Just off Liberty of the Seas (May 14, 2017 sailing), family cruise with 3 teens...

Going to try and give a mini-review here; I think I successfully posted my full review when the link popped up after completing my RCI survey, but not sure when that shows up on the website, so posting here too for those who cruise the forums w/o reading the actual Reviews section of the boards/website.

I see Donna already gave a good review of the same cruise, so I"ll try to hit the things we did that were different. (No, I don't actually know Donna, but did see her in her tall pink wheelchair, and hopefully me & mine were never some who pushed past her into an elevator....any time we saw anyone with a disability heading towards the elevator to get on, we tried to hold the door....)

First off, I have to say we absolutely LOVED this cruise. It was only our 2nd cruise ever, our 1st with RCI (1st cruise was 11 yrs ago, Carnival Ecstasy also out of Galveston), and we really enjoyed it. Interestingly, though, my dh said the same thing Donna said in her post -- Carnival service + Royal Carribean ship would have been an ideal combination. We thought it was maybe skewed memory, since the Carnival cruise was our 1st cruise, 1st "exotic" vacation, etc, but to hear her say it too.....makes me wonder.

That said, overall, absolute blast. We loved it. Only one truly unpleasant incident, partly my own fault because I don't handle being slighted/put out by rule breakers too well, but honestly I could have chosen not to engage the guy even though I felt myself to be in the right. More on that later.

Embarkation, as has been described already, was an absolute horrible nightmare due to malfunctioning computers and the fact that RCI allowed the security checkpoint line to proceed at a normal pace despite the actual terminal (downstairs and upstairs both) being at or even beyond capacity. Once you cleared the security line up front, which seemed tolerable, the real chaos inside the terminal was insane. We arrived around 12:30 and weren't on board until after 2:30, and that was even with aggressively maneuvering through the lines.

Once we were on, though, our rooms were ready (we had 2 interior staterooms, deck 9) and most of our luggage was already in our hallway by then as well; I think only 1 bag showed up later on, the rest were there. We put the luggage in, went up to the Windjammer and got food, then went down to change into swim trunks & explore. I unpacked everyone (yes, even with teens I'm kind of a control freak like that and knew they wouldn't do it unless I did it for them...) and then met them up top.

I was impressed with how much storage is in each room; with 3 teens in one room, DH & I in the other, we had ample drawer, hangers, shelves, etc. for each person to fully unpack. We hung all of our dinner clothes (Not just formals, but the guys' long pants & dressier t-shirts/polos, etc...) and in each room there were plenty of hangers for all occupants to hang their full 7 nights worth of dinner clothing, if you are main dining room people. We did have our formal wear on our own hangers (brought on in garment bags), but both rooms would still have had enough hangers even if we hadn't had that. I did hang one complete outfit per hanger (so, a top & bottom on the same hanger), but this was easy to do. Then the shelves allowed enough for each person to have his own shelf for shorts, t-shirts, etc. and use the drawers for undergarments, swim trunks, etc. All our suitcases easily stored in the closet floor and we just put our dirty clothes right into the open suitcase, no problems whatsoever.

The first night had an hour of free arcade games, which we took advantage of, and then our teens were satisfied not going back after that, which was nice. Because school wasn't out yet, there weren't tons of kids/teens so we never had crowd problems, even during the hour of free play, our 12 yr old was able to play Mario Kart the entire time, never anyone else waiting on it, and there were enough air hockey tables that people were easily able to get a turn in, etc.

The slides were crowded (and only some of them opened) the first night, but that was the only time we experienced a delay, which was nice.

We had the late seating in the main dining room, by choice, and loved it. Our waiter the first night was then switched and we had a new guy the 2nd night, which we were actually glad for; the 2nd guy was phenomenal, the 1st had been so-so (and the assistant was pretty bad; we adjusted gratuities to reflect this and gave a very healthy bonus to our main waiter; guest services was very understanding and helpful with this when we did it).

