We had a group of 10 people - our children and grandchildren - as we were celebrating our 50th anniversary. 4 of our group had never cruised before. Everyone had a great time and we enjoyed having our family all together for Christmas.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Great process to avoid long lines - told us time to report and we were actually on ship before scheduled to be there!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We at most meals in main dining room and were pleased with choices and quality of the food. Our waiter/assistant waiter team (Alphonso and Enesa) were wonderfully attentive, quickly learning our preferences and encouraging our selections. Food choices in Windjammer were very good but it is noticeably noisy and crowded during traditional meal times. Enjoyed the roast beef sandwiches at Park Cafe. They have plenty of other options too. We took advise of other reviewers and had our first lunch on embarkation day here.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Pools were busy at times and we enjoyed the Solarium a lot. Hot tubs were in demand with some people spending hours visiting in them - sometimes difficult to find spots to slip into a hot tub. Our adult grandkids did the rock wall and used the fitness center. We went to a number of the trivia events and they were entertaining. Biggest problem was deciding which events to attend!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The Aqua show, comedy and ventriloquist and skating show were excellent. One Sky was our least favorite - there are excellent voices and dancers but it seemed like just an assortment of acts rather than a coordinated show. Beatlemanics were not our favorite group.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
I'm not sure we met any staff who did not greet us and smile - everyone seemed dedicated to making guests feel welcomed and valued (our group had interior and oceanview rooms so it wasn't because we were "special.") The main dining room staff recognized and celebrated our 50th anniversary with a cake and champagne as well as our daughter and son-in-law's 21st birthday where they brought champagne and sang. What special memories!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The common areas were clean and inviting. We enjoyed the Christmas decorations throughout the ship. There are very busy areas and also quiet areas (we especially enjoyed the card room and the deck chairs tucked around the running track on deck 5). Lots of staff visible, keeping the areas clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Bed was comfortable and we appreciated the layout of the cabin with the sofa first and the bed closer to the window. One of our daughers' room was arranged with the bed first and the couch by the window and they felt like the arrangement of ours made the room seem larger. There was plenty of room for our clothes and other items. Lots of electrical plug ins on desk and fortunately there was an outlet near the bed for my husband's CPAP machine.
Ship tip
The ship is huge so if walking is a problem, you might want to bring or arrange for a scooter.
We flew in the day before which was a good decision. We were surprised to see so many abandoned buildings next to new buildings. We haven't been to Miami for 20 years though.
I did not expect to enjoy the island as much as we did. It is beautiful and there are lots of beach options. The grandkids went down the Dragon's Tail and loved it! There were reviewers and bloggers who talked about the aggressive sellers in the Artisan Village. There was a wonderful variety of items for sale but some of the vendors were very pushy and even our 6'1 210 pound grandson felt trapped at one point. There is a nice market in the Town Center where people sell items as well.
We did the San Juan by Land and Sea. Our guide and boat captain were wonderful and we learned a lot of history during the sea section. We enjoyed the land portion but, as we were there on Christmas Day, the traffic was much worse than expected so we were not able to see everything planned.
The waves were bad so boat-based excursions were cancelled. The adventurous part of our group hired a driver to take them to Coki beach and they had a wonderful time. The rest of us shopped in the stores located near the ship and then spent the rest of the day on board. Even so, the scenery was amazing!
This is well orchestrated and well planned. Our credit card had been hacked several weeks earlier so we had a new card. When I went to leave the ship, my Seapass was flagged to return to Customer Service which was terribly busy. It was my fault that I didn;t realize the card on file was the old one. I wish that had been flagged, however, before the time that I was leaving the ship with the other 9 people in our group.
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