Of about 14 cruises, this was BY FAR the worst embarkation experience I have ever had. Just shy of 2 hours to park, go thru security (that part was quick), and check in. Horrid line management for dropping off bags and for the check in. The Gold line took longer than the regular line; the terminal was still packed when we finally boarded at about 3:30.

Once on board, the ship was scheduled to depart at 4pm, but due to an unspecified propulsion issue did not depart until 7pm; however, this did not affect the rest of the trip and was not an issue after this initial delay. We were assigned to 8pm dining, when I had requested Freestyle at the time I made my reservation. I was advised to correct this onboard. Guest Services told me they would see what they could do and would get back to me by noon the second day of the cruise. I did not hear anything at all. LUCKILY our waitstaff was so good at 8pm that we were happy staying there; but it would have been nice if Guest Services had kept their word about getting back to me.

After this rough start, the rest of the trip was much, much better! Our dining team was terrific as mentioned (Jason and Timoteh). All the food we had was terrific. I liked the soda program with the special cup and the freestyle Coke machines. Was a great deal, and much better than the way it used to be when the only Diet soda at the bar was Diet Coke. The shows we went to were great, too- a couple of stand-up comics and two production shows were quite enjoyable. Read more