In summary great cruise but due to some poor weather that was not Royal Caribbean's fault and due to poor cruise activity scheduling that was Royal Caribbean upper management fault we did not get to participate in as many activities as often or at all that we would have liked to. Still a great cruise, but could have been a better leaving a slightly bitter taste in our mouths that is a shame.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Getting to the Port is horrible due to extreme traffic getting to the port and road chaos. Once you get off at the curb Royal Caribbean is there to smooth you through effortlessly without hassle.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Grande has superb food and service. Sit down breakfast was excellent. Windjammer food quality is a slight notch below in quality but still fine and makes up for the slight decrease in quality with choice.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Would have been excellent but flow rider when open had long lines because it was not open enough. IFLY was an excellent experience for the family. Bumper cars were fun but long lines until one could go. Roller skating fun when we could go once, with second time shut out due to long lines and running out of session time. Trapise unable to do due to long lines and being shut out of session times. Not enough Trapise or flow rider sessions in part due to bad weather a few days but mostly due to upper management dropping the ball here and not having enough trapise sessions to meet demand nor having enough flow rider to meet demand. We really enjoyed the pools, both indoor and outdoor as well as the hot tubs. Towels were available and given with outstanding service.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Comics were really outstanding whether on a cruise or not. "We will rock you," is overrated in my family's opinion yet crowd seemed to like it. For a cruise ship it is very good. We missed "The Gift," due to upper management scheduling error and inability to reschedule a time since the time conflicted with our IFLY session that was more important for us to go to. Ship's singers and dancers are excellent for a cruise ship.
Children's Programs
Our children always were with our family
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Room staff, restaurant personnel and other ship personnel gave outstanding service mostly with a smile on their faces.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Nice ship, easy to maneuver around and though completely booked rarely seemed crowded.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had two interior cabins connecting, 8535 and 8537, that were more than enough space for our family. They were kept clean and neat for us twice a day by our cabin steward.
Ship tip
Look at the schedules carefully each day and plan accordingly for your family. There are so many choices that one must plan carefully in advance and must remember that activities you may want to participate in likely have limited availability due to demand.
The most industrial looking, poorly maintained port we have ever experience in our lives. Roads leading up to the port were full of pot holes, traffic was backed up, cars were honking at each other, people were significantly delayed getting onto the ship due to severe traffic back-up. Yet, once at the curb embarkation was excellent. We live in NJ and have lived in and around New York City our whole lives so there was not reason for us to visit this port. This port with a service to ferry you around the NYC area would be fine for tourists but one must get away from the port area immediately because it is truly disgusting.
Close ride to Cocoa Beach that is nice. We went to Cocoa Beach on our own, picking up a taxi to and from port that worked out fine for us. Ride to Disney was too long for us. We had a nice time visiting Cocoa Beach.
Dangerous looking people right outside the port gate and throughout our stay due to extreme poverty. Many natives approaching us for taxi rides and some for handouts and bogus services that was a bit scary though we were quickly able to move on. We visited fort Fin-castle and the Queens Garden path on our that was easy to get to and stayed on close beach Junkanoo both days that was fine for our family
Due to rough waves and inability to safely tender to Cococay we had two days at Nassau. We were disappointed but agree with Royal Caribbean management that we were better off safe than sorry.
As easy to get through as when we started with bags picked up the night before by 10 pm sitting at our number for us to get out of the ship without event. We were off the boat and outside the port within 10 minutes having to actually wait for our car service to take us home since we anticipated it would take longer to disembark.
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