Lots of good and plenty of bad. We booked this as our retirement present to ourselves as we wanted to see the fall colors. We din't get to see as much as we wanted but enough considering the circumstances. Bad weather at the beginning and end of the cruise was a bummer. Staff was super, shows OK, the ship was good. Our cabin was better than expected. Unfortunately this will be our last cruise as we weren't happy overall.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We had our paperwork completed and were able to embark quickly.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
We weren't too happy that the My Time dining also needed reservations, what's the point of My Time dining. We didn't know until a few days into the cruise and by then our desired earlier time slots were already filled. When I asked the supervisor about this, he stated that our travel agent should have advised us. Hello! How about RCL advising us?!? With no reservation, the tables offered were next to waiter's stations, noisy and not what we were looking for.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The North Star was pretty fun, we did a couple standby sessions and enjoyed a great view of Manhattan skyline and Lady Liberty. Bumper cars were an unexpected surprise. Only 1 nice day to enjoy by the pool - music was too loud to enjoy book reading. The Schooner Bar was great: good music acts and loved the trivia games.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The Gift was OK, Spectra's Caberet was OK for me, my hubby did not care for the techtronics, music was way too loud, many that I spoke with stated that it was too weird. It wasn't really what older folks would appreciate. We both loved We Will Rock You, good music and story. Also music by We Will Rock You concert was really good, nice way to spend time during the stormy sea day.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The staff was super attentive and always polite and professional. Our steward Neil was very personable and we got to know him pretty well.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
One problem with the men's restroom that was backed up there was waste on the floor and the electrics weren't working to flush. The design was pretty good and everything flowed well. Even though we were on a ship with 4500 people, the only time that things were crowded was after the mandatory safety drill and when everyone was trying to get off the ship in Boston. Otherwise we didn't run into large crowds.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The size was really good for us, plenty of storage and we even had a couple empty shelves. The bed was too hard and we didn't sleep all that well. Neil kept our cabin very clean, even changing the towels when we didn't ask him to.
Ship tip
Buying the wristbands for $5 each was better for us instead of carrying our seapass cards.
We booked 2 different excursions and enjoyed both land and sea tours. Very nice city, we would love to spend more time here. We woke up extra early after what happened in Boston getting off of the ship, but found out that we didn't need to - off and on were easy peasy.
This stop had the most colors that we were looking for. Excursion was OK but limited times at each stop. Found out that there is a free bus, the Village Explorer, that went to many destinations. We should have done this instead, but plan to visit here in the next couple years and will keep that in mind. Great shopping as they were winding down their tourist season and everything was 1/2 price. Enjoyed a bowl of clam chowder at Testa's - yummy!
We booked an excursion thru the ship which was good since our port times were changed from noon to midnight to 0700 arrival. Our tour was bumped up to a meet time of 0730 which was way too early for us (we skipped on some of the entertainment the night before since we had to wake up so early). Honestly the ship should have cancelled all excursions. We were in the middle of a nor'easter with driving and pounding wind and rain. We were soaked and miserable; and did not get to enjoy the excursion as we should have, shame on them for continuing this. The stop for lunch had lost power due to the storm and did not have indoor restrooms.
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