Overall, we'd go on the same cruise again in a heartbeat. There's enough to do in each port that we had plenty of things we went "gee, next time..." about (except Grand Turk, which is a perfect beach break day, second only to Half Moon Cay).
Embarkation
4 out of 5
We arrived at the port at about 11:45 with a 12:30-1:00 embark appointment. Finding someplace to sit was a little bit of a challenge, but beyond that embarkation was smooth and easy; our group was called at around 12:40, and we were onboard by 1:00. Surprise, surprise, the Lido was already packed.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
5 stars for the MDR, 4 for the buffet and 3 for the steakhouse.
Emerald Room Steakhouse
3 out of 5
The service was excellent, the food was quite good... but the atmosphere was blah. The steakhouse is small -- saying it would seat 100 would be generous -- and it feels a little cramped. Additionally, there's not much art or anything to look at aside from green "emerald" lights.
All in all, we'd probably give this steakhouse a pass.
Alchemy Bar
5 out of 5
There are bartenders who sling beer and frozen slushies out of blenders, and there are bartenders who make cocktails. The bartenders here are DEFINITELY part of the latter group. We first went up to the Alchemy bar just after they opened (at 5 PM), and chatted with the bartender about our likes/dislikes, and she custom-made drinks for us -- fruity and smoky for my wife (involving muddled fruit, rosemary smoke, and burnt cinnamon), and savory for me (basically a basil julip). It was seriously cool to watch them do their thing, and well worth the price of admission -- I'd consider getting Cheers just to be able to have a cocktail or two every night there without worrying about cost.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The ship has two pools, one grownup pool on the stern, and a family pool amidships. There are 5 outdoor hot tubs; 2 in Serenity, 2 amidships, and 1 in the grownup pool area. There are also two big waterslides for kids of all ages and a "splash area" for little kids. The pools were fine, the slides were great, and the hot tubs tended to be crowded; the Serenity ones also were in a serious breeze as they were on Deck 12, all the way to the bow, and therefore there wasn't much to cut the wind.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We went to all the stage shows -- a Motown revue, a Latin/Cuban revue, a 70's-80's-early-90's rock show, and the Lip Synch Battle finale (where our daughter, along with other Camp Carnival kids, performed. The dancers from the revues helped instruct them, which was a lot of fun for her).
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
After getting our daughter to go into Camp Carnival once, she wanted to be there all the time. Even for dinner; she skipped the dining room twice to eat with her friends.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Staff were responsive, pleasant, and attentive.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Having the two restaurants (that you can't walk through) on the same two levels, with the Gold room amidships, makes for getting around on Decks 3 and 4 a little difficult. Also, we were dining in Platinum (all the way aft), so we had to take the far aft elevators to dinner every night, which was a little less than ideal, as there were 500 other people with the same intentions.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The outside cabin we had (a 6B) was surprisingly roomy; they advertise 220 square feet and we believe it. It's the same size as a balcony cabin on the Legend, at any rate, and the same layout. There was plenty of room for 2 adults and a child (the room would only sleep 3, there was no Pullman). There were some signs of wear -- chipped paint on the baseboards, for example -- but it was overall well-maintained and clean.
Ship tip
Pick a cabin convenient to the mid and aft elevators; you will be using them to get to dinner every night if you eat in the MDR.
The port area is delightful, but you are about 20 minutes outside of Puerto Plata, and an hour or so from Sosua. You'll likely be locked in to cruise line excursions if you don't pre-book on your own, as there's no place for touts to meet up with you. You can, in theory, rent a car, but from what we saw of the roads and other drivers, I'd rather not.
We booked a catamaran sail and snorkel excursion, where we stopped at 2 spots to snorkel, and had an open bar (soda, beer, and rum drinks) and lunch (cold cut sandwich buffet with sides). Unfortunately for us, March is rainy in the DR, and that means the water wasn't terribly clear, but the excursion crew got in the water to chum for us, attracting fish.
Charlotte Amalie was nice; we did a Magen's Bay beach day and sky ride. The beach was beautiful, the sky ride (gondola to the top of the mountain near the cruise port) was so-so; nice view, a little shopping, but overall not super impressive.
We did a private city tour with one of the touts at the end of the pier (he was kind enough to tell us that most of San Juan doesn't open up until 9 AM, while we got off the ship at 7:45 or so, and offered us a price for the 3 of us that was about the same as 1 on the ship's tour). We got to see public art and monuments, famous buildings, an outdoor market, and then he took us to Cementerio Santa María Magdalena de Pazzi and Castillo San Felipe del Moro, where we opted to stay and explore, as it was a moderate walk (about a mile or so) back to the cruise port. The Castillo was extremely interesting, and we got to stop on the walk back in the Plaza Colon for some mofungo (Puerto Rican shephard's pie, made with fried mashed plantains instead of mashed potatoes).
We noted that this is a good port to pick up essentials that you may have forgotten at home, as there's a Walgreens pharmacy and a Marshall's within a very short walk of the pier. Most of the folks in the stores spoke English better than my high-school Spanish, so it would be fairly easy for someone who doesn't speak Spanish to shop.
The port area is quite nice, with a cool display showing the history that Grand Turk had with Nasa (it's where John Glenn and Gus Grissom splashed down after their flights). There's an absolutely gorgeous beach right off the pier (protip: the loungers with the green umbrellas are owned by the cruise port, so they're free. Don't bother paying for a rental lounger.). The usual touts were out there, selling hair braiding, pony rides, island tours, etc. The only one that really piqued my attention was the guy selling local beer 5 for $20; that made getting some sun on the beach more relaxing!
We rented snorkeling equipment ($10 for a mask and snorkel, $6 for fins), and explored the swimming area to the left of the port. The water was super clear, and schools of fish were playing around. We even found an old anchor out near the limit of the swimming area!
Disembarkation was an excersize in hurry up and wait. We had early disembarkation (Group 8), which was supposed to be 8-9:30. However, something slowed the process down and we didn't even get in line to get off the ship until 9:30; not that we wanted to leave fast, but we were told by our parking lot (Secure Cruise Parking) that getting picked up by 9:30 was preferable, as otherwise the pickups were mixed with dropoffs, and that meant it was less easy on everyone.
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