Great Cruise, with only a few hic-cups!

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 51

Review summary

Overall our cruise was great! The days at Sea were relaxing with lots to do. We layed out in the sun and explored the ship. This ship as a ton of stuff to do. Lots of great music outside that you can dance to or just layback and relax and listen to. They have an outdoor basketball court and minature golf course. Water slides and pools and many hot tubs. Also a cool ropes course. Our first stop was Montego Bay, Jamacia. We did the great house tour, it was very good and interesting with lots of photo opportunites. Next stop was Grand cayman islands. Here we did a bit of shopping, went to the town called HELL, went to the turtle farm and then swam with the stingrays. The only downside I would say of this excursion is we felt a bit rushed on part of it. Only had a short time to shop on our own in the morning before the tour started. Then when we stopped in the town called HELL we only had 15 minutes to look at the rock formations (which is why they named the town HELL because that is what the person that named the town invisioned HELL would look like). The town has shops but again only 15 minutes to see the rocks, shop, go to the postoffice to buy/send postcards to those back home saying you stopped in HELL for a tour etc. was just too little of time. Although, who really wants to spend anytime in HELL!! lol The turtle farm was great! We had a short guided tour and our guide gave us lots of great info about the turtles then we were on our own to explore. We got to pick up and hold the small turtles so that was a great photo opp! Then took a small boat about an hour out into the ocean to where the stingrays were at. Get out of the boat and the water is only waist deep or so! Very cool! Our guides told all about the stingrays, and held them for us to pet and we even kissed them and fed them. The guides had a digital camera where they took pics of us then if you wanted to buy pics they would email them to you. This was a great deal. We got 11 pics for $40.00. A much better value than what the pics cost on the Carnival Ship. Those on the ship our way too expensive and they don't do package deals. Bad mistake for them. They could sell more if they did package deals. Note to Carnival!! The last day we went to Cozumel Mexico. We chose the excursion shopping and beach. Which actually was over in Playa Del carmen. We loaded a larger boat for a 30 minute ride from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen. Had about 2 to 2.5 hours of shopping then went to the KOOL HOTEL RESORT to swim on their section of the beach. That was a great stop but again we felt like we could have spent all day shopping. When we go again on a cruise we think we won't do as much on excursions and more on our own shopping! We really like to shop! As for the cabins on the ship, they were spacious enough for us and very nice. Although the beds were a bit too hard for my wife and I but we got use to them. The first 2 nights we woke up more often than we do at home. Partly, due to the drunk people being too loud in the hall outside our cabin. After the first 2 nights we did sleep better. As for the food, it was very good overall. The only hic-cups there is we had 2 nights of poor service. My wife is allergic to wheat so she has to have gluten free food. They staff knew that up front when we booked and the first 2 nights for meals in the dining hall...no problem! She ordered and her food came with the rest of our families. She would also order her meal each evening for the NEXT evening so the kitchen staff knew 24 hours in advance what she wanted. Well on Tues night which would have been our 3rd night on the ship, my sister-in-law, me and my step-daughter all got our meals but my wife's meal didn't come for 20 or so minutes later. they didn't have a good excuse as to why but when she got it, it was a bit too spicy and not tasty and the rest of us didn't really like what we ordered so we left and went to the buffet...which by the way was always tasty and good. Then the next night Wed. again all 3 of us got our meal and my wife got hers about 30 minutes later. They knew 24 hours in advance what she wanted but a delay again. When she did get her food it wasn't even hot..it was cold. So the mater'd (or however you spell that word), came over and he didn't have a real good excuse as to why the delay and we pointed out that not only a delay but if the food was being prepared fresh for her how could it be cold. We were quite upset so again we left and headed to the buffet. We stopped first at the guest services desk to complain and they made a note of it. I brought up that I thought we should get some sort of on-board credit for our troubles and they didn't seem to want to offer so we left it at that. I would have been happy with even $25 as a credit. But nothing! A few days later a couple of ladies stopped us and asked us what happened that night because they were a few tables away and could tell we were upset but they couldn't tell what the problem was. We told them and they said if we pick either the early or late dining we would have the same table every night and same staff and they felt this kind of thing wouldn't have happened. We had the anytime dining. Good advice and we will do the 6pm next time. The only other hic-cup was on the last night, Night 7, we went to the outside area where they play movies on the big screen and while watching the movie some ladies and children came up to that deck and were talking loudly so it was hard to hear the movie. They stopped after my sister-in-law did a very loud SSSHHHHH! They made a comment about her doing that but all was well. That of course isn't a problem with Carnival or the ship, just people that don't know the proper way to act in public....kinda like the drunk people in the hallway at 3am!! Overall great cruise and we will do another one again!!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Galveston, Texas

Montego Bay, Jamaica

George Town, Grand Cayman

Cozumel, Mexico

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