We loved taking this ship. We were nervous as to its large size. The only time I felt the boat was crowded was when I walked through the area by the pool. We loved Freestyle dining. We both made dinner reservations and chose a place that would seat us right away. It was much better than the usual version of more wedding like seating. The length of dinner was more on our schedule like a regular restaurant as opposed to the wedding version. I wished there was no smoking in the casino but that is for obvious reasons. These days so many places don't allow smoking I am not used to it any more.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Getting to the port was easy. The wait was fine. Our problem came when the nice man who checked us in mixed and matched my husband and my son in terms of pictures and drink packages. Before we could even board we had to go back and get the pictures fixed back and it didn't take. We had to go to customer service onboard to have it fixed. The card had the correct codes but once on board my husband could not order a drink but my 16 yr old could order. We had to go to customer service twice to have my son's card fixed and we had to order the soda package 2 days into the cruise when the two times prior they said he had the package.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We had great meals no matter where we ate. The food tasted good and the service was as expected except for one meal. On a ship of this size, we were pleasantly surprised.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
There were activities to take part in or not if you wanted to relax. We never did get to the ropes course . By the time we decided to try it it was too windy. Next cruise :)
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We saw Rock of ages. It was a good show with good music. The performers had awesome voices. Surprisingly, there were far too many little kids. The parents were warned. They should have listened.
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
My son went to Entourage. He had a great time. Met some nice kids. They didn't always partake in the activities but they had fun together.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
The ship was very clean. Our wait staffs were attentive in terms of replacing water. We knew to show up with our first drink as we had a party of 19. They sat us in 2 tables which worked out well. Our room was always clean. We had a bed that came out of the ceiling and it was put away and taken out each day.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was very clean. There was always someone removing our used plates and glasses. I wish the stairs were front, middle , and back instead of the front third and back third since my room was toward the bow. We had been on a different ship that had the stairs the other way and I prefer that. The mirrors on the stairwells were so clean it always looked like it was the opening and not a mirror.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We loved our large balcony that fit lounge chairs. We will always have that size. The inside of the cabin was roomy enough. We even had plenty of storage space for the 3 of us. The bathroom size was fine. I liked the frosted shower walls so someone could use the toilet while someone else took a shower if they had to. We like the location of our rom on floor 9. One flight up from the waterfront made it easy to use the stairs.
Ship tip
It is a big ship. If you like hanging out in the pool, you might not be happy as pool space was at a premium. You do need to get your chair early as people reserve chairs with towels and clips before breakfast. We had been on Carnival last time and they monitored the chairs. If you left your chair for more than 45 min they removed your stuff. I liked that idea. With a ship of this size and limited poolside chairs, that made it fair.
I would bring a coffee travel cup. I brought mine as I love coffee in the morning. Many people commented how they wish they had brought theirs too.
I quit smoking 4 years ago and the smoke really doesn't bother me but if they banned smoking they will lose all the customers that smoke and they will never do that unless it becomes a law. They would lose more people cruising that smoke then people now going to cruise because it's non-smoking... bottom line it's all about the money
Agree about smoking. Even though I never did, being around smoke never really bothered me. Now, with all the non-smoke push, we seem to be MORE susceptible when exposed. Sad - all the laws to protect us from each other.
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