Let me start by saying, you have probably read the seemingly endless parade of negative reviews on this ship by now, and you're questioning why in the world you booked this cruise? That was me for about a month leading up to this cruise, and I was worried we were going to have a horrible time waiting in endless lines, with mean staff, terrible unclean accommodations, and bad food.

You know what? We had a great time!

Let me start with embarkation, a process numerous people complained endlessly about in the reviews being 2-3 hours and waiting forever in the heat. Maybe that's true for them, but here's my advice: Don't be the first people to try and show up before the ship is ready. We waited until noon to get to our shuttle, we were in line for about 45 minutes, and we were on the ship, sitting in Taste restaurant at 1:15PM having lunch. It was an hour and 15 minutes from getting to the shuttle to sitting on the ship ordering food. No problem whatsoever, and the lines never stood still for very long. Read more