Our family was on the same cruise and had an excellent time. Lots of positives and only a few improvements would make the cruise outstanding. But understanding to economic climate and budget constraints of doing more with less, I was very happy. Just had to readjust my expectation level from the good old days of cruising.

Buffet - I love the change in buffet. It is definitely a positive move in reducing the spreading of germs. The usual sneeze guards plus an additional vertical guard are an excellent addition. So it helped prevent folks from picking and digging through the trays and only pick from the front. Many dishes were pre-portioned in small dishes and baskets, very much like tapas or dim sum. Again this helped keep things to be more clean and reduce the number of people touching the same serving spoon. There were always helpful attendants ready to help serve something that was tough to reach, never had a problem. Another benefit was looking around the dining room, there looked to be a lot less waste of leftover food on trays. Soups, oatmeal, and grits were served by the buffet attendant, so sometimes there was a 5 min wait but never excessive. Breads were portioned and wrapped in paper, and dessert was always served by an attendant.

I noticed that the fruit was usually self scoop, I actually would recommend also having it put in bowls since the watermelon always looked crushed from people digging. Read more