows. The Broadway show lounge was comfortable with individual cinema style seating and two seater sofas. The drink waiters continuously do the rounds in the theatre. We didn't have the drink package and paid 4.50e for a cocktail and 2.35 for an exquisite fruit smoothie. We retired to bed fairly exhausted but were extremely pleased with the comfort of the beds Read more