OMG if you cannot have fun on this cruise, you should never be allowed to go!

We went on this cruise for my husband's 60th birthday, since he said he wanted to just get out of Dodge on a cruise for his birthday, which is October 17th, and it was the ONLY cruise I could find on that exact date. I was surprised he wanted to go on a cruise since we had only been on one other cruise in our entire marriage and that was 20 years ago on a carnival cruise from Los Angeles to Mexico. 

We traveled with our best friends who we have gone on many vacations with, but they had never been on a cruise so I was concerned that they were going to think it was lame and too structured, boring, etc.  So I gave them the Cruise Disclaimer..."you gotta make your own fun...blah blah...relax and enjoy...blah blah...the food is just okay...blah blah...." because I didn't want to set their expectations to high.

Well, needless to say based on the title of my review, we had the BEST BEST BEST time!  Everything was so much fun.  We bought the unlimited drink package, so I can't say I remember everything, LOL.  We really had a fabulous time.  We dressed up every night and went to dinner and dancing until 3:00 in the morning. 

We ate in 5 of the restaurants and I thought the food was pretty good.  Okay, it's cruise food, and I'm no foodie for sure, but we had some good meals, one great meal, and a bunch of marginal meals, but we didn't go for the food.  We live in Southern California and have a bazillion good restaurants to choose from, so it's not like it was our last meal either! 

We all spent a lot of time in the gym, which was large and fantastic, with all the cardio and strength training equipment you could want.  Then we all bought the passes to the Thermal Spa which cost $200 each, but I we spent 2 to 4 hours a day in there!  It was so relaxing and nice.

The staff everywhere was amazing, so nice and friendly and happy. The service in almost all the restaurants was really good too.  But it was EXCEPTIONAL in the Oceans restaurant, where we had the best dinner on the boat.  That is one of the restaurants you pay extra for, but it's totally worth it. 

Okay, there was one big NEGATIVE for all of us, and that was the pool area, where we spent NO TIME ALL.  It was the only disappointment because the way they designed the pool, it's more like a huge bathtub with a thousand people sitting on the edge of the pool, and it's kinda gross.  The music was great, and we wanted to be there, but it was just not a good feeling because there was no where to sit pool site.  And they say it's "adult's only" but that's not true, all that means is that children cannot be in the actual "bathtub sized pool", but they are allowed in the Jacuzzis surrounding it, which is really awkward when you see the spectacle of,  for example, the "Miss Norwegian Cruise Lines" lap dancing contest.  Embarrassing to say the least and kids give it an even bigger "yuck" factor.  

A large portion of this boat is taken up by the kids pool area, water slides, bungee jumping, rock climbing wall, etc. so IMO all the children should be limited to that area, but I understand that is difficult to do.

At any rate, we spent our days lounging in the sun on the H20 deck, which was the best place to be, although there is NO POOL there.   It felt very grown up and nice, and Goose our server went above and beyond to be sure we had our cocktails ready and waiting for a sunset toast.

Yes you do pay for the extras, and our checkout bill was $1500 for all the extras. Note, there is a $13.50 per person per day service charge, and you have pay for the wifi if you need to work, like my husband did, etc.  Plus we tipped a bunch extra, bought excursions, and bought the thermal spa.  But it was all totally worth it, we had a fabulous vacation!!!