My guys got me a Swedish Massage in the spa as my Mother's Day gift, which was on this first night as well; it was scheduled to overlap dinner, but I explained to the maitre'd that I would be late and he said no problem, the guys let the waiter know, and when I arrived he quickly had my menu, appetizer, etc. (I arrived just between appetizer & entree round). It was my first ever spa experience, anywhere, so I really can't say was it great, average, or what. I loved it, it was very relaxing, but the massuese (massage therapist?) did of course give me her full story about being a single mom, away from her kids (yet on her 10th contract....), how hard it was, etc. Aside from that, though, it was really nice. She only argued a bit when I declined to purchase the extra eye cream she tried to sell me.

Next day in the next post.....

Okay, day two, first full day at sea....well, I'll lump all the sea days here, as they kind of blur together.

We primarily ate Windjammer for breakfast and lunch on sea days, and we found it to be fine. Not fabulous, not bad, a ton of variety which was nice. The kids had assorted pancakes every day -- strawberry pancakes with chocolate sauce; banana pancakes with regular syrup; plain pancakes with some other kind of sauce.....I couldn't keep up. The Jade side of the buffet had various ethnic/international cuisines, Indian, mediterranean, Asian, etc. Sometimes breakfast tacos, usually some rice dishes, a breakfast ham being carved daily along with grilled veggies, many days they had strawberry smoothies out on that line, cold cuts & cheeses for those that like sandwiches for breakfast, all sorts of bread options....most days the regular line had biscuits & gravy, another meat option, bacon, sausage, eggs of all types....really there was a ton to choose from and anyone could find something to like.

Note to coffee drinkers: avoid it, at all costs, and go directly to the Cafe' Promenade where they have acceptable coffee. Buy the coffee card (15 coffees for $32). Seriously, no amount of cream & sugar made the regular "coffee" drinkable. I tried using chocolate milk as creamer, no better. I thought about, but never tried, mixing half coffee, half hot chocolate....that may have worked, or may have just made the hot chocolate taste bad. If anyone can suggest a french press or other way to bring my own coffee, please chime in.

Lunch was similarly varied, all 5 of us always found stuff to try, and usually new things each day. I believe it was this day that the Jade started the sushi service at night, 6 to 9 pm, and we would pop in each night for this. Our routine was to change for dinner (we ate main dining room for dinner every night, so had to have long pants), come down to Jade, get sushi, go to the show of the night, then go to dinner. Or, show, sushi, dinner, depending on the schedule. But most nights we popped in for a pre-dinner snack and always found it to our liking, though we never ate a full dinner in the Windjammer.

Amenities....we didn't get into the pools, though my 12 yr old tried out the splash zone; the lines for the kid slides were longer on our cruise than the ones up top for the big slides; either that, or the payoff was better up top so more worth standing in line. In any case, he tired quickly of the splash zone and never tired of the big slides up top. He rode the green & orange slide too many times to count, rode the big blue one three or four times (he doesn't way enough to go alone, and even combined, only DH was heavy enough + him to go on that one, so they stuck to the others instead). He did love the big blue one, but once he'd done it the first few times he preferred the other two.

None of us tried the Flow Rider, but it was fun to watch. My DH and oldest son (19) did try the rock wall, which they enjoyed. I was impressed with the staff up there, as they did a very good job of working the line, making sure new arrivals got a turn in between those who were just going again and again and again, and helping little kids find foot holds/hand holds, directing them which wall was easier, etc. None of us repeated it; the guys said "we did it already.....once we've rung the bell, no reason to keep going..." So, it was fun, but for us, a one-time thing.

The whirlpools/hot tubs were nice; often crowded, but never so crowded or full that you couldn't find one with some space somewhere. Same with the pool chairs, tables, etc.; we stayed off the front row but could always find a table near Sprinkles (the soft serve ice cream stand) for all of us; that was our go-to meeting spot when the family split up, and no matter the time, we always found something near there to sit and meet up. The ice cream rotated through flavors, sometimes having all 3 spigots working, sometimes not (1 for chocolate, 1 for vanilla, 1 for swirl) (and sometimes strawberry instead of one of the others).

