We're booked for a 25 day cruise later this year, so this 7 day cruise gave us a chance to do a little preview of this ship. Embarkation went smoothly, as did disembarkation except for a few intermittant stops and starts. Overall, the ship is well appointed. Lots of interesting artwork, good elevators including the "For" and "Aft" signs that were everywhere, helping you with direction. The cabin was very nice with two major exceptions which I will go into later. Storage was nicely laid out, the bathroom was adequate sized, and the room attendant was super.

We had expected to experience all four of the dining rooms but since we were on a Marriott owner's cruise, our dining room for 6 or the 7 nights was the Tuscan Grill. Service was very attentive but the menu was somewhat limited. Unexpectadly there was no lobster night which was a bummer. Our 7th night was in the Fine Cut steak restaurant because it was provided by Marriott, and that was very good (no lobster but was that Lobster night for the regular dining rooms???). The Oceanview Cafe on deck 14 was excellent with a large variety of food for every taste. We also ate in the Raw on 5 two times and enjoyed both, especially the oysters, and the fried fish which you can only get at lunch time. We had lunch several times at the Mast Bar near the Solarium and the food there was excellent as usual.

The shows were decent. A comedian on two nights and both offered a late night (10:30) version. Both were funny. A couple of song and dance shows and the others so uninspiring I cannot remember what they were. Except for the last night - a magician who was downright dull (America's Got Talent? - I don't think so). But you need to get there early for the shows if you want a good seat. Surprisingly only one of the shows featured a live band. They may have been in the background on other shows but they were not seen. Read more