This ship was entirely tooooooo big and tooooooo much commotion for our tastes! Just too many people and unfortunately too many un-supervised/un-parented children. We felt it was more like a floating continuous carnival or wild playground than a cruise. If we had been on the cruise with our grandchildren, it would have been a much better experience for us and a great one for them, but we were looking for a nice relaxing, get-away, rejuvenating cruise........this was not.

Let's start with our cabin - Central Park Balcony (#12643). Our friends had been on this ship and in this type cabin before and really enjoyed it. They were with us on this cruise in the same type of cabin right next door to us and experienced the same issues. As a matter of fact, we both complained. We headed to our cabin as soon as they are ready. We walk through the door to a loud motor noise, constant loud hum. Thinking it just may be something with initial boarding, we let it go. When we headed back to our cabin to get ready for dinner, the noise is still there and just as loud. We complained to guest services and our cabin attendant, who was wonderful the entire time. She made phone calls and someone (an officer, I believe) came to our cabin. They noticed the noise we are complaining about and went to "check it out". In a few minutes the noise was gone. Next morning, it was back. We complained again, as did our friends. That afternoon maintenance came to our friends cabin and started making phone calls. It turns out our cabins were directly under the kids splash pad and pool area. The noise was from the pumps operating the water for that area. The pumps would be shut off from 8 at night until 9 in the morning, which was nice so we could sleep, but did nothing for us during the day. As a matter of fact, the noise was even louder on our balcony. So we could not enjoy what was supposed to be a lovely cabin and balcony, which as you know typically are not cheap. Look closely at where your cabin is located when booking. If directly under the pool area, AVOID IT. You would think if homes can be sound-proofed for noise from airport runways, cabins on the cruise ship could be sound-proofed from the pool pump noises.

Another issue were all the "technical" issues with a couple of the shows. The first night was the ice show. It stopped for about 10 minutes of the performance due to "technical issues". Next night was the production Cats. The last 2 songs were not performed due to "technical issues". The Oasis of Dreams show seemed to be performed OK. We never went to another show because we were tired of the disappointments. Read more