We arrived at the cruise terminal in Ft Lauderdale right around 12:30 on embarkation day. There was a small line (about 100-150 people) and breezed through the embarkation process in about 15 minutes. We were taken to our room to put down our carry on bags and directed to the buffet lunch upstairs. There was a variety of foods on the buffet, hotdogs, hamburgers and fries on the American bar, pizza on the pizza bar, and then the actual buffet itself. Wow!! This buffet had, cold cuts, cheeses, fruits, salads, hot entrees-lasagna, roast beef, pork etc, vegetables, breads and desserts.

After filling our bellies, we wandered the ship. The ship was well appointed even for a smaller ship. The decor was tasteful, and interesting. The ship was immaculate and everything was shining. The casino had a good variety of slot machines and several gaming tables. The library had selections in several languages and tables and chairs to play cards. The shopping area was a little smaller than on the Royal Caribbean ships, but as I found out later, there was ample selections, and a different bargain every day.

There were several lounges or bar areas, a disco and Lord Nelson's pub. The Casino and Lord Nelson's pub were the only two smoking areas inside the ship. The disco, which served as a meeting area for the children's and teens' clubs was non-smoking which pleased me since the club used by another cruise line was a smoking club. Next, we went out onto the pool deck where one side was set up for smokers and the other was smoke free. There were plenty of lounge chairs, all of which had their own little sunshade and plenty of places to put the chairs. I found them quite comfortable. There were two pools and two hot tubs. During the 3 sea days we had, the pool area was quite popular, yet it never felt overcrowded. Over the course of our 10 day cruise, we ate every dinner, most lunches and most breakfasts in the dining room. The staff, and our waiter in particular were wonderful. Warm, friendly, attentive.We ordered tea the first night, and never had to ask again. We also never had to ask for refills. The variety and taste of the food was terrific. I had the steak and ordered it medium rare. What I got was a perfect medium rare. Definitely no complaints about the service or food in the dining room. Read more