Booked this cruise primarily for the private island. Drove down the night before and stayed at the Red Roof Plus. It needs a lot of TLC, but they offered parking for the week. Beware of the shuttle; if you want to use the return shuttle, you must pay first at the hotel. We saw someone try to pay on the return and was turned away. Also, it was a little scary on the way back as we had to get in with people who were being dropped off at other ships and had to crouch until they got off!

Check in was okay. Moved through security line quickly, and went to Platinum line. Actually had to wait there as only two people were manning the desk: one only took people from the special needs line, and the other was dealing with a group that had an issue with a passport. Got upstairs and was sent to a separate section that had plenty of chairs and some drinks and snacks. A bit of confusion ensued when an employee came through announcing that priority boarding was starting, then got up there and found out that it was only for the Haven. Fortunately, we did not have to stand long and were on the ship around 11:30.

It is a large ship with only fore and aft elevators/steps, but we found it was very easy to navigate. Dining and shows were on decks 6, 7, and 8. Main pool deck and buffet were on deck 15. Although it was a full sailing, we found that we never had to wait longer than 30 minutes for dining, and were able to be seated at shows without reservations. Also we never had a problem finding deck chairs. We did stand for some of the atrium shows, but we were only watching while waiting for something else. Read more