Ok, well please don't make your decision strictly off my experience as it was our first cruise ever and I think because it was our honeymoon we were very picky with all that happened but still made the best of it in the end,
because it was our honeymoon....
I don't know if it was because we were unexperienced 'cruisers' or if it had anything to do with the ship being brand new and the maiden voyage out of NYC, but they did not seem all 'together'.
Getting on the boat was a BREEZE. Leaving out of NYC was AWESOME and not having to deal with airports was even BETTER! First impression of our room = it was DIRTY from the people that stayed there on the cruise before, dirty ashtrays, dirty sheets, dirty towels. We had to leave our room and walk around the ship while they cleaned it. Not a very good 1st impression.
So walking around the ship -- it was simply GORGEOUS and so GRAND!!!
We had gotten a mini-suite w/balcony (which we paid ALOT of money for) and figured we would get some extras thrown in here and there -- so NOT true. The only thing we got to do was make dinner reservations more than 1-day in advance through the conceirge (who was NEVER available and who never wound up making the reservation and who happened to be very rude to us when we approached her about this and was not very accomodating at ALL). I guess we should have slipped her that $100 like people suggested we do.
Even though we've never been on other cruises one thing that we did like was that we didnt have to dress up for those formal nights, they were optional. But you did have to get dressed into casual clothing to eat in the main dining areas and bars after 5-6 pm -- but you did have other choices, a smaller cafe where you could get food to go to take back to your room, and the main 'cafe' where there NEVER seemed to be a dress code (you could just IMAGINE how people came dressed, lets just say it made me
understand the strict dress code in the restaurants!) There was also the casino where there was no dress code and the pool areas. And speaking of, that was one other thing - we know it wasnt a 'party' cruise but it seemed like the whole ship went to bed between 10-11 pm. They closed the pool and the outside bars and hottubs down before 11pm. One nite we were outside and couldnt even get a drink! AND as for the food - i was not impressed. Many people said thats one of the best parts. The food in the main cafe was just that, cafe food. It reminded me of the cafeteria in HighSchool. The food in the restaurants you had to pay for was good. The french restaurant was actually my FAVORITE. The steakhouse was pretty good, my hubby enjoyed their shrimp cocktail (many times over as you can ask for all you want). The food is plentiful and the drinks are expensive. I would definately suggest bringing on some alcohol of your own as what they serve is $6 a piece and up and watered down. We left the ship with a nice bill of over $1K more than half in alcohol (yes I was feeling GOOD the WHOLE honeymoon
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As for the ports = most people did Disney out of Orlando, we chose the Kennedy Space Center, which was another disaster in itself. At Miami we spend the day at the pool on the boat because we had no desire to see anything there. In the Bahamas we got off and went shopping in the shops/flea markets they had but never got to see Atlantis cause hubby got very sick (dont worry, it was a severe migrane, nothing related to the cruise
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) And then at the private island, we got off and that was AWESOME! It was PACKED cause the whole darn boat got off, but it was like a big luau/party on an island. White sand and palm trees and hammocks and water sports and a live band and bar and bbq's going all over the place, there was even a flea market if you forgot anything in the bahamas.
Getting OFF the boat was a JOKE. You had two options, but your luggage out the nite before and then get off at a scheduled time they called...OR walk off in the morning with all your luggage. I think more than HALF the boat decided this was the way to go. Getting on and off the boat, the doors are about in the middle. Well we were on deck 11 and had to get down to deck 5. There were LINES to get into the elevators. Then the line to get off the boat, started at the elevators, which were at the BACK of the boat. Now if you've ever been on a cruise, you know these ships arent SMALL. It took about a good hour of waiting in line to get off the boat....
OVERALL, as for the boat, it was BEAUTIFUL!!!! As for the staff/service, it was mediocre. There WERE a few people on the boat there were fantastic and went above and beyond, but there were more that DIDNT than did. We were very disappointed in our cruise and we werent alone. We actually went with another couple (friends of ours) that also got married the same time. They had been on cruises before and even agreed that our points were valid and that it wasnt the best cruise they had ever been on. And to back THAT up, we even met another couple on board that said it was 'eh'. They said by FAR the best cruise they ever took was the one out of NY to Bermuda, which of course is our next cruise because we wont rule it out with only one bad cruise.
I could go on for days here, so if you have any specific questions, please FM me!
GOOD LUCK
