My 9th cruise(-husband's 7th) and overall I rated this the best so far.

We boarded in Melbourne. The taxi pulled up at the ship, took the cases out of the boot and two staff immediately came and took them straight onto a conveyor belt.so nice-we didn't have to carry them- and that was a first for us. We did the immigration forms etc and very soon were on board. We found our cabin(Emerald outside cabin with window) and were amazed at the amount of storage in the cabin.Both our cases (when they arrived) fitted neatly under the bed.Bathroom was smallish but quite adequate and fairly standard for this type of room.If I had one "complaint"(and it is not a complaint really) it is that ,as we had the bed figured as a double bed, there was only a small gap on one side between the bed and the wall. If you were big, or had mobility difficulties, this may have been a problem, but was ok for me.

We were travelling with friends and had asked to be seated together at early dining(5.45pm) which suited us. we had two amazing waiters-Almario and Joe-. what lovely men. Their attention to detail was incredible and so polite with it. We had a different theme almost every night and the food matched the theme.We enjoyed every meal-and had no complaints what so ever.One night we had lobster, and the men came along and took the lobster from the shell before we ate it- that too, was a first. Great service. Read more