My LBW (Lovely Blond Wife) Carol and I booked this trip through a group as we had substantial credit from a previous World Cruise with them. (They give a percentage of fare for what they term "Future Cruise Credit) Embarkation from Miami was relatively rapid with one exception. When clearing ticketing, passports, etc. we were given a colored piece of paper and told to go into the next room. It turned out that you were then boarded by color priority which we had not been told so that was rather confusing as people with different color boarding cards were not seated in any particular order and there were no marked areas. We found out only by going to what we assumed (mistakenly, we soon found out) was the boarding line, only to learn that it was only for the particular color which had already been called!

Once aboard we found our cabin, #5520, oceanview class, to be well to the stern and very near the showroom which is at the opposite end from the Restaurants. Great for accessing the Show Lounge but not the restaurants, but hey, walk off any weight gain in advance, before you get there! Our room was literally one turn and a couple of cabins from the Showroom, which was beautifully decorated in and attractive Emerald green color. Sight lines were excellent and we never had an obstruction.

We headed upstairs to the cafeteria style restaurant, the Garden Cafe. Very crowded is an understatement, but understandable as the bulk of the guests boarding were hitting it at once. Overflow guests can sit at tables on the adjacent deck tables, or go the alternative restaurant, Mama's, open only in the evening. Food quality here? We rated it as good to very good. Read more