This cruise, while we had high expectations given the ports, was not up to our expectations. Given it's a new ship, the wait staff was not up to the par we had experienced previously. Also, spending the evening of the 31st, and the full day of the 1st was very poor. Most of the time we sat in the sea, barely moving, while had the ship traveled st normal speed we would have been able to have a second full day in Barcelona. This in particular was a very poor decision on the part of the cruise planners, and obviously done for reasons other than the distance between ports, which was not conveyed to the passengers.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
The room was ready as expected
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The Chef’s Table menu was unusual and not as expected based on our previous experiences. Manfredi’s was okay, but the service was not up to what we had previously experienced. Otherwise the Restaurant and World Cafe were up to par, though beverage services were a bit slower than previously experienced.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Children's Programs
No children
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
The room stewards were excellent and we couldn't praise them more. The waitstaff wasn't as prompt and I some cases not exactly friendly, at times they appeared rushed and somewhat flustered by the number of guests to be served.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship itself was excellent, as expected.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We upgraded to a Penthouse Veranda, #6083, a couple of days before the cruise.
We did the included excursion. The guide was excellent, but we were not fully informed of requirements for casino entry and could not experience either of the casinos because passports were required for entry, which we were not informed about.
While the guide was quite good, the excursion itself was poorly planned. We had 30 minutes to walk around only the port area, after riding a bus for over 2 hours. It would have been much more enjoyable had we spent less time riding and more time exploring on foot.
Again an example of poor scheduling. Our included excursion was mostly riding, and our extra excursion (Flamenco) was changed to an hour earlier than initially planned, which put us in a rush between events. The initial part of the latter was a walking tour of an old town mock up which was more of an Epcot type location than an actual village and a disappointment. The guide was not effective and while the Flamenco performance was exceptional, the guide seemed more intent on demonstrating his knowledge of the area we walked past while heading back to the bus, than being concerned of the timing for us to get back, packed, and putting our luggage out by the 10pm requirement... even after being told we needed to get back, he said "no."
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