I would go with royal Caribbean again but I would go on a bigger boat. Their next cruise deals weren’t as good as I expected and I can find better deals online. I wasn’t impressed but I’ll give it another shot on a different ship it was a good getaway for the two of us though.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
This was the quickest embarkation ever! We used parkway parking.com for the parking garage was shuttled to the boat and got our bags and walked in. Many directors were telling us we MUST check our bags we purposely bought 24” luggage for this cruise and walked in with no problems. There were no lines! It took 5minutes from shuttle bus to the Check in to the boat! It was fast easy and no lines!! Once on the boat we went to deck 10 and ate lunch and walked around for a bit. Room was ready by 1:30pm. We felt we had the whole day on the boat with no hiccups.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Overall I give it a 3/5 the buffet was the best part set up nicely encouraged to wash your hands and tables were cleaned relatively quickly and if you forgot something the staff came around and got it for you and walked around with drinks (lemonade,tea,coffee,water) and desserts usually cookies. I wasn’t impressed with the times of the meals available it wasn’t open 24/7 or had something you could get in off hours. I felt as if I was given more freedom to drink something besides for paying for it at a bar at other boats. For instance, if you needed a drink at a weird time your option was the bar couldn’t get a free drink. The ice cream machine is also limited in hours and isn’t self serve like its advertised. The dining dress code was usually casual and to some that meant pool side wear and was acceptable, we always dressed up as that’s what we felt was appropriate. The bar prices were high as well compared to other boats.
Chops Grille
4 out of 5
We went twice! First one was on day 3 prebooked with the cruise line. It was a long night took about 2 1/2 hours without dessert, (they will let you take it to your room though). The second time was on day 8 the waiter went around that morning and offered 50% off meals. We went and splurged for the lobster since we were saving money anyways. My fiancé ate that and loved it. I personally don’t have a taste for seafood, the main entrees and the appetizers were phenomenal! Everything was well portioned and tasted great, I was not a fan of the side dishes. The Mac and cheese was runny, the truffled French fries are just French fries, the baked potato was cold and the tater tots were good. For the extra price if you are willing to spend it is worth it.
Windjammer Café
4 out of 5
Always went here for breakfast and snacks and usually lunch, the meals were good and service was fast and helpful. I was pleased with the desserts and the salad bar. They constantly had new food available to try and in the mornings they had an omelette bar.
Main Dining Room
3 out of 5
We sat away from the stairs and away from the noise for most of our meals. We did the private dining most nights but a couple times did shared dining and ate with other couples. It was nice to make new friends but we like each others company more. I felt as if they pressured you into doing shared dinning. We did the breakfast BUFFET once and didn’t care for it as we were pressured into the shared table and we weren’t informed it was a buffet and felt we could of got that in the buffet upstairs! It wasn’t as personal as the carnival cruises, the waiters and waitresses were more rushed and didn’t take time to talk to you, the food was mediocre and not as wonderful as I expected. Most of the time the sides were cold.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Focus Photo Gallery
5 out of 5
The staff was amazing and Jessica was phenomenal easy to talk to and all took wonderful pictures we walked away with over 70 pictures and did the all inclusive package (pre booked) well worth the time and money.
The Spa
5 out of 5
I got a free $50 to the spa the first day and used it the 3rd day for a hair dye walked out paying $66 for the service better than price at home and better job than I expected, I did two colors medium length hair. I was pleased. The artist was Talkative and polite the spa itself is small and quiet. I would go back to this spa for additional services.
Casino Royale
5 out of 5
Well kept clean and not usually busy at all. It was nice for a relaxing day or evening. They also come around with bar service and check on you. Lots of perks if you spend a lot of money on the machines too. Different points means money off next cruise or free cruise. (We didn’t spend that much in there for those perks).
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The Centrum
4 out of 5
Very pretty and elegant setting. They did a couple of game shows on the boat and they were fun to watch and easy to see from all decks. It was something nice to see while walking from one end of the ship to the other.
Royal Theater
4 out of 5
The theater itself is nice set up and easy to see the stage from all angles. The comedy shows weren’t good the entertainers didn’t do it for me. Only a couple jokes they told were funny. They had a set of girls dancing and singing one night called Lady Luck they were screaming into the microphone you couldn’t understand them. We left that show after about 5 minutes of that. The first show the welcome aboard show was the only decent one we went too.
