Overall we had an amazing vacation. We did exactly what we wanted to do which was pretty much just relaxing during the day (spice H2O) and then we would shower and get dressed to enjoy an evening of good food and entertainment pretty much every night.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Friendly staff. Arrive at the terminal around 1030 hoping to get on the boat right away but didn’t start boarding until after noon. Not terrible, but was so excited to get started!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
I was glad to have the dining package. The main dining room is for good but I would’ve definitely gotten bored with them if I went there every night. My favorite specialty dining restaurant was Madernos. It was very different and fun. The salad bar would’ve been plenty of food and it was fresh and had lots to offer. The roasted meats were fantastic. I could have definitely gone there more than once. The other specialty restaurants we went to were cagneys and tempenyaki. They were both very good. We did the buffet breakfast every morning except one. I wanted to get the day started quickly so didn’t want to spend the time at a sitdown place for breakfast. Lunch was similar although we did sit down a few times. We also went to Madernos for their specialty buffets that were only offered on sea days. One disappointment was that my husband really wanted to find the hotdog cart but we never did not once the entire time around the ship.
Chill Bar
5 out of 5
Having the ultimate beverage package was definitely awesome. The bartenders were always wonderful. A few tips though would be to check your bill because sometimes we got charged for drinks when we shouldn’t have but they were taken care of immediately. We also would recommend that you refrain from drinking in US ports if you want to save money because there is a tax on drinks that has nothing to do with the ship. Also we love chocolate martinis but they were higher in cost than the cost of the drinks included in the package so we had to pay the difference. For some drinks I felt they were fairly weak but we learned to order a shot along with the drink and then we just adjusted our own drink.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
If you are not traveling with children we highly recommend spice h2o. My husband and I did the slides one time we had planned on doing other activities but they were either closed when we were interested or we weren’t interested when they were open. Attempted to use the fitness center many times but only got a machine one time when I went very early. The adult pool was very nice, wouldn’t even attempt any of the other pools as they were so overcrowded.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We went to both shows. Burn the Floor was very nice if you like to watch dancing. To me it was like watching a really really really good dance recital. I much preferred rock of ages as it had a story to it. I really enjoyed the wine lovers musical although the food was not that good. We also really enjoyed Melvin, the guitar player. We often found him near the martini bar on deck 8.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
We had really great service everywhere. But we also engaged the staff. I think a lot of times it’s hard for the staff to do with they do day in and day out. It was terrible to watch when they were so disrespected and treated so poorly. So we made every effort to show them that we appreciated them.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
They were constantly cleaning and maintaining the ship. it was obviously a priority to them.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our cabin was wonderful, the bed was comfortable, the shower was strong and hot. Our Stewart was very attentive. One thing we could’ve done earlier in our vacation was ask for robes. I did not know we could do that until we were nearly done with the week.
Ship tip
Watch YouTube videos to get more familiar with the layout. I think this is been mentioned many times but look down at the carpet if you’re confused where you’re going, some of the carpet has fish swimming toward the front of the ship. I actually wish they did that on all the carpet. Get to shows early even if you have a reservation because it is first come first serve seating. And before you get on the line, if you have a reservation, just ask if you should be on that line because sometimes the line is for the standby people.
We stayed on the ship this day knowing that most of the families would be leaving and had a wonderful wonderful day. We enjoy the quietness of the ship and in the afternoon we used the spa for massages.
The first day we went to Junkanoo beach which was very crowded but OK considering that we weren’t supposed to be there yet. we also bought souvenirs for families and visited Señor frogs which was very crowded and smelly and a little bit gross. The second day we went to the blue Lagoon which we had reserved in advance as our excursion. We left it there the weather was perfect everything was beautiful. My one complaint is when I signed up I thought we were getting a free tropical drink, it turns out that the definition of tropical drink is lemonade ice tea or fruit punch. In my opinion it was kind of false advertising.
Disembarkation wasn’t too bad, more my own problem with being annoyed watching all the Haven people being scooted it in front of us. We did wait a while once we got off the boat to get through customs but that’s not necessarily the boats fault.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
