Doc

I booked this cruise 5 days before it sailed- a last minute thing. They only had a few inside rooms left so we took the highest level available. We were told on board that of all 31 Carnival ships, this one was ranked #1 for food 3 months in a row based on the comment cards, it was also ranked #1 for entertainment. This was a do nothing, laid back cruise for us. I only left the boat to go scuba diving in Nassau. I was very pleased with the service, food, and entertainment.

My wife and I just got back from the first 5 day sailing on the Oasis to Labadee and we are already on-line booking another cruise on this amazing ship. We have taken over 20 cruises and this was by far the nicest ship I have been on. What makes this ship special are the innovative concepts like my time dining which lets you plan when you want to eat at the main dining room and gives you a special floor to eat on. We only ate at the main dining room twice because there are so many places to eat but when we did, the room was only half full because you can eat any time between 6:00 and 9:30 p.m. This leads to better and faster service. The neighborhoods are very nice and many times you forget that you are on a ship in the ocean. The central park is beautiful and relaxing (our balcony overlooked it), the promenade is always bustling, and the boardwalk comes complete with free corn dogs and chicken nuggets and a johnny rockets. For those that say that there are too many people on this ship or that it is too large, I found that it seemed less crowded than most cruises I have been on. Some things to know, if you want to see some shows, you should book them on-line ahead of time. They will issue you a virtual ticket on your set sail (room key) card. If you don't have a ticket you can wait outside of the show and they will let you in at show time if there is enough room but they fill up. Hairspray is one of the best live shows I have ever seen on land or sea and is another example of why I love Royal Caribbean. They did not have to book this kind of broad way show and I would still have gone on the cruise but they did and I appreciate it.

Great 3 to 4 day get away, if you like to relax, Cococay is perfect and Carnival does not offer a private island. For this reason alone, I like to take Royal Caribbean over Carnival for short cruises. The big problem with this ship is the sewer smell that you get in the lower decks. I have been on this ship at least 6 times with groups of usually around 10 people, so I have had a lot of experience with the rooms. Without exception, all of the rooms that we have stayed in on the lower floors smell really bad. At first I would call maintenance about this thinking that this was a problem with my bathroom, but I soon realized that this ship has a serious septic problem. If you book this cruise, do not book below the 7th deck. You should be fine at 7 or above. I was on this ship a few weeks after they renovated it and I was very hopefull that the problem was going to be corrected, but unfortunately, they did no work on the sewer lines. So, take the ship, it is a great cruise and it is well maintained and the staff is great, but if you do take it, stay higher.