We flew into Orlando the day before the cruise. Rented a car from Budget then drove out to Cape Canaveral. Stayed at LQ in Cocoa Beach (which was right on the beach) just a few miles from the cruise terminal. Cruise day-we took all of our luggage to the cruise terminal around 11 am and dropped it off then took the car to Budget to drop off and took their shuttle to the cruise terminal. Was on the ship by 12:15 pm. The embarkation went very fast and smooth. We were very impressed that we were able to drop our bags early then come back, made things much easier. No problem getting a table for lunch in "The Gathering" (main lido buffet) there were a lot of people but lines were going quickly.

We had the your time dining in the Crimson deck 4, where we could dine anytime from 5:45 pm - 9:30 pm. Every night we dined at or around 5:45, never had any trouble getting our table with our wonderful headwaiter, her name is Nazan and team waiter, his name was Sudarma. Impressed with the food quality, never tried the steakhouse. Never really wanted to, as we were happy with the food quality in the Crimson. Had the warm chocolate melting cake almost every night. We did try the deli at the back of the Gathering and it was very good, lines never really long either. Never tried pizza and burger in the pool area, lines were usually long. I have to add that the omelet stations in the Gathering went quite fast since there were 2 guys making three omelets each.

Our ports were Nassau, Bahamas and Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands. Read more