This was the first cruisae for my wife and I. The weather, overall, was very bad. Cool, overcast, with drizzling rain, mostly. We had one day that was partly sunny, enough to catch a few welcome rays on deck. Trying to nap in the deckside lounge chair, though, was a fool's errand, with all the noise (mostly people talking loudly). We had a stateroom on the 5th deck, starboard side, ocean view. The room was small, but comfortable enough. You do not hear the people in the adjoining rooms; however, the hallway is often full of people, kids, etc., who come in loud and clear. The bed was quite comfortable, and the gentle rocking of the ship was pleasant. Still, I had a hard time finding sleep. At one point, the gentle rocking turned to a more pronounced rolling, to the extent that the glassware on the counter began sliding to-and-fro, briefly. I honestly don't know how these boats don't capsize, as top-heavy as they appear!

Food was mediocre in the buffet, poor to good in the Sunset restaurant. I ordered a shrimp creole that was passably good for dinner one evening, but most of the dinners were unremarkable in their quality. The best meal we had, in my humble opinion, was the breakfast with the fresh-made everything omelet, oatmeal, and lox and bagels with cream cheese. Coffee was not too bad. I got a burrito from the Mexican cantina (Deck 9 or 10, in the open, adjacent to the pool and Jacuzzis) that was decent. Make sure you download the app, so you can make reservations for your meals! Several times, we waltzed into our seats for meals, past a long line of people (so it really was worthwhile, despite my reluctance to get yet another app, register, log-in, create...etc)

The best thing about the cruise, for me, was meeting people from all over. I met several people in the sports bar, as well as the Frog pub, and had nice conversations over a variety of drinks. I tend to go for the IPA's, coming from a long stint in the Great Pacific Northwest, and they had a couple of pretty good ones. Read more