Another Great Cruise - 3 in 1 celebration Valentines, Birthday & Super bowl.
Love the departure port - easy for us with family nearby, easy on easy off the ship.
Birthday present for my hubby and Valentines day for us - makes planning easy plus bonus super bowl party on the ship is fun. - the TRifecta
We had friends and some family join us this year so we had a total of 6 people - 3 rooms and cruising is nice, if communication is established - do it your way or meet up. I do wish the ncl app was free to use for communication between cruisers - it is $10 per person. Even if it were 10$ per cabin covering 2 people it would be more reasonable to text with each other about where your at etc. But you can call and leave messages on the room and this ship size is usually small enough that you will run into each other soon enough.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
fast - few more things required prior with finalizing edocs but once you got there it was fast - I should have printed my bag tags before but I didn't have a printer - if you do have it all ready saves you a few minutes of running around.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
All the food was great - Cagneys is our #1 favorite - ate there 2x; Shenanigans is our #2 favorite place to eat (lunch, and late night - burgers fish n chips n chicken wings) Aqua & Venetian are both great for sit down service and my mom just loves to pick and choose at the buffet. Something for everyone. They did some major cut backs since covid on the beverage choices - things I notice were: baileys is now an upcharge - but they have a free alternative so fine. They removed most flavored vodkas - so no citron and diet for me this trip. Fire ball was hard to find but some bars had a bottle - just not visible;
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We primarily enjoy the pool and hot tubs. Fitness center and running track were nice to have to offset the over consumption.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We love going to the shows - regardless of what is going on. Smaller ship - smaller shows but some were still really enjoyable. I wish that the posting of events ie the glow party and show schedule was available pre cruise so I could better plan my reservations for dinner etc.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
pool bar staff - was fantastic. Thank you!
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
We've cruised this ship a few times now so we are comfortable with the layout and like this ship alot. A couple thoughts given it doesn't seem they get a lot of use out of the kids pool any of the times I've been on board but re designing that area would be nice. They also recently closed the atrium bar since covid? It used to be a pay for coffee bar but also a regular bar where you could get a mix drink etc they removed all liquor from that bar so most of the time the staff there is just standing around - and if someone wants a shot of kaluha in their coffee they have to go to another bar and wait in line to get it...
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
1st time ever there was a musty smell when we 1st arrived and they had an air freshener in the room (so they knew that) tv worked well - had lots of free movies to choose from if you wanted to stay in. interior is fine for us. great pillows to choose from, easy to sleep in in the dark.
for the price hike to increase to ov or bal was not even worth if for us.
Ship tip
it is a nice smaller ship, easy to get around is a pro imo. But one might miss some of the big ship offerings. The thing I miss most is the dueling pianos bar which I think they could work into the schedule at the atrium in a piano man sort of way.
There was a nice pool with lots of chairs and a slide. BUT NO hot tub which would have been key and no beach - sand etc. I would probably not stay right there next time and take a taxi or plan an excursion to explore if I had to do it over
No rental car place near by so we took a taxi to sapphire beach - per person rate seems like a lot when you have 6. if we were there longer there was a bar on the beach that had great live entertainment - and looked like a lot of fun.
One of my favorite ports - even without an excursion - can walk off the ship and see the walking bridge and beautiful colorful buildings. We took a taxi to porto mari - a beautiful beach - great photos - they charge $3 per person to enter the beach here. Great snorkeling right off the shore. Really beautiful.
no excursion - taxi to beach ( noticing a theme) 7 mile beach big white wide stretches of beach - but nothing to see in the water if you want to snorkle go to a different beach. public bus transportation is cheap - was $2 per person now it's $3 I'm told. - we had a short time at port so we ended up paying $5 pp for taxi.
Tender is required - this process was terrible this trip compared to previous not sure what went wrong this time but we had never had an issue before at this port - we got there at 7:30 and 1st tender didn't leave til 10 or 10:30 we didn't even try to leave til 11:30 and then the line and communication was not the best.
public bus transportation is reasonable here too $2.50 or $3 pp but easily confused with other buses (taxis) that depending when they catch you can charge 5 or 6pp on ave and sometimes try for 15- 20pp - so be aware.
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