Nice to be back on a cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 5

Helpful Votes: 101

Review summary

Cruising during Covid is a weird experience. This was my first cruise since 2019, and the only reason we booked this cruise was because we had to postpone our trip to the UK. I was traveling with my 18 year old daughter during her school break. What I liked: the ship is sizeable. Not the biggest, but nowhere near the smallest, and there was room to spread out and have a good time. According to the Captain, we only had 1,400 guests on board. That was a very good thing because we could social distance and enjoy ourselves without being crowded. Everything was clean. People were constantly cleaning everything. The dining room food was very good. I only had one dinner that wasn't a hit (the duck l'orange was dry) but the lamb shank, the lamb chops and the prime rib were all excellent. We bought the non-alcoholic drink package. I'm not a big drinker and figured if I wanted alcohol, I'd pay for it. I think I had two drinks outside of the cost of my drink package, so I made the right choice. My daughter enjoyed asking for different mocktails. If we had been on a port-intensive cruise, I don't think I'd even get this package, because when in good ports you're off more than you're on. I liked the Captain. We went to a Q & A with Captain Gus and enjoyed listening to him. He was funny and every morning he'd give some words of wisdom over the PA. Due to covid, people can't smoke in the casino anymore. That was a definite positive. What I didn't like: The constant upsell by the spa people made it impossible to walk by the spa and fitness center. They were relentless and it's awful. It puts a damper on the trip. I would use the fitness center and sauna except I don't want to go through the phalanx of salespeople who are desperate to get you into the spa for overpriced services. The weather. Not the ship's fault, but it was cold & rainy for most of the trip. They did switch our at-sea day to our first full day so that we'd at least get some decent weather at Coco Cay, but the trip was cold & rainy for most of it. I never broke out the sunblock. Entertainment: there wasn't enough. Many things were canceled. Whereas there used to be 2-3 columns of entertainment and activities listed in the cruise compass, now there was only one and some of it would be canceled each day. On the last day, the ice shows were canceled. We'd go to listen to music at different venues and some of it would be canceled or switched around. The weirdest was the Latin band at Boleros switching to old white rock like Credence and John Mellencamp. There was no welcome aboard dance party (understandable), no big events. Grease, while good, wasn't Grease. It was the musical selections from Grease without the play. They didn't make that distinction on anything and we found out when we arrived at the theater. We did enjoy it. The cast was very good. The comedian was awful. Honestly, truly awful. There was one woman laughing uproariously at his jokes and my daughter said she's either drunk or his girlfriend. He'd get the occasional laugh about some things, but in the early show he had to keep it clean and it was like he had no material. When we arrived at the show the Independence of the Seas band played some great music, and then a couple of the actors from Grease came out and sang a couple of songs. We thought that the comedian was canceled because it wasn't advertised as a variety show. He came out, did less than a half hour, and I'm glad it was short because it was so bad. His jokes consisted of making fun of fat people at the pool & the buffet, and then making veiled racist jokes. We didn't bother going to the second show which was supposed to be 18+. The only time we saw the cruise director was when he was introducing the comedy show and when he was at a Q&A with the Captain.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas

Disembarkation

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