Overall, I enjoyed the cruise and would recommend it.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We purchased Faster to the Fun and walked onboard very fast. I was pleased about the speed through the port. We were delayed that morning in traffic in New Orleans and didn't get to the port building until around 12:30 but were able to walk directly through the lines and I did feel it was a nice smooth transition.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We had dinner each night in the Paris dining room at a table for two that was reserved for us (as we were on our honeymoon). Very much enjoyed. Our waiter Ahmed was very good at recommending and bringing samples of other dishes. We had a great time. The one time I Sea Day brunched was a lot of fun - big group of folks who seemed to know all the gossip of the ship and we had a good time discussing everything. Every day we visited the Coffee Bar and there was an excellent barista there who always made us feel special and fixed us up excellent coffees. I got up every morning for early coffee and pastries from the buffet but never ate there the rest of the time. Of course, kudos for Blue Iguana breakfast burritos.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Vienna Cafe
5 out of 5
Very nice barista at work in the afternoons. I didn't get her name but she was a very nice person who fixed us up something special every time. Great smile.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Blue Iguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Loved the guys at Blue Iguana for breakfast. Food was excellent and toppings awesome.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Seriously, we didn't do a lot of the usual activities. I walked a mile every day on the Sun deck. We took in a few of the dive in movies. We missed most of the shows due to being late to them. I enjoyed reading and snoozing on deck. Was sorry there was no serenity deck. There were a LOT of children on this cruise. We booked this cruise for the two excursions we wanted to visit and we were very pleased about them. Wish we had one more day for port exploring around Cozumel.
Club Monaco Casino
3 out of 5
I confess that I am not a gambler so this comment is directed more to one of the things I found most unpleasant about the ship. I realize the casino is important to the ship revenue but the smoke is truly noxious for those who do not smoke but have to pass through it. It is awkward to avoid it by the way it is placed in the center of the ship. To get to the coffee shop every afternoon, we had to walk by the casino. I spent some time trying to map a way around but the ship layout was confusing. If I had been there just a few days more I would have gotten it. That said, we liked the coffee bar enough to truck on through.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
My favorite staff folk were Ahmed in the Paris dining room, the barista in the coffee shop and the staff at Blue Iguana every morning. Overall, everyone who assisted us did a great job and we appreciated how hard they worked. I don't know the names of the young men who clean down the decks every morning but they do such hard work and as I get up early for coffee it is their hard work I often see. We had a very through muster drill on the first day and although we joked about having to stand around near the life boats I do appreciate the thoroughness of the staff explaining what to do in the event of an emergency and am so glad we didn't have an emergency.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
I was a little bit confused by the dining rooms and levels. I think it was because I had been on the Dream before this and the layout is similar but the map in my head wasn't mapping out right.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was quite large, triangular generally in shape. On the fore side of the Panorama deck with the wrap around front deck. I really loved being able to go outside every morning to take a picture of the sunrise. The cabin has a large window facing front. The windows are not private however so keep in mind. Not many people wander around out on this deck but it is not a private deck. The room itself was well kept and clean. Our room steward was very low key and stayed busy. We didn't see much of him but our room was always prepared and ready for the day by mid morning. There is a lot of dresser and closet space. More than ample for our needs (2) people. There is no refrigerator in the room which surprised me because I'm used to having one available. Luckily I had a spare large insulated mug and I brought ice to the room every night. There were ample plug ins for our devices as we brought an extra charge cord. I brought a small USB gooseneck lamp that plugs into a USB charging device that we left on at night to give us enough light to find the bathroom. I really liked the room and would recommend it for anyone who likes the front deck type rooms. I also liked being on the Panorama deck just one level up from Lido. Best place to get your morning coffee and sunrise views in.
Ship tip
Talk to the ladies who lip synch! They know all the best stories. Don't go in looking for the cracks in the bathroom caulk. Look for the fun you will have and remember that 11 rotations around the sky walk is a mile if you are doing your laps. Bring a nice big coffee mug with a lid to keep it hot and enjoy the sunrise every day.
Awesome. Never get tired of New Orleans. For this trip we took The City of New Orleans Amtrak train as a first and loved it. Highly recommend but only if you want to have a laid back mode of transportation. Particularly, on the return home it was slow. We got in at 7 am and didn't get home until 10:30 pm. I did discover that we could check our bags at the port and wander around the french quarter until time to board the train. Then we just caught a cab with our bags to the Union Station around noon. Had coffee at the Cafe at that riverfront mall and enjoyed a very low key walk around.
We did the Chichen Itza - Ik Kil tour and highly enjoyed the tour. Our guide was Carlos/Charlie and he talked a blue streak! The bus accommodation was first class. Our driver provided us with bottled water and minty chilled towels. They were a high point in favor of tipping. If you are truly interested in visiting the ruins I would recommend this tour. It was expensive but first rate. Both the ruins and cenote were beautiful and well worth seeing.
We took the Tulum tour which included the ferry and bus ride. I was very glad to have seen Tulum but I confess I would have liked to do it from a different venue. We only had a limited time at the site because the travel time to get there was so lengthy. Both the ferry and bus parts were safe and well maintained. Our tour guide was memorable and well educated on the material he covered but we had a limited time at the site in order to get back to the ship and by the time we got back we had no time at all in Cozumel. Also, there was a beach included in this part of the excursion but it was closed because there were turtles hatching on it -- don't plan on spending time on the beach. On the other hand, it is an unbelievably beautiful surf beach front view. Great pictures of iguanas and ruins. This would be good to go back to and spend more time. We embarked directly from ship to ferry and back again. The return to the ship off the ferry took a long time because the sea was rough and the ferry was bobbing up and down. I didn't experience any sea sickness but it was a tiring day. When we returned we had dinner and zonked out pretty early.
Because we had faster to the fun, we gathered in a set area near the lobby and walked right off near 7 a.m. We did not have to do anything else. We packed our bags and walked out super fast at 7. When we got outside we didn't need to go to catch a plane because our train wasn't leaving until 1 so we paused and a very nice port assistant suggested that we could check our bags at the port office and pick them up later. This worked out just great because we had 5-6 hours to wander around and didn't want to sit around with our bags. I noted that the riverfront mall that is semi-connected to the convention center and port has free wifi and a Cafe Du Monde and a lot of the departing ship staff walked out that way for their time off the ship. We didn't even get a cab, just walked on down the road.
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