Challenger's Arcade
3 out of 5
The games are overpriced (marked one price on machine but the swipe card charges more). The air hockey table was broken and only kept score half the time. It was a nice place to get away from the crowd. No kids ever. Usually we were the only two in the room.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
The waiters were too busy to talk to you, the room steward wasn’t as personal as I had in the past, I missed the towel animals from the other cruise lines. The rooms did get cleaned twice a day and he worked hard at making sure it was cleaned. The caption was informative when things changed (medical emergency ended us in key west for a quick port on way back to Miami and resulting in us being late on Saturday morning). He was also nice and informed us of the rough seas ahead heading back from Cayman Islands to Miami. The diamond store personnel was pushy to the point we didn’t walk past the stores the last three days as we felt we were being bullied into buying something we didn’t want and told them we weren’t interested in.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was clean and had high standards for hand hygiene. They had staff at the entrances to the dining room and cafe to ensure hand hygiene. The rooms were cleaned asap as were the tables in the dining room. There wasn’t any garbage or spills anywhere on the ship. The furniture was in good condition and the ship didn’t smell at all.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
As expected it was only the two of us the room design was small but again it was only the two of us. It was an interior room at the front of the aisle so next to the housekeeping cabinet and next to the elevator there was extra noise some nights from people drinking and getting in late. The shower was exceptionally small but the amount of counter drawer and shelf space was insane. We had enough room for everything then some and had enough space under bed to have our luggage underneath. We had two hard shell 24” luggages we had an overhead light, vanity light, over bed lights x2 and reading light x2. The tv played many channels considering you were out to sea we always found something to watch. The room was cleaned beyond our standards.
Ship tip
It’s a small ship and don’t expect the world. We had fun but we wouldn’t go on this boat again. We will forever be a fan of the bigger newer boats.
Very pretty island only island we booked an excursion for. We booked for stingray city and starfish point. Stingray city was cancelled and we weren’t away until we were on the bus to the excursion we got a full refund and went to the main city and walked around went shopping some good prices for things. The shop owners are pushy and do try to make sure you get something in their shops. We went to attempt to eat at margaritaville was seated by the staff and ignored for ten minutes watch four other families sit and be served after us and we walked out no one noticed. We went down the Main Street after looking for something else to eat and ended up finding a small area to snorkel in right near the cruise boats. (Tender dock so they are docked out from the dock but where you get to the tender boat is across the way from this pier we smirked off of) it was it was quiet and amazing. I never been snorkeling but for $20 for about two hours we went and got in to the water and seen some co fish
Too big and too congested for us we are from the country and weren’t impressed. The people weren’t that friendly. We stayed the night before in the ocean spray hotel and had a hard time parking and getting around the area. Everything took an hour to get too. We went to key Biscayne beach and was impressed and happy with that choice it was well worth the drive.
I love this port I think it is very pretty, our plan was to have lunch go shopping go snorkeling at a local beach and then return to the ship. I woke up not feeling well and we ended up going to the pharmacy for meds going to a shop taking a nap on the beach chairs and going back to the boat, it was nice the weather was great people weren’t as pushy as Cozumel. Watch the shops as they will try to charge you an outrageous amount for things. Bargain with them.
We rented a scooter for the day about $60 with insurance to go around the island for three hours. It was well worth it and we got to see more than expected, the island wasn’t that big and we went around about three times went to the store and came back. We then walked around Devall street and got ice cream homemade at the flamingo it was delicious and well worth it. (Rum raisin and kahula)
Due to the medical emergency the night before we were over an hour late to disembark. The staff did a wonderful job at handling it well and answering some stupid questions from other passengers. The layout on how to get off was confusing and needed a better design or direction. Other than that the staff did a great job and once the line got moving we were off and waiting for our bus within 20 mins whole process from line to off boat was about 45 mins.
Totally agree with your comments, as soon as we left Miami on 15th we thought damn it we should have gone with our friends the following day on Symphony, they kept texting me how great it was while I was sitting there bored doing the Michael Jackson quiz, the only night the ship came alive was the last night which was bizarre. Perhaps everyone was happy to leave 😂
Glad you enjoyed, this is one of the smaller ships, you might try one like the Liberty of the Seas unless you want to go real big and the newer ones are huge.
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