The ship is definitely showing its age, but is clean and well maintained. The decor is dated and specifically the piped in music is about 10 years behind the times. The crew and the amenities are quite good however and our expectations were more than met on pretty much every level.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The dining room food and the food in the Portofino Italian restaurant was stunningly good. The choices were gourmet and beautifully presented. If you are expecting meatloaf and mashed potatoes or chicken fried steak, you will be disappointed. If that's your culinary taste, you will be much happier eating in the Windjammer or the Island Grille. The food there was plentiful, plain and quite ordinary in both taste, selection and quality. Not bad by any means, but nothing to write home about.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The cruise director and his staff were awesome. Funny, accessible and a pleasure to interact with. The ice show was excellent. The guest entertainers (an Elvis impersonator, an R&B vocal group and several comedians) were really great. The Royal Carib singers and dancers, I was less impressed with although there were several GREAT vocalists and a couple of amazing dancers. The show itself was lacking, more than anything else.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
I have been involved in aspects of customer service my entire professional life. I have never ever experienced anything like the service we received on the ship. Every single crew member smiled and gave a friendly greeting every time we passed them. They seemed willing to engage in conversation at any level which we desired. From a simple hello to a detailed conversation about our day or about their lives beyond the ship, we never felt pressured or put upon, but always had the exact level of involvement that we desired.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship was built in 1999 and much of the decor hasn't been changed or updated. That said, it was very clean and everything worked well. It was easy to get everywhere and no trip took longer than 5 to 10 minutes and this ship is HUGE.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The room was small, but beautifully designed with plenty of storage. The bathroom was small, but perfectly functional. I am a fairly large guy (6'1" 260) and I fit in the shower and on the toilet with no issues. Most definitely get a balcony, it adds an entire dimension to the trip that would otherwise have been very lacking.
I did not enjoy the "spring break" feel of the area around the port, however, this was our favorite port overall. We took a combination tour that encompassed the San Gervasio ruins and the Playa Mia Beach club. We rode in an air conditioned bus for about 25 minutes to the ruins. Our tour guide (Jesus David) was really really terrific. He is of Mayan ancestry and did a great job of explaining the culture and history. I do wish we had gotten more time in the ruins. We saw only about a third of what was there. We then took a 20 minute ride to the beach club. I thought the beach club was lovely. Lots of different activities for different people. Plenty of shaded areas, plenty of sunny areas, plenty of places to chill. We had chicken nachos and pina coladas. It was good! The service was somewhat lackadaisical but polite enough.
We did not enjoy Roatan. It was visually stunning, but the port is lacking and full of hucksters trying to either offer services we didn't want or sell us things we didn't need. We think it was a mistake not to book an excursion in this port. We expected that we would explore the city a bit on our own. Two blocks away from the port and we were made increasingly uncomfortable by the people approaching us for everything and anything under the sun. We turned around and headed back to the ship. We were in the port just long enough to buy a souvenir. Again, I think an organized excursion would have made this a better experience.
We took the Calypso Tram Tour of Belize City. It lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. Do not take this tour if you are interested in seeing beautiful scenery and gorgeous homes. This tour is excellent if you really want to get a feel for the way the Belizean people truly live. They have very little in the way of material goods, but so very much in the way of spirit and personality. This was, for me, a very valuable experience. The port area itself was nice, clean and felt very safe. I wish we had more time to explore.
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