I had never been on a cruise before this one. I read a bunch of reviews. Some people loved it, some hated it (this ship)... so... I didn't know what to expect. My boyfriend and I had a fabulous time, though, and I would recommend this cruise.

Rooms: We had an interior room. It was small (which I expected, based on the reviews), but it was bigger than everyone seems to say. We had plenty of room to get around each other, and the bathroom was perfectly fine. The shower worked great. The bathroom is a bit bigger than an RV bathroom, which is fine for a cruise of this length. Our stateroom attendant made up the room twice a day and made cool towel animals. The rooms are plain, but fine. You only sleep there, anyway.

Food: The food was really good. I don't know why all these people say it's mediocre. Maybe they are used to eating expensive dinners all the time. I have to say for someone who doesn't go to "nice" restaurants often (TGI Fridays and Applebees don't count as nice), the food was really great. Everyone at our table LOVED everything we got, especially the desserts. Order all of the desserts. You can order multiple appetizers, too. I suppose you can order multiple entrees, but there is no way you could eat all that.

The Windjammer is okay. We didn't eat dinner or lunch there. Breakfast is fine... although... they cook the eggs in butter, which tastes good for a bit... then it's a bit much.

Drinks: You have to pay for the drinks on board, including soda. I will say, however, that the alcoholic drinks are fairly reasonable. They are a decent size, and they run between $3.75 and $6.50 a drink. There is a daily special that is always $3.75. Most of the drinks cost about $5.00, which is about normal. Also, they are strong... this place doesn't skimp on the alcohol. So... all in all... a decent deal if you want to drink on board.

Shopping: I didn't shop, but I looked at the prices and they were very reasonable. My boyfriend smokes and they had 2 cartons of cigarettes for $36.00 (Marlboro). Usually Marlboro costs between $20 and $25 for one carton. Also... tax free on the ship.

Ports of Call: San Diego is San Diego... I went to college there so we didn't do any of the excursions. I rented a car and we went to Pacific Beach (cute little beach area) and to see the seals in La Jolla. I recommend Seaport Village for people who haven't been to San Diego before. Our tablemates were Canadian and they did the Harbor Cruise (never been to San Diego before)... they didn't like it much. They didn't see much and thought it was a bit boring. So... take that for what it's worth.

Catalina is nice. There isn't much to do there, honestly. I would rather spend a weekend than a day there. We went on a semi-submersible submarine thing, which was pretty fun. I think RC was charging $36 per person for that excursion. We bought it onshore for $19 per person. We also went miniature golfing, which was fun.

Ensenada is like Tijuana, but smaller. There aren't as many shops and the shop employees aren't as pushy as they are in Tijuana. If you don't like Tijuana, you probably won't like Ensenada. It's not a resort town. I liked it okay, but I like the shopping in Tijuana. You can get cheap beers in Ensenada though... $1 Tecate's when we were there.

All in all, we had a great time. I didn't want to go home. Also, being gone for 4 nights, we felt like it was a month. It's a nice get-away. If you just want to relax, take this cruise. If you want to see interesting places, take a longer one, or go to the Caribbean or something. We went on this one because I was able to get it for $150 per person (I went to a timeshare thing to get it... and no, I didn't buy the timeshare).