Intro: We booked about 2 months prior to departure, which was a little late. All the suites were gone and the choice of shore excursions was limited, several of the ones we wanted were sold out. We had a Veranda stateroom on the 10th floor forward. Ideally you would want to be mid-ship and not too high up for less “motion”. Still, the stateroom was very nice, with lots of storage space and a nice bed. The bathroom had a high “step up” which was a little awkward. Plenty of plugs and USB “A” ports for your devices. I used a CPAP machine and the nightstands on either side the bed could handle that easily. No extension chords needed.

Embarkation San Diego: You leave your bags with the attendant in the parking lot and then go into the terminal building. They give you a boarding time and we arrived at that time. We snaked our way through a line and checked in about 30 minutes later. Then we went straight to our cabin. Your ID Cards were in an envelope next to the door. We dropped our carry-on bags and then headed for a ship tour. Lunch was being served on Deck 9, not too crowded.

First day: bags arrived in about 2 hours. You have to watch the safety drill video in your stateroom before you can watch anything else on the stateroom TV and it’s supposed to completed 30 minutes prior to sail away time, 4:00pm. Once you watched the video, you have to report to your muster station and have your card scanned. The ship won’t leave until everyone has watched it. Read more