I am an independent traveler and have been travel around the world. I planed every details for all my trips both in the U.S. and overseas. I have been on cruises with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Norwegian. I did a lot of research on this cruise before my trip. The main reason I chose this cruise was its itinerary, cruising the Hawaiian island in 7 days, no sea day at all. Most of the online reviews for this ship are very bad so I was prepared for a bad experience. Once my low expectation was set, it was easy to exceed it. All in all, don't be put off by the bad reviews. This cruise is a great inexpensive way to see Hawaii in a week. I like the cruise and it sure had pros and cons, just like everything in life.

The ship: With the 7 day all port itinerary, I planned to be on the island most of the time and didn't care much about the ship amenities. You can see pictures of the ship online on many sites. It's a very nice new ship and all public rooms are new and clean, somewhat plain looking on the open decks comparing to other ships. The pools are small but same as other ships. Don't expect to swim laps in them. There are bars and lounges through out the ship so you can buy drinks everywhere. The gym has nice equipment and flat panel TV in front of each machine so you won't get bored while working out. We used the scale at the gym to weight ourselves to see much we gained after all the buffet and free food. There is no casino on the ship since it doesn't leave the U.S. and it doesn't go to international water. Hence, no passport required. There is smell of smoke only in the smoking area like bars and open area. Also in balcony if your neighbor smokes. In general, the port side (left side) of the ship is smoking area. So if you don't like smoke, try to book a room on the starboard side (right side of the ship). It's not hard to find our way around the ship since there are signs everywhere showing the map of the ship. We had to use the ship map all the time because it's hard to tell the front or the back of the ship when onboard.

Check In When the taxi dropped us off at the pier, there was no clear sign showing where to go to drop off the luggage. We were approached by porters and we declined the service. Then we asked a worker where to drop off the luggage, we were told to put them at the security gate 20 feet away from the porters. If you need help with the luggage, I think it make sense to use the porters. We drop the luggage at the security and were directed to building entrance to the left for check in. It was about 4 PM and there was no one in line. But the person at check in was very slow but very polite. After checking in, there were 2 buses load of people arrived and there was short line for the check in. So it depends on when you check in to see if there is a line or not. Please keep in mind this is not a luxury ship so don't expect white gloves reception. We did get lei greetings onboard. And we had to find our way to the elevator that is behind the atrium. Found our way to the room following signs. Read more