Despite all the little things that added up, we had an absolute fabulous time. We met some great people and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We paid for priority Embarkation, so once we got to the pier, we were able to get in line, and get on the ship pretty quick. Definitely worth the money.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Overall the food was ok. I had breakfast delivered every morning, but the 3rd morning, the coffee started tasting horrible, to the point that it was undrinkable and I stopped getting it sent to my room and just went up stairs.
Main dining was decent, but when we ordered drinks, even though they asked us if we wanted one, it seemed to confuse them. Multiple times it took a long time to get our drinks. Some dishes were really good and overall decent, but there were some meals that were less than satisfying. Also, there was an Irish pub as part of the general dining, walking by they advertised a corned beef on rye sandwich, when. I went in for lunch, that was what I was craving. The menu only had a rueben on it, and when I asked if I could literally just get it as a corned beef on rye (IE no sauerkraut, no thousand islands dressing, and not grilled) the waiter said "No." That was really disappointing.
We did 2 specialty restaurants, the Teppanyaki and the Brazilian Steak house. When we sat for the Teppanyaki, we ordered a bottle of wine and it took a long time to get it. We watched the 2 other tables and how entertaining the chefs were and got excited as they were entertaining the entire time, but our particular chef started out entertaining, but when he got in to the cooking, he just focused on that and stopped entertaining. The food though was phenomenal.
The Brazilian Steak house was really good though. Drinks were quick and fresh and the food was amazing.
Buffets were good, but crowded as expected. Some days the food was good, some days, not so much, so it really depended on what you got. Was also disappointed at how early it seemed the buffet closed.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We utilized the spa mostly for our activities. We enjoyed just relaxing there and using the steam room, hot tub, thelosatherapy pool, the heated seats, and the regular recliners to just watch the ocean. The only real issue was that there were a couple of times where there were a group of guests hanging out in the thelosotherapy pool were very loud and acted more like they were chilling at the main pool instead of a quiet area like the spa.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
I was kind of disappointed in the onboard entertainment. Having to sign up and make reservations for certain shows, and then seeing them half empty was kind of frustrating. The performers were good, we saw Six, the dueling pianos, and one of the comedians. Would have liked a more intimate environment for the dueling pianos though.
Children's Programs
No children
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Our porter Paul was awesome, the spa staff were great, (barber was amazing) Chesaka, one of the photographers was amazing, Joy, the bar tender in the whiskey bar, the Chief Mixologist, and Dr. L, one of the other bartenders were all great. Other than that, the service was kind of lackluster. Sometimes we waited long periods of time for service in the restaurants.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
For the size of the ship, it really felt cramped. Most of the interior stuff was restricted to the center of the ship on 3 floors, and it just felt cramped, especially with the casino on the middle floor, and no way to walk on that floor without going through the casino. That wouldn't have been much of an issue, but the casino allowed smoking so when you walked through, all you smelled was smoke. This made us to not want to use the casino much.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cleanliness of the cabin was great. Our porter was awesome and kept our room clean which was great. For being a 'Mini-Suite' and supposed to be one of the largest rooms outside the Haven, it felt very cramped, and the balcony felt very small. On the plus side, there was TONS of storage space. It seemed that every nook and cranny had storage available.
Ship tip
Get the spa pass and utilize the spa. Except for a few disrespectful people, it was absolutely amazing and worth it.
We did the over the VIP over the water bungalow which was AMAZING. The problem was, when we got to the dock, they said we were "VIPs" and put us right on the bus and we waited and waited. Watched other buses leave first. Then when we were on our way, we had to stop, and wait because others that just got the beach day at the resort didn't get to the meeting point in time, and we ultimately lost over an hour of our time at the resort. When we got there we saw people we knew from the ship that got off the boat after us that were on the beach a good 30 minutes before us, even though we paid a lot more for our excursion than they did. When we got to the bungalow it was everything we wanted and more. Absolutely enjoyed our time there.
We scheduled parasailing, and even though it was really windy, and we were expecting it to be cancelled, they waited till the last minute to cancel. Would have been nice for them to cancel earlier so we could have re-planned our day.
Fun resort and such, but since it's a NCL exclusive resort, it would have been nice to have the drink package included there instead of having to shell out more money for drinks.
Our original excursion, the Catamaran and snorkeling was cancelled and we signed up for salsa cooking and dancing. The excursion was fun, but the beach portion of it seemed rushed.
We did the dune buggy and snorkeling tour and it was fun, but I was expecting something other than all paved roads. The first snorkeling was phenomenal and felt rushed. I liked the guided aspect of it, but would have liked a little time to explore on our own. The next stop for lunch was ok, but disorganized. It seemed that the bartenders didn't know what was included or not included with our package.
When we got back to port, we really enjoyed the shopping and were able to find all the souvenirs we wanted for people.
We paid for the priority embarkation/disembarkation and this was well worth it. When we were called we were able to get right off the ship, grab our stuff and get to the airport quickly. Well worth the money.
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