Overall the Royal Caribbean is wonderful and the cruise was awesome. We got a spa voucher from our travel agent and were surprised to learn there were two when we got on board. My daughter and I enjoyed our massages. I had a sweet girl named Taz who has magical hands! I totally can't wait to sail again!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was a very quick, super smooth process. We arrived at the pier around 2pm and missed all the crowds.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food was pretty good. I had sailed on the Oasis and had the best roast beef sandwich that I was really looking forward to, but it seems that the quality was not as I remembered. On lobster night I got 2 tails and both had mushy meat, not firm and succulent. I was offered another but declined as I was already full from the salad and escargot (which were tasty, if not a bit too oily). The drinks were good but for some reason don't work the same way for me on a cruise. At home I'm like one and done, but I could have 3 drinks and feel nada. My main complaint would be with the service.... with a charge of $13.50 per person per day that is supposed to get spilt amongst the staff it seemed like there was no hurry to help the guests. If tips weren't guaranteed and they were in fact "to insure prompt service", in my opinion that doesn't work. Tips should be earned, not assumed.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
There is always something to do or you can do nothing at all. The flash mob was a lot of fun!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The shows were great, we really enjoyed Mama Mia, the blue planet, the comedian and The Long Run - The Eagles tribute band, good stuff!
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
As mentioned, the guaranteed tips remove a sense of needing to please the guests, so tipping should not be automatic. You can change that, but I didn't know that until after I settled my bill.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was great, nice and clean. Layout is good, it's easy to find where you need to go despite the size.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was so nice, very spacious. We booked an ocean view balcony and ended up in a cabin with a large balcony. It was very, very nice! I had read a suggestion to bring an over the door shoe organizer and I found an inexpensive one at Walmart that was so perfect to put everything in ...
shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, hair gel, hair brush, deodorant, sunblock, bug spray, perfume.... even shoes!
Ship tip
Don't buy the drink package unless you're going to drink 7-8 drinks a day. That seems easy but in fact not so much. I did like that the deluxe drink package included voom WiFi for one device. Once on board I saw signs to buy 10 drinks for $79. Had I known that...
I could have spent around $160 and had plenty of drinks, but then again -no internet.
This is a pretty place. I can't say that it felt like authentic Haiti, whatever that means, but it was okay .... not sure how much Haitians like Americans ....
My daughter and I wanted to do the Dunn's River Falls tour but woke up a bit too late to go on that one. We ended up taking a tour to the Martha Brae River and did a tubing trip which was so much fun! It would have been nice if drinks and food were included but they were there available for purchase, and the jerk chicken was yummy but not spicy like I thought jerk should be. It was Chukka tours and they were really great, made the day a lot of fun!
Cozumel was my favorite port and we did the Playa Mia snorkeling tour. That was also a very fun day snorkeling over the reefs was great the guide took us to a second location where starfish are and showed us a very small Reef with tiny baby fish. It was really cool. After the snorkeling they take you to the Playa Mia Resort where food and drinks are included. The food was not so great but it was free. Same for the drinks. My daughter and I went to step in the shade for 1 minute to get out of the Sun and were swarmed by mosquitoes so watch out for that.
I downloaded the Customs app which made getting through customs a breeze. I really think it took less than 20 minutes from the time we walked off the ship to get out onto the street.
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