So to offer you the unvarnished truth, here goes - it was our first time cruising and that appears to be unusual as most people there had been on a cruise before. So, that right there tells you that cruising is fun. I had apprehensions about it, especially around being cooped up in a small cabin. That was quickly addressed when we got onboard the ship. We had couple of cabins with a porthole and it was not as tiny as we thought. Don't get me wrong, it was no Hilton suite, yet it was not as suffocating as I had thought. We had 3 generations on this cruise - my wife, my children and my parents. My wife booked it for mine and my youngest daughter's birthday (she turned 4 on the ship). Yes, she was born on my birthday :-). The attendant for our cabin - Sammy was super nice. She stopped by to say hello when we boarded the ship and was always around for our needs. We asked a lot of her and she came through each time. Given that it's a small room and by merely walking in to the room you mess it up, we were requesting housekeeping twice a day and Sammy was handling it without any trouble PLUS she would leave towel animals each night on the bed for our kids. They LOVED it ! Especially the decoration with rose petals on my daughters birthday (yes, now it's her birthday- used to be mine - but I am happier that it's her's now :-) ). Funny thing is that Sammy did not expect anything for it, no waiting or prodding for tips etc. It's refreshing to have people serve you for what you already paid and people that are nice just because....no financial motivation. Yet, being a true American, I could not help it, I had to tip her and I did tip her well.

Everyone on the ship was super nice. Lots of food at the restaurants - ALL FREE and we made several reservations at sit down places ALL FREE with no pushing from the staff for tips....I am just not used to it. I tipped as I went along and they were all dumbfounded as not many do that. So as to food, wow lots of good looking food BUT that's where it stops...the food looks good BUT tastewise I found myself stuffing my face in hopes of enjoying a good meal. However, the taste was not there. They checked all the right boxes on presentation, they just forgot to check up on the quality and taste. So in my opinion that is the BAD as you do not want to waste calories on food that ONLY looks good. My taste buds are programmed for typical American food, so are my kids' but my parents are as Indian Americans as they come. However, one thing we all had in common - food looked good but there was no taste to it.

Now, here comes the UGLY - first evening (after the ship left Miami) we walked in the room, the floor was soaking wet and it stayed that way for remainder of the cruise EXCEPT for the last night. We reported the issue first day and the placed blowers and turned down the air, which added to the stench in the room. I have to admit, for a first timer and being an Engineer, I could not help but worry the first night. I thought that was some sort of breach on the ship.....yes I may have watched Titanic way too many times BUT those things happen and you don't want your 3 generations to be part of that😔.....Sammy explained that it was an AC leak and they called every few minutes to check if it floor was dry BUT it stayed wet the whole time EXCEPT for the last day. They tried to make it up by sending us a bottle of Wine and chocolate covered Strawberries and we enjoyed those BUT you cannot really make up for a cooped up couple with two kids in a small room with a floor drenched in water by sending Strawberries and wine to the room. Yet, double kudos for trying ! Read more