A little background. My adult daughter and I traveled together on this cruise. It was her first and my second cruise. My first cruise to Alaska was with Princess.

Day 1. We arrived in Miami on Friday and stayed overnight with friends who dropped us off at the ship around 12:30. Embarkation was a breeze, and we were in our room (8390, an aft balcony) shortly after 1. We dropped off our carry-on and raced off to explore. Of course we started in the Windjammer where the food was acceptable and varied. I appreciated the fresh salads and cut-up fruit at every meal. After lunch, we toured the spa and booked a hot-rock massage for Monday (my birthday). We also booked Chops for Sunday night (her birthday) and checked our table in the dining room where we discovered we had been placed with a group of 6 at a table for 8. That didn't sound good so we requested and received a change to a table for 2. After the exploration, it was time for muster, which went quickly. By that time, our luggage was in our room so we spent the time until dinner unpacking and enjoying the balcony. It turned out that we had brought twice as much stuff as we used, but everything fit into the shelves and cubbyholes with room to spare. Next came late dinner and the welcome aboard show. Dinner tasted good and the show was fun. At some time during the afternoon, we attended the shopping scavenger hunt where I won a free entry in tomorrow's slot tournament.

Day 2. (At Sea). We woke early and walked on the track, which was uncrowded and pleasant. We continued our walk by exploring the rest of the outside decks. The surroundings were pretty impressive. Then we returned to our cabin to await our room service breakfast, which we enjoyed on the balcony. We had three activities planned this morning: a much touted shopping lecture, the slot tournament, and our Meet and Mingle. The shopping lecture turned out to be a high-pressure pitch to buy a $20 coupon book. Unfortunately I bit. Most of the coupons were for high-end watches and jewelry that we had no intention of purchasing and the woman pitching failed to mention that the coupon book included the entire Caribbean. It was the only time on the ship I feel I was ripped off. The slot tournament followed and my daughter made it to the next to last round before she was knocked off. I was knocked out in the second round. As a result of her doing so well, we were late for the Meet and Mingle so everyone was pretty much bonded when we arrived. We picked up our presents (a notebook cum Seapass holder), had some punch and left. By then we were hungry and a hamburger sounded good, so we headed for Johnny Rockets where we could eat outside. We both loved it. After lunch, we felt like we had had a full day so we retreated to our cabin for a nap on the balcony. Later that afternoon, while the hoards were dressing for formal night, we went to the pool for a swim. Our Chops reservations were for 8:30 so we had time after we dressed (in nice skirts and tops but not formal wear) to enjoy a cocktail in the Cosmopolitan Bar before dinner. Both the service and the food at Chops were truly outstanding, and I would recommend the restaurant to anyone. The first production show followed dinner and, as we both like those kinds of shows, we had fun. The singers and dancers are talented and exuberant. By this time it was around midnight so we turned into pumpkins and went to bed. Read more