It was great because of who I was with, but would not recommend this cruise. The best part was the ports and the excursions. The food was subpar and the staff was not very friendly.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Long lines. Get there early and expect to wait outside in the hot heat for a couple hours. Get the priority boarding option.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Did not cater to my food allergies very well. Advised not to eat at the buffets which really limited my lunch options. Also could not accommodate an early dinner time which was requested when booking, so we missed a lot of activities. Food was subpar in comparison to other cruises I had been on.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Boring during the day. Too many activities at night that conflicted with times. So you had to pick and choose which ones you'd prefer to skip, versus spreading out the activities more efficiently.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Comedians were funny. Could have had more times available. DJ was good day 1 then got lost in the 80's and country. Was expecting more island and party music on deck.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Very disappointed all around. No servant leadership shown unless you complain. Should not be like that. Even the casino dealers looked depressed.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
Layout was not good for those with a disability. Elevators were closed often and you had to take the stairs a lot. Some places you had to go up a flight of stairs and then walk a short distance and then go down a flight to get to where you needed to go. Very poorly designed. Also very dirty in many places. Servers weren't cleaning up alcohol bottles and other trash quickly. Especially in the casino. I complained to the pit boss and made him clean it. The entire table was sticky and ladled with bottles and trash.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We still had the previous passengers belongings in our cabin in the drawer. Purse and wallet etc. made me question the cleanliness of our room. Otherwise the room met our needs.
Ship tip
Book on another cruise line. Had way better experience on Royal Caribbean.
Would not get in the water. Dirty and a bit brown. I would recommend the Hotel Rui in Mahoe Bay for the excursion. The environment was beautiful with clean pools and delicious food with all you can drink soda and alcohol.
Loved this port. If you go to the beach, be sure to bring surfer shoes as the bottom of ocean has a ton of sharp coral. But simply beautiful beaches and very clean and clear water. Great prices on jewelry too. One tip...you can haggle on the prices. Many people do not know to do that!
Loved the shopping. Same as Grand Cayman with haggling on jewelry and trinkets. People there can be quite pushy which I did not like. Also need to make sure you are buying authentic jewelry. There are a lot of scams on fake gems. If the entire store has same designs and each gem looks identical, it's a fake, irregardless of what the salesperson says.
For example, spent 30 mins listening to hard sell about massage therapy products following a massage session. Bingo pushes highest priced option to game sheets. Asked numerous times to hear about Carnival credit card.
Agree that food was only fair. Lobster is broiled, not steamed or boiled. Some of the worst lobster I've had. Italian restaurant was very good. The steakhouse was pretty good. The buffet was fair at best. Pizza Pirate was food.
House cleaning staff was excellent in our case. Very pleased with the personal interaction and cleanliness of room.
Did not care for the sale tactics by Carnival on board the ship. Cruisers should be aware that they will face hard sell tactics while on the ship. Greatly lessened our enjoyment of the cruise for us.
Overall, our experience has us looking at other cruise lines if we opt to take another cruise.
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