This was a trip for the DH and myself. I knew full well that there would be many children on board. In spite of the capacity of the ship, I did not feel as if we were all on top of each other. Embarkation was smooth and for disembarkation, we chose the independent option - meaning we took our own luggage and literally sailed off the boat as soon as we docked in NYC. Easy peasy.

We stayed in a balcony stateroom. Our steward, Ronald, was an absolute delight and knew our names almost instantly. He was attentive and made us feel right at home. All the stewards on our side of deck 10 were friendly and went out of their way to say hello. Our room was plenty large for the 2 of us. I would have definitely felt 'smushed' with a 3rd person in our room, though. For our next cruise I would definitely bring a few magnetic hooks for towels. The bed was comfortable, however, because they do not use fitted bottom sheets, I was up anywhere from 3 to 5 times a night to readjust the bottom sheet so that I was not sleeping directly on the mattress. (Ew.) There was a nice variety of pillows and both my hubby and I were happy with our choices.

The ship itself was very, VERY clean. There were antibacterial stations everywhere you turned. There were sinks located before entering the Garden Buffet area. ....There are not enough lounge chairs on the decks and people save them. We were lucky to walk by as 2 people were leaving and caught a young 'un trying to save them but I gave her the stink eye and she backed down. As it turned out, she had 2 chairs saved that no one used all afternoon. One was merely to store all their stuff. So, no, I didn't feel guilty! .... The kid pool is wonderful for the younger set. The other pool is way too small. There are hot tubs galore, though. ..... The Mandara Spa has an 18 and older area with hot tub, steam rooms, saunas, salt room and a wonderful pool area with different types of jets. It was well worth the additional cost. Read more