This was a 50th anniversary cruise my sister arranged for many in our family, there were about 14 who went. This was the first time for us on a ship this size. We have sailed Celebrity (Millennium class) several times as well as others (RCL, Cunard, Viking, Princess) so was waiting to see how a ship crew could handle 2800 passengers.

Embarkation in Seattle was crowded but efficient, no worse or better than others. The ship is very large and the buffet area on the top deck was the largest I've ever seen, yet at peak times (Noon), it was swarming with people and you could not always find seating for a group. We had breakfast in the dining room a couple of times and was surprised to see there was a queue at the door to wait for a table, instead of just walking in and being shown a table or finding one on your own. The wait one time was 10 minutes---unacceptable---and will make me think twice before choosing a ship this size again.

The food in the dining room was very good. I'm always surprised to see reviews slamming the food on some cruise ships we've been on....I mean, are they expecting Michelin 3 Star venues????? The food was good enough that we weren't tempted to do an "upcharge" restaurant (3 available), except that we had a free coupon to do one so we tried the French one, Murano---a strange name for a French restaurant named after the famous glass blowing island next to Venice. The restaurant had great and intimate atmosphere, however, the "turf" of my "surf and turf" was over cooked (med-well, instead of rare). I don't usually complain in restaurants so as to not upset my other eating companions, but I should have. Read more