Our first cruise . So disappointed in the entire experience. We waited four hours at the NYC terminal, three of which was standing outside in the cold. Not sure what happened at the dock as there was no explanation and no apology for this unacceptable inconvenience. The worst part was seeing the hundreds of senior citizens standing for hours, with no attempt from anyone from the cruise ship making accommodations for them. Pitiful! The most amazing part was no one in line seemed at all angry about the situation. They were completely complacent, calm and for the most part jovial. Eager to get on board and start their adventure, even if it meant killing 240 minutes of their precious vacation time. When we finally got on board it was a frenzied race to get to a bar and get a drink. Every bar onboard was over packed with people, we couldn’t get close to a drink of water let alone alcohol. The ship should have served champagne in glasses as we boarded after putting us through that ridiculous ordeal. We waited 4 hours but there were people behind us that surely waited at least five hours.

The ship is very crowded 4900 passengers, which means if you want to do something on board like eat, or see a show you have to make reservations immediately! We didn’t have a chance to eat at any decent hour or partake in a number of activities (There weren’t that many we were interested in) as everything booked up quickly. The activities they have on board are basically organized for you to purchase something from the art auction, or the onboard shopping (a joke) or at the spa. There were no intellectually stimulating activities except a program called 30,000 years of art history. It was interesting but it was merely a ploy to get you to buy the sofa art on display in the middle of the thoroughfare.

If you are not a smoker do not go on this ship! They say there is no smoking onboard except in a designated area in the casino. Well the casino is in the open three floor atria area where many of the high end dining restaurants are. The smoke just wafts down to the non smoking area and it ruined that entire area of the ship. We had dinner at Le Bistro and was unpleasantly surrounded with cigarette smoke as we were sat at the outside tables. Read more