We have been planning this cruise since last year and we were nervous because of all the bad press lately. This cruise represented a lot of celebrations..from graduations (2 from College for RN and one from High School) to birthday (mine) and anniversary (ours) but we were blessed to have a great time. We had tshirts made with our names on the back of it. There was twelve of us and we worked with our cruise planner, Christian Jaramillo, closely who assisted us in getting rooms one deck below Lido to putting all of us together for dinner in the Blush dining room.
There were passengers who had issues with their luggage due to the tags falling off or being delivered to the wrong rooms. We did not have that issue because my love printed out extra tags for everyone and laminated them and attached them to the luggage and other items with zip ties. There was a group that had plastic tags so we will try that on our next cruise.
We drove down to Miami and the embarkation changed from our last time two years ago. We got in line and was able to have our picture taken at the counter for our card. The usual embarkation picture was placed in a different part of the terminal and seemed to work well compared to the previous trip.
We went to the marketplace lunch buffet and was greeted with various food choices that we did not know where to start from. The kids hit Guys Burgers and it did not disappoint for them. My love does not eat red meat and we were hoping to have chicken burgers but it did not (Guy:hint hint...chicken burgers). The fries were thick and hot with the right amount of salt. Jimmy's BBQ is only open on sea days so we were not able to get our hands on the chicken until then but once we were able to do so, it did not disappoint. There was pulled pork, bbq chicken, grilled sausage and kielbasa and grilled vegetables. There was coleslaw, potato salad, and baked beans.
We heard about the Italian restaurant Cucina del Capitano and did not check it out until Friday and was so impressed by the food...the pasta bar is complimentary up until 2:30pm and the portions are huge. You select the type of pasta you want along with the sauce and any meat selection you want included. We had an issue with one of the hostesses who acted like she did not want to be bothered because we were requesting the complimentary pasta bar but everyone else made up for it.
Our dining room staff of Gusti, John, and Juliantra was outstanding. When they were serving us in the dining room, they were awesome and always smiling even when our finicky aunt would change her dinner order. They were just as bright and friendly when we saw them on the Lido deck for breakfast. There was a Psy look a like at dinner who danced and made us laugh especially when they were doing Gangam style in the dining room. The housekeeping staff of Peter and his crew were awesome also. We asked for extra towels the first day and he made sure that every day after, we had extra towels. We looked forward to the folded towel animals and took pictures of each of them. They kept our room clean and the turn down service was on point. I had an issue when watching tv on the complimentary channel because I was sick one night and the movie would play for about an hour and a half and then they would interrupt with advertising for the George Lopez Comedy Club and then it would start the movie again from the beginning. I was watching the Hunger Games. I can tell you how it started, just cant tell you how it ended. But I can tell you how Brave ends.
Butch and Ginger along with "Slater" made the activities awesome and we had a great time. They were very approachable and friendly and we had a great time especially when they were giving out hugs during the Love Souljaz set of We are Family in the Ocean Plaza.
We had a great time with the excursions we selected despite not really being the type to go shopping. We loved the virgin banana daiquiris at the World Famous Mountain Top in St Thomas and the beautiful view. The selection of souvenirs were great there and the staff was friendly and we were able to talk to them in Spanish. Bones rum was sold in St. Thomas and it was a local made rum so we picked up two bottles. Being an EMT I got excited when I saw the fire trucks and the ambulances at the Coast Guard base. The only bad thing was another couple took our seat when we got off the bus during our stop while everyone else sat in their original seats. We just let it go.
We bought with us our own snorkeling gear and life preservers and the kids loved it when we were in Grand Turk. We had to walk a ways before we were able to find seats and a place to rest due to people holding the chairs with their towels and items. We had this same problem on the boat. The boat states that there is a 40 minute limit but it was never enforced.
There were some passengers who were so rude to the staff on the boat as if they had a sense of entitlement and it just broke my heart to see them being treated in that manner. But despite their rudeness, the staff did everything to help the situation but it was lost on the ones that was doing the complaining. A guy orders a full pie pizza and disappears. The cook waited a reasonable amount of time and gave the pizza away and then the guy appears and proceeds to curse at the cook and create a scene. There was another person cursing at the staff at Jimmy's BBQ staff because they closed at 2:30pm. And a woman on the Lido deck was complaining about the difference between Carnival and Royal Caribbean. She was so loud that I thought it was a comedian doing a show on the deck. Some people did not know how to respond or acknowledge when a person says Good morning, hello or Thank you.
When we were on the deck, we were not able to get a seat because of people holding places with towels, etc so we sat by the pool on the bench. I was trying to read my Kindle while having my feet soak by the pool and these ladies decided that they were going to sit in front of me which was no problem but then more and more women decided they were doing the same thing and was placing their bottoms and their hands where my feet was at basically crowding me to the point that I left the area.
In the main dining room, the Oyster Rockefeller, Langostino salad, Fried Alligator Fritters, prime rib, and shrimp cocktail along with chateaubriand were awesome. Desserts did not disappoint from the chocolate melting cake to the vanilla crème brulee.
The Captain's reception for returning cruisers did not disappoint either. The drinks were in larger glasses and the appetizers were awesome from the chicken balls to the tiny meat cup.
We had a great time doing the rope course. I was scared but a fellow cruiser talked me through the first obstacle and I was able to complete it within 30 minutes. The Kendra Wilkinson look alike with the accent made me smile when I asked what happens if I fall. I wish they gave us some quick tips on how to do the course. They fitted us with a harness and then hooked us up to the course and then we were on our own.
I did not get to do the water slide but my love and his girls along with his granddaughter loved it.
We played miniature golf and watched a basketball game and volley ball on the Sky Court. We saw Juliantra up on the deck handing out hot dogs and then saw him at dinner. There was also a large chess set on the deck. There was an outside gym complete with punching bag.
The Divas show was not as good as I was expecting but the Love Souljaz were awesome and should have been the main entertainment for the Ovation Theater.
The one thing that did bother me was the smoking in the casinos and on the 11th floor where the outside theater was located at. When you walked through the casino you are hit with a cloud of smoke that follows you throughout the 5th floor.
We went outside to watch Spiderman on our anniversary night after picking up some sandwiches. We went to find a seat and had to go upstairs because all the seats were taken. When we did sit down to eat, we were sandwiched between two smokers. So we moved because of this and one of the smokers decided that he was going to follow us by smoking by the stairs where we were seated at. He tried to light up a second cigarette right after his first one was done but decided against it and went back to his seat on the other side. Then when the couple next to us left, he decided he was going to sit next to us and blow smoke so we moved.
I used to be a smoker but this was ridiculous.
