Overall, it was GREAT! Looking forward to another!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Seamless!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
All of the food & service on the boat was excellent! We especially enjoyed our evening dining in the Reflections restaurant. Hadi, Indra, & Bendesa were so friendly & made us feel like family. We traveled with 2 small children & they made paper origami’s for them every night & danced with them & doted on them. They really went out of their way help our children have a truly special experience. We will never forget them! Thank you guys so much for such a wonderful experience!
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The sky-ride was alot of fun. The pools were great! My son (5) lived at the water park & enjoyed the putt-putt. Camp Ocean was a huge hit! My son was begging to go back. My only complaint is that there was really not a lot for my 1yr old (almost 2yr old). We would have taken advantage of the Camp Ocean for her more had they offered better hours for it. 8a-10a & 10p-1a were not useful hours for us, especially on the “at sea” days. Therefore, my husband & I had to split up the whole time & one of us stay with her while the other went to the water park & pools with our son. I understood why she wasn’t allowed to swim in the pools, but it really sucked that she couldn’t just play in the splash area as long as I was with her & she was wearing a swim diaper. My only suggestion is to maybe have at least 1 small water area for only small children OR open up the childcare from like 1p-5p on “at sea” days. It was kind of a bummer that we had to stay split up as a family on boat days or neither of us (as parents) got to really enjoy daytime boat activities because each of us had to be assigned a child for the whole day.
Children's Programs
4 out of 5
Let me first say…the staff were excellent & the activities provided by Ocean Camp were fantastic!! Both my kids loved it & had a blast & my 5yr old was begging to go back. My only complaint is that the hours for the under 2 year olds (for the most part) did not reflect hours that were useful to us. On the “at sea” days (when I needed it the most since there was really nothing else for her to do on the boat) the only hours offered were from 8a-10a & 10p-1a. That is probably great for parents who want to stay out late & sleep-in, but that’s just not our family. It would’ve been more useful for us to have some middle of the afternoon babysitting hours so my husband, son, & I could enjoy the pools together since she couldn’t partake in any on-boat water activities.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our wait staff & room steward were AMAZING!! HUGE shoutouts to Rami, our room steward, & Hadi, Indra, & Bendesa, our evening dinner waiters. They treated us like family. We felt so welcomed & they each took the very best care of us! We wanted for nothing the whole trip! We were truly blessed with each & every one of them. I want to give another shout out to Jeannie from Cloud 9 Spa. I did not partake in any spa services, but we would see Jeannie outside the spa almost everyday & she would greet us & dote on my little Eleanor every time we saw her. She went out of her way to be so kind to us.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Everything was easy to find. Food was great! Our room was on the 10th deck so it was in a very great location to all the pools & food!
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
This was our first time staying in a balcony room & I don’t think I could ever stay in an interior room again. The balcony room was just so great! Waking up to the ocean every morning & having coffee on the balcony everyday. It was fabulous! It was also nice to be able to sit out on our balcony while my daughter took her nap in the late morning. I was able to keep an eye on her while enjoying the ocean breeze!
Ship tip
If you have children under 2, definitely get a balcony room & consider bringing a small, collapsible pool for them to splash in!
We drove in to Port Canaveral. We stayed at Radisson at The Port! For about $350, we stayed the night, parked our car for the week, & they shuttled us back & forth to the boat. I would definitely use this service again.
It was the place I was most excited about, but was actually our least favorite stop. We picked this trip for this stop & it just wasn’t what I was expecting. After the beauty of Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk just paled in comparison. But we still had a great time! Also, keep in mind, we were traveling with 2 small children so we were very limited on excursions & were really only interested in having “beach days” at the ports. We almost purchased a beach excursion for this port, but after reading reviews & discovering there was a free, public beach & pool at the port, we decided to take our chances. I’m so glad we didn’t pay to go to the beach. The public beach was just fine. We did have to pay a guy $40 for 2 beach chairs & an umbrella seat & then we paid him an additional $20 for our son to jump on a trampoline apparatus that was set up in the ocean (which he loved) but it was well worth it & significantly cheaper than paying for an excursion for our family. Furthermore, Margaritaville at Grand Turk was located just behind the beach & they had a huge pool with a swim-up bar & it honestly was the best! The bars at the establishment took cards so you didn’t have to use up your cash there. The staff were friendly, the drinks were refreshing, & the pool was clean & spacious! It really made the trip at Grand Turk for us & the kids. We split our time between the beach & the pool while we were there.
We purchased the Amber Cove All-Inclusive Getaway at this port. Since both my kids are under 6yrs old, they were free. It was great & I highly recommend it! It was a 20min bus ride from the port to the private getaway. We were granted beach chairs with an umbrella & all-inclusive food & alcohol! They had a delicious buffet set up for us & we had a waiter that rounded on us every few minutes to take our drink orders. They even brought the kids virgin daiquiris that they loved! We had about 4hrs to eat, drink, swim, & relax! Johan, our guide, was funny & informative. They had music playing & had games & dancing over by a small stage, but it wasn’t too loud or overwhelming. It was very nice! We would absolutely do this excursion again.
Again, seamless. Even with 2 small kids & a crap ton of luggage. We checked everything we could & picked it up after we disembarked. Best decision ever!
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