Background: Family of five from Australia, ages 4 to 75, mostly first time cruisers.

Embarkation: This is a fairly straight forward operation, my advice is to get a porter if you have a large quantity of luggage,it will make your life so much easier. The queue seemed quite long but it moved at a good pace and about half an hour later we we boarding the ship. Tip: you have to fill in a declairation form, bring a pen. The welcome on board was excellent with crew members taking time to discuss things such as Kids Club etc. which we found very useful.

Cabin: Starboard balcony deck 9. It has been said in many reviews (when I started planning this there were only 450 reviews on the PoA) the cabins are not large, however we had three people in ours and did not seem to have any space issues, all the luggage fitted in the cupboard and under the bed very well. Bathroom facilities were also very adequate, shower was good, the only point to note is the flushing of the toilets is some form of vacuum system which can be a little noisy a 3am when you dont know what it is. The balconey offered a private haven and a chance to view the sceanery and have a coffee with out having to get to dressed up and go to a public area. We chose Starboard as this is the best for the Volcano viewing, personal highlight for me. Read more