We did the mini-golf once; it was cute, fun, some annoying holes -- there are some with these kind of trick holes, where you hit the ball into a hole in the feature and it may, or may not, lead out to the actual hole....it seemed to knock back & forth, so once one person got it and went the right way, the next person's ball would come out the wrong side. If you were the 2nd person, very annoying, because they weren't easy to get (the holes in the feature) and then to accomplish that and be sent off the wrong way...nothing that we would complain about, we laughed over it, especially once we figured out how it was working, but if that kind of thing bugs you just take the long way around the hole. We were just playing for fun, laughing, goofing off, so no big deal. We did skip the final hole as by the time we reached it there was a several-party back-up waiting.

Ice skating...we went once, would have gone again but ran out of time. It took a while to find where it's located (you go through the On Air studio on deck 3, through the art auction area), but it was fun. Tiny little rink, if you are a serious ice skater maybe skip it. For us, it was a lot of fun, nice change of pace, not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be and just a fun way to kill time.

Sorrento's & Cafe' Promenade both had decent offerings, but bad (slow) service. Both have a 2-part line (Sorrento's has the pizza and a salad section, the Cafe' has pastries/sandwiches, and coffee), yet both usually had one attendant only. If you wanted just coffee, they would let you cut ahead of those wanting a pastry, even if the line was long, a person wanting a pastry was also getting coffee, etc. Sorrento's was also pretty bad about ordering their pizzas/keeping up with demand. Only one time did we see all 3 varieties available at the same time, and only that time did the server order her next pizzas before the first one was totally empty. Sometimes they would only have cheese, and once I even saw them totally out. Seems like the servers don't call back for the next pizza, most of them, until they are literally serving the last slice, even at peak times. The pizza was good (we stopped by daily), just know you may have to take whatever flavor is available. They were all pretty good, so this was fine unless you have someone picky in your party.

Main dining room....we had a great waiter and a not so great assistant waiter, but we just laughed about it (and lowered his tip). It wouldn't have been as noticeable if the other tables around us, with other waiters/assistants, weren't being so much better taken care of. (We would only ever get bread service once, and it was hit or miss if he would refill water glasses, for instance). No problem, we learned to ask for 2 breads up front and rationed our water, and our main waiter filled in the gaps above & beyond, so we adjusted his tip upwards by quite a bit as a thank you on our last night.

Teen club.....the guys didn't partake of much, preferring to hang out together (since the oldest is too old), but what events they did do, they enjoyed, and it seemed like a lot of neat offerings. If anyone has questions about that, let me know, I think we brought home the Teen (12 to 17) Compass for the week, I can give a run-down or maybe figure how to take/upload a photo of it.

Shows in the next post.....

Shows....we went to everything, so I'll try to be brief. Ha!

Aerial show, we loved. Beautifully done, awe-inspiring, amazing....very fun to watch. I can't quite describe it, but it was really neat, really amazing. All of us liked it (me, dh, 19, 16 and 12 yr old boys).

Ice show, favorite of the whole family. So very good. There are 4 showings of this one, 2 during the day on a sea day, and 2 in the nighttime spot on a port day. We saw it on a sea day, not realizing it would come back as a headliner spot the next night, but it was fabulous. We had dead center, 2nd row, and it was perfect. The lady directly in front of me got a kiss from "Elvis" so if you aren't a fan of audience participation, don't sit front row. Front row on the sides got some interactions as well. It was hilarious, though, and the ship would be smart to start sending the ship photographer to these things to capture those moments for guests and add them to your photos on board.

Saturday Night Fever, honestly, had we realized the story line (we were not familiar, at all) we would have skipped it. Our kids aren't little, but it still brought up some topics I'd have rather not discussed with the 12 yr old (nor sat next to the older boys during...). We all agreed it was very well done, lots of talent, but the story itself (and you really feel the gaps in the story, too, from the way they've cut & pasted to fit it into the allotted time) just wasn't our taste. The finale' number is fabulous, and we could have done fine to come watch that part and miss the rest. It was brilliantly done, the whole thing, I'm not saying the talent wasn't there, it was, and a top-notch stage production at that (we've seen lots of theater productions, and this was just as well done as any of them), but it's not a story we would have chosen, or at least not one we'd have taken the boys to (or at least, not the youngest). Plus it's kind of a downer and you shift very quickly from a pretty sad moment the very upbeat finale' and it's kind of jarring. Still, if you do know the story, or don't have kids with you, it's superb.

