Highly recommend the small-ship experience. The tradeoffs are less evening entertainment for more interesting ports and fewer people. If you're bothered by crowds, plan your visits to the Windjammer for less-busy times. Take time to talk to the staff and learn about their world. Splurge on Chef's Table and/or some specialty dinners. If you watch for good offers and are willing to do an ocean view room, cruising is a great way to visit other parts of the world. We like Royal Caribbean!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We'd purchased the Key program and breezed through embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We did a combination of room service for morning coffee and fruit; Windjammer for breakfast and lunches; and a rotation of main dining room, specialty restaurants, and Chef's Table for dinners. Windjammer can be very competitive for finding a table during peak times.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
We used the fitness center. It can be very crowded on sea days.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
LOVED the Entourage Duo (violin and guitar) who played in the Centrum and Schooner Bar. The evening shows were a little weak, other than the Beatles tribute, which was fantastic!
Children's Programs
no kids traveled with us
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Wonderful room steward, waiters in the MDR and specialty restaurants, massage therapists, etc. They work very hard but take the time to share their lives with us as time permits. It's a great cultural experience as most of them are from places we've never been.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
This is the oldest ship in the fleet and is scheduled for a facelift in a couple of months. The layout was fine and everything was clean and sanitized, but the decor was a little tired (e.g., torn curtains in our stateroom).
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Good midship location. Lots of storage. Very clean. I'd give it 5 stars if not for the torn curtains.
Ship tip
Sign up for My Time dining in the MDR and request a table that's more than 1.5 feet from the next one. Ask for Kamieka for your server!
Did the airport transfer on the day we disembarked. The luggage retrieval system and Immigration was terrible--took us almost 2 hours for the disembarkation process!
Area around pier isn't well developed. We did the Royal Caribbean excursion to the sloth sanctuary (wonderful!) and a banana plantation (which was extremely crowded). We prefer inland & western Costa Rica.
Did a cruises.com shore excursion to La Popa (convent overlooking the city) and bus tour through the walled city and stop at San Felipe. Would like more time in Cartagena. Loved the macaws and exhibits in the pier area.
We had only a couple of hours before dark when we arrived; not enough time to go anywhere other than the pier area. I'd been there before so it was ok.
Royal Caribbean snorkeling excursion in Caracas Bay. Great snorkeling with tour of Spanish Waters on the way back to the dock and narration on the bus ride. Dushi.
If 0 stars was an option, we'd choose it. The hallsways of the ship were jammed with self-assist disembarkationers, then it took over 45 minutes for our luggage to appear on the conveyor belt. At that point we had to wheel our luggage all the way back to the bottom of the escalators to get in a line to Immigration that was 1/2 mile long. It took over 1.5 hours from the time we left our meeting point on the ship.
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