This was the first cruise my husband and I went on. I had read through all the previous reviews on the Regal Empress. Frankly, I was a little intimidated! But, to my great relief, we found the ship to be charming. I loved the woodwork and the fountain. It was a little chilly for swimming, so we didn't get to try out the pool, which is pretty small! The cabin was small. Of course, we were sharing it with my husbands brother and his wife! We spent so little time there that it was fine. The service was wonderful! The food was very good and presented very well. There was a lot of gambling and drinks offered. We don't gamble or drink, so that was not of interest to us. The entertainment was pretty good especially the Hollywood Review. We chose to take our chances on Nassau, which was beautiful. We walked for a while to find a public beach then decided to take a bus($1.00 per person) to a beach near Breezes resort. After a couple hours on the beach, we caught another bus back to downtown. My sister-in-law and I took a glass bottom boat ride and my husband and his brother went snorkling. We all did these activities for $25.00 each. We truly enjoyed this first time cruise and plan to do it again.