We chose this ship because we wanted a January cruise that went to the Southern Caribbean. Initially we were just iffy about the ship as we had previously sailed on the NCL Getaway. After 3 days we had NO crowded pools, no crowded hot tubs, no wait in for the main dining room, ALWAYS readily found deck chairs, loved the promenade deck and the goodies available there 24-7. We loved the ports (St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Curacao, Aruba) and by weeks end my 8yo son cried because he came to enjoy everything about the ship.
For the kids: we found it very handy we could "load" a cruise card with game room credit and then became useless afterwards.........with 2 children this is an outstanding way to manage the kids. On previous cruises our game room bill eclipsed 150.00 but RCCL does it right in this area as this is easily managed.
The food: never had a bad meal. Now there was Italian night and that is just not my favorite so we grazed in the buffet and the promenade. Now this is what spoke volumes to me, the next night our hostess/head waiter asked where we were last night and if we had a bad experience. WOW, never happened to us before. We came to adore this sweet lady and the surrounding staff. The promenade has a 24-7 goodie area where you can get cookies, sandwiches, pizza, coffee, etc. My children would go there after EVERY port because the food was really good..........nothing fancy but hearty and satisfying.
Loved the layout.....very functional and fit our family of 4 very well.