A good destination but average cruise experience!

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 10

Review summary

The overall experience was good, but "good" in the purest average sense. I have been in various cruise lines and my experience on this cruise ship felt good but not outstanding. Room service personnel were friendly in the sense they say "Hi" but that was it. Normally in other cruise lines they interact in conversations and are friendlier toward guests. And its not that they didn't try as I met the Room Service Director who was interested in our opinion. But the sense of hospitality was just not there from his team. Regarding the food, it was good but I was rather disappointed with the specialty restaurants. Don't expect much in variety as most have few dishes that separate them from each other (Il Cucina, Moderno Churrasqueria and Cagneys). The worst of the bunch was Moderno Churrasqueria as they follow the traditional method of serving meats according to the status of a token in your table (green for "more servings" and red for "stop"). In reality they ignore the token and treat it as a gimmick, for they ask you what kind of meat you want and after serving those they don't come to your table anymore even if the token was green and even if they are serving to other tables. In all 3 restaurants I made reservations but when arriving at the first one no tables were reserved. The entertainment shows were a little lackluster and activities were very limited once you were on the ship. They were not bad but for the most part were unimpressive either. In one show in particular, it was exclusively used for singing and dancing without a purpose or a story behind the show (not even an introduction). The audio even failed in a moment or two. And how many "Second City" shows are there in the cruise world? Too many if you ask me. There were good experiences however, the crew were friendliest in the originating port as they prepared a welcome committee and for a strange reason in Vancouver also. Also, who can forget the "Washy, washy!" greeting each time you went to eat at the freestyle restaurant? As of September 2013, the Alaska ports were great to visit. Be aware of your Vancouver visit as you may arrive at 6pm limiting your options at the port. Overall not a bad experience but compared to the standard of the industry it felt only good enough but not outstanding.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Seattle, Washington

Juneau, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Ketchikan, Alaska

Victoria, British Columbia

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