We arrived at the pier by car around 11:00AM and it was a quick escalator ride to the VIP area, which was a tiny area with some seats and some food and drink.
There were not enough seats for the number of suite cruisers. When all the VIPS were checked in, the concierge Patrick had us follow him onboard. Never dealt with him again, had no need for him.
The ship was kind of old looking and there were lots of missing tiles in the pool area as well as all the wood around the pool was sun bleached and really needing re-staining. The buffet, which on the new ships we frequent sometimes instead of the main dining rooms, looked and felt like an elementary school cafeteria and the food was about at that level. I was very surprised how poor the quality of the buffet has become. People says Carnival is worse, but having sailed Carnival this May, I now think the Carnival food is better.
cabin 12508 large family suite was nice. We could not hear any noise from neighbors. It was very private feeling. It had 2 bad windows that needed to be replaced and this was not good since this is a view cabin.