Where to begin..............well a group of 10 of us chose this cruise basically because we could all manage it at the same time which was over NYE. Out of that group, 6 of us had done a NYE cruise with Princess a couple of years ago, which we loved, which is why we thought we would give it another go. We had just done the Getaway last year and really liked the ship and thought why not. Well I will tell you why not soon enough. Embarking was extremely easy and well managed. Once getting on board I headed straight to dining to make reservations for specialty restaurants. While I had been told that only 25% of reservations are made on-line (and you can't do a reservation for 10) I figured I would have plenty of times to choose from - not so. This is not the "free to do what I want" kind of cruise. If that's what you are looking for then book a cruise on a smaller ship (oh and friendlier). Everything on this ship must be booked! The only problem being that even though it says it is booked most times it isn't. Example: We went to one of the boards they have set up around the ship to make a reservation for the Cirque show. There were barely any time slots left open, so we split up our group into two different nights. However when we got to the show it was at least half empty.Why?? The only thing I can think of is that people booked it knowing they had OBC, which meant if they didn't go they weren't really losing any money, just a credit. Because you feel the need to book so many things there is little room left to just decide on the spur of the moment that you want to do a show or dinner, and if you don't make the reservation you are kind of just left wondering what you may or may not be able to do.

The ship design is an overall disaster, casino way too smoky with not enough ventilation. Cabin design was poorly thought out. Not sure who decided it would be a good idea to have the bathroom and shower separate and basically part of the room. I'm not a tall person, however if I laid a certain way in the bed my feet would hang off. Pool area again an awful design. Most ships I have been on have live music facing the pool area. Not so here, the "stage" is directed more towards the pool bar. Not only were there not many chairs but just getting a chair of any kind was pointless unless you woke up at 2 a.m to put your towel down. Oh, and lets not forget the back of the ship, Spice H20, (which was our absolute favorite part on the Getaway)....the smell was retched to say the least. If you like the smell of raw sewage permeating the air then by all means this is your place. For the most part we stayed away from this area.

Onto dining: we ate at 3 of the specialty restaurants. First up was Moderno - we actually really liked this restaurant. Drinks were good, service was good, salad bar was awesome, so all in all a good experience. Next up was La Cucina - not so good. Service was awful, food also nothing to talk about, and it took way tooooo long. Almost 2 1/2 hours!!. Last up is Cagney's - we love this place. Everything about it was great. A few others to mention were the Noodle Bar - love it! O'Sheehans not so much - staff was unfriendly to say the least, and the food not so good. Fine for a burger but that's about it. Read more