We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and the 'freestyle' dining. One mistake we made was not flying up from Southern California the day before. Alaska Airlines changed our flight to an earlier time and we had to get up at 4am to get to LAX. The plane had a slight mechanical problem and we were 40 minutes late departing. At Sea-Tac airport we were advised that it cost less to take a taxi rather than using the shuttle. We arrived at the terminal around 12 and were onboard within a half hour. It all went very smoothly.
We had a balcony cabin mid- ship on deck 10 and were very happy with our accommodations. Our cabin stewards were very friendly and helpful. We were surprised that they knew our names as soon as we arrived at our cabin door.
It took us a while to understand that you need reservations for some of the free restaurants and the specialty ones. The first two nights we ate at Aqua and were seated within a few minutes. Breakfast at Versailles was great; you really get a feel for luxury ocean travel. Overall we were very pleased with the food and service. The servers were very friendly and accommodating. The all-you-can eat sushi at Ginza was some of the best we have ever had! Our meal at Tampanyaki was very good but the chefs did not put on a good show. They kept dropping things. We only ate breakfast twice and lunch once at the buffet and it was better than we had expected from the reviews.