I read some extremely mixed reviews on this site, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but let me just start by saying that a lot of people exaggerate as to the ship's condition and the food.

I'll give you a little bit of background first. Travelled with my daughter (15), and my friend and her daughters (13 and 10). I've cruise before multiple times with my daughter (2 carnival, 2 NCL, 1 disney, 1 RCCL), but our friends hadn't cruised before.

EMBARKATION: Due to an unexpected delay, we didn't get onto the ship until around 2:20pm. By that time it was fairly quiet, and it didn't take us too long to get on the ship. Read more