My first cruise was many years ago on Adventure of the Seas when it was a brand new ship. Even though it was a beautiful ship and the ports in the Southern Caribbean were great, I still didn't really enjoy it...I didn't like the embarkation, the debarkation, being stuck on a ship with thousands of people, etc. ..so when a sibling booked this cruise and got a great deal, I thought long and hard about going. I wasn't up for it at all, but I decided to go to spend time with family at Thanksgiving. That is where all the warm happy thoughts end.

First, the embarkation in Tampa was, in a word, a Nightmare! We had a suite, so we were supposed to be given first on, first off privileges...HA! Joke. We had to wait in a 2.5 hour line that snaked around the terminal. Once up to the counter, a very rude guy was checking passports, etc. and making up the sail passes. Once onboard, it started to look OK. The ship was very clean, though relatively small and there were Purell stations EVERYWHERE to keep people from getting sick. I will skip all the gory details about why I will never sail again, but here are a few: The food that people talk about is so great on a cruise was apparently missing on this one. The Windjammer was always packed with people who apparently never eat (NOT)...one person was so rude she pushed my brother out of the way! The dining room service was OUTSTANDING...but the food was not. If you don't care for fancy foods like escargot and all kinds of other things, there is a basic few items that you can order. Boring. Plus, the food was NEVER hot. Never. I like my food steaming hot. We ate at Chops Grille. I only went because everyone else wanted to go. I don't eat red meat or fish. There was one chicken dish on the menu which was "Organic Roasted Chicken", which I ordered. It came with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Basically, the same meal you can get at Boston Market for about $6. My bill was almost $50 with a drink that I ordered. The next day, at lunch I saw the same roasted chicken and mashed potatoes at Windjammers.

Next: KiDS...everywhere..running wild and unsupervised. I guess people bring their kids on board because its a free for all and they can take a break from watching them. They took over the pool and the whirlpools. I would not go in them for obvious reasons. The only other choice was the adults only Solarium which was basically for octogenarians. Not my type of vacation. Read more