Great cruise despite the terrible fog. Certainly not anything the ship can do about weather and it was better than rain. . The captain made light of it quite a few times which was good for a laugh throughout the cruise. I know many people prefer either smaller ships or larger ships. We like them both. But if I had to choose, I do think the smaller ships suits Us a little better in that I get to do all of the things I want to do back to back.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Cape Liberty, NJ was a breeze. Great parking garage very close to the ship. We were parked and onboard in 20 minutes.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We ate in the main dining room My Time Dining all 9 nights. Superior service that went amazingly fast. We prepared for a 2 hour experience but we were in and out in 1 hour and 15 minutes every night. Food was great. Our wait staff accommodated all of our special requests. (Picky husband had a few omissions with most meals).
We ate in the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch. Well laid out and plenty of seating once you learned how to navigate the buffet. Food fresh and delicious. Pasta making stations very cool but slow process. So glad they started charging for room service. First cruise I had I didn't have to walk past everyone's dirty dishes sitting outside their cabin door. Problem solved!!
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We dealt with some cooler weather with lots of fog so we didn't use the pools much but they are very nice though I would imagine quite crowded in a tropical destination. I love the fact that they don't allow food in the pool area which keeps it very clean for everyone. As for fitness and rock climbing...... not included in what I call a vacation, but all areas very nice. 4 stars because I love all of the line dance classes and there were only a few and always during other bigger things going on like dinner. On the smaller ships, they are scheduled in between other things to fill in the blanks. I didn't get to do any.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
I would give this a 5 but here's the thing with a large ship. Having cruised on smaller ships, I get to do everything I want to do with all of the activities.... shows, games shows, hairiest man, etc. But the way they control the masses on a big cruise is to overlap and separate the activities. You can't be in two places at once. So unless you want to leave something early to make it to the next thing, you have to choose one thing over the other. So I missed many things I ordinarily would do. We learned early on, a good seat requiries a very early arrival. I just took a book, got my seat and waited. We did enjoy the Spectra though we had a bad seat for it. The Gift was excellent after my husband explained the plot to me. I didn't understand it at first. Whatever the Rock show was called was ok. Comedians were excellent but need more than one late night show. There was one headliner show that was very good. Dancing with the Stripes, Love and Marriage and Quest all excellent and of course I ended up flashing my underwear yet again in a Quest challenge. Thank goodness they don't record that show.
Children's Programs
No kids but the best part of this cruise was the 62 kids pit of 4500 passengers. Perfect for us.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Dining staff and room stewards were excellent. Best in class, top notch. Everyone was so nice and positive. Now that could be because they had a cruise a few weeks before with over 1000 kids and the mere 62 on this cruise was something to smile about.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Everything new and kept very clean. The 270 is incredible. The Royal Theatre seating is stacked poorly anyone over 5'10" blocks the persons line of vision behind them. Easily resolved by arriving early for a good seat in a better stacked section. I do prefer the older ships with the atrium. The Esplanade was beautiful but reminded me of an upscale mall. With. no ocean view I had to remember I was really on a cruise if I hung out there for very long.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Love the glass shower door. No more curtain sticking on my legs while taking a shower. TVs are larger then we have seen on smaller ships. Rooms are very nicely decorated with plenty of storage.
Ship tip
Be prepared for lots of down time if you are used to smaller ships. No more back to back entertainment.
Embarkation and debarkation very smooth and a 4 hour drive from home. We usually use Baltimore since it's closer which is a great port. We were very pleasantly surprised.
Hop on hop off trolley was great. A little lesson learned when we accidentally walked into a Hemp Fest. It's legal in Massachusetts and evidently great big celebrations promoting paraphernalia and the use of the stuff in public parks is encouraged. I should have noticed the white cloud of smoke before heading into what looked like a normal festival. We got out quickly and have a great laugh every time we think about it.
The fog was killer that day but we were able to enjoy the town with another hop on hop off trolley. The guides were awesome with the history and stories of the town.
Finally got some sun! Halifax has a lot to do. We did another hop on hop off double decker bus tour. The citadel and public gardens were high incredible.
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