There were 6 of us: my husband and I, my mother and father, and my mother and sister-in-law. We stayed at the Tahitian Inn the night before and set up with parking at the Parking Doctors. We got to the Parking Doctors about 9:45 - very early. We arrived at the pier about 10:45. We checked in and got number 11 which was the FIRST group to board after priority. We boarded about 11:45. When we arrived, there was a red carpet laid out for us to walk on and staff lined up to greet us. That was a nice feeling. We felt very welcome. We boarded on deck 6 and my sister-in-law wanted to put money on her account, so we turned right to go down to deck 5 to customer service. Along the way we passed Windjammers and found we could leave our luggage, like a coat check. We were given a ticket and a crew member stayed and watched the luggage. THAT was very nice since we had a small suitcase with 5 12 packs and it was heavy. Nobody checked how many 12 packs we had. We left our luggage and went to customer service where we got our key cards punched for our lanyards. We then went to the buffet. The buffet wasn't all the way ready, or they had run out already, because there were a few areas that were empty. I couldn't find any water, all the containers were empty. But after that first rush, things were better. The rooms were ready about 1:30 and our luggage arrived between 3 and 5. We were on deck 10 with a balcony. The others were on deck 7 with an ocean view. All our rooms were very near the atrium elevators, which was very convenient. Our room had plenty of storage, with our bags fitting under the bed easily. We also had a couch that would sleep two more. We had a coffee maker and a small fridge. The fridge barely kept our drinks cold. It was filled with food and drinks. We removed all these items and put them into a drawer. At the end of the week, we put everything back in the fridge.

The ship was very beautiful. The crew were very friendly. There was not anyone that wasn’t helpful during our visit. After the buffet we explored the ship, checking out where everything was located. We got the all clear to go to our rooms, so we headed back to Windjammers to get our bags and then went to our rooms. We unpacked and relaxed until the time for the drill. After the drill we went up front to watch as the ship pulled out. The best spots are on deck 11, deck 12 has windows that are hard to see through. We ended up on a small area in front of the “kiddie pool” where we could watch as we left port. We ate around 5 in the Four Seasons. We enjoyed this restaurant because we didn’t have to dress up. It was very relaxing not having to dress up to go eat dinner. We enjoyed this aspect of dining, being used to having to dress up to eat in one of the sit-down restaurants.

We went to the show at 9:00. The first show was good, I really enjoyed the comedian. We also hit all the first night sales such as liquor 10% off and the first raffles in the shop. Didn't win. We also hit the liquor tasting and the Champagne at the art auction. The art auction open house champagne was ok. There were not very many people in the area since it was more just an open house and not the auction. The liquor tasting was in the shop and you received a small little paper/plastic cup. You got to choose which one you wanted, but you could go back for tasting of the other flavors. Read more