Family cruise with 8 of us. We had a great time overall and really enioyed the port stops and the ship. Had plenty of sea days and relaxation in between exploring.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
First embarkation was ok, took about an hour, however we also had to disembark and re embark after the first week of our cruise when we got back to Miami and we were classed as back to back cruising (doing 2 one week itineraries from Miami). When we had to do this at the end of week one we had to meet in a dining room and waited for about an hour a half, then it took another hour to be led off the ship to go back through immigration and then get back on. It total it wasted pretty much a whole morning and took longer than getting on in the first place
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
My 7 year old really loved the aqua park and slides
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We only went to one main theatre show as we've been with MSC 5 times now and their entertainment is always poor compared to others. The show was again poor...random singing and dancing which was hard to follow. We really enjoyed the entertainment in the Cabaret Lounge on deck 7 aft though. It was more intimiate and the dancers were really friendly and came out to chat to us. The cabaret lounge was also a nice setting for drinks.
We went to Junkanoo beach for a few hours. It was a 10 min walk from the ship and was lovely, it was pretty quiet though I have seen it be crammed on videos. We were a bit worried about this port and people hassling us to buy things from other peoples reviews but we didn't think it was too bad.
We stayed in the South beach area for 2 nights before the cruise and 1 night after. It's an amazing area and loved it. If you want a treat you can go to Gianni Versaces mansion for lunch, it was a great end to our cruise.
We went on an MSC excurison lasting 5 hours. The first part to Konoko park was lovely, lots of tropical plants and wildlife. Then we drove for about an hour and had 2 hours at a beach. This was ok but spending 2 hours driving seemed wasteful as there were closer beaches etc.
Lovely little day trip out. We paid 30 us dollars for a 2 hour trip....straight off the ship with a lovely woman who was both tour guide and taxi driver to about 10 of us. Tip..the same trip cost 80 US dollars with MSC!!! Went to see a few of the main sights on the island including going to Hell.
We wanted to do a waterfall excursion but MSC didn't do it and none of the operators of the ship did either. So instead we had a lazy day relaxing by the pool at the little area off the ship. Had to pay for food and drinks but the beach / pool was free. Lovely day!
Went here twice during our cruise, lovely stop. We went snorkelling and also really enjoyed the lighthouse bar. There was a beach party but it was all times wrong...started at 730 and had to be back on the ship at 830. Also the bars shut at 7! There was also supposed to be a parade which was cancelled at the last minute.
We did our own excursion here, hiring a minivan for 8 of us for about 260 us dollars. We drove right around the island, stopping for food and drinks, and seeing the beaches. We also had a quick run around some really old ruins.
Final disembarkation was a doddle although we had to wait an hour on the ship after our alloted time. It was something to do with immigration though apparently.
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