Maybe my expectations were too high. I was boarding one of the largest/newest cruise ships in the world over the Christmas holiday. Outside of the beauty of the ship, it was like any other cruise I've been on. No Christmas specials, no Santa, Mrs. Claus, elf's, or anyone walking around, no Christmas plays on the ship or anything like that. Underwhelmed. I could have gotten better intertainment from crazy ass relatives. Lol
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The main dining room food was average at best. We spent more time at the Lido, Guy's burgers, Shack's chicken etc.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Karaoke is always a hit until you bring in little and let sing and watch grown folks drink alcohol
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The comedy was good, and the shows were okay
Children's Programs
No kids
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The service and staff on the cruise ships are always the best. Now if leadership can get the food, and entertainment to come up to that level, they would have cruises booked a year in advance.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Good. Clean. Easy to go from one end of the ship to the other.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
small for a balcony. One side of the bed was so close to the wall, I had to turn sideways to get in and out of the bed. I bumped into everything in the bathroom. I'm an average size guy (5'11, 180lbs) too small. I had to walk out of the bathroom to put on my clothes.
Ship tip
Bring interchangeable clothes i.e. jeans, shorts and maybe1 sports coat/dress.
Hectic. Carnival had folks leaving and boarding the ship at the same time. Can you imagine 6,000 people coming and going to and from the same place at the same time? You may want to do some meditation exercises the day before! Lol
The cruise lines in general needs to get it together. Mot people want to spend their time at port experiencing the culture, not buying a whole bunch of worthless gifts, and eating and drinking the local (we can do that on the ship). Suggestion: Spend more time at port. 24-48 hrs. Maybe have some excursions like Golfing, surfing, and get more involved with the locals rather than the tour guides.
I too was on that cruise… I totally agree, I was sad that it had very few Christmas decorations & activities. I couldn’t wait to see the huge Christmas tree in the atrium…. There was none. We have cruised Carnival Liberty at New Years in the past & the Christmas decorations were beautiful. We were also upset that our balcony cabin was freezing, we were told nothing could be done.. ridiculous, we paid close to $3,500 for this cruise.
As far as Christmas stuff you mentioned, from my experience, most cruise lines will put up a Christmas tree and some decorations and maybe have a chance one night to have pictures with Santa. That is about as far as they go. No Christmas shows or other activities.
Appreciate your details. Sounds like you are right, expectations were too high. Surprised you hadn’t read other reviews and learned that the cabins and bathrooms were small. Sorry you were disappointed.
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