We had a wonderful Caribbean cruise. The best yet!
Embarkation
4 out of 5
We parked at a lot that transported us to the port. The lines were long, but they moved fairly quickly and everyone was friendly.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We only ate in the MDR for dinner. Our server, Victor was fabulous. He learned our names and would stop and talk with us when we saw him at other parts of the ship. I thought the food was also great. A lot of choices every night made it easy for something to be enjoyed by everyone in my family. I enjoyed eating at Guy's burgers for lunch along with the buffet and Blue Iguana. My daughter really enjoyed the deli. On sea days we liked to make a reservation for the MDR for the sea day brunch.
Guy's Burger Joint
5 out of 5
I thought the burgers tasted great. The line was usually pretty long, but it moved quickly. I never waited longer than 15 minutes.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
My daughters and I really enjoyed the trivia contests. We won two of them! We also enjoyed bingo and Deal or No Deal. My daughters also enjoyed the pools/hot tubs.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We made it to every stage show. The performers were great. We also enjoyed listening to The Cats Trio violinists in the atrium. The comedian, R.T. Steckel was hilarious. We didn't care for the other comedian we saw though. We also enjoyed the Love and Marriage show.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
As I said before, our server, Victor was fabulous. Our room steward, Laksana was also great. He always greeted us with a friendly hello and reminded us that we could contact him whenever we needed to.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The design is similar to other Carnival ships we have been on of similar size. I noticed staff members cleaning various parts of the ship consistently.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was clean and comfortable. We are a family of five, so things were a little cramped. It was nice having two bathrooms, but I think if we are to sail again, we will opt for two rooms just so we have a little more room.
Ship tip
If you plan to take part in the trivia contests or to see some of the smaller shows like the comedians, it would be a good idea to arrive at least 20-25 minutes early to make sure you have a seat.
We arrived the night before our cruise and stayed at The Comfort Suites. It was a convenient drive to get to the port. I prepaid to park at 81st Dolphin. When we arrived there, they were slow to get us parked because according to them, the previous cruise was late debarking. We had to have them shuttle us to the port which also took a little while. I have cruised out of Miami previously where it is much more convenient to park at the port and then just walk to the terminal.
I planned a self guided walking tour of Key West which I found online. It included stops at The Little White House, The Cemetery, Earnest Hemingway's House, The Lighthouse, The southern most point, and Sloppy Joe's. It was very convenient from the port. The only cost we incurred was admission to Earnest Hemingway's house as we didn't pay to go into the Little White House museum or the Lighthouse. We were also sure to get some key lime pie.
The port is pretty industrial. I booked the Pirate's Cove excursion which I wouldn't recommend. The beach was crowded and the water was murky. My kids had fun which I guess is all that matters. Our tour guide to the beach was also very informative and entertaining.
We just planned to spend the day at the beach. It is the most beautiful water I have ever seen. We brought our own snorkeling equipment and had a blast. My daughters even saw a sea turtle. Besides not spending a cent at the beach, an added bonus was the included lunch.
Once again we just planned to spend the day at the beach. I mapped out walking directions to Junkanoo Beach ahead of time which was only a 15 minute walk from the port. We encountered several people trying to sell us stuff along the way, but no one was overly pushy. The beach was very nice with crystal clear water. It was also a lot less crowded than I was expecting. On the walk back to the ship, we were greeted by several different people who we passed saying, "Welcome to the Bahamas". I thought that was nice.
We chose to do the checked luggage debark. We ended up getting off the ship about an hour prior to our appointed time, because as we sat waiting for our time to be called, the cruise director saw us and just invited us to debark as there was no long lines of people. We found our luggage easily and made it to the shuttle area for transport back to the parking lot. Here is where we had to wait as out shuttle driver was also driving people from the NCL cruise ship which also docked. Again, it would have been nice to just walk to our car.
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