Okay let me start by saying a little bit about myself. I am an 18 year old male from Maryland who just went on the cruise (came back today) with my family, my grandma and my cousins family. It was simply amazing and probably the best vacation I have gone on in my life which is impressive! (My entire family had a blast) Let me review several aspects of the cruise.

Arrival: We got to Miami after a 2 hour flight into Fort Lauderdale. When we got off the taxi (a big van since we had so many bags for six people -6 suitcases and 4 hanging bags) there was a guy to take our stuff it was pretty well organized. We arrived at the port of Miami at around 12:30PM which was good because people had started to arrive and it wasn't that crowded. Security was good. check in was a little hectic but is to be expected. Upon seeing the ship we were all in awe by the size and elegance of it. Bags take a while to get but if you just started to relax right away it would be good.

Stateroom: Sure, the rooms are small but what do you need a huge room for when you are only really in the room to sleep. I would say on average each day between the time that I woke up until the time I went to bed I was in the room for about 1-2 hours a day. That is not much so the size didn't matter. My brother and I shared the room and it was fine size. Having a balcony was nice but comes at a premium. I wouldn't have wanted an interior stateroom as there was no view. However I think having just a window would have sufficed since it's cheaper, but the balcony was nice to have. We were on deck 7 which was great as it was halfway between the main areas (dining room on 3 and pool on 11 along with stuff in between) and as a result I almost always used the stairs. Our stateroom attendant was as friendly as they come. His name is Patrick and is from Jamaica. He was the best, friendliest person I have ever met in that position (housekeepers at hotels included). He was very helpful with everything and was a pleasure to talk to. I loved his accent as he would greet me with a "hey man and yeah man" in that cool Jamaican accent. We would talk about what I did and stuff and he would give me some suggestions and knew everything about the ship and ports of call. A neat little feature is that all the stateroom attendants each night would make a towel animal and put it in your room when they came to turndown the beds. This was a neat little feature as I came back to my room or to my cousins room each night to see what was waiting for us (at the end they even show you how to make them yourself). A few negatives about the room were with regards to amenities. In the bathroom the toilet paper that they had was atrocious. It was hard and caused my rear to be in pain. For a cruise where guests are paying a lot I would think they could afford to buy better toilet paper than the cheapo no name brand hard stuff. Also they gave you soap and shampoo but not conditioner. Unless the shampoo in the dispenser was a two in one (which I don't think it was). Read more