Traditional Enjoyable Cruise Experience in an older Ship

The reason we selected this cruise and ship, (note these are ships  not boats)

is because of the Thalassotherapy pool.  The 2 other Millennium class ships do not have this.    We cruised the Summit when it was nearly new in 2003.  It was one of our most enjoyable cruises  out of the total of 25 cruises that we had taken.  We remembered the total relaxing adult area indoor spa area with the Thalassotherapy pool.  So when we saw there was one 9 day cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale 2/18/17  we jumped on it.   The ship is older but still large enough  for all of the amenities of a traditional  cruise experience.  Don't look for any rock climbing walls here. 

The food was defiantly a cut above what we have found on Royal Caribbean

ships.   We always ate breakfast in the Sea View Buffet.  There was enough variety , good quality and various daily specials to keep it interesting.   They still had their world famous sticky buns 3 mornings of the 9.  They have  2 omelet stations and an eggs benedict station. They still have self serve coffee stations.  Much better and more efficient  than having to asl a server for coffee   or going to a coffee station and  have to take one of the many cups  that they sit on the counter.  Lunch was equally good.   Dinner in the dinning room was mostly good, but lacked variety.  Service was good after the 1st night.  We  chose  select dining.

ENTERTAINMENT:  This was a mixed bag.   Some good, the comedian

   Some not so good.  The Selene Dion wanna be, we had to walk out. The illusionist was marginal, too much dependence on electronics.

 The music in the lounges when there was music  was the worst feature on the cruise.   JUST NO GOOD DANCE MUSIC! D J Dragan was the pits. What is needed is a good Pilipino Band that knows how to play classic rock.  This used to be a standard feature on most cruises.    The rendezvous lounge was used more often for silly games rather than dancing.  The LADO STRINGS DUO who played classical violins were excellent. They have an outside theatre with comfortable seating.  One popular film was "Sully" 

but we didn't have time to watch it.

THE CABIB:  smallish but comfortable and adequate storage for 2 adults. Some deferred maintenance, but you had to look for it.  The still offer chocolates, pens and stationary.  Nice touch.

Though we are select Captain club members, you no  longer get a separate invitation to the captain's reception, you have to check with guest relations.  Also no coupon book.  You have to get a form from the guest relations to see what the special benefits are.    

I mentioned a lot of negatives, but the overall cruise was still very enjoyable, hence the 4 stars.