Good Caribbean Cruise (2nd half of a back-to-back adventure)

We bought Faster To the Fun, but I think the new system of registration makes it mostly unnecessary if embarkation is the main reason for buying it. If you are buying it for other reasons, then it is still worth it. I love the express elevators to the lido deck for lunch. What a great idea. This review is for the second of our two back-to-back cruises, and I have to say that the way the back-to-back cruisers are handled is wonderful! We were originally afraid that we would be stuck waiting outside the terminal for hours. This was not the case. We were instructed to meet in the dining room, were offered mamosas, they signed us out, handed us our new cards, took new photos, a group photo, and walked off the ship to an empty terminal to walk back on before any of the new guests. It was such a good experience. We were even gifted champagne (which we re-gifted since we don't drink), a fruit tray and each received a copy of the group photo. It was a very nice gesture.

In general, the dining room had very good food. There were a few issues however. When ordering the pasta with shrimp, I did not get a single shrimp! Someone else at the table got 8 in her bowl and a third person had 3. A little consistency would be good. I also found the food to be luke warm or cold on multiple occasions. The deli, pizza and burgers were all good. The buffet was good. The upstairs barbeque food was cold both times we got it.

We atteded all of the art auctions and seminars. We loved them. Allen, Nick and Andrew are so knowledgeable and polite. We learnt a lot. We can now identify different artistic styles and have a greater appreciation for them.

We only went to a stage show on one occasion. It is usually on of my favourite entertainments, but I found the vocals difficult to listen to with this cast (which I hate saying, but I am being honest.) The girls were all fantastic, but there was one guy who was very badly off-key. I wonder if there was a problem with his earbud? Every night (with the exception of his night off), we listened to Eden Parker in the piano lounge. He is absolutely amazing. He is by far the best of all the piano lounge entertainers I have come across. He is so talented and makes it so much fun. His shows (not sure if that's the right word or not) were by far the best part of our cruise entertainment. He is a true gem! We attended one comedy show and enjoyed ourselves tremendously. I do not recall the comedian's name, but I think the show was titles "My Booger Baby"

The staff works so hard. Our room steward, Gde Ari, was so polite, kind and efficient. He always had a warm smile and a kind word. He quickly answered any question and helped in any way he could. The room was kept very clean, and we never had any problems. Our wait staff for this second half of our back-to-back cruising was Raymond, Paliawan and Kurchele. They were very kind and friendly. They tried very hard to make sure everything was just right. Unfortunately, we had one woman at our table who was impossible to please. They tried everything in their power to please her. I want you to know that. They went above and beyond. On the last night, she revealed to us that she always pitches fits to get her way everywhere she goes. I felt so sorry for our servers. They really were trying to please a person who would never be happy. I also would like to mention I Wayan. Though he was not our server, he made our experience better through his infectious enthousiasm during the dance routines. The wait staff in the piano lounge - Shirley and Ravi - were wonderful. They were very friendly, fun and anticipated our needs. This brings me to Eden Parker in the piano lounge. I cannot say enough good things about Eden. Friendly, fun, enthousiastic, polite, and CRAZY TALENTED!!!!! The best part of my cruise.

The design is mostly okay, but there is such a bottle neck at elevators during embarkations and debarkations. It would be great if there were a way to call more elevators to a floor at a time (for example to 0 when coming back from port). As far as common area cleanliness, I found most surfaces to be sticky - like all the time. It was gross. Especially at tables. I found there to be odors like sewage in multiple areas of the ship, but thankfully not in our cabin. One time, it was so strong in the aft elevator that I was gagging. On sail away, I was on the Serenity deck, and when I looked down beside me, there was a used condom on the deck - eeeewwwww. That should have never been missed in the between sailings clean up. This was the first time we ever tried gambling in the casino. We did not stay long though, because the smoke was rediculous. A non-smoking area away from smoke would be great. (Or maybe I just didn't find it)

Our interior cabin was the expected size, comfortable and clean. for that, I would rate it good/very good. The reason that the rating is lower, has less to do with the cabin itself and more to do with sound and other guests. On the first night, we were awoken in the wee hours of morning by at least 2 very loud women and multiple children who seemed to be talking/yelling at a very loud volume just outside our door. We did not call guest sevices as we thought they would be gone by the time someone would arrive to take care of the situation. The second night, there seemed to be a fight brewing just outsideour door with very loud repeated profanity. I did not dare poke my head out or make any kind of noise, because the woman was obviously ready to fight. I also did not want to call guest services for fear that she would know who called and I would end up a punching bag. This was aroud 2:30-3:00am and went on for at least 20 minutes. The third night, the same loud voices again, with children, woke us up (I think around 2:30 again) just outside the door. These people obviously did not care that anyone was trying to sleep. The kids were squealing, yelling and running, and the 2 ladies were again talking rediculously loud. This time, the sounds faded down the hallway after about 10 minutes, at which point I stuck out my head and watched as two women strolled down the length of the hall talking loud enough that I could still hear them when they turned at the front elevator area, and making no effort to quiet the 4 children (all about 6 or less years old) that were nearly as loud. At that point, the woman in the next cabin exited, and asked if I was looking for the crazy kids. I said "They're just so loud, this is the third night. I need some sleep" I got the feeling that they had been associated with that neighbour, since they at least tried to talk at a normal volume after that. She must have said something to them. The lack of sleep that resulted from these rude awakenings made for a considerably less enjoyable cruise. It also made me scared to say anything for fear of that woman hurting me in some way if she found out who complained. I felt unsafe. This has nothing to do with the room itself, but I cannot figure out where else to put it.

It went so much faster than any other cruise I've taken. Wonderful that they shortcut those of us who require canes.