A little about us: We are an extended family of 14, 7 kids, ranging in age from 3-14, and 7 adults. This is the 6th cruise for two of the passengers, and the 3rd for the rest of the group.

Embarkation: We stayed at the Embassy Suites on Saturday night. We arranged for taxi pickup at 10:45 a.m. to take us to the pier. We arrived at the cruise pier around 11 - perfect timing! There was no line. We were able to check-in our family of 14 (7 cabins) quickly. They seated us in the waiting area according to our arrival time, and we were at the back of the first group to board. The wait wasn't bad at all - we watched them load food onto the ship, and dump a case of milk cartons! I guess that's why they have nets beneath the loading platform. We were boarding the ship by noon.

Dining: For dinner, we were split into two tables in the Vivaldi Dining Room. Six older kids at one table, and the adults and three-year old at the other. This worked out beautifully. Service was excellent. We especially applaud the head waiter. On previous cruises, we never even knew who our head waiter was. On this cruise, he introduced himself on the first night. A few of the adults mentioned that they especially liked shrimp cocktail and mango. He made sure that we had 2 plates of sliced mango each night. He also provided shrimp cocktail appetizers, even when it wasn't on the menu. Read more