We are a married couple in our early 60's. This was our 13th cruise - 4 on Carnival, 4 on Royal Caribbean, 5 on NCL. I booked this cruise 8 days before (perk of being recently retired!) and got a fairly decent price. We booked a balcony guarantee and was assigned cabin 9660 (Cat BA) within a few days.

We drove to Boston from Western Mass, parked at the open air lot at the bow of the ship for $175 for the week. Very convenient! We arrived at 10:40 and were onboard within an hour. We went straight to the Garden Cafe for lunch, which wasn't too crowded just yet. Not long after they announced cabins were ready. We absolutely loved the location of this cabin! There is a door in the hallway that says "Lounge", kind of a secret door that led into a quiet lounge on deck 9 that overlooked the Grand Atrium. The grand staircase is right there and within seconds we were at O'Sheehan's or one more flight to the Atrium. The cabin was just fine, clean and roomy enough. New carpeting and the best mini fridge ever! It actually was COLD! Our cabin steward, Errol was awesome, probably the best we ever had. Introduced himself right away, always had a smile and pleasant chit chat whenever we saw him. Towel animals every night, which makes this old girl happy.

The pool area is mobbed on nice sea days. We rarely use the pool but do like to sit and people watch. It was hard to find a chair within view of the pool. Read more