Comedy type/headliner acts: we saw a music/impressionist (Scott Record), a comedy duo team (I forget their names...), and a stand-up comedian called Landry, plus the adults-only show the first night, I forget his name. Of these, our favorite was Landry. The music/impressionist had a couple of off-color jokes, again, nothing major but things my 12 yr old asked about that I didn't really want to explain, even though he was billed as perfect for ages 8 to 80. The next night, the cruise director made an extra point to say specifically that Landry was "really very clean, truly, nothing off color" so I think we might not have been the only ones to feel that way about the music guy. The duo was great, a lot of fun, very interactive, we all liked them too, but Landry was our favorite.

Notes on seating: for everything except Saturday Night Fever, we got to the theater 30 mins early and were able to easily get middle section, on the floor, 10 to 15 rows back, middle of the row; ideal seating. We had the early show/late dinner, so not sure if you need to go earlier for the late show time or not. For Saturday Night Fever, we went our usual 30 mins early and it was no where near early enough. By that point, the theater was packed and we had a hard time finding 5 seats together, period, let alone in the middle. We ended up on the side, with a column blocking the view for some of us. I'd guess go 45 mins early, at least, maybe the full hour.

Note that it is posted, clearly & often, that you may save "one seat per person", but also that this is not in any way enforced. We encountered a guest, alone, holding 5+ seats who physically blocked the aisle with his body when I confronted him on this and tried to escort my family into his empty (and being held against policy) seats; we asked 2 different ushers/waiters for help to no avail, they just affirmed, yes, it's against the rules....and went on their way. We also saw a row of seats with "reserved" signs taped on them.....I was never sure if these were, for some reason, official from RCI, or a guest had come in and put their own (laminated) signs, or ??? Only 2 people ever ended up sitting there, so who knows. Take from this whatever lesson you prefer, either that you then need to get your whole party to the show plenty early so as not to be annoyed by rule-breaking chair-savers, and RCI employees who will do nothing to assist you, OR that you can freely send one person early and know that the rest of your party can arrive whenever they like and you can safely ignore the posted signs, no big deal.

This was our only unpleasant experience of the cruise, and partly my fault for challenging the guy about the seats, but the fact he was calling me out for being disrespectful (of his rule breaking) just got under my skin. My 19 yr old was appalled and embarrassed which is why I gave up and found us the seats on the side rather than keep pursuing it. I admit I played a (large) role in the unpleasantness, I was pretty argumentative with the guy.

That said, aside from that we never had a problem finding seats, and enjoyed all the shows for the most part. Just don't be lulled into a false sense of....not security, but we'd shown up at the same time each night (same amount early, I mean) and watched the crowds get smaller and smaller; it just didn't even dawn on me that it would be so much MORE packed than even the aerial show was, etc. Bottom line, go earlier for SNF than for the other shows.

Ports & misc --

First the misc stuff. Photo packages: if you plan to buy some, get them on the ship and just go ahead and get the full package. Individual photos are $19.99/each for digital or print, a combo of 10 is $149.99, and I think the full package is something like $250 or $275 or something (we had 45 photos in our account, and we did very few photo ops). Once you buy a package, you can add on prints for a low amount (we could add 3 8x10 photos for $10, and after that could have added add'l prints for $5, but they could only come from those we'd bought on digital). Well, once you get home, your USB will have whichever you bought *and* "locked" (watermarked) versions of the others, which you can then buy credits to "unlock".....for $24.99/ea. There was one more that we had considered, and I debated unlocking it, but for $25.....I'll skip it. I'd originally thought the full package was insane, but......

Characters: this ship had Shrek and Alex & King Julian from Madagascar (maybe others, but we didn't do all of that). We saw Shrek a few times; once he was up dancing on the bridge, and another time outside Sorrento's. They let you take your own photos, and if the whole group of you wants in, the handler will take the photos for you, and she takes several. Very nice, and 2 of our 3 boys did individual photos and we did a group photo; for that one, we asked Shrek to "do the roar" and we posed with scared faces, very cute. I don't know how the breakfast, professional photo ops, etc were but the regular "around the ship" stuff was nice.

