The best of the 3 cruises I have taken. Though all cruises were great, this one was the best. The entertainment, port calls and stateroom were good. This cruise was originally scheduled for Puerto Rico, Virgin Island, Dominican Republic and Grand Turk. It was shifted to the West due to hurricane damage. We ended up with Costa Maya, Belize, Honduras and Cozumel. We have a cruise scheduled for these four ports in February, so now we will have to get these changed. Hopefully, they will waive the change fees under the circumstances.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Port Canaveral, not the best of the 3 we have done. The reason for this comment/rating has to do with parking. Apparently, the port does not help you unload luggage from you vehicle. This is different than Charleston and Baltimore. After dropping off the luggage, the direction to the parking was not marked. I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right. Unfortunately, I made a right and instead of left and was meet by a not so friendly parking staff member. Though she point me in the right direction, having signs would have helped. The process after immigration was quick as all of the other locations. No complaints there.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
All food was good and consistent with other cruises. Unique to this one, from our experience, was the Mongolian Wok and Guys BBQ. Glad we had the BBQ on the embarkation day. Was a nice surprise that it was open since it is advertised as being open on Sea days only. There was no lines at the BBQ as most people make their way to the Lido deck for lunch. I heard that it was packed on both sea days of this cruise.
Mongolian Wok was good, but the wait is LOOONNNNGGG. Only had it once. Be patient. It is advertised as being opened from 12 to 2:30, but it stays open long after 2:30.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Did the rope course. It was fun and would definitely do that again.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Saw the shows, activities int he atrium, and comedy act.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Housekeeping, Dining staff were great. No complaints here.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Overall, clean throughout.
Never liked the fact that we have to deal with the smell of smoke in non-smoking areas, but that is a fact of life. The Casino butts right up to the Atrium so the atrium does have "that smell".
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had a deluxe Ocean view. Deluxe means two bathrooms and extra storage space. Honestly, given a choice of a balcony, or an ocean view with the extra bathroom (with bathtub), I would take the ocean view. The cabin is far aft. It is great location because it is a straight shot to the aft Dining room and Lido Deck food. The downside is that you feel a lot of vibration because of being close to the propellers and aft thruster.
Ship tip
Patients with the Mongolian Wok. Early Dining works much better than your time dining. I saw the crowds lining up at the Southern Lights Dining facility. Having early dining at the Northern lights was a breeze since they only accept assigned tables. Just walk in and sit.
Rained very hard the whole time. We were scheduled for an excursion to Maya pyramid, but was canceled due to weather. This port requires a tender. The comment of having an excursion, or stay on the ship is a good one. Nothing much to see pier side. I would do this once, but would stay on ship if I do not have a planned excursion.
Also experienced a lot of rain, but though the facilities next to pier were worth the walk in the rain. There were some hard core beach goers. My hats off to them!
I thought was the best of the four ports as far as activities near the ship. Entertaining. Lots of activities can be seen for free. We were only there until 1:30, so all we did was stay local. We had the luck of perfect weather on this visit.
Where embarkation could have been better, the disembarkation was the smoothest we had experienced. Even thought this is the largest ship, and had the most people to get off, it was, by far, the smoothest. I would recommend hand carrying all luggage if you can. Those who checked their luggage had to wait until after I did, and I was in the last group to leave.
Since I was on deck 1, I was last. I was still off the ship, though customs, in my van and on the road by 9:30.
That's the same thing for us as well. We were booked for Eastern but changed to Western now. We leave Nov 18th. We have cruised before but this will be our first time on such a big ship. Any suggestions on excursions for these ports? Our little boy is 7.
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