Budget Cruise at a Prime Price

This was our first cruise, so we had no idea what to expect or how the process worked. We chose the earliest boarding time offered to us when we signed up, which was 1:00-1:30. We had a 3.5 hour drive to the port and after the fear of god was put into us about being late, we left home at 7:30. The drive was super easy and after one gas stop, we arrived just after 12:00. Not sure what to do for an hour, we dropped our bags off and parked and went to the terminal. I asked someone checking passports if it was possible to check in early and he said it didn’t matter what time we got there. We could have checked in at 10, it didn’t matter. I was relieved that we didn’t have to wait outside for an hour, but curious why they offered time slots if it didn’t matter. After we got inside, it was easy-peasy to go through the terminal and get on the ship. Everyone was extremely friendly and we didn’t hit a single snag. We were in our room and down to the welcome lunch by 1:00.

This, in my opinion, is where the experience shined. We had reservations every night for 6:00 pm in Silhouette. The first night we got a note requesting we arrive at 5:30 as 6-8 was their busy time. When we arrived at 5:30, we were among the first and got seated by a window. Dinner was decent. Service was excellent. We went the same time the next night with a similar experience. After that, we decided to eat in the buffet. We went every meal shortly after they opened and the food was incredible. The service was outstanding. Every meal they had something I had never eaten before. They had international dishes from India, France, Italy, the Mediterranean, etc. I had beef Wellington, gyros, crème brûlée (there was five flavors of crème brûlée). Every morning there were three different kinds of eggs Benedict to order. My husband and I didn’t order the drink package as we’re not drinkers, but there was juice (which we never had), tea, coffee, milk and water at every meal. The coffee was great! They had ice cream which tasted like it was handmade every day and each day they had a few new flavors. They also had soft serve and sugar free. I had the sugar free and I couldn’t tell it was sugar free. One day my husband got a scoop of regular chocolate and sugar free chocolate and I did a taste test and had no idea which was which. They were delicious. There was someone serving them, too, so it wasn’t messy. Each “station” had a chef behind it who was more than helpful and would answer questions, refill, greet, chat with guests in a courteous, professional way, and help in any way they could. While there were those few who piled a mountain of food on their plate as if they could only make one trip, I really never saw gluttony.

Here is where the ship fell short. While I knew this ship didn’t have a rock-climbing wall, go karts, or water slide, I thought it would have more games and events. It did have three pools: one in a solarium and two outdoors, a family pool and one deeper than I could touch (I’m 5’3”). One morning we got up to go to the buffet, and at 6:30 in the morning, there were 3 people in the outdoor pool and every single chair around it, approximately 50, were “reserved” with towels. I didn’t even see 50 people awake! The fitness center was ok, but usually crowded. Activities usually consisted of trivia, but there were no prizes, which was ok, because people cheated. They used their phones to get the answers. Other games were like sudoku’s, crosswords, riddles, etc. On the first day, they did have an archery game set up, which was really cool and I hoped they would have more stuff like that, but they only did that once. One tip, when they say an event starts at 3:00, it starts at 3:00. Not 3:01.

Our Cruise Director was Lewis. He was entertaining and did offer dance lessons (he used to be a professional dancer), but one small critique…he likes to hear himself talk. Don’t get me wrong, he has a British accent, and I like that too, but after a while, get on with it. He introduced each show/act, and I think it could have been done in 5 minutes instead of 10. That’s just me. That said…we didn’t see all the acts, but the ones we did were ok. We saw the comedian Jeff Shaw who was good, but not great. I think he took one bit a little too far, but maybe that was just me. We saw the ship’s dancers/performers do “Life.” It’s a collection of dancing, singing, acrobatics, aerialists, etc. Some of the singers were excellent. Some, not so much. The acrobatic couple were phenomenal and the guys doing the ropes as well as the girl aerialist were exceptional. Overall, I felt there was a lot geared toward “singing.” I felt there could have been a lot more diversity in the stage shows. Bring in magic, a short play, roller skating, something different.

We were in Prime Concierge. In the six days onboard, I never once met our concierge. I still don’t know what my concierge did. Every time I went to the concierge desk, there was a sign saying they busy and would be back later but feel free to call and leave a message and they would call back. I’m still waiting for my call back… As for my room attendant, Pia, there was never a moment I went without. She was kind, friendly, happy, respectful and tolerant. My husband tripped and cut himself. The wound wasn’t bad, but our room looked like a crime scene. Pia insisted we go to medical, where the bandaged him up with a smile. When we got back to our room, it was perfect. At another point, in a casual conversation with the hotel director, Dan Hutchinson, I told him it was not only our 30th anniversary, but also our honeymoon, because despite being retired military, my husband and I had never been on a vacation, so this was also our honeymoon. When we got back from our excursion that afternoon, the most beautiful arrangement of flowers was waiting for us in our room from Dan.

We learned the layout within the first afternoon. The deck maps were extremely helpful and roaming the ship was easy. People were constantly cleaning and we never once saw anything that needed attention. Every time we entered the buffet, a crew member greeted people with hand sanitizer. There was stands of sanitizer all over the ship, so I always felt I could “clean up” readily.

Being my first cruise, I have nothing to compare this to other than regular hotel rooms. I felt we had plenary of room. Our room attendant, Pia, kept it clean all the time. There was plenty of storage under the bed for our suitcases, the closet was huge, plenty of space in the bathroom and drawers in the room. I will say I could have done without the canapés. They did absolutely nothing for me. The food in the buffet was much better.

Part of paying for Prime Concierge was Priority disembarkation. I once again have no idea what that meant. We were told we could wait in the theater or in the Tuscan lounge. We opted for the lounge and went down about 7:30. We heard groups being called to exit. Again, this was our first time, and for anyone else unfamiliar, the theater is at the front of the ship, the lounge is in back. When groups were being called to exit, they were told to exit by the theater. There was also a gangway by the lounge, but we figured we would have to walk all the way to the front of the ship, so we weren’t quite sure what the advantage was of sitting in the lounge. Every ten minutes or so, groups of five would be called to disembark. Our time was 8:55 (not exactly priority if you ask me, considering we could have left at 7:30j, but we patiently waited. Another group got called at 7:55, another at 8:10, 8:20. Then nothing. We waited and waited, 8:45, 8:50, still no groups are called. My husband looks and can see that there is now a line at the gangway by the lounge. Hmm. I told him our exit time wasn’t until 8:55, we needed to wait. At 8:55, my phone buzzed and I got a message that it was time to disembark, but there had never been any announcements like for other people. On the way, I overheard someone say there had been a medical emergency, and all the disembarkations had been held up. Well, if that was the case, why hadn’t an announcement been made so people knew what the heck was going on? Don’t just make us sit there and wonder. As we approached the gangway, we were right near the door and I said to my husband I didn’t know if we just merged into the line or what, I didn’t know how it worked. A lady looked and very snottily said that this was a line and we needed to get in the back of it. To which the woman infront of her told us we could get in front of her. Lol. We didn’t, but we did merge as it moved forward. As I said, I have no idea what good it did us being in Tuscan lounge if we were supposed to have priority debarkation, because we didn’t get off the ship until about 9:10. My suggestion to Celebrity is if there is an issue with debarkation, inform people. If not over the PA, then by message so people are aware.