Cupcake Class/bakery: my 16 yr old did the cupcake decorating class, and loved it. It was $30, an hour long, and they decorated 4 cupcakes (made 2 different "dogs" each consisting of 2 cupcakes) which he got to wrap up and we all shared later on. You sign something saying you'll consume on the premises, but when I commented she said, "Oh, no, we let you take them to go..." -- not sure why it's on the form, then, but they did wrap everyone's to go, no problem. He was a total novice, has never done any decorating before, and his cupcakes turned out great. The chef who leads it is very friendly, great teacher, helped as needed, etc. As it's situated right across from the Cafe' Promenade, I sat and had coffee so I could take pictures throughout, which was fun (and incidentally is when I saw Shrek dancing; they had to pause their class due to the music). We also ended up buying the little kit they offer, cookbook, piping bag, decorative tips, apron and cupcake papers for just under $20. The class does not have tip automatically added, so if you feel it deserves it you have to add it yourself. We thought the cupcakes were good and the experience worth it for him.

Drinks....we didn't. I think all together we bought 5 drinks & 2 coffees, and only 2 drinks had alcohol. The pineapple drink one port night (I think after Costa Maya...) was really good; we got the virgin (2 of them) so we could all share, and ended up sitting down outside Sorrentos and scooping out the pineapple with a spoon after we finished the drink, too; that was the same night the ice show was on in the evening and we'd seen it the day before, so we were killing time until dinner. It was a very good drink, and worth the price (for the virgin drink), especially if you eat the pineapple too. The strawberry-mango smoothie the last day was very good, too (again, virgin), but the other drinks we had weren't worth it.

We did bring on some sodas, no problems there. Yes, I see the irony in being upset at the seat-holding guy breaking the rules, point taken before someone else points it out to me. I will add RCI leaves a bit of ambiguity about that, emphasizing very much the no alcohol portion of their policy while stating themselves that water/soda won't be confiscated, so I kind of view it as a gray area. In any case, yes, point taken. And we likely won't repeat it; we didn't drink nearly enough to use the space & weight again. I'll buy instead the coffee card next time and be done with it; I didn't see the card offer until the 3rd or 4th day, by which point it was no longer worth it. Now I know, and will buy it first day and save myself from the lack of caffeine. The water, iced tea, lemonades, etc. are sufficient for us and we'll stick with that next go-round.

Internet.....as another poster mentioned, terrible. We had purchased the Surf & Stream ahead of time, my dh has to keep up with work emails even on vacation, but it was pathetically slow. Photos on FB would not load at all, let alone video. Websites wouldn't load properly all the time (for instance, trying to research cruises to book our next cruise while on board, even the RC website wouldn't really load). Completely awful and even their own computers were suffering from it.

OKay, ports in the next post.....

OKay, ports....sorry to be so rambly. I hope you guys like this :)

We went to Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel this trip, and in each one we chose beach stops on our own.

Roatan we did Bananarama; I have mixed feelings on this one. The pick-up at the pier was a bit chaotic, even though we'd pre-paid, pre-reserved, etc. Once we got there, everything was fine; quite a few vendors on the beach, and pretty aggressive at that, always asking "maybe later?" if you said no, and not really taking "no" for an answer until you gave it several times. We lived in Brazil for 6 yrs, so I'm pretty skilled in that, it doesn't bug me, but I know it's a turn-off to others.

