REALLY fun Caribbean Cruise

Embarkation was so easy. We checked in online so when we got there, we literally dropped off our bags, went through security which didn't have a line at all and we boarded the ship. No issues whatsoever. I wasn't sure where we were supposed to pick up our sign and sail cards. It turns out that each room has a little mailbox and this is where our cards were waiting for us.

I'm giving this three stars because this is the one area I think they could improve on. We bought to endless bubbles package which includes sodas, juice, and water. The problem with this is, you have to ask someone to bring you a drink every time you want one. There's not a soda machine set up for you. And they're not allowed to bring more than one at a time. It takes them a little while to get your drink and several times we were almost done with our meal before we had a drink. They DO have tea and things like that you can get on your own, but if you paid for the soda package, you kind of want to get what you paid for. Then there's the endless cheers package. Which is unlimited adult beverages. It's not actually unlimited though - it's 15 drinks per day. If you want this package, then everyone in your stateroom has to get it. For us, my husband doesn't drink THAT much, so it wasn't worth it for us to purchase TWO cheers packages - over $800. Here's my question though, if there's a limit of 15 drinks, why can't you buy a package for your stateroom and have a limit of 15 drinks per stateroom instead of per person? This would make it more affordable for people who aren't big drinkers. As for the food..... It was ok. I really preferred the main dining room (Platinum or Golden) for breakfast. The eggs benedict is really good. The bacon was awesome. They have these really big round hash browns that were the bomb..... And they were pretty fast. The Red Sail Restaurant is the buffet. They have your typical breakfast items, but they also have a few omelet stations that I preferred. The Iguana Café has breakfast burritos that were really good. For lunch you can grab a burger - they're SO GOOD - at Guy's which is by the main pool. You could also grab a burrito at the Iguana Café by the same pool. The buffet is always open. I'm not a fan of buffets, so I'd rather not comment. There is a really good bbq place upstairs in the buffet. Not many people up there. As for dinner - we had early dining. I sort of wish we had late dining or the anytime option because I always felt rushed once we got back from an excursion. We ended up skipping the main dining room several nights because we were having fun doing whatever we were doing. You can always get pizza. It's open 24/7. You can also order room service, but anything after 10:00 pm, you have to pay for.

This ship had so much fun stuff to do. Our room was 8453 which was at the back of the ship. The adult pool was one level above us. This is where we spend most of our time during the day. There's a bar, pizza place, and ice cream/fro-yo machine. The buffet was right there also. Like three floors below us was the main dining room. And like four floors below us was the comedy club. We spend every evening, at some point, at the comedy club. We felt like we were in a good spot. They also had movies every night - usually two, sometimes three. And the college national championship game was aired on the big screen above the pool one night. That was pretty cool watching Alabama finally get beat while we were relaxing aboard a cruise ship. :) There were water slides, ping pong tables, basketball, corn hole, putt putt.... and shopping.... there was a casino.... lots of different bars.... coffee shops.... a library full of board games..... lots of music everywhere you went.... They had a day where they did a 2 for $20 t-shirt deal. There were t-shirts from every port of call. It really needed to be organized differently and more people should've been manning the table. Basically there were a TON of t-shirts on a couple of table and a mob of people scavenging through to find the right size. Each design was grouped together so if you wanted a shirt from each port of call you had to weed your way through all of the people. In my opinion, they should've had a table for each size. So you could grab a particular size in each style if you wanted..... This way you were in and out - not climbing all over everyone to get what you need.

The entertainment was incredible on this ship. Dustin and Michele were AWESOME. They really know how to get the crowd engaged. The comedy club was our favorite. The comedians were fantastic. Get there early though, seats fill up quickly. We also went to the rock show in the Amber Palace. Wow. That was awesome. I didn't want it to end. The performers were spectacular and SO talented. There was a band - Rubber Duck I think was the name - that was good. We enjoyed watching them a few times. The farewell party started off with music trivia. They played snips from each of the songs and everyone was singing along. The place was packed and the energy was fantastic. There was a balloon drop when they played the last song. It was "I had the time of my life" from Dirty Dancing. I videoed it and it brings tears to my eyes when I watch it. I really did have the time of my life on this trip with my hubby.

