This was a cruise to celebrate my son's graduation from college. There were 8 of us. We got a balcony and the kids had oceanview cabins. So many things got screwed up with our bookings that I didn't think we would actually get on the boat. We had to do a last minute change of two people and that was a fiasco. Apparently there is some "policy" on people under 25 if they aren't your kids they can't be in a cabin unless there is someone over the age of 25 or they have to be married. Well that was tough because 4 of them were under 25 and not married. Booking was crazy on who was in what room. We had to wait until we were on the ship to move people to the right room. So instead of being able to relax when we got on board we had to stand in line at guest services. Though the lady when we embarked was really nice and patient and check in was really a breeze. Once we got all that squared away...we met Marco a waiter. LOVED Marco. Happy for him that after this cruise he was going home to Serbia to be with his newborn daughter. He was awesome tending to the needs of our celebrations. He was so good that we ended up not ordering from anyone else but him. We tipped him extra he was so good.

Kids loved joining us on the balcony. (with the booking fiasco our rooms weren't all together though they managed to get us fairly close) We love cruising with a balcony and won't cruise without one. That is my little sanctuary. I work a lot so I planned on just chilling. I actually read a whole book!

We paid for everyone's cruise so my only rule was we have dinner together as a family every night. The kids obliged. Our dining room experience left MUCH to be desired. Not the food, it was awesome but the service sucked! It was like only one guy was working. My husband and I had sailed on this ship before and service was phenominal but this time... We tried the "didjaever" items on the menu every night. snails, alligator. However my favorite is the chocolate lava cake. (I only gained 5 pounds on this cruise!) When we complained to the maitra'd guy he was very very condescending. After the 2nd night of poor service and more of the terrible attitude we complained to the head hancho on the ship for service. After that the maitra'd and headwaiter were...I don't know how to explain it, but our service improved but their attitudes were worse. We ended up eating elsewhere on the last night. The breakfast buffets were awesome. Read more