The facility itself was fine, what you'd expect from a beach resort in this part of the world. The restaurant was very good; a little pricey, but delicious. The snorkeling was amazing....absolutely amazing. My dh & oldest son dive, too (but didn't this trip as the oldest had pneumonia not too long ago and we aren't 100% sure his lungs are healed enough to dive safely) and they said they saw stuff snorkeling they've not even seen diving before, and bigger things than they've seen on some dives. They saw a 5 ft barracuda, for instance, and we saw several varieties of fish that were new to all of us, and we've snorkeled all over Brazil, Cozumel, Florida Keys....it takes a lot to impress us, and this did. Really incredible. The beach was perfect, too; my 12 yr old is a sand castle kid, so the sand was perfect for him. Restrooms were nice enough, and the little recycled art shop on site was cute and seemed reasonably priced to us; we bought a few things there, including a little painting of the beach. Very nice. Transport back was much smoother than on the way down, just remember to tell your driver *Roatan time* to pick you up, not ship time. We almost messed that up, but caught it in time for them to call and correct the driver.

In Costa Maya we went to Blue Kay, which we liked. The shuttle from the pier *said* it stopped in 3 places, Blue Kay being first, but it didn't so we had to walk back down to it. Luckily someone spotted us and directed us into the board walk vs walking down the main road, and then it wasn't very far down, just take note when you pass it and they'll direct you. The boardwalk over there is lovely, lots of little stops and lots of options. They had a large party coming in that day (we hadn't reserved this one), so directed us away from where we first sat down and fixed up a private little shaded area with one table for us; it took a while to get them to bring a menu, but once they did the service was great and the food delicious. Cheaper than Roatan, a little smaller portions, but still very good and we liked the facilities quite a bit. This sand is the powdery white sand that most beach goers love (imported) so my son had to dig down a ways to reach good sand castle sand, but he didn't mind, and just played and built for hours. Snorkeling is a pass, but the beach itself is gorgeous. If you like lying on a lounge chair and people watching/ocean watching, it is absolutely perfect. Amazingly clear, plenty of shade around if you want it, plenty of chairs in the sun if you prefer that, not so many vendors, and way less aggressive, and just lovely.

Cozumel we went to Chankanaab, we'd been there before and know it's a good fit for our family. We just hung out at the little beach cove area (again with the sand castles) and took turns snorkeling out in the snorkel zone. Nice, great for new snorkelers, food is good here, service is good, the facility is lovely, another perfect beach day.

Aside from the art shop at Roatan, we didn't do any shopping, check out the port terminals, etc. Getting back on ship in Cozumel was a LONG line but fast-moving, so not that bad. They were checking for alcohol purchases, it seemed. Nothing too bad; the line was scary long looking, but moved quickly.

All in all, we were pleased with all our port choices; I don't know that I'd choose Costa Maya again if we can avoid it, but for lying on the beach doing nothing, it was pretty good.

I think that sums up everything.....overall, we loved it. We booked our next cruise for next May, right now booked for Harmony, the Bahamas/San Juan/Labadee route. DH is threatening to swap for something less expensive, but I'm really pushing to keep that booking, as are the kids....we'll definitely do RCI again, even with the lackluster service from some. Overall, every single one of us loved it. It's the first time I can remember getting home from vacation and not feeling like "I need a vacation from my vacation." We usually don't like being gone more than 5 days, so a 7 night was a long vacation for us.....and walking off the last morning, my DH said, "Maybe we can try a 14 day next time...." I can't think of a better way to say how much we enjoyed it. Every aspect was enjoyable.

Any questions, I'll try to answer them if I can.

Really enjoyed this! We are thinking about this itinerary. We pretty much cruise out of Galveston .. and want to try RC.. usually it's Carnival.. only RC has been Alaska and we want to compare similar itineraries.

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Thanks for the informative review! We sail in 6 days on the same itinerary :D I have a question about the SNF: how many times do they do this show during the cruise?

Thanks for the informative review! We sail in 6 days on the same itinerary :D I have a question about the SNF: how many times do they do this show during the cruise?

It is ONLY on Saturday night, 2x that night and you go to whichever one doesn't conflict with your dinner. It's also earlier than the others -- most were 6:30 and 8:30 or something like that, this was 6:15 and 9:00. We went to the early show each time as we had 8:00 pm dining.

Aside from the ice show, each show was only performed one night (with 2 showings/night to accommodate both dinner times). The ice show was 2x during one sea day, and 2x during one night.

Thank you for the show info :)

Great info ... Appreciate the time you took to write this! Heading out this weekend on Liberty with a teen and a 9 year old and we can't wait!

