Overall this is an okay cruise for us. We don’t expect the same food quality from 20 years ago. This new ship provides a lot of modern amenity that older ships don’t have. Our cruise has full capacity, people are everywhere but we didn’t feel overly crowded. We always found our favorite table at the buffet for less than 2 minutes breakfast, lunch and dinner. Wait line at all three main dining rooms were less than 5 minutes for dinner, finding a lounge chair or two besides the pool after 1pm is less than 3 minutes. If you are a group of 4 or more that is a different situation. Theatre seats has more leg room than other ships and elevated more so obstruction is not an issue.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Staff is good with their routine work but not knowledgeable with additional questions.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
All the three main dining rooms have the same menu. Breakfast and lunch were the same every day, big disappointment. For dinner there were about 10 appetizer items, 4-5 items changed every day. There were about 6 fix entrees and another 6 entrees that changed every day. Desserts menu changed every day and they were good. Overall service, food choice and quality were good as a cruise ship standard.
The salad bar, burger/hot dog and pizza mostly same every day at the buffet. Hot station, Asian station and Indian station have different items every day. Overall service, cleanliness, food choice and quality were like an upscale food court (as expected on most cruise ships nowadays) but the carving station was excellent every evening except the lamp leg that I couldn’t cut nor chew into. They did a very good job by replenishing their empty food tray until they close. Some other ships has fewer items as night goes by.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Something to do for everyone, we didn't participate much.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The Jersey Boys and Havana were good, the Beatles show were average. All other complimentary musical performances were below standard except ‘Familiar Strangers’.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Overall staffs, waiters and servers at the buffet are friendly and helpful. However, on the last night on the ship we discovered some excrement stuck at the bottom on the outside of the toilet blow. We realized that our cabin steward came on the ship the same day as we did but that is not an excuse. We let her clean our room once after 3 days period (we don’t need our room to be cleaned every day we are organize people) but she did not clean the bathroom shelves, did not replenish body lotion, coffee, tea bag nor the stirring stick. Otherwise, I would have given 5 stars.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
This ship is very new and very clean but I personally do not like the overall layout of the ship. We prefer a ship with a courtyard. People complained that they have to wait long for elevators, it is because most people enter the elevator, walk two steps (maximum three), turn around and stand there not allowing other people to get in. We were on another cruise ship that the wall of the elevators are transparent facing the courtyard, people all glue to the wall at the back but this is not the reason we prefer the other ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
I'm 5'9" 145 lb, my wife is 5'5" weights less than me :). We found our stateroom and bathroom very comfortable and has adequate space to move around, shower could be bigger. There are a lot of storage space, good layout of furniture, modern lighting and convenience switches.
Ship tip
If you have not cruise for 10 years or more don't expect the same standard from years ago.
There are two gates for disembarkation which is good, one at fore and one at aft which takes you to terminal B and C. The end of both lines end up in the central lobby in circle, no sign as to which line is going where and staffs did not know neither. Inside the terminal the baggage claim area did not match the color coded map they gave you with the tags and no sign. We were among the last dozen people that got off the ship I cannot imagine at peak.
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