Shore excursions made the trip!

Okay, lets get the bad out of the way.  Our bed was horrible, hard as a rock.  The entertainment was a little bit dated and left us struggling to keep ourselves entertained on sea days.  The price of drinks and photos left us spending more money that we had anticipated.  Granted these were optional, but they did seem a little pricey.  Our biggest complaint was the food.  Mediocre is a generous adjective to describe the food.  We tried nearly every food option on the boat hoping to stumble upon something memorable but never did.  The main dining room food was not impressive (aside from the chocolate melting cake which everyone justifiably raves about).  The Lido buffet was comprable to a bad meal at Golden Corral.  The pizza was decent, but not amazing.  The Mongolian Wok was not worth the wait in line. And be prepared to take the stairs, lots of stairs, or spend a ridiculous amount of time waiting for the slowest elevators on the open water!  And resist the urge to frequent the casino, the payouts are really low.

Alright, now that's out of the way...our room steward was absolutely awesome!  His attention to detail and personability was impressive.  He greeted us by name every time we saw him in the hallway and always had our room impeccable.  The staff was generally pleasant.  The steakhouse was very good, definately worth the additional $35pp.  Next time maybe we will book there every night!  We also enjoyed the comedians they had, very funny!  Our room was nice and our deck was incredible.  We were in room 6479 (aft extended balcony) and enjoyed spending time there watching the amazing view.  The room was quiet, not much noise from the hallway and rarely any noise from the Club on the 5th floor.  We did occasionally have traces of soot on our deck but our amazing steward was quick to remove it.  The drinks were tasty, albeight slightly pricey.

Perhaps the most redeeming aspect of our trip was our shore excursions.

We did the Chukka 4x4 safari tour in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  Our guide Richard was great!  We fell in love with the hillside views, hidden waterfall, plentiful orange groves, beautiful historic church and friendly people of Jamaica.  Get out of Montego Bay quickly...it's full of hustlers and they smell tourists a mile away.  Their pushiness could quickly ruin your perseption of the Jamaican people.  Once you are away from the city a little bit you get the chance to see the real Jamaica.  We also managed a cab ride to Mega to grab a few things for a co-worker.  The cab driver tried to hustle us and pass us off to another cab driver but with a little persistence he returned us to the port safely.  Just be smart, polite and persistent.

Our next stop was Grand Cayman.  We took the Coral Gardens Snorkely and Stingray City tour.  This was a once in a lifetime kind of experience.  Bucket list material!  We had an absolutely amazing time.  The crew was informative, helpful and friendly.  My fiance didn't do the snorkel part but it wasn't a problem for him to just sit that one out.  The reef was incredible and teaming with colorful fish and coral.  The ray experience was absolutely incredible.  We both entered with trepidation but after a few minutes we were smiling and reaching out to pet the rays as they swam all around.  They are glorious creatures.  A definate must-do in the Caymans!

Our final stop was in Cozumel, Mexico.  We did the Dolphin Swim with unlimited food/drinks.  We loved every minute of it.  After a short wait and instructions we entered the pool with 4 dolphins with a small group of people (maybe 8 or 10).  We spent an hour in the water petting, kissing, dancing, and interacting with the dolphins.  The most awesome part was the dolphin pull.  To be that close to such an absolutely beautiful and powerful creature as it pulled you through the water was unreal.  It was like nothing we could have imagined.  We loved it so much that if we could have done it twice that day, we would have!

So...the boat gets maybe a 2 1/2 star, but the excursions get a definate 5 star!  Obviously everyone approaches things from their own perspective but that is our take on it.