Nice Cruise

The biggest thing I want to say is that this ship is headed for refurbishment in two months.  It's time!  Overall, great ship, enjoyed our stateroom, but my room was feeling some age.  My mattress was completely broken down, with a huge hole that I filled with a pillow.  An ENTIRE bed pillow!  My poor back was glad to get home.  And I hope they do something about the showers while they're at it.  This was our 6th cruise, and the smallest shower I've ever been in.  I'm glad I'm not an obese person, it was claustrophobic as it was.  I don't know how larger passengers handle the size!

That aside, the ship layout is great (I like the "atrium" style) and I liked that it wasn't a huge ship.  Felt a little more personal that way.  Staff went above and beyond to make everyone comfortable.  There were some passengers on our trip who had a bad experience (yikes, pool sprung a leak and emptied into several staterooms, they had to send those poor people home because there weren't extra rooms!) and one of my dinner table mates had mold in her room which made her sick ... but these are issues that I'm sure will be resolved in refurbishment.

Food in the dining room was very good.  Food in the buffet was average.  Seating in the buffet was stress-inducing.  Dining staff was EXTRAORDINARY.  Can't say that enough.

One thing I didn't like, they're ALWAYS trying to upsell you on stuff.  Filet mignon at dinner costs $20 extra.  They have specialty restaurants, $35 a pop.  Extra costs for tours, like the galley tour with a special brunch.  They charge for the yoga and other fitness classes.  We did take advantage of some of these and enjoyed the experiences we paid for, but it's nice to be aware ahead of time so you can budget for extras like these.  This was our first cruise out of Baltimore, which we LOVED because we didn't have to pay for airfare ... fortunately, this left us with a few extra dollars we could use on the trip.  We did not take advantage of a drinks package, which was a good move.  But did purchase a coffee punch card for the Starbucks place.  Have to watch the people behind the counter, though ... depends on who's working ... they use an extra punch for venti.  One lady charged two punches for grande, which was wrong.

Ports of call were nice.  Loved visiting a couple of US ports on this trip, on top of the Bahamas.  Unfortunately, rough seas did not allow us to visit Coco Cay, their private island, and our final stop ... I had put all my eggs in one basket for a beach day, so kind of blew it on that.  All the way down to the Bahamas in February, and no sand between my toes.  Oh well.  Apparently this happens frequently, we talked to another passenger who had taken 4 cruises in the area and never once got to visit Coco Cay.  It looked beautiful from the ship's view!

There was always something going on, onboard.  Lots of programs in the common areas, and EXCELLENT musicians and shows.  But this cruise seemed to be an "older" group of passengers, so the energy was a little different than we're used to.  It was still fun, and everyone we met was very friendly.

In general, I would recommend this cruise.  But AFTER they refurbish the ship -- it will be much more comfortable.