My MIL actually booked this cruise and asked us to join her. She loves new ships! This was my 7th cruise. Silas was AWESOME! Best cruise director that I have EVER seen! Jersey Boys was the BEST show that I have ever seen on either land or sea! THE BEST EVER !!!!! Cast was PERFECT! The drinks were great! Food was good--some very good. We did all complimentary dining. My MIL is used to traditional dining, so we requested the same server each night in the Manhattan Room, which worked out perfectly. Her name was Delora Ansale and she was awesome! Her helper Dave Perez was also great! The dress on the ship is nice casual. You don't even need to pack a dress if you don't want to wear one,but some people still did dress up a few nights. The ship has a fun party atmosphere--not crazy though, just fun. I love to dance! I was happy to see the Christmas decorations on the ship and that holiday music was almost always being played quietly in the background sound system. The Observation Lounge was beautiful! So nice to have a quiet, comfy place to relax on a ship.

The officers and staff want you to be happy. If there is something that is not right or that you aren't happy with, send one of the managers a note to explain and they will take care of it. Don't just try to ignore it and/or complain about it without notifying the head staff people. They want to make it right. They want us to be happy so that we cruise with them again. I did miss not having a ropes course, but the ship was so pretty! I had so much fun! I did not want to leave the ship. Things to know: If the elevator makes 2 dings, it is heading down. One ding means it's going up.

When trying to get soap or paper towels from automatic dispensers, be sure to cup your hand as shown on the dispenser. You can ask for the same server each night in the Manhattan Room to get that traditional dining feeling. Embarkation: We arrived at about 12:30, and it was crowded but kept moving. I prefer arriving early, but we took a bus from Tampa, which took 6 hours. Ugh.