We decided to book a cruise on a whim and take our kids (11,7) somewhere amazing for spring break. We reserved a mini suite with the hopes that having a spacious room would ensure a better experience.

We drove to Houston and found the port easy to find, quick to part and embarkation experience was efficient, shame this was on of the last cruises out of Houston. We were able to get on the ship by 12, found our room quickly and dropped any carry on's we had and headed to the Grand Pacific for lunch. We steered clear of the buffet based on cruise critic reviews, and were about the 10th people in the main dining room. Had a fantastic lunch and headed back to the room to find all the luggage delivered and got to work putting stuff away prior to the safety drill. After the mandatory fun we went to the pool deck to watch sail away. I felt that the deck was pretty crowded (especially once the weather turned nicer) but never had an issue getting a drink at the bar! We had the UBP promo, the bar staff was very friendly, never had to wait more than 2 minutes and also found the wait staff to be wonderful as well.

Dining - We stuck to the buffet for breakfast which had wonderful choices, seating could be overwhelming, but you just had to look around. Ate one night in Alazar, thought that was just fine, good service and food was good. Ate twice in Blue Lagoon, the first night, service was great, fast and good food. Second time, service was pretty poor, took about 10 minutes to get a waiter to acknowledge us, food took forever to come out, we never went back. Ate at Jasmine Garden once, husband and I liked the food, kids weren't impressed. Read more