As background, we are 3 star Mariners in our early 60's with no experience whatsoever with any other cruise line and we chose this cruise because of its itinerary: Panama Canal, Costa Rica, and Colombia. It was also extremely last minute, so I did virtually no pre-cruise research. I didn't even read the CC reviews!

We were offered a paid upgrade to an SS suite, which we took. The double sink, two showers and larger veranda were well worth the money for us. But that's always a personal choice I know.

Embarkation in Port Everglades was seamless and we were in the Lido by noon. I was surprised to see that the Lido was operating "as usual" without the Code Red first day precautions we've seen on previous cruises and travelers helped themselves to food at will, without any interference from servers. The new layout of the Lido Market seems to minimize congestion to some degree and we really enjoyed the new salad bar with personalized salads prepared to your own specifications as well as the small plates and the premade sandwich options. The Asian section seems much better than previously, but I still find the sushi to be inedible. The desserts remain very pretty to look at but pretty boring to eat; ice cream makes up for that though! Read more