I had no idea what to expect for our first cruise other than what I had seen on tv & movies. We decided to cruise to celebrate our 30th anniversary and invited our family to join us. There were 9 adults and we shared 4 cabins. I used Vacationstogo.com to book the cruise for everyone. It cost an average of $500 each for the entire week. Embarkation in Galveston was a breeze and disembarking was just as easy. We knew to be patient and that helped a lot. We chose to have our luggage taken to and from our cabins and are glad we did so. Our cabin steward, Marlon, was fantastic. Our head waiter, Manek, and assistants at dinner made us feel like royalty. We enjoyed everything about the cruise. We went to the shows, the clubs, the casino, the shops, and participated in as many activities as we wanted. Our cabins were more than adequate, except for one thing. Be aware that if you book V25 on the Ecstasy you will NOT have a view of anything except a rescue boat. I was very disappointed that I was not told that our view would be completely obstructed. We didn't get to enjoy the balcony at all and we paid twice as much for it as the other cabins. We asked to move but were told there were no vacancies.

I would recommend not eating at the buffet all the time. Choose to sit down in the dining rooms for most meals. We had late dinner and are glad that we did. The food was unbelievable. We enjoyed every meal. Choose the lobster and the escargot and don't miss the Chocolate Buffet. I don't recommend playing the slots on board; you won't win big. Skip the 'talks' on the jewelry buying but do go to the shows. Take at least one ride down the Twister slide, sit for awhile in the jacuzzi on the Serenity deck, do go to the Newlywed/Marriage show (its a riot!), have a fruity drink, take lots of pictures, nap, and sleep in when you're at sea. Can't say much about Progreso. Its a typical Mexican town. Buy your souvenirs there though; better prices. We hired a driver and tour guide for our group for $15 pp and we went to ruins, salt flats, saw flamingos, stopped at a private beach for margaritas, and toured the village before returning to the market. Well worth the money. In Cozumel, we did the same for $20 pp and were taken to a private beach club for 3 hours where we could snorkel. We were then taken shopping downtown. 3 ppl in our group went diving and had a fantastic time.

All in all, for our first cruise for each of us, it was a great experience. No one got sea sick, even though the boat did rock quite a bit, and we didn't spend too much money. We took advantage of everything the ship offered and had a wonderful time. We're already planning our next cruise!