Background: 5th Cruise for both wife and I, we are 31 and 33 respectively. We have 2 boys, and left them home. We have cruised Renaissance in Tahiti, Norwegian in Caribbean and Hawaii, and Princess in Alaska. Overall, we both rated this cruise as our 2nd best (behind the Tahiti cruise). Overall Great value. Thanks for all the reviews on cruise critic, as always, they helped very much. This cruise was very enjoyable. Biggest ship we have been on.

embarkation: Worst part of the cruise.. We waited for 3 Hours to get on the ship.. We got in line @ 2PM, and got on the ship just after 5 PM. We heard the causeway to get onto Galveston island was up to let ships go through, lack of customs agents, ship getting in late as the problems. We have never waited this long to board a ship. Luckily the line outside is shaded, and porters came by to take our large bags from us. People who were working the peer said this was not normal either. Not Fun.. We parked at EZCruise parking lot, booked on-line for $50. Shuttle took us to the peer and picked us up, no problem and would recommend. FunPass does not help. Muster drill, no problem. We finally left port around 6:30 PM.

Ship: Ship was clean, and crew were constantly cleaning the ship. Decks 2, 5, and 9 go all the way from front to back, remember this. This was a big help. All public areas, dinning, buffets, bathrooms were clean and in good condition. All 7 days of cruising were very smooth, no rough water getting out of the bay or Gulf of Mexico. Pools were all cold the first 2 days of cruising, but as we got into the Caribbean the water warmed up. Hot tubs were usually luke warm to warm. We stayed pretty much at the Sun Pool deck area, adults only. Security did a good job keeping kids out of the hot tubs and pools. No drinks allowed in hot tubs, which sucked.. The back pool area was the most quite, but windy. The mid pool area was the loudest and had a mix of kids and adults. Forward pool area was for the kids. Read more