Overall we had an amazing time and can’t wait for our next cruise. This one may have officially turned us in to “cruisers”!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Terminal seems chaotic and intimidating upon arrival but everything went smoothly. Plenty of staff around to assist and guide as needed.
Tip - Even though you have a specific boarding time and they send you reminders not to arrive early I would still buffer some time to allow for Miami traffic and unforeseen issues.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
All the food was pretty decent. I wish they changed it up a bit more on the buffet and MDR, but in some regards it was nice knowing the items you liked would be there each day.
We bought a 3 night dining package which I wouldn’t do again. Specialty restaurants were good but not enough to justify the cost. Many of the same items are available in the MDR so I wouldn’t feel like I missed out on much. Making reservations for specialty restaurants was painful and also limited our availability for shows. Wonderland was the exception. Very cool and unique experience.
You’ll want to make reservations for the MDR even you’re
doing my Time dining.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Plenty to do but I wish everything moved a bit quicker. Even when lines were short it seemed to take a long time for each activity.
They also shut many of the activities down earlier than I would have liked. For one, The Abyss would have been cool to do in the evening but wasn’t available at night.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Shows were top notch. Our favorites were Hiro, 1977 and Flight in that order. Didn’t care much for Hairspray but the production itself was well done.
Make reservations for everything as soon as you get on the ship! Try to avoid the last night as you will want time to get packed that evening.
Children's Programs
4 out of 5
Availability in the morning is good, but if you want anything in the evening you need to get there when they first open or they fill up quickly.
Our four-year-old loved it, but our nine-year-old not so much.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
All the staff on the ship were amazing no matter where we were. Very accommodating and went out of their way to make sure you had a great time and a special experience.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Staff was always cleaning. Everything was beautiful. Public bathrooms were kept very clean, even in areas close to pools.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We hadn’t been on a cruise for 15 years before this and were pleasantly surprised by the overall size, layout and look of the cabin. Plenty of room for all our items (2 adults, 2 children) and we travel heavy. ;) No complaints.
Ship tip
Many floors don’t allow you to easily access the Starboard and Port sides on the same level. We were on Deck 7, Starboard side and it took us a bit to figure out how to get there if you take the wrong bank of elevators. We discovered that you can go up or down 1 level to cross over to the other side.
Did not care for this port. Everything we saw just looked like a rundown dump. Many people were going to beaches which were probably nice but I like to explore the islands when I’m at a port, not just lay on a beach.
Mountain Top & Villa Botanical was a joke and definitely not worth the money. We wasted so much time after getting off the ship to go on the excursion and then went to places where they just wanted to sell you things and drinks. Felt rushed and the tour operators were rude.
This port was definitely an upgrade over St. Thomas, but many rundown areas here too.
We took public buses (locals were very friendly) to the French side (Marigot), and had some wonderful pastries at Chez Fernand bakery and also at L’Express bakery.
Fort Louis was cool… Other than that it’s mostly just shopping here.
After that we headed back to the Dutch side for some shopping and beaches.
Beautiful port. Everyone loved the beaches, food, and water park. Water park is not included and very expensive for what it is. Not sure I would care to do it again as there is plenty to do and see outside of that, but the kids loved it so probably not up to me. :)
This was probably the one area that was the biggest fail of the trip. Most of this was probably due to people not following the guidance of staying in their stateroom until it was their time to leave, but RC didn’t seem to enforce it much either. Entirety of deck 5 was overflowing with people and lines looked like they went on for miles. Adding to that, the terminal had some power issues which caused further delays. It took us over an hour to get off the ship and peoples tempers were high due to impatience and fear of others “cutting the line”. RC needs to do more to make this a smooth experience.
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