Scotteh

The ship stopped at many nice ports.  Considering we were mid-ship in the Lido deck with balcony the price was pretty good at about $135 a day.  The rooms were slightly cramped, but nor bad knowing space onboard is at a premuim, although we thought The balcony itself was a little small.  The excursions were well priced compared to other options, and as long as you aren't on a "Top 10"  (mostly bus tour) excursion were nice, and those including lunch or dinner were very good.

The ship layout is a little confusing as they require you to go through certain common areas (e.g. Casino) in order to get to other areas of the ship, which required us to pass through a smoking area.  The ship diagrams by the elevators help when you get disoriented or can't get from fore to aft on certain decks (e.g. deck 3 where the crew is quartered).  Some of these are common on ships, but hoping they would do something different with new ship designs.  I was surprised given the fact the cruise was fully booked, that we could usually find a place poolside during the day.

The good at standard dining was only okay.  Guy's burgers, The Blue Iguana and JiJi's (lunch free) were nice free alternatines no-cost alternatives.  The on-board service was pretty good.

The entertainment was hit-and-miss.  Most of the shows were not as good as other cruise lines I've been on, but there were a couple of gems (e.g. Flick), and while the comedy shows were also hit-and-miss, it was nice to have this as an alternative to the regular shows.

While it was not a bad cruise or experience, my wife and I (soon free to travel without our teenager who is becoming an adult and doesn't really care for travel) will be looking for a more upscale cruise experience, so we will probably cruise on a more mid to upper scale cruise lines (versus budget oriented).  So it's A matter of preference, not value or experience.  This is a was a good value for the money.