Embarkation: Very smooth. It took no more than 10 minutes from check-in to entering the ship whether you were Elite or otherwise.
Cabin: Our cabin had a nice-sized balcony, far bigger than the one we had on the Royal. The bedding and TV were new, but the TV remote didn’t work properly. Our cabin steward was average. We had to ask him for soap for the shower (not everyone likes body wash) and lotion, which was not provided. Due to mechanical problems, we had no water on arrival until the evening, then until the following day, we had no hot water. We received no notices in our cabin about this, yet the ship kept filling our “mailboxes” with adverts about “champagne art auctions”. The ship’s priorities were clearly askew.
Food: The MDR food was quite good, with outstanding waiters. Desserts were on the dull side. Due to the “technical difficulties” the ship had no ice cream the first day. The lunch buffet was decent. The layout of the buffet on this ship was roomier than that of the other older ships, but there is no place to eat outside, unless one eats by the pool. We ate at the Bayou Café one night. Those at the table who had steak were happy, but the waiter informed me the gumbo had meat in it (I don’t eat meat). The only other options were fried catfish (no biggie, to be sure) and shrimp, which was last night’s MDR choice. I took the shrimp, but it had meat in the rice. What bugged me the most was that some at the table complained about their dessert, and were surprised with desserts from Sabatini’s, but I was never offered fish from there (they have an excellent bronzini there)…..and yet I was charged for dinner.
Of the 3 ports, it was the one I had already been at many times before. We took a cab to Money Bar where we did some snorkeling.
Great for us, easy to navigate and near the airport and our condo in FL