My husband and I just returned from our cruise last week, so all of this information is pretty fresh. This was my 6th cruise and my husband's first.
Embarkation: We flew in from Kansas and arrived in Melbourne, FL, around 11 a.m. Spent about an hour on the bus to the ship and arrived at the port at 12:30 (ish). To my pleasant surprise, the process seemed fairly quick and painless. The lines appeared to be long, however, we really didn't get hung up anywhere. The whole embarkation from arrival at the port until boarding the ship was maybe 35-45 minutes. So by 1:15 p.m. or so, we were on the ship and headed for our room. We took a guarantee room because we were hoping for an upgrade. Although the class of the room was the same as I booked, we were upgraded to deck 10, Panorama. It was the perfect location! I have to say, it was a very quiet and convenient room. Our room steward Jenny was wonderful. One last thing, be sure to book your shore excursions as soon as you can (You can use the TV in your room).
The ship: We spent the fist day at sea, so it gave us a chance to explore the ship. I would HIGHLY recommend making a reservation at the Emerald Supper Club early. Definitely worth the $25/pp for the meal. It was probably one of the best meals I have ever had. The Casino was nice, had all the regular table games and plenty of slots, etc. We especially enjoyed the craps table, probably too much! The disco is nice, but pretty empty until after midnight. We really didn't spend too much time in the other bars. The sports bar that is connected to the casino is incredibly smokey. I had read some reports that people thought the ship didn't have very good ventilation, maybe not in that bar, but as sensitive as we are to smoke, we thought the rest of the ship wasn't too bad! If you are not easily offended, stay up for the 3 "R" rated comedians. The first two were the best, and the third was decent. Worth staying up for though. The food overall was pretty much what I expected for cruise food. Not disappointed, but not overly impressed either way. Except for, as I mentioned above, the food at the Emerald Supper Club-Excellent. Never had a problem finding a chair on any deck to lay out in. For so many people, they had ample seating in the sun.