Embarkation: We read horror stories about how long it took to embark, but it never happened to us. We got there at 11:30, and were on the ship and eating lunch on the Lido deck by 12:30. If you do most of the paperwork online, such as completing and printing your own Fun Pass, before you get there, it makes things go much faster.

Rooms: The rooms are not ready until 1:30, so there's no real rush to get on the ship anyway. But by 1:30 as scheduled, our room was cleaned and ready for us. Our room had a balcony, with a nice view of the ocean everyday. The dEcor was nice and modern looking, well maintained and clean. The bed was the most comfortable bed I've been on outside of my own bedroom. I think it's a fold out sofa bed, but it's firm enough that you don't feel the frame digging into your back when you lay on it, yet it wasn't so hard that it felt like you were sleeping on the floor. The rooms were made up twice a day, in the morning, and at night while you are at dinner. When you return from dinner you have a cute towel animal on your bed along with your next day's itinerary, and mint chocolates. The towel animals aren't made until the 2nd night at sea. There is a safe in your room to use for free, a refrigerator (our steward said he couldn't unlock ours because we had a minor, and there was alcohol inside), and ample storage to put all of your clothes. If you have a lot of things to hang in the closet, bring extra hangers.

Food: The food in all parts of the ship was excellent. In the main dining room (Normandie) the food was very good, and you can order as much as you want. If you want 3 entrees, then order 3. The menu changes every night for dinner, but the breakfast is the same everyday. The dress code for dinner is usually dressy, but there are at least 3 nights where you can wear dress shorts and pullover shirts. Monday and Friday nights were formal nights, which require coats and dress slacks. If you want to eat in shorts and t-shirt, you can always eat at the Mermaid's Grill (buffet). The food was also excellent. We ate lunch there everyday, and there was a burger and hot dog station, Chinese food, made to order sandwiches, American food, pizza, desert station, and a soft serve ice cream area. It was similar to a food court at a shopping center, where you go to different stations to get different kinds of food. There is also as much juice, coffee, tea, or hot chocolate as want to drink. I bought a soda card, which is $6 per day for 7 days, for a total of $42. Just show the card at the bar or only hostess, and they'll give you a soda. If you didn't have the card, each soda would be $2 each. So you have to drink at least 3 sodas a day to get your money's worth out of the card. The only bad part about this whole cruise was the taste of the water. It tastes like you're drinking the ocean, and it also effects the taste of the coffee. They always offer you the choice of bottled water or regular. At $6 for the bottled water, we suffered with the regular. Read more