Best in price. A great time of refreshment after the long COVID wait.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Out of the 5 or so cruises we've been on this was the best embarkation experience we had. The folks out of Ft. Lauderdale were great.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Food was good for the price of the cruise. A step above Carnival, a step below Norwegian, about as good as Princess. It took a couple of nights in the main dining room to get used to what Royal did well. The duck was dry and needed to be buried in extra sauce, the salmon was surprisingly hard (usually cruises do great with salmon), and the prime rib struck out. Likewise, some of the starters and desserts were stinkers like the smoked salmon, which was raw salmon with some garnish; the tiramisu, which was not layered but thrown as a big glob into a cup; and the calamari, which was rubbery and required baptizing in the sauce to bring it to life. However, anything lamb or steak-related was absolutely superb. Excellent starters included the french onion soup and a couple of others. The best dessert was the cheesecake. The menus for the specialty restaurants were disappointing, so we didn't go to any of them. In fact, the menus of the main dining rooms looked much better.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Rock climbing wall was great. So was the mini golf. There were other activities like the water slide, surfing, and bungee jumping that we were going to do but never got around to. There were so few people on the ship that places like the basketball court and ping pong tables were a ghosttown.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The quality of the live music around the ship is typical of cruises. Basically, they do their best. The standup comedy the last night was good. The ice skating show was worth going to.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
There were more staff than there were passengers on this cruise. At times it felt like they wanted to help a little too much because there was not much for them to do. I felt bad for the guy who had to stand by the Coke machine 24/7 to assist with drink refills. Because of COVID, we could not pour our own drinks or load our plates ourselves in the buffet. There had to be a dedicated crew member to do this for us. The crew was great. If it were me, though, I can't imagine how bored I would be.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
This was my first experience in port cabin. We usually do balconies and were a little nervous about downgrading. To our surprise, the port cabin was bigger than any balcony we've stayed in. Felt roomy. We had to get the air conditioning fixed, but they were right on it when we reported it malfunctioning.
Ship tip
Don't bother booking the specialty restaurants in advance. Take a look at the menus when you get there, and you will most likely choose to save your money and eat in the main dining rooms.
The island was basically on lockdown. All of the local shops were forced closed, but the shops like Gucci, Rolex, and Diamonds International right outside the ship were all allowed to be open--all air-conditioned and operated by people with perfect American accents. Somehow, these poverty-stricken people who depend so much on tourism to survive were cut off from the tourists altogether while the port-controlled shops were allowed to stay open. This did not sit well with me at all, especially after taking a taxi into the city and seeing how the locals live.
The island was a big tourist trap in which most every activity required more money. The little shops had American prices. It just didn't feel like you were in the Bahamas. It felt like a bunch of Americans made a little synthetic island in the Bahamas. Not so much on the authentic side. The lunch buffet food was pretty bad. If you are looking to sit on a beach chair and get a tan or if you have little kids who want to run through the water park, then it is worth getting off the boat for.
Thanks for your review! Back in the day the MDR food was much better, now if you want amazing food, you must go to the specialty restaurants….way better, been cruising with Royal since 96 and was bummed when restaurants started up and nice dinners cost more, but i get it, because honestly prices to cruise haven’t changed all that much over the years, they had to make more money somewhere. Been on about 25 cruises with Royal, if you go again, maybe re-think restaurants.
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