This was my first cruise ever and it rocked!
A lot has been said, but I'll re-emphasize some things and hopefully provide some helpful tips.
The Room: I was a party of two and the room was small. Yes, but what do you expect for a ship that carries over 3,600 people and for a cheap pricing trip for seven days. Considering the ships capacity, I was actually surprised that the room was as big as it was. The only uncomfortable small area was the bathroom, but overall I really can't complain. Room service comes around twice a day to clean your room! How awesome is that? Most fancy hotels only come once a day. Late at night, we would return to a clean room with an animal shaped towel. When we saw our head room service cleaner, she welcomed us with open arms and greeted us like we were relatives. Even having not the most winning job, she was so kind and friendly. Most of the staff were with almost any working position they held on the ship.
A tip about the rooms: my only negative comment about this entire trip was our room location. We didn't have the brains before to reserve a room in advance, so they just assigned us floor two in the back of the boat. Since we were in the back towards the bottom of the boat, we were close to the motor. Late at night it loudly rumbled. It vibrated our room and it was difficult adjusting to the noise and going to sleep. I had a bit of a hard time already trying to adjust to the slight vertigo feeling of being at sea, so the loud motor didn't really help. Friends we met on the boat said that they were at the front of the boat and didn't hear anything at night, so the location matters.
The Ship Layout: There were so many rooms and so many activities! At first I was a little annoyed with Yelp that all the photos were on food and not a lot of the rooms itself, but now I can see why. It would be really time consuming with going room to room and getting many angles of the ship. There was a big casino where smoking was allowed. I wasn't a big fan of that since it is one of the limited floors you can cross over from the front to the back of the ship (and vice versa). My mom and I usually did all of our crossing over on our floor past all the cleaners, or on the Lido Deck (Floor 9). If you 're into smoking, then this is a nice feature. They even have designated smoking decks that are sanctioned off for those who don't like being around it. It's in the way back of the ship, which I like, so I don't have to encounter the smell of smoke too much. They also have an adult section of the deck for 18 or older. That area had nicer seats that the average beach lounge chair. Since that was in the back too, it was pretty quiet, away from the center Lido deck parties, music, movies, and other events. That's a good spot for older adults. Me being young, I was right in the center getting my tan on with loud music in the background. The days that we were at sea, I felt that there was plenty to do. There were game shows, musical numbers, music trivia, movie trivia, dance offs, exercise classes, golfing, spas, plenty of places to stuff your face with food, a water slide and multiple mini pools. With the pools, there are several small pools and a few hot tubs. Being in the blazing sun, I don't know how anyone could stand to be in a hot tub, but if that's what your into, they have that option. With the regular pools. Don't expect to be swimming laps for exercise, it's not that big, but it's a decent size that lots of kids had room to splash around and such. When I took a quick dip in the pool, it was warm and tasted of salt water. Maybe they pull it straight from the ocean and filter it out to be more eco friendly. That way the water has a quick turn over and is fresh. I'd like to think that....but who knows. Just don't expect the typical chlorine taste when you jump in.
The Food: This has been mentioned before, but the food rocksssss!!! Enough people have raved over Guys Burger joint that I don't really have to talk about that. The Mexican place is awesome too! They do breakfast burritos which I really liked, but I wish their lunch hours were more like Guys Burger hours, and stayed open later. When getting off the ship and back on, even shortly after the lunch hours ended, the place had closed. What a bummer. The Southern cooking buffet was good too! Nothing very healthy about that place, but so goooddddd! They had a better dessert selection over the main buffet dessert area. The main area's food was just as good. Most of the hot food wasn't all that healthy, but sure tasted good.
(To be continued with the updated statement) read more