My husband and I are first-time cruisers (both 50 yrs. old) and we cruised with my 70-year-old parents who had been on 3 other cruises years ago. I spent hours on this board reading reviews to select our cruise so I think I should contribute as well.

I realized while talking to fellow cruisers towards the end of the cruise you can never please everyone. While we thought the dining room dinners were superb; another couple thought they were terrible. To start off let me say I have literally traveled around the world but this was our first cruise. We seek out renouned restaurants wherever we go and are not afraid to drop some major coin but I expect a lot if I am paying that kind of money. My parents are the same and we have all dined at some of the world's best restaurants. That said, we thought the dinner selections in the Trellis dining room were outstanding. The meat served was melt-in-your mouth tender. The food was not particularly imaginative but the chef presented standard classics like rack of lamb perfectly. We live in LA and if the ship's chef had a restaurant here, I would not hesitate to go there for special occassions. The buffets were what we expected--tasty, fresh and well-presented but not standout. One couple we talked to complained the ship only had one midnight dessert buffet, which was something that didn't interest us but I know it is important to many cruisers. The only negative we had related to food was the crowds at the buffet and people camping out at the tables so it was hard to find a seat. We rarely ate at the buffet.

We thought the ship was spotlessly clean and our stateroom was just fine (inside stateroom) but I heard others complain. Again, we don't have anything to compare it with but it exceeded our expectation. Read more