April was a great month to go weather-wise. Temperature was perfect. Ship was beautiful and very well run and maintained. Crew for the most part were awesome, my son did have a problem with one crew member being disrespectful of his disability. As you can expect, these ports are very tourist oriented and crowded but you get what you pay for.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Had a 12:00 embarkation time. Dropped my son off at the terminal with our luggage, parked across the street at VIP, walked across the street and right onto the ship. No lines, amazed. Only downside was one of the crew told us our room was ready, even though I thought it was too soon I went to check. I was right, they were still cleaning.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Several cruise sites say to eat in the steak house the first night because it won’t be crowded and you get a free bottle of wine, not true. First stop onboard was to make a reservation and we were told they had been booked for months.
Main dining room staff very attentive and I enjoyed the food. Only complaint was where our table was. I was traveling with my adult son and they gave us a table for two in a remote corner. Missed the fun of meeting other cruisers and the performances of the staff. I should have asked for a different table the first night but our server was so nice.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Did the bicycles that went on the rails above the ship, great view but be sure and wear enclosed shoes.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Wasn’t impressed by the 80’s music review, costumes looked worn and cheesy. Layout of the lounge only gave a few people comfortable seating.
Casino-we did one of the slot tournaments and the machine my son was on wasn’t working right but the lady running it was rude and ignored him. Also, they have a lot of hype about their prize drawings, you get an entry for every so many points you earn playing. Drawing was during the 80’s show so we had to leave the show for the drawing and they only drew one name. So your odds of winning are probably about 4,000 to 1. Won’t bother next time, will relax and enjoy the
show instead
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Cruise Director, Donkey, was fun to a point but sometimes antics got a little too over the top for me but my son loved it. Room steward in our Cove Balcony room went above and beyond for us.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Everything was perfect.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Cove Balcony was AWESOME!!! Covered area where you could sit and relax, close to the water line. It didn’t rain but even if it had we would have been able to sit on our balcony. The lifeboats above added extra shade. Saw some dolphins jumping in the wake of the ship. In port we were so low you had a great view of what was going on with everyone’s comings and goings.
Ship tip
Book the steakhouse at the same time you book your cruise. If you aren’t happy with your table in the dining room, ask for a new one right away. Don’t waste your time with the drawings onboard in the casino and jewelry stores. They only pick one winner and with 3,000 people on board and big gamblers getting multiple entries in the casino drawings, your odds are horrible. Better to just go enjoy one of the dhows
Too touristy. Couldn’t get into Senior Frogs but enjoyed Margaritaville. Jewelry stores suck you in and before you know it you don’t have enough time to go somewhere to enjoy the beach. We did find a taxi and asked him to take us to a beach that was close and we could get a drink and try out our new full face snorkel masks before we got to our main excursion coming up in Belize. He took us to a little bar you could swim for free if you bought a drink, and it was happy hour too.
We weren’t able to dock here, supposedly because of the wind. We had to go back to Cozumel and I am so tired of Cozumel, it is the most touristy of all the ports. From talking to others, Carnival can rarely dock at Roatan because of the small space allotted. It was a big disappointment because our best excursion was booked here, the under water scooters. I won’t book a cruise with Carnival to Roatan again, I will go with a different cruise line instead.
I love Belize, the water is like looking through clear glass and the reef is still alive! Went snorkeling. Beware, because the water is so clear it is more reflective of the sun so even if you don’t normally burn, you will here. We burned to a crisp in just an hour of snorkeling and I never burn anywhere else. Use sunscreen! We did Rendezvous Caye snorkeling excursion. It had it’s good and bad points. It is a GUIDED tour and the guide keeps yelling at you to stay together but if you do there are so many people you get kicked in the face with fins. Better to ride out there in the boat with them, then watch to see where the group goes out to snorkel and snorkel out with a buddy because although they go out in the boat, they snorkel into shore.
Stayed in Houston the night before, cheaper, and drove in the morning of the cruise. Parked at VIP parking because it was covered and across the street from the cruise terminal.
This was a nightmare. My son is mobility impaired so was on a scooter. We had a personal steward that stayed with us though the line, which was nice, but the line took forever. I’m glad we weren’t in the other line though, it was even longer. As soon as we got through the line though the steward dumped our belongings on the curb and rushed off.
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