Overall really enjoyed the things we enjoyed, which was quite a lot. A few disappointse probably won't be coming back to the Caribbean. Not the tropical paradise we thought it would be. Ship was HUGE and needed more benches for people with walking disabilities. Food was consistantly good, fellow cruisers and staff were wonderful.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Pretty straight forward, just follow the signs and staff members like any other terminal.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Buffet; While I know some complain about the repeat menu, there was still tons of variety every day, and to me, the repeat items were the things I enjoyed so I was happy to have them again. (Note to diabetics and carb counters; the free "juice" for lunch and dinner, strawberry/kiwi and mango is flavored water
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We're not cruise show people, but did enjoy the arcade (deck 5) and the bowling (deck 8) we also like picking up the daily crossword and suduko from the library. We also knew that the pool would be crowded so we opted for the thermal suite pass (which would be our number 1 recommendation over anything else)
Entertainment
We're not cruise show people.
Children's Programs
Child-free
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our wonderful room steward Marck Rafols made our vacation perfect. If your in his area, you won bliss's "lotto" on room stewards. All waitstaff were super friendly and fun. Lots of good laughs with several of them. Our one experience with customer service (curious about the pier to airport transfer we purchased) was extremely pleasant, informative. We did call instead of visiting counter. Overall a lot of the reviews we read about unfriendly staff, we didn't see anywhere.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Absolutely beautiful ship, didn't have any problems with the elevators, just standard wait time for them. Patience is key. Everything was extremely clean all the time, even before the last few days were they switched to what we called "corona-mode" everything felt very safe and clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Much larger than expected. You can't hear the theatre at all. You do hear the staff stairwell and some dull booms/thuds nothing we would consider offensively loud. For my husband and I it was almost a sleep noise machine and we found the noises comforting (we may be weirdos, always a possibility) Marck kept the room super clean. Bathroom was great, LOVED the glass door. Lots of small storage everywhere. Had plenty of room in the closet for our 2wks of clothing and shoes. Beds were on the firm side, with a thinner pillow top which was very comfortable for us. The pillows are super fluffy soft. Our only change would be to have a thinner throw blanket or something lighter than the duvet. The AC is a beast and works almost too well.
Ship tip
If you can, get the thermal suite pass. Unlimited access to an uncrowded pool with 3 types of jets was a god-send.
We had an excursion (make your own perfume) which was fun. Driving through the damage was heartbreaking. It felt more like driving in Mexico, with a lot of poor areas between the tourist spots which is always sad to see. Which was pretty consistant with all the islands we saw. Not what we had expected out of the famed Caribbean.
Did the beach break excursion as this was the farthest South my husband and I have been on the globe. The beach (browns beach, I believe) was absolutely beautiful the lounges were clean and comfortable. The umbrella was large. The free drink was expectantly tiny and full of ice served from a bar with more flies than customers. the changing room had a broken fan and no air flow. The restrooms were upstairs with a consistant long line. I swear we did have a good time though. We did order some food, which was pretty good.
It was a fluster-cluck but just keep following the crowd and you'll do fine. The only confusing part for us was finding our bus, buses for airport transfer are waaaay to the left when you leave the luggage area. Find a guy with a clipboard and you've made it.
You missed out by not eating in the dining room more. If you have the set time dining you get in right away and the meals usually come out in good time, and you can order as many appetizers as you want, or main entrees or dessert. Also on Carnival you can order an appetizer as an entree and an entree as an appetizer. It’s great. We also have breakfast in the main dining room. The your time dining could take a little longer for different courses but you can let the waiter know you have a show to go to and they’ll speed it up. However, if we don’t have a show we don’t mind a delicious leisurely dinner. We very rarely go to buffet. If the food isn’t already cold when you get it, it will be by the time you find a table.
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