For a first family cruise, we were pleasantly surprised and very pleased. We really didn't have any major complaints. Would highly recommend this ship for families with young children as Camp Ocean was great and the ship was the perfect size for toddlers and preschoolers to get around comfortably.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
smooth - although we were one of the last ones on the ship so didn't have to wait in line for anything
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
I really had no complaints about the quality of food on this ship. I'm unclear why there are so many complaints about Lido Buffet on this ship. The food was always hot and never an issue. Standouts were the Pizza (it is actually truly really good) and the Chinese station (the daily soup is always amazing). The MDR was great. Waiting in line on the Carnival Hub app was a breeze. Sometimes service at MDR can be kind of slow but they allow you to essentially order as many entrees as you want. Great variety of entrees and appetizers weekly (about 3/4 rotates and 1/4 stays the same) - you can get steak every night if you want.
The Chef's Table was amazing and at $80 pp (includes wine, tour of galley, chocolate cake demonstration, magic show, and complimentary photo) I don't know where you can get such a good deal on land.
Drinks were the only mediocre part of the ship. The drinks were consistently on the weaker/sweeter side. Alchemy Bar made the best drinks.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Gym had a lot of treadmills with broken screens (the machine was functional). Very small hot tubs (there are 4 total, 2 in Lido pool and 2 in Serenity pool - the Serenity ones are smaller). The pools were nearly always unoccupied so you could have them mostly to yourself. There's a bunch of cruise activities -- we went to a few but didn't think very strongly of them either way.
Entertainment
We didn't attend that many shows because we have young kids. We went to a magic show and one entertainment show. The magic show was great but the entertainment show was so-so.
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
We thought the Camp Ocean staff were terrific. We got to have some long chats with them over the course of the cruise -- most of them are truly dedicated to their jobs and genuinely enjoy children. It was a major plus that Camp Ocean was open till 10 pm (actually it's 1 am - paid from 10-1, but our kids can't stay up that late). They had rotating themed activities daily that never repeated. Our older kid (age 4) especially enjoyed Camp Ocean and would sometimes ask to go rather than do stuff with us!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Staff were great. The Chef's Table experience was terrific. Our room steward greeted us by name daily. I saw trash picked up and tables cleared on Lido deck within 3 minutes of people leaving.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
I know this is considered a small ship, but it was perfect for us and our young kids. Lido deck for the most part were meticulously maintained and I seldom walked in to see dirty tables. It was very quick to get from one end of the ship to the other. Lido deck/buffet was on 9 and MDR/bars/entertainment were on 2 and 3, so it was not hard to get up and down either way.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cabin shows some wear and tear (broken rope pulls on the drawers, slow draining shower) but overall it is meticulously cleaned daily. The room steward does an amazing job cleaning every day so it really doesn't feel dirty or poorly maintained in any way. The balcony was just fine. Our room did NOT smell like smoke unlike some of the other reviews for Carnival Luminosa.
Ship tip
There are a lot of secret seating places all over the ship, especially on 3, 9, 10, and 11 (outdoors). This is a great ship to find some nook or cranny and just chill out.
This is a very small cruise port. We did a whale watching excursion so spent all our time at port doing that. I can see if you don't do an excursion it can be somewhat boring, as there is one restaurant, a Zipline (looks really cool, but very expensive), a beach, a gift shop/cultural center...and not much else. Some folks walked/bussed over to the town Hoonah which is actually populated with local folks, but I have no idea how that was.
Skagway is one of the busiest Alaskan cruise ports. We did an excursion so had only an hour or two to explore the town. The town seems great with tons of shops, bars, and restaurants.
Amazing scenery just on the ship. We didn't see any wildlife on the ice in the fjord. We didn't go down to the water on the small boats but I think the excursion is too expensive for what you saw (basically the fjord ice up close and you got to hold some of the ice).
I don't think there's that much to do in the town. The excursions are really expensive. We went to Creek Street and that was okay (lots of salmon in the stream though). Walked around city center after that and it was generic shop after another. Wanted to see the Totem Heritage Center but it was a bit too far of a walk.
Really awkward time for port from 8:30 to midnight. We have young kids so couldn't stay out past 9. We had visited Victoria before so we know there's not much to do around this time other than drinking at bars downtown. Might be cool to see Butchart Gardens at night with the lights but again we couldn't stay out that long.
Great comments, I have been on the Luminosa and had a good time as well. It is an older medium size ship so people should not expect everything that is on the new mega ships.
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