My husband and I were in desperate need of a fun and stress free vacation, and a lot of friends were recommending a cruise. I was looking for particular things in my cruise: Price (We are 25 and 24 years old so we are on that still-paying-our-dues budget), Itinerary, and Simplicity. When reading some of these reviews it seemed a little scary and got me a little paranoid about bad service, rude crew members, and bad overall experiences. But I am an optimist and am, by nature, quite flexible so I said, "What is the worst that could happen?" Boy, I am sooooo glad that I decided to take what was said with a grain of salt. Actually, I recommend that these member reviews should be taken with a boulder of salt(except with mine, of course), because our trip was almost flawless.
We drove from Cincinnati, OH because my husband hasn't traveled a lot and I think the drive to Florida is a beautiful drive through the Smokies and through Georgia where I made him stop for Georgia Boiled Peanuts at Rosie's Pecan and Peanut Stand (AWESOME!). We got to Tampa at about 10:30am after driving through the night and because of construction, getting there and back is a little heinous, but once there, the embarkation process went so smoothly and even though we could not board right away, we could sign in immediately and with no wait. We weren't supposed to be able to board until 1:00pm,but we boarded at 11:00am.
While waiting for our rooms to be cleaned we explored the ship and got lunch in the Brasserie on the Lido Deck, which had a delicious selection--not the typical buffet. Now, I know people have criticized the decor and overall appearance of this ship, but we LOVED it. It was fresh, funky, very clean, and well maintained. Who cares if they didn't replace the elevator door with the scratches on it that some kids (or drunk adults) etched there. Petty!