It was a wonderful cruise! My hubby and I decided to go alone this time and have a quiet romantic vacation. This ship was great for that, and was also wonderful when we went as a group!
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Embrarktation was the only negative part of the cruise. Arrived to the cruise port almost the same time as last year when we had joined a very Short line and was waiting for our level to be called within 10 minutes. This year the line up was out the cruise terminal door and out through the parking garage. Once inside the terminal they had you “cattled” back and forth with ropes. Stood in line for over an hour. By the time we were upstairs our level had been called long ago and we proceeded directly onto the ship. It was a chilly, rainy day, so the promenade which is crowded on a nice day upon embarkation was super packed
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We tried everything this cruise, although we only ate there once, the main dining room was great! We chose my time dining for the first time and had made a reservation beforehand. We sat down right away, however there was a long line for people that didn’t have reservations. (This was lobster night BTW). The service and food was all great! We ate at Giovanni’s, Chops, 150 Central Park, Izumi’s and the Solarium. Giovanni’s, Chops and 150 were all wonderful, top notch food and service as always. Izumi’s was a little dissappointing for us. The show our cook put on was great, but both my husband and I both found the food so-so, and not as good as our Japanese restaurant here at home. Also the appetizers aren’t included in the price of the restaurant, which we weren’t aware of. The Solarium was another bit of a disappointment for us, the appetizers and desserts are “get your own”, so I found them to be like cafeteria food they tried to fancy up. They had a Greek salad, couldn’t find any dressing to put on it, when I asked our waiter he brought me a whole bottle of balsamic viniger and a whole bottle of olive oil (not Greek dressing) to put on my salad separately while he waited. The lighting was so low that everyone had to get their phones out and turn on the flashlight to read the menu. I had high hopes for this one and was unfortunately disappointed. We had one dinner on a particularly busy day at the windjammer for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. They had a grest selection, and for dinner had people in charge of each section. Our guy came over to the table as he hadn’t noticed us there for dinner before and asked how everything was, nice touch!
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
My hubby usually participates in a rock climbing, wave runner and zip line and they are all great, but this cruise was a romantic one for us - just him and me, so he took it easy. I suntanned by the pool on a port day (Nassau) and it was great! On sea days though you had all of the usual chair hogs put bright and early claiming all of the chairs anywhere near the pool with towels then going elsewhere. I went to the fitness centre in the mornings, it was great once you figured out the treadmill, Lol! We also visited the spa for massages which was wonderful!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
All of the shows were great, we didn’t go to Cats though, went to it last year and everyone in our group wanted to leave at intermission. Come fly with me was good, and the diving and ice show were both excellent! We had booked the comedy show for the 2nd last day, but they cancelled it and moved it to the first night which we already had booked for the ice show, and to be honest didn’t even know it had been changed until the next day when I noticed it as a message on the tv. (Check for messages daily on the ship info channel, that seems to be the only way you know of changes). Last year they announced cancellations over the loud speaker, but not this time. The absolute best show on the ship for us Rios time was the headliner show with Savannah Jack, we enjoyed it so much that we went back the next night to just stand in the back and dance to the music! Great group!!
Children's Programs
No kids with us
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our room Stewart Daniel was wonderful! Waiters/waitresses in all of the specialty restaurants were top notch, and even remembered us from last year! The main dining room and windjammer both had wonderful wait staff as well.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship is wonderful, abeit due for her dry dock coming up. I noticed her looking a little more haggard in spots even more then last year, but the staff does a great job of keeping the areas spic and span! I heard that some people had trouble with plumbing and I noticed portable dehumidifiers in some areas with damp carpeting, I’m not sure if that all had something to to with the plumbing issues, but we didn’t have any issues. One issue I had with the design of this ship was always having to think of where you were wanting to go was aft or forward before you set off, and this was my 2nd time on this ship, and i’s Been on her sister shop Allure - but I tend to be geographically challenged!
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our cabin was wonderful! As it’s on the “hump” it had an extra deep balcony, and you were able to see both directions down the ship. The bed was very comfortable (I’d heard of some people finding the beds very hard). There was a bit of a walk to the stairs/elevators, but the balcony made it all worth while.
Ship tip
The usual, reserve your shows, and if you have my time dining a time beforehand. If you want to tan on sea days, unless you’re a chair hog just plan to go on the upper deck, I always seemed to find chairs there. Don’t miss the wonderful view of the wake at the back of the ship from the walking track on deck 5. Anytime there was a sale in the promenade I never stood around and waited for it to start with the other 300 people ready to rush the poor staff,,I always wait an hour or two and leisurely look at the sales then. (Trust me, they usually have enough t-shirts for everybody, Lol!). And be patient if you find you have to wait in line, remember there are a lot of people on 1 ship!
We flew in late the night before the cruise this time and just stayed at a hotel near the airport, but last year we flew in a few days early and went to KSC - a must see! We also had dinner at Grills the night before last time which was a lot of fun watching the shops leave, and the food was great!
As we had been there many times before, we just walked around the shops. If you’re looking for jewellery, visit Lavin at the Jewel House , behindvthe open market. He isn’t affiliated with the cruise line, so doesn’t give them a cut and he’s a really nice guy. I’ve seen him tell someone that the more expensive piece didn’t look as good on her as the less expensive one.
We always do the same thing in St Maarten, beach in the morning, (go left from the water taxi, the beach isn’t as crowded at that end, and if you go in the morning it’s really not crowded, but still nice and hot to suntan and swim). Then we go back to the ship for lunch, and come back to shop around in the afternoon. I did find the shops on front street much more aggressive this year then other years though, we’d already done our shopping in St Thomas, so just came back to check out the port shops when they got to be too much. Take the water taxi if you want to go back and forth like we did, it’s $7 a person for the whole day of back and forth.
We always self disembark and leave about 7:00 a.m. They had us exit the promenade from a different exit this time, which meant that we had to go all around the outside of the ship to the other side. We assumed that it was a way you”cattle” an influx of people. Wasn’t bad for us, but people with a lot of luggage were pretty tired by the time we actually got to the gangway. We were off the shop and in our shuttle within 20 minutes!
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