I didn't have children traveling with me this time.

Aubrey was our room steward. He was quick and attentive. We had a small room that we wrecked just because we brought too much stuff and didn't have room to store it. Plus we were in a hurry because we didn't want to miss anything - so poor Aubrey had to deal with our mess! But he was a champ and we gave him a nice tip at the end of the cruise above the one that was added in. Our room was a little warm and he brought us a fan right away. We also only had one outlet that we could use. The others were European. Aubrey brought us a nice long power strip. We also LOVED our severs at dinner, Marie and Sergie. They were so thoughtful and really took care of us. The first night they found out what we liked to drink and had it waiting for us every single night. We were paired up with another couple and we really liked them a lot. They were frequent cruisers and they gave us a lot of tips. As for servers on the ship in general, we were fond of a young girl named Angelica. She was SO SWEET and acted so happy to see us every single time we bumped into her. We tried to make it a point to order drinks from her when she was working whatever area we were in. They move from the pool to the casino to the comedy club, etc. They're all over the place and they worked HARD. And I don't know how they do it, but they all seemed to remember our names. It was pretty incredible and made us feel special.

It seemed like people were constantly cleaning. We didn't have any issues in this area except there was a weird odor every single night on our floor. It smelled like sewage. We never found out what it was, but we brought spray to freshen up our room. We were too tired to care honestly. There are handwashing stations everywhere. Theres also hand sanitizer all over the place. And little towels at each door when you leave the restroom that you can use so you don't have to touch the door handle. Then there was a small trash can next to the door to dispose of the towel. The staff really did an amazing job keeping the ship clean. We never came across dirty silverware or plates... If I could give 6 stars in this area I would.

Our cabin was small. We fully expected that, but the storage was ample. There were three large closets right as you walked in with plenty of room for all of your clothes. Inside the closet doors were floor length mirrors which were great. There was also storage in the vanity area which was NOT in the bathroom (thank goodness). This is where I got ready every evening. There was a mini-fridge that didn't get real cold, but Aubrey was great about keeping ice in our room for us. The bed was so comfortable. I couldn't believe that I slept as good as I did. Perhaps the rocking of the ship helped? Not sure. I heard you could request an egg crate mattress topper for your bed. We didn't need this, but just an FYI. The bathroom was actually larger than ones I had on other cruises. And there were lots of shelves to hold toiletries. They do provide shampoo and shower gel. And hand soap. And a hair dryer. The hair dryer wasn't that great, but it worked. I have a lot of hair and am accustomed to one that blows much harder and dries faster. The shower gets VERY hot. I loved that. The television has channels that show what things look like outside. We didn't have a window so sometimes it was hard to tell if it was dark outside or not. We just flipped to that channel to find out. One tip - Bring some magnetic hooks. The walls are metal and these hooks came in very handy for hanging wet bathing suits.... hats.... cords, etc. I brought 4 and wished I had more. They worked great.

It's really amazing how quickly they get you on and off the ship. You had to make a choice, first - whether you were going to take your luggage with you, or whether you wanted to let them take it down and you just pick it up when you get off the ship. If you want to take it with you, you just take all of your luggage to the Lido or Promenade deck by 8:30 am and wait for them to call your floor number. When they call your floor number, you head to the gangway. If you want them to handle your luggage, the day before disembarkation, you have to go pick up luggage tags which have zone numbers on them. Pack your bags, tag them, and set them outside your door the night before disembarkation. The next morning go to Lido or Promenade decks by 8:30 and wait for them to call your zone number (which was listed on your luggage tag). Then you go to the gangway. Once your off the ship, you will see the baggage carousels. Very very simple. They will provide a printout with all of these instructions.