I didn’t fall in love with the cruise experience enough to want to do another anytime too soon. I found the food and entertainment very average for what you are paying. Our kids loved it and as it was a Christmas gift that made it worthwhile. I really didn’t appreciate the nickel and diming of every little thing, you had to ask if it was an extra charge, otherwise you were surprised on your bill. I don’t love that you only get a few hours in one port and don’t have time to really experience it off the beaten path. But I knew some of those things going in, so my expectations were set accordingly. It’s just a lot of people to be around all the time, lines for everything, waiting, and lots and lots of stairs, since the elevators were always jammed up with people. I also did not like that the cruise automatically deducted gratuity, we wanted to tip specific people, and not just do a blanket gratuity that we weren’t even notified of.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Really easy and friendly personnel
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Buffet was standard cafeteria fare, restaurant dinners were nice and better food but still pretty average. Burgers and pizza were average, Mexican food was good
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Our kids did everything, putting rope course and mini golf on very top made it harder to visit as it was too windy to use if ship was moving. Arcade was so expensive per game that it was a non-option for us, Casino was video poker and craps table didn’t ever look fun or busy. Pools were small! Water slide was really fun
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The performers were talented but shows were cheesy. The Christmas show was unbearable. Comedians were ok. Lounge singers were pretty good.
Children's Programs
2 out of 5
Our kids were in the two oldest groups and they weren’t organized, they couldn’t tell if anyone was actually directing an activity. Kids were mostly just on their phones or on the too-few video game consoles. Probably the ages of kids is harder to socialize.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone was so friendly and they did an excellent job every time whether it was help or directions, cleaning, serving. Staff was outstanding.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Everything was always clean, I’m sure there are better ship designs but we figured things out if we were lost or on the wrong floor
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
It was small for 4, but overall it was fine. We had enough room for luggage, plenty of clothing storage, tv was big. I liked the cot foldout design though we definitely had some head bumps
Ship tip
Just use the app for restaurant dinner reservations! So many people waiting out front when they only needed to check in on the app and it was far
I should have taken a bus or taxi to see more of the island. The beach was nice, although it was man-made, but there were fun activities. I thought the shopping was lame as it was geared towards American tourists. I walked a few miles out beyond town, and it was fun to see where the locals live.
Beach was nice, lucky we had good weather. There wasn’t much to do other than the beach since there is no real town. But it was a nice relaxing day with the water.
We did a snorkeling excursion, which was good, pretty standard for tourist snorkeling. But the guides were really friendly and helpful. Our kids loved the snorkeling, and we saw many fun things. The water is gorgeous, definitely worth scuba diving. We took a taxi into a smaller town, and that was fun, although still not much to see. We only had six hours on the island, so not enough time to do much more.
It was definitely confusing, we weren’t sure which floor to disembark on and there were crowds of people and their luggage everywhere. We didn’t understand that you had to put your luggage out the night before to get it taken off. It wasn’t that big of a deal, having our luggage, but with thousands of people carrying their luggage to breakfast and around the ship, it made it difficult. The customs experience was easy, and even though the lines were long, they move fast.
The auto gratuities is made very clear when booking your cruise and reading thru the contract your signing . Also if you only tip those you come into direct contact with you miss the majority of those actually working behind the sciences to make your cruise enjoyable such as house keeping cooks bar tenders those cleaning the common areas over night keeping the pools and hot tubs clean …. Those originating activities… tue list is endless :
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