I will start with embarkation and work my way forward. It was extremely smooth for us, but we had a wedding planned on the ship and had priority boarding. Once on board, we were escorted to our stateroom. It was a large oceanview cabin on Deck 2. The room wasn't HUGE lol, but adequate for sleeping and the occasional day of catching a movie or sleeping in. The TV is way outdated and the bathroom showed signs of wear and tear (scratches in toilet bowl and chipping mirrors), but other that that - it was what you would expect for a cruise cabin. I think if I had to do a nine day again I would seriously consider a balcony cabin - just for a little extra room on a longer cruise. I also have to qualms about staying down on deck 2 - less traffic (except for port days) and less rocking.

Luggage came very quickly - early afternoon! Our stateroom attended was very sweet (Dio). He tried hard to learn our names quick and always chatted with us, asking about our day and making sure we were ok. The other staff was great too - always came back from breakfast and after dinner to a tidy room.

We ate breakfast and lunch in the windjammer most days. This is one of my few complaints. The Windjammer is way to small to accommodate all the new staterooms built in the extention. Breakfast was the hardest - you had to walk around for a bit trying to snatch an empty table. Some of the cruise guests turned into Jeykl here as well. It was pretty cramped, and some people forgot simple manners and patience lol. The food was pretty good. I had the same thing for breakfast each morning (the cook to order line was always pretty long and I decided to just go with what was in the buffet). It is also super convenient that the Solarium offers snacks until 2am. We did order room service one day (between an early lunch and our 8:30 dining seating). We were told it would take 1/2 hour.. and it took more like 1.5 hours at least. Read more