We picked this cruise due to price and destinations. We had not been to the Dominican Republic and the timing of this cruise worked well. We had studied reviews of this ship and felt it would be a good experience. We were interested in knowing if we were required to wear masks and how Covid requirements affected cruising. This is our 14th cruise and we have cruised on NCL, Royal, Celebrity, Princess and Carnival, having taken no cruises since Covid. The boarding was ok...someone was right at the front of the line to check to make sure that vaccines were documented, passports and recent covid test. Masks were required in the boarding area. On the ship masks were required in the shops, and the theater...other than that they were recommended but not mandated.

Hot tubs are no longer hot...CDC rules will not let them turn them up to what they use to be...so a hot tub is no longer much fun...it amazed me how many people would sit in lukewarm water with under powered jets...The best place we found was on deck ten in the Tides. We were fortunate to have a balcony on Deck ten and everything was just down the hall...The fish shack was a favorite go to for fried shrimp and calamari for $6.(Deck 10 Tides) The free Guy's BBQ on ship days was good. The Pizza on deck ten was yummy and we ate it for breakfast for a few days. The fresh omelettes at the buffet were excellent. The main dining room was ok...not great. The ice cream was plentiful and the straw berry was good. The daily cakes at the buffet were amazing...everyday they had at least 6 cakes to choose from...I liked the Humming Bird cake the best. My husband liked the chocolate pudding.

We did have to call security as the balcony cabin next to us had so rather brash people that got into a verbal, loud argument with a lot of sounds of physical fighting...security responded quickly. Read more