We got to Cocoa Beach a day early and stayed at the Comfort Inn. very nice with a good breakfast and a park & cruise package. The shuttle got us to the port about 10:45. We are Platinum, so they seated us in a special section. After it started to fill, they took us to another room near the boarding area. They started boarding at about 11:20, and my wife and I were the first ones on the ship. Went directly to Guy's Burger Joint and had a "Plain Jane" burger and created my own burger at the fixin bar. The burger and the fries were great. I had to limit myself to one every other day, but on several days I just got a plate of fries. One thing that I did not like about the 2.0 upgrade with Guy's etc. was that they no longer have the chicken fingers either as an appetizer or on the Lido deck. I really miss those.
The Buffet food seemed to be not as good on prior cruises, the deserts were not either. The Fish and Chips on Deck 10 were very good, however. I have mixed feelings about the new menus. My biggest concern was how long it took us to eat. - one night it was over two hours. I got so that I stopped ordering desserts, because that could add as much as a half hour to the meal. The problem may have been the fact that we were in the Anytime Dinning and not just the new menus. My wife did not care for the new menu, due to the fact that the chiiled soups were gone as well as some of her favorites. I do not know who makes their pie fillings, but they out to be marooned on the nearest island - I mean how hard it it to make a decent piece of pie?
The room steward and staff in general were wonderful. They anticipated every need, and went above and beyond. The activities on this eight-day cruise were a little sparse. They also cut back the family comedy shows to two 15 minute segments - and two of the nights were at 7:00. There was no way a family would be able to make it in time to see those. The first two comedians were okay, but the second two were really good. The musical entertainment was overall adequate except for the DJ's. We could not even sit in the Serenity section because they were so loud.