Thanks for the great review!

Great review, much more organized than mine. We were also on this sailing and also went to Bananarama. DH did not see any fish when he was snorkeling, perhaps he should have went with your bunch. We did not have an issue getting there, but we were the last ones (even though we were early). Our issue was with them telling them we could not go back when we wanted to go back. And the vendors were non-stop. The entire time.

We missed most of the shows except the comedian duo (funny) and Landry whatever his name was. We tried to see In the Air but arrived right before show time and there was no seating at all. I wanted to see Saturday night fever but it did not work out. I was not sure if DD would sit through it at 6, plus that would mean a later dinner, which DH did not want to do. DH did not want to see the 9:00 show, because he had to drive home the next day. It sounds like it was a good move because we would not have gotten to the 6 oclock show early enough to get seats and if you were uncomfortable with your teens then I really would not want to bring my 6 year old. And kids club did not open until 7, so that was not an option.

It was great reading your review. Thanks for sharing your exciting experience.

Thank you for sharing such wonderful information! We sail on the 4th of June and Im pretty excited:). This will be my first cruise. On any cruise line:)

Join the Roll Call thread here!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2337802

Great review, much more organized than mine. We were also on this sailing and also went to Bananarama. DH did not see any fish when he was snorkeling, perhaps he should have went with your bunch. We did not have an issue getting there, but we were the last ones (even though we were early). Our issue was with them telling them we could not go back when we wanted to go back. And the vendors were non-stop. The entire time.

Oh, wow, I'm sorry to hear that! My DH had asked at the front where a good spot would be for snorkeling, and they suggested to walk down past the pier to the left, towards the rocky area, past the big inflatable water slide. We went out there, not all the way to the rocks (we stayed between the large slide and the buoys) but we saw a ton of stuff. It was a little walk over to the spot, but not too bad. I've heard that near the rocks is even better, but where we were was plenty -- we went pretty far from shore, enough to get to a deep spot over some rocks where the water actually got cold (there was a trench or drop off among the rocks, so you had to swim out over some rocks to be above the deep part; I skipped that section, because rocks make me nervous, but DH & my oldest went out that way and that's when they saw a 5 ft barracuda....).

But even what we did w/o going all that deep, I saw what I was calling a Rainbow Fish -- if you're familiar with the book, it looked just like that fish. First time I've seen one! Tons of other stuff. If you guys ever go back, or anyone else reading, make sure you go over past the pier to snorkel.

We missed most of the shows except the comedian duo (funny) and Landry whatever his name was. We tried to see In the Air but arrived right before show time and there was no seating at all. I wanted to see Saturday night fever but it did not work out. I was not sure if DD would sit through it at 6, plus that would mean a later dinner, which DH did not want to do. DH did not want to see the 9:00 show, because he had to drive home the next day. It sounds like it was a good move because we would not have gotten to the 6 oclock show early enough to get seats and if you were uncomfortable with your teens then I really would not want to bring my 6 year old. And kids club did not open until 7, so that was not an option.

A young child might have missed the sexual innuendo/comments, but still some heavy topics if she did realize (or even if she asked about them). That is odd they didn't open the Kids Club earlier that night, to accommodate.....I hope you'll write them and suggest that. It would benefit a lot of folks, I'm sure.

I'm sorry you missed the In the Air show; it was pretty good, although my boys all liked even the comedy act better than In the Air, so maybe I'm odd liking it so much.

Seating was definitely difficult for some of the shows; the first time we went to the Ice Show we got there too late to find seating; luckily we tried going to the very first show, so just made a note and came back at the later time. Our youngest had a handheld video game he took with him to keep busy while waiting for all of these things; we definitely spent lots of down time sitting in venues waiting on shows to start.

thanks everyone! Happy to share my experience. I tried to include as much detail as I could, all the things I was curious about before we sailed, in case someone else is looking for similar answers.

If anyone has questions about that, let me know, I think we brought home the Teen (12 to 17) Compass for the week, I can give a run-down or maybe figure how to take/upload a photo of it.

Yes, Please...I have been looking for a Teen Compass.