16th Birthday Celebration Cruise

There were four of us on this 8-day Exotic Southern Caribbean Cruise that consisted of two teenage girls, one who was celebrating her 16th birthday.  We parked at the Park-n-Cruise parking service where the people were very friendly and helpful.  We left out of Port Canaveral with travel to Aruba, Curacao, Grand Turk.  The embarkation went smoothly - they moved the crowds very quickly - no problems and this cruise was sold out, so, you can imagine the number of people trying to board the ship!  Our room was on the Lido deck (10234), an interior room that felt like a sardine can once we all were in there.  There was limited space to get ready and we were always in someone's way.  Next cruise we will definitely take the size of room into consideration.

The room service was exceptional. Our room steward Komang and his partner were always available and kept our room stocked with bath and beach towels.  On our daughter's 16th birthday, they decorated the room and delivered a cake that I had ordered prior to sailing...she was thrilled when we entered the room!  They always greeted us with a friendly disposition.  The food on the cruise was exceptional wherever we dined and we tried to eat everywhere on the ship!  The Lido Marketplace is where we ate breakfast everyday because there was something for everyone - omelets, eggs/bacon, French toast/waffles/pancakes, fresh fruit, cereal and the list goes on.  It was great to sit by the window and have a wonderful breakfast as a family...very peaceful.  The coffee bar is a "must stop by".  The café latte was the best and the milk shakes were made with whole milk and ice cream - yum.  Guy's Burger Joint was great too!  At night we ate in the dining room.  My daughters liked to dress-up for dinner and feel like they were at a five star restaurant every night (me too).  We were assigned the Your Time Dining which worked out for us because we never can get ready by a certain time.  We were assigned a beeper on two separate nights which was a bummer, especially, when you want to be seated when you arrive.  The first two nights, our dining servers were exceptional and the food was delicious.  The next two nights, I don't know what happened, but, something was off.  Our servers were slow, we had no water to drink initially and my husband ordered a drink for our daughter (virgin Pina Colada) and it never arrived.  The second night there were no other tables occupied around us and the servers were someplace else...we felt like we were on a deserted island.  Luckily, at the half way point of our cruise, the dining service improved, but, nothing like the exceptional service of the first two nights.  As far as the onboard entertainment, the nightly show time events were really good.  My daughters enjoyed the singing and dancing that was provided nightly.  The onboard live musicians were very talented and so were the comedians.  We enjoyed the Bold Brass Sounds with Bell FX and followed them around the ship just to hear them play.  Another group was String Classics with Kudos Strings that played modern music on violins - loved them!  All of the live musicians were talented.

The Lido deck parties were fun.  The entertainment director, Dr. E, was the life of the party.  He was definitely entertaining and kept the crowd moving to the music.

The only negative thing I have to say about the onboard activities/entertainment is the pools are way too small for the amount of passengers onboard.  My daughters never got into the pool because they were packed.  I think there were approximately nine spas on the ship and half of them were unavailable at any given time.  I don't know if it was because of chemicals being added or maintenance, so, we didn't get to enjoy them because there was "no room at the inn".  I did play bingo and some of the onboard games while at sea while my family relaxed elsewhere.  With bingo, they advertised a large bingo cash win and once you were playing they announced you could only win this in 49 numbers or less.  During the entire cruise, no one ever one the big prize.  I think the bingo shouldn't be advertised as "$5000 Jackpot Bingo $", but, rather "Win $5000 Jackpot Bingo in 49 Numbers or Less".  One other thing - shopping. This ship was going to the Caribbean and the gift shop had trinkets from Mexico.  I understand the Carnival Magic sails to Mexico too, but, come on, we are going to the exotic Caribbean!  The t-shirts for the ports we travelled to were only available on the second cruise day and the day before the cruise ended, otherwise the shirts were from other ports of call Carnival cruises to. Also, I would liked to had more onboard shopping venues, but, I realize there is only so much room for shops.  Another point to make, the decorating on this boat was beautiful - from the colors, lighting, flooring, to the decorations on the walls!  We felt like we were in luxury everywhere we turned.  The full screen movie theater on the Lido deck was great for the girls and they played current movies liked John Wick 2, Passengers, etc.  The chairs were comfortable to watch the movies in and popcorn was provided...it was like you were at the drive-in.  At one of the ports, they decorated the chairs on the Lido deck with towel animals...a lot of effort and so cute.

The weather wasn't that great at the beginning of our 8-day cruise, so, in Aruba the water was a little choppy.  (Aruba is beautiful and relaxing.)  We still went snorkeling and had a great time.  Afterwards the charter we were on, provided a BBQ lunch on a deck that overlooked the ocean.  Two thumbs up on this excursion.  Our next port of call was Curacao.  We didn't sign-up for any excursions at this port because it was my daughter's 16th birthday and we thought we would enjoy the day and shop (her favorite thing to do).  We were all disappointed in this choice.  The shops seemed to all carry the same items at the same price, in addition to, hovering over you while you were looking.  Needless to say we hurried back to the ship to enjoy the rest of our day. Two thumbs down on this one.  Our last stop was Grand Turk and we signed up for the Horseback Riding and Beach excursion.  We all expected to go ride horses and then return to the beach for some relaxation by the water.  Needless to say that didn't happen.  We arrived at the booth about thirty minutes before the assigned time of 10:30 and waited.  All the other excursions had left and we were the last ones there.  Keep in mind the ship arrived at 8:00AM and we are due back on the ship by 3:30PM (not too much time in port).  The excursion rep loaded us on the bus with me thinking we are going to ride because it is hot now.  Wrong.  We were driven to a beach bar where we got off and were told we would be called when it was time to go horseback riding.  We waited for 1 1/2 hours.  My family and I didn't want to get in the water because (1) we were afraid we wouldn't hear the call to go ride from the beach, and (2) we didn't want to be wet to go ride a horse.  Our feeling was they wanted us to spend money on drinks and food at their bar was why the delay was so long.  When we finally went to ride it was great and we were able to take the horses in the water.  I just think that this excursion should of taken us to ride - which is what we all expected - and then to the beach.  Because of the order we did things in, I was only able to take a couple of pictures of the beach and load back on the ship.  One thumb down on this excursion.  Lastly, the internet service.  All I can say it was very slow.  Initially we purchased the social media package and for some reason my daughters couldn't get on Snapchat which was advertised as being part of the package.  No one could explain why.  We then decided towards the end of the cruise to utilize the Premium package to access websites.  The website wouldn't even load...kept spinning.  The other people around us were waiting too.  I don't know if it was the weather or what (extremely overcast) that was interfering with the satellite feed or not.  Two thumbs done on this one.  Overall, I would recommend this cruise to anyone wanting to go to the Caribbean.  My family enjoyed the cruise and the time we spent together making memories.