Excitement turned into disappointment, due to unfortunate events beyond control...

First time cruising ever, so I got really confused at first when I arrived there around Noon. I had a carry-on luggage but when I arrived at the terminal I heard a porter yelling at a group of other sailors that they had to drop the luggage and carrying it on the ship was not allowed. So I left mine with the porter closes to where I was standing. Well, I guess these porters are not employed by VV because he demanded tips from the two ladies in front of me. After that around maybe 12:30 I noticed people starting to line up and so I followed them and went into the slot for the arrival time I had. At that time I also noticed many people with luggage and I regret leaving mine with the porter, scared he was going to do something with it or lose it since I've seen YT and read reviews of lost luggage. When it came time to enter the building, I got a little confused exactly which area on the 2nd floor I was suppose to be at so I just picked a line and no one said anything so I guess it was okay. I gave my passport and got checked in, they put the bracelet on you. Then you head to the security and another crew member gives you a thing with your boarding group number on it. Go thru security and then head up to the waiting area. They had a little mini game going where if you were the first person to present whatever they were asking for you can win to be part of boarding group 1. At 2pm they started boarding, starting with group 1. I was in 8 and I was in the ship by 2:30, connected to the ship's wifi and did the rest of my reservations. The app was a bit iffy that first day, but seemed to work just fine 2nd day and beyond.

Food was pretty good, very pretty presentation, and lots of variety to choose from at each location. Not sure why, but I wasn't blown away by the taste like I thought I would be from what I read on other people's reviews. Felt like some of the food was on the salty side. Some of the restaurants also have a secret menu, and some of the waiters are upfront about it like at the Razzle Dazzle. During November there was a promo for $300 bar tab, but I only ended up using about less than half of that. I only drank non-alcoholic drinks like the loose leaf teas, coffee from Grounds Club, smoothie, and the non-alcoholic pairing at the Test Kitchen. For the shorter cruises, you can make 1 reservation for dinner at the specialty restaurants. There are 6 specialty restaurants. For the most part you can pretty much expect to be seated at the time you chose, the only one that had issues for me was The Wake. I signed up for 7:15 but was told to check back at 7:30 as well as the other people who had the same time. Well we checked back but there was only one big table available so one of the other sailors as if they could take it and just share the table. So that's how I ended up being in a table of 7. We each ordered our own entrees, however all the sides and sauces were shared amongst the table. Not sure how I felt about that. I didn't mind sharing the table since if that meant get in quicker, but I still missed the show that I had plans to see at 9pm. No buffet, but a food hall instead, its called the Galley. Some of the stations you can ask for the food you want yourself, like the dessert and pastry station. But most of it you have to seat yourself somewhere and wait for a crew member to take the order and they will bring it to you. It can be kinda messy though. I had the urge to drop off my plates/tray at a common area where you can drop off trash and used utensils, but you just leave it at the table and someone will eventually take it away and clean the spot. Felt like it took a while for a crew to get to you to ask what you want to order, I'm not sure what their system was to figure out if you been helped or not. The Diet Coke tasted different, almost too sweet or mixed up with the actual Coke. One of the first drinks I wanted to order was the In the Tropics smoothie, and it was on the first sea day, but they did not have the fruits available to make it. Second attempt was after we visit Costa Maya, and it was made but I think not with the right fruit. Not sure if it supposed to have real pitaya or just the flavoring, but definitely no real pitaya. Also for the pressed juices, somehow I had in my head that I was expecting them to be freshly squeezing tangerines and grapefruits. But its probably the bottled stuff.

Pool and hot tubs are always crowded and busy, they are small. Gym looked nice, but I did not utilize them as planned. There is arcade room and at certain times a cabinet thing with board games to borrow. Boxing ring, small basketball court, and net swing things outside. I didn't really participate in any of the scheduled activities because I'm an introvert..... They had some Seven Seas Sips, which is you buy these seven drinks and get a stamp and then when you have it stamped out you can entered a raffle. Well unfortunately I wasn't able to participate in it as I can't have alcohol as it messes up my heart rhythm and they didn't have a non-alcoholic version of it,

So I had few things planned/booked originally, but my agenda got thrown into disarray due to Tropical Storm/Hurricane Nicole. Some of the things I had booked either got moved to a different date/time and I somehow got dropped from it, or I couldn't find it anymore on the schedule. Scarlet Night Pool Party was fun to watch other people on Deck 15 by the pool from Deck 16. though you can eventually partake in the dancing after the performers were done with their part. Lots of lights and the big inflatable octopus, lots of music that I was familiar with. Went to the thing where they tell you about the story of Scarlet Night before the pool party. The lady presenting it lost her voice so was a little hard to understand but I got the gist of it. Duel Reality was alright, it was freezing in the Red Room so recommend wearing layers. Went up to the pool area one afternoon when DJ Ella was on, but didn't stick around long as it was too loud for me to enjoy.

It's an adults-only cruise.

Everybody was nice. I forget her title, but Sabrina was like the head cabin person for Deck 13, she went around to each cabin introduced herself and talked about how the cabin works. If she saw me in the hallway, she would greet me by name. That is some good memory there I'd say. The only issue was kinda messy at the Dock and the Galley, because you can seat yourself anywhere but it took a while for a crew member to get to you and I just not sure how they know if you have ordered or not. Very responsive in the app if you need to chat with them.

Beautiful, techy, and very stylish. I felt cool. Got lost a few times because I took the wrong elevators or I ended up at dead ends. Elevators are shiny and display information when you are at port. But they are often busy and can take a while. Very clean for the most part, the only place that was kinda messy were the places where you can seat yourself like the Galley and the Dock because sometime the tables took a while to get cleared. Plenty of places to hang out and lounge around. The ceilings are kind of low for some tall people I noticed they almost hit their head near the door ways. But average to short people the height of the ceiling is sufficient.

I had a central sea terrace. Cozy enough for me, as a solo sailor. The seabed is maybe the size of a full size mattress when they are put together. Not too hard and not too soft. There was plenty of storage space for the amount of things I had stuffed into a standard carry-on luggage. Clean, and the mood lights is a nice touch. When you first enter the cabin, the curtains open, lights turn on, and some zen music plays. The tablet controls the lights, TV, and temp. But you can find light switches, a tv remote, and thermostat if the tablet doesn't work out. In terms of noise, I did hear and also feel vibration from something being dropped often or moved from probably deck 15 in the gym with the weights, as well as the bass from music probably from when the DJs were on. The door frame of the balcony also rattled when the seas were rough. Noticed some sort of high pitched pulsating sound when I left the tablet off the charger, and it would stop once I put the tablet back on. Occasional sound from the vent by the cabin entrance. Can hear people talking in the hall in front of your door. You can feel swaying if you're sensitive to that. Bathroom is like the size of a restroom stall in a store, maybe just a tad bigger. The shower is small, the rain shower head was nice, I've never used one before. There is also hand-held one too. Nice water pressure and heat up very nicely and quickly. Not sure if just user error, but I found the knob that adjusts the temperature of the water to be hard to turn either direction, but eventually I got it to the right temp. I didn't like the smell of the shower products, it does the job but they smell bad! Hair dryer is nothing fancy, standard hotel type with two setting and a cold button. Hammock on the balcony was fun, I enjoyed laying in it. I've never been on a hammock until now. There is also two chairs and a small round table there.

It was fine, you pick a time slot in the app. But I think everyone either picked 10:30am or picked a random time but didn't leave til the last minute because the line to disembark was wrapped around the mid-ship elevator into Grounds Club. But the line moved fairly fast, the elevators probably took the longest to take you down since they were busy.