For us, there was nothing special about this trip. While I would not choose to take this trip or be on this ship again, I think our experience would have been different if we had been traveling as a family of 4 rather than with family making our party 10 people. Difficult to do things as a group. The ship isn't really set up for groups. I'm also not sure I would travel at Christmas again. Too many kids, not supervised, and some really rude people (but I guess that could be anytime, anywhere, sadly.)
Embarkation
3 out of 5
We were somewhat fast tracked and avoided the long lines as we were traveling with my parents who required wheelchair assistance. They had to be pushed by port employees who didn't stop (or even ask) if we wanted to do a boarding photo.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
We did not eat in the main dining room as we could not get a reservation for 10. We thought the prices for the specialty restaurants were outrageous (except Johnny Rockets) The Windjammer Cafe food was ok, nothing amazing and closed at 9 each day. A bit repetitive each day. Sometimes, the food was not hot, but it was plentiful. The desserts were generally great. Peanut butter cheesecake = AWESOMENESS! The staff was fantastic. Clearing tables quickly. Helping with seating. Going out of their way to get items we couldn't find. They were also very kind, compassionate, and caring when my son was sick in the cafe. There was only one small cafe area open on for food after 9PM. Often crowded, limited seating, and long lines.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The 2 pools were nice but small for the amount of kids on board. My son LOVED the mini golf course. The Perfect Storm slide was great as was the Flow Rider. Very helpful and kind attendants at Flow Rider. They were great with everyone from small children to older adults. We found the arcade to be expensive. The ship could benefit from having more spaces for people to just hang out together. Spaces were families could meet and play games or just be together especially if the weather is bad. Lounges without serving alcohol. Ice cream machine on Deck 11 was big hit with my family!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Magician (Bill Cook) was awesome! Shows were good.
Children's Programs
My teens did not want to participate in the teen program.... but the teens that did participate looked like they were having fun.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our room steward was great. He came and went around us and was very helpful when my son was sick. Windjammer Cafe staff was great, too, as was the medical staff. Medical called to check on my son several times and was very caring. There was an error with medical billing that was cleared up as soon as I inquired. Customer service staff was good... a billing error with beverages took a few attempts to straighten out.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
There were not enough interior spaces for people to just hang out as a family or group. For example on Deck 5, it is set up like a mall but there is only one small cafe in which it sit. There are "pay for" restaurants located there that would be great spaces to just sit and be.... to soak in the atmosphere.... If there had been places to just hang out, I think a lot more people use the sapce. There were some spaces on the ship that allowed smoking which I found to be annoying. The smoke drifts making the surrounding areas unusable. The ship seemed to be well maintained... my parents chose to stay on board during ports of call and found maintenance during those times frustrating. The ship was clean and there were people actively cleaning at all times. It's hard to keep up with thousands of people who just leave messes everywhere.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Beds were ok. Size was standard. Nothing special. We like interior cabins for the quiet and darkness they provide 24/7. Great for sleeping! Our cabin was very clean. Round shower was good and the adjustable / removable handle of shower was great.
Boarded here from local area. Very busy. Could use better, bigger, clearer signage to direct those not familiar with the port. Baggage handlers asked for tips at the curb. I didn't like that. Not enough staff inside for the volume of people.
I think this stop was disappointing to me because our trip was rerouted due to weather. We were suppose to have more time here and it ended up being the shortest of our stops. I'm grateful the trip was rerouted as we had pretty good weather overall, but the day we were here, it was raining. We hired a taxi to take us around to the places we wanted to go. Worked well but the streets were crowded and congestion. Lines were long to get back onto the dock to reboard the ship. The port staff were doing a good job of checking everyone's id's on the street before allowing people to access the dock, but for the volume of people they were trying to serve, there were big backups.
I was disappointed that we were forced to walk through the cruise line sponsored shopping area to get to the water taxis to get to town. This made the walk much longer and on a very hot day. Many local stores were open but we were told on the ship that only the shore on the dock were open since it was Christmas Day. The water taxi was great... good hosts. The beach was small but a good place to put your toes in the Caribbean Sea!
We were traveling with my parents in wheelchairs. Our disembarkation was slowed because there were only 5 port employees working on pushing wheelchairs and they were required to push the wheelchairs. A long wait. But then, because of the wheels chairs, we were in a different line for customs which was faster. It all seemed very disorganized with much longer waits for everyone that necessary.
The Schooner Lounge would have been a good place for all 10 of you to meet. I have seen parties of 10 or larger seated in the dining room together. Did they tell you that you couldn't all be seated together? Thank you for the detailed review.
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