Even with a major screw up, the trip was for my wife's birthday and I had already set up everything prior to boarding (Birthday package to be delieverd on the 4/15 at noon), once we arrived 4/9 and went to the customer service desk I communicated with them again to comfirm my package and date, they assured me everything was fine, it wasn't more then a few hours that had past and my wife and I went back to our room to find the Cake sitting on the desk in the room, mind you no decorations just the cake so no surprise anymore, I could have saved it if the decorations were up but can't play it off but they were able to work with me fix the problem and even put in some extras, so as I stated earlier stay Cool, Calm and Collected and things will work out, the trip overall was great.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Everything was very smooth, from the arrangements to the flight and arrival, it was much easier to get through the check-in for boarding, I would assume it had much to do with prior planning and doing everything that was necessary for boarding.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Main dining room was outstanding except for the food portions, my head waiter and his assistant (Clifford and Edwardo) went on many occasions above and beyond to make our time relaxing, they both were very respectful, polite, informative of the menu and the next days events, they gave suggestions for the meal and took all requests and made sure you didn't have to request the same item again like I asked for Lemon-aid and that was it, everyday the drink was sitting next to my water, the windjammer was always on point and I tried to of the specialty restaurants and felt that it was just OK.
Pool Bar
3 out of 5
the wait for a drink seem to be longer then it should have, if it had happened once I might say that it was just that a one time deal but it was each time we ordered a drink, maybe having more individuals at the bar might help
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Pool
2 out of 5
I've been on other cruises with Royal Caribbean and this was the first time that I've done 11 day cruise, the pool closed everyday at 8pm, the other one was suppose to close at 10pm and sometimes was closed also at 8pm. As an adult and once a lifeguard I seen no reason for any of the pools to be close prior to the club being closed, with the pool closing left you little to do if your not a drinker or gambler, the hot tubs were open atleast from what I seen, this one issue could be a reason I don't cruise with Royal Caribbean in the future.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
I liked the live bands that played, I liked the piano lady also. As a DJ I was very disappointed in the fact that with people that are on a cruise to have fun he only played music, he was not interractive nor did he play to the crowd many times the DJ is who sets the tone, I felt that he just was doing his time, the was at the pool and the same DJ was in the Vortex, I seen the floor have a few ppl then he would switch a song to something completely different and lose the dance floor, just sad, did not go to any stage shows but heard they were ok
Children's Programs
I did not have children on board with me
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
I have to say without these individuals stateroom attendant Darron, the dining room staff Clifford and Edwardo I might have to say they save the day for us, always smiling, respectful and making sure we had everything we needed, this does not take away from those that did not have a daily interaction with us. I would say as a whole the ship staff was easy to work with, even with some major screw ups the staff came through and made it work.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Everything was just as I expected, clean, well maintained and it seemed that everytime you turned around someone was cleaning so that made me feel comfortable about my environment.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The Ocean view was really nice, the window was much bigger then the previous one I had which made it much easier to enjoy the view as we approached and departed ports
Ship tip
be yourself, be Cool, Calm and Collected that anything can be fixed if you maintain yourself. be humble for the people that will service your every need for as long as your on the cruise 3, 5, 7 ect...days they put in many hours to provide a service to make you comfortable
The arrival was good, no excursion, departing was very bad, this could be the lack of knowledge from our travel agent or just that we didn't ask enough questions, we did an excursion before departing which was really cool, the everglades and ate Alligator bites (first time), the issue with the departure was my flight was at 5:09 pm, ship arrival was at 7:00am departed the ship at 8:30am if I did not do the excursion we would have made it to the airport no later then 9:20am, once we arrived it was then that we were told that you could not check in till 4hrs prior to your flight meaning that we would have had to sit outside the terminal till 1:09pm, with no place to get food and to carry all that luggage you just took from the ship. Fortunatly we did the excursion and arrived at the airport at around 11:30 so not much of a wait but it would have been nice to know this upfront then I could have arranged an earlier flight so it would not have happened.
the Island is beautiful no matter what part you visited, It was an easy day, just did a beach excursion, found out we could have done it on our own because all the beaches were free so I could have got a taxi and spent the day instead of it being a 3 hr tour, the tour guide was nice and pretty much was the one that did everything from the food he cooked while we went and laid out and the live music that he provided with another individual, jack of all trades I guess.
the Island is beautiful no matter what part you visited, we did an excursion that included a zipline (8) of them a tram and a small hike, the rainforest from the top to the bottom was very scenic and majestic, the tram ride was cool and the zipline was so much better then what I've done before.
All I can say is good lord the water and views, we did an excursion that included the possibility of seeing some green monkeys, well we were not disappointed we not only seen them but they were all over the place we watched them get fed and they were within arms reach so close, it was amazing would do it again.
I found the port to have alot of charm and beauty, the excursion was a different story, It was suppose to be a sea lion encounter but it was more like an aquariam walk around with a 30 min. with the sea lion that you took some pictures with that took maybe your total time with sea lion to about 8 min., no pictures or anything while they are talking about the sea lion which bothered me because the pictures they took was of the sea lion and my wife which I understand not to take any pictures of that but just of the sea lion during the talking session would not have changed the fact of atleast me buying a picture of my wife with the sea lion
very beautiful, seems they are doing some building in the area which did not take away from the whole island and what it had to offer, we did a catamaran champagn tour which was done by Octopus...outstanding from the start, we went out to two locations that you could snorkel and we ate and drank on the catamaran, would do it again
You figured the secret to cruising out as we have! No matter what happens just stay cool and don’t let it ruin your cruise. I read so many reviews where people don’t get exactly what they think they should. Or something goes wrong and they let it ruin their entire cruise and write a terrible review just because one person upset you or something similar. We learned on our first two cruises not everything is gonna go your way just brush it off and have fun.
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