The months of planning, organizing for a vacation of a lifetime went sour real quick. Embarkation and Debarkation was smoother than I thought it might be, and for that, I’m grateful.

First and foremost, if you’re a smoker… you’re not welcome. It is so difficult to get to one of the “approved” smoking areas, and unless you are an Olympic stair-climber (because the elevators are packed with wait lines constantly). Also, if you pay the extra bucks for a balcony, the view is beautiful but you ludicrously can’t smoke there. The approved areas were packed, ashtrays full to over-flowing, dishes everywhere and not an attendant in sight. In the non-smoking areas – attendants galore. I was not offered a drink at any time while in the smoking areas.

The next issue for me (an early riser), I was unable to find a cup of coffee until 6-6:30 in the morning leaving me to wander the ship a couple hours every morning for a week … hoping to find a single cup-o-joe … didn’t happen. Read more