We upgraded to a suite (cabin 7173) for this cruise, which was very spacious and had a great location on the ship. Room service was prompt, and housekeeping did a good job as well. Unfortunately not as personable or friendly as we had experienced on other cruises. The balcony was large with four deck chairs and a small table, but the windows were dirty and the balcony glass cloudy/distorted from caulking. Also lots of noticeable rust in the balcony area. The worst: mold. I am very allergic to mold, and each night as I tried to sleep I became more congested and spent more of the wee hours coughing. After thinking about the soggy carpet in the hallway outside our cabin, my thought is that mold was most likely the cause. Our last night onboard was sleepless for me and unfortunately for my husband as well, as I coughed all night long. (I felt fine during the day while on excursions or up on the deck.)

The food was okay, with a very wide selection of choices. Bonsai was amazing...the best salmon sashimi we have ever had! Dinner in the dining room was very disappointing compared to our past cruises (Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas and Carnival Breeze). Very disorganized and slow, members of our party receiving their courses at very different times, wait staff who really never engaged the guests, and roving bartenders offering up "specialty cocktails" that were not included in the drink package through your your meal.

One big issue we experienced was with the drink package. Depending on the bartender, even if they knew who we were and had seen us sitting together in the Serenity area, they sometimes would not allow my husband to order drinks for both of us...I would have to pop around the corner so they could lay eyes on me first. I understand the reasoning, but 1) my husband is a gentleman and therefore wants to take care of me in this way, and 2) it was not enforced uniformly...I often took our cards up and ordered drinks for both of us. No problem. Bartenders at Serenity did come around to take drink orders, particularly after a nice tip, and would simply write your card number down to tally up at the bar. This sounds great, but one day he logged too many drinks on my card (I had kept track) and when we visited the EA Sports Bar with our sons that night, my drink order was delivered with a shout of "SHE's DONE!" from the bartender. We knew I HAD NOT ordered 15 drinks that day, by 8pm no less, but my husband was rebuffed when he went to Guest Services to dispute and complain. Read more