Getting to port/Day One - We rented a car from Hertz in Orlando at the airport. The line at MCO was EXTREMELY long, so we were fortunate to be Hertz Gold members and go right to the car outside. In any case, it is convenient to pick up a car here because the cars are right at the terminal, no shuttle required! We spent our first day at Kennedy Space Center, overnight at the Four Points Cocoa Beach (used Starwood points), dinner at the Pier, and then dropped off the car Sunday morning at Hertz. They had a shuttle waiting for us and we went right to Port. The whole luggage and check-in process was a little hectic, more so than I expected based on other reviews posted here. I thought being in a grand suite we would get through quickly, but we were in the same line to get through security and customs, and then had a special line to check-in for our sea pass, but then back to the regular line for our 2 photos - one to purchase and one for security, I think? In any case, we made it onboard in an hour or so total. We headed for lunch in the Windjammer - JAM packed! Fortunately with suite access we sat in Chops and were by ourselves. I am not a big buffet fan in general and never really cared for the lunch options in Windjammer. But that also meant I didn't eat a lot for lunch which was probably a good thing! After lunch we walked around the pool deck area and checked out our room. It was gorgeous, nicer than expected, and plenty of room. Our balcony was huge and I appreciated that we had nice wicker chairs and a table rather than the normal balcony tables. I did wish we had a lounge chair since there was plenty of room for one. They should just make this standard for these larger balconies! I will only make one complaint on noise this entire review - we were in 1560 on deck ten and I always heard deck chairs scraping above us when I was in the room. Not a problem at night since no one is usually up there later at night. Moving on - we hung out in the room reading through all the materials and benefits. Realized quickly that with our wine package we could not order wine through room service which was disappointing. I read in other posts that you could do this & bought a larger package for this reason, to order champagne for our room for a few days since we were celebrating. We ended up ordering the extras in the dining room and bringing them back to our room. Could have used a larger fridge for storing them, but I was able to squeeze them in their sides. Back to day one - we had a quick drink at the pool bar before our muster drill, which went okay but took longer than anticipated due to lots of late people! Then for sailaway we got champagne at the solarium bar and walked up to the deck 12 forward balcony area - was a little less crowded and crazy than deck 11. We then went to check out the rest of the ship and walked down to the Royal Promenade. Totally empty! We had a drink at the Champagne Bar and at Vintages, and found throughout the week that Vintages was usually dead with the exception of wine tasting events. Our dinner this evening was the Chops Wine Dinner. They seated everyone at separate tables so it didn't really seem like a wine dinner and it took a long time because there was only one server going back and forth explaining the wine & food. The food was pretty good, I enjoyed the steak course the best. My husband liked the soup course which was a tasting of 4 different soups. The server did not seem very knowledgeable about wine from our perspective, but he was very nice and it was a lovely evening overall.

Day two - Monday was my birthday and we were awakened by the captain announcing that CocoCay was cancelled due to wine & bad weather. We could see the island from our balcony and it did not look nice out so it was would have been a poor day to sit on the beach. We were excited to explore the ship anyway and found a lot of activities to keep us busy! I started the day at the gym which was packed! I grabbed breakfast to take back to our room at the Windjammer (ended up doing this quite a few times since room service was SO slow despite being in a suite with so-called express service. We took our time getting ready and reading through the updated Cruise compass. We decided to head to Johnny Rockets for lunch (good shakes, chili fries, greasy burgers) it was crowded so we sat at the bar and it was pretty loud, probably because the tables outside were closed due to the rain. It was fun to do it once but probably wouldn't go more than in a week! Then we went to an art seminar about collecting art which was excellent. Dan the Auctioneer is extremely knowledgeable about art & we learned a lot. It was crowded probably due to the weather outside. We then wandered into the Vintages wine tasting ($16.95/person for about 4 2oz pours). Again, very crowded so it was hard to hear the guy talking about the wines - again, it wasn't really anything to us but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon. We enjoyed a bottle of champagne in our room (went to champagne bar & brought a bottle back - I went to windjammer for a bottle from our package & it took at least 45 mins to get the bottle!) and got ready for dinner. Tonight's dinner was our second wine dinner at Portofino. This time we were at a table with 4 other couples. It was formal night so we dressed up but others were just in suits & cocktail dresses so we were a little overdressed. I'd agree with other reviewers that people don't seem to follow the dress codes & just do whatever. This dinner was MUCH better than the Chops wine dinner. All of the food was excellent & nice Italian wine pairings. A TON of food. After dinner we went to the Marquee show, which was great - very high-quality production & amazing performers! We liked that all of the shows were less than an hour. This was our first time seeing the cruise director Allan Brooks & he was fantastic. Enjoyed seeing him throughout the week at events, he is very funny. After the show we had a nightcap at the Champagne bar. The drinks were reasonably priced in our opinion, given that we are from a city where a glass of wine or mixed drinks is often over $10. I think the wine bar was the only expensive place to drink.

Day 3 Our second day at sea! It was nice out and I started the day on the running track. It was not too crowded but very windy! By the time I got to the pool all the chairs had been taken or saved in the solarium but fortunately with the suite we had reserved seats by the pool bar & this proved to be a good amenity since it was next to impossible to get seats on sea days after 9AM. So many seats were saved by towels & I never saw staff do anything about it. We went to the art auction in the afternoon - allow over 2 hours for this if you go - the first hour or so people just walk around and tag art - they do pass around free champagne which is nice - we ended up leaving early because we had not eaten lunch yet. We grabbed a quick bite at Sorrento's and then wandered around the ship a bit & stopped for drinks at a few other bars. We tried all of the bars by the end of the week. We did my time dining and ate in the dining room around 7:30-8:30 every night for the rest of the cruise. We generally found the dining room to be pretty dead at this point - we were in Galileo and there were usually only 3 or 4 other tables seated near us. So while we liked having our own table & the flexible times, it was also a little weird to be in the empty dining room. Not sure if everyone on this sailing opted for the earlier dinner or if it was just our dining room. Granted it was nice never to wait for a table! We had 3 different servers throughout the week, they were all good but liked one more than others, he was more personable and friendly. The servers all sang happy birthday to be me and brought out a nice dessert for me. I enjoyed the Vitality menu - 3 courses for under 800 - a few nights. I found all the food to be good and felt there was an ample number of options for each course each night for satisfy a picky eater such as myself! We only used the suite lounge a few nights for drinks - we found it confusing because it said you had to be in evening attire and you could not take drinks or food out of the lounge. We were also always the youngest people in there and felt out of place, especially when there were no open seats. Would have preferred a lounge with a view too - I'd rather pay for drinks to enjoy on my own balcony! However overall we felt the suite benefits, especially the reserved pool chairs & theater & ice rink seats, as well as the spacious room & balcony, were worth the price of the suites. Read more