My Wife and I have over 40 weeks of cruising under our belt, mostly on the higher category cruise lines (Cunard, Celebrity, etc.) We picked this ship because of the islands, price,and amenities for my me, my wife and four kids (2 boys - 15, 1 girl - 13, 1 girl 9) plus my wife's parents (mid 70's). After reading all of the previous reviews before departure, we were prepared for a huge ship with lots of people and mediocre food. I can tell you that almost everything about our cruise exceeded our expectations.

Boarding - We arrived at the pier at 11:40 with 16 bags to get on board. I had downloaded the luggage tags and laminated them and attached them to our luggage. All I had to do was grab a porter and he whisked the bags away after I gave him $20 and asked him to make sure our bags got to our rooms early. I don't know whether it worked or was a coincidence, but our bags arrived at our cabin by 2:30. Use the porters - you are on vacation! Because We had my sons best friend we had to have a notarized letter from his parents allowing us to be his guardians. This delayed our boarding process about 10 min. We were still on the ship in under 30 minutes.

The Ship -spotlessly clean, more glamorous than we expected. All public areas are very well maintained and staffed. We had 3700 people on board. Most times you would never know it because the ship has been planned out so well. The major complaint would have to be the elevators. Plan on waiting 10 min. during the "peak" times. Read more