Overall we had a fabulous week. How can you not when you are on vacation and traveling with family and friends! The cruise ship was nice. Loved NYC and Bermuda! There was a lot to do. The food and service were disappointing. You can cruise on carnival for half the price and receive better service and food.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
I was concerned that this process would be somewhat of a cluster but was pleasantly surprised at the ease of it. Staff members have it down pat. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
I enjoyed the free style aspect of the dining. We had a party of 17 and never had a problem getting into a dining hall no matter what the time. It was nice to be able to pick the time we wanted to eat each day rather then having it on a set schedule. The food was mediocre at best. I cant say I had a fabulous meal the whole week. Not bad...just not worth speaking of. The buffet was decent for lunches...they offered many choices. We loved several of the bars, but if you wanted to sit outside, which of course you would want to... you were overwhelmed with the smell of smoke. There were far too many dedicated smoking areas!! The service in O'Sheehans was pathetic. They did not have enough staff at all!! We attempted to eat there every day - they had great wings...but every single time we were frustrated and disappointed. We would wait for over a half hour to even be noticed and the only reason someone came was because we complained. The food took absolutely forever to be served once we ordered. It was such a shame because that could have been our favorite spot. Very disappointing!!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The pool area was way too crowded, extremely difficult to get chairs. There was an issue with the kids pool and it was closed at least 2 of the days...which of course created issues. The slides and obstacle course were great, but the lines were so long it made it impossible for the kids to enjoy. The deck parties were great, however there was no back up for inclement weather. Things were just cancelled rather than being moved.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Only show we made it to was Rock of Ages and that was fantastic. We loved the dueling pianos in Headliners.
Children's Programs
My kids did not participate in any programs
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Our room steward was fine, no complaints. Service was ok at the dining halls. For the price, I would have expected much better service. They ran out of wine glasses in Savor and because they were waiting for more glasses they held up our dinner and would not serve it. How do you run out of wine glasses?? They also ran out of champagne flutes and tried to serve champagne to us in a rocks glass...not acceptable.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship had a good layout. It took me a few days to figure everything out but I thought it was good. They did a good job of keeping it clean. My only complaint is that bathrooms seemed to be out of service often so you would have to walk somewhat far to reach the nearest bathroom. I did notice that they did have staff walking around trying to keep things clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
I was very happy with our room. We had an inside room and I was concerned that I would feel claustrophobic. I did not at all - I felt that the room was a good size. Plenty of storage room. The bed was extremely comfortable.
Ship tip
If you are traveling as adults only I would definitely recommend heading to the Spice H2O deck. It was less crowded then around the pool area. There is a spray mini pool area as well as a bar. IT was much better then fighting the crowd for a pool side seat. It was much quieter and if you wanted the entertainment and noise you can just walk over to the pool.
We loved everything about NYC. WE arrived there 3 days in advance and took advantage of sightseeing the city. I thought this was a phenomenal place to sail out of. Plus it was drivable so we did not have to catch a flight.
I found the port to be wonderful. Loved Calico Jacks Floating bar that was very near the ship. We did not plan any structured excursions, rather ventured on our own. Bermuda was safe and friendly...not to mention absolutely beautiful. It is everything that it is cracked up to be. There are plenty of cabs right when you get off. The cab drivers were amazing. Very friendly and recommended some great places for us to go. One of our drivers took us to a place called 9 beaches. It was a quiet gorgeous beach that had a bathroom and small snack stand. It also had a huge inflatable area out in the water...so fun for the kids. It was $20 each but well worth it! Horseshoe bay was amazing. It was very very crowded though. They were stacking people on top of each other.
Disembarking was fine...took over an hour. I am sure it is just the process of it, but kind of stinks to end the cruise that way. Not sure how to make it better other then spreading out the people and check out times more.
Well than maybe specify that its only a review summary before making comments about me or others not knowing what the issue was. Did not know that Cruiseline and ShipMate were one and the same or whatever they may be.
clferr--
The OP had posted on Cruiseline.com. If you want to see the entire review, go to that site. I contacted the site manager to see if he could give me some language that would help me explain it to you any better. He had this to say:
"Thanks for your feedback and trying to help.
The full version of a cruise review as seen on Cruiseline.com is currently not presented in Ship Mate. Ship Mate users only see the "review summary" text. The Ship Mate app team has plans to fix this in a future version of the app."
ejan, its quite obvious and it was previously stated that the OP had posted on Ship Mate which is what this site is and once again they DID NOT POST THE WHOLE ISSUE OR WHY THEY WEREN'T HAPPY. You need to check what site you are on before stating that they had listed everything! Others have also stated that what you have posted was NOT posted by the original poster.
Clferr--This is what the OP had to say about dining (If you are unable to see this, it is probably because you are using Shipmate):
"The service in O'Sheehans was pathetic. They did not have enough staff at all!! We attempted to eat there every day - they had great wings...but every single time we were frustrated and disappointed. We would wait for over a half hour to even be noticed and the only reason someone came was because we complained. The food took absolutely forever to be served once we ordered. It was such a shame because that could have been our favorite spot. Very disappointing!!"
When we ate in Taste and Savor for two nights, the food was very good. The breakfast in the buffet was very good. For a bacon eater, the bacon was very crisp, not undercooked. Another us for us was the watermelon that was always available. On Carnival, the only watermelon I could ever find was cut up in a fruit bowl. Their fat free yogurts were as good as Carnival. And the french toast, Carnival's was not nearly as good.
Please give more info on why you thought the food was a disappointment? We have been on BA 5 times and the food as been awesome. We usually have dinner in either Taste or Savor and never had any issues. The wings in O'Sheenans are the best.
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