We chose this cruise for the excursions and port stops. We also were offered a free interior room by Casino at Sea. We upgraded to balcony room 10576. Getting onboard in Tampa was a mixed bag of good and bad. Traffic at the port was frustrating due to road work. Check-n process was slow and confusing due to mix ups in wait lines. Our room was better than expected and we had a great room steward. A bottle of champagne was provided due to birthdays. Ship entertainment was so-so. Formal dining was a treat. Very fun and helpful dinner staff. Buffet food was average, not spectacular and not easily available. The pool area was half-reserved for smoking people, next to food areas. There were too many smoking areas through-out the ship. The casino is also very smokey but the games were fun, if you could actually find a slot machine that was unused. The shows in the theatre were ok but not the best we've seen. We booked our own excursions and saved a lot of money. The entertainment staff and ship crew were not seen very often. The water was turned off to the room during one night. The sliding door to the balcony required two people to open and close. The process of dis-embarkation at Tampa was horrible. Thousands of people trying to leave thru one single line was frustrating and very slow.
This ship had better carpeting and a sleeper couch than our previous ship. Our room steward was great. The balcony sliding glass door was very hard to open and close.
This is a great island for resting and beach swimming.
It rained hard all day but we went souvenir shopping anyway. Great bargains.