Review E. Carribean FOS

[maudde]

These are my experiences and opinions of our cruise on June. 6. The ship was beautiful.

Arrived at ship about 11:00. Actually got on about 12:30. One of the picture computers was down for the Seapass.

Cococay- Beautiful place. Lots of chairs and cocolocos. After the cocolocos and the hot sun, I felt like I may pass out. Drink lots of water and try to stay cool. Tendering was not a problem. We rented a float for $10. Just FYI- you don’t have to turn your float back in. If you want to give it to someone when you are finished for someone “borrows” it, it’s not a problem. You can’t take one off Cococay onto the ship. They are all accounted for at the end of the day. The BarBQ lunch was very good.

St. Thomas.-We went on a sail with Rumbaba. It was $120 pp with a max. of 6 people. We got a taxi to American Yacht Harbor for 10 pp each way. We met our captain and sailed to St. John. We went through a rainstorm, which was really fun. We snorkeled in the most beautiful waters at Hawk’s nest in St. John. After snorkeling, we had appetizers and drinks while our meal was being prepared. I had the best grilled mahi I have ever had. The guys had filet. After lunch, we swam for a bit. We then sailed back to the Harbor. Our trip was from 12-6.

St. Martin-We rented a taxi to Orient Beach for $7 pp each way. We told our driver we would be there for 5 hrs. which sounded like a long time even for me who loves the beach. Time flew by. We got 4 chairs with umbrellas and a drink each for $28. We ate at Andy and Cheryl’s which was so good. My son had shrimp which looked so good. I say looked as he didn’t offer me any. I had fresh grouper which again was very good. My husband had chili dog with homemade chili made fresh that morning. Need I say more? Yum. We also had the local beer, which I recommend. When it was time to leave our driver was waiting for us. You do not need to arrange someone to be there as there are lots of taxis waiting to take you back. Our guy was just nice to enough to be back there, plus they do work for money : > We also rented wave runners. This was my first experience with these. I had a blast. The next day, I was so sore. This was a surprise to me. I would do it again though. It was worth it. We rented 4 waverunners for $40 each for 30 min.

Sea days- Fun days. Pools were crowded. It was hard to find chairs together. Drinks and drink service was great. Played shuffleboard, read, went to the gym, ate. Good time on ship.

Shows- loved Love and Marriage. I wouldn’t miss it. By far the funniest show. Our CD was Allen Brooks. He was so funny at all the shows. I didn’t see him around the ship just hanging out with guests, but he is a busy man. Between doing his morning shows Babbling Brooks and late night shows, he has quite a schedule. Don’t miss his morning show. It is funny and he gives you details about the day. This takes the place of all the announcements, which is a good thing. There was one day, Wed. actually, because the only thing I understood was Wed. and FOS. I told my friend, something is happening on FOS on Wed lol The Battle of Sexes was soso. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it. The Welcome Aboard and the Farewell shows were great. The comedians were funny. The Ice Show was o.k. I personally wouldn’t go back, but know others really enjoy it. Quest was fun, but I have to say I enjoyed it more the first time than this one. I think some people are coming prepared which takes some fun out of it. We went to Adult Karaoke, which had some really good singers and some not so good ones.

Food-Food was great all in all. Some things better than others. I am a chocoholic and our waiter said don’t get the chocolate soufflé. Well of couse, I got the soufflé. He was right. It was not good. My son loves lobster Bisque and the waiter said don’t get the bisque. Of course, he got it and waiter was right again. The waiter just shook his head. The escargot, shrimp, lobster, strip steak among other things very good. The windjammer was good. We had pizza at Sorrentos on several occasions. By the way formal nights, night 2 and night 6. Ate at Johnny Rockets. It is $4.95 surcharge with shakes additional charge. Chili cheese fries, awesome by the way. We ate at Chops one night. The food was exceptional as well as the service. Definitely would go there again. We were never restricted as to what we could order. Of course, we all just had one entrée, but had whatever of everything else.

Rooms-Our first cruise we had a corner aft balcony, and this time we had an inside. I was worried about the size and not being able to see anything. No worries, it was great. It was cozy and comfortable. We also had a connecting room and had no noise issues with any rooms. Very dark at night and slept well. I will say, next time I would like a balcony as I missed getting up in the morning and seeing the start of the day. However, if money is ever an issue, I would not hesitate to get an inside. We were on 9th deck and felt swaying at night which I enjoyed. I liked to go to sleep with the swaying. It was subtle, certainly nothing that would make you queasy.

Interesting Happenings- Our first night, we had gotten out of the Welcome Aboard Show and through the Schooner Bar windows, it looked like a light show. We were going through a storm. When we made our way to the Dining room, the shades were down. There was constant lightning and thunder. All my group loves storms and had to go outside to experience this. I do not like storms and stayed in where it was safe. They convinced me I had to go out and watch. I did and was glad I did. It was quite the show but the sound of the lightning was not crashing like it does here. It sounded like drums in the distance and constant lightning from sky to sea. It was very cool. We asked the waiter it they could open the shades and he said others wanted them close. None of the crew had ever experienced this type of storm. A little later, they opened the drapes as I think more people wanted to see the show. Our waiter said the captain had safety first and they were confident in his ability and decisions. I have to say at no time was the ship rocking or swaying. If it weren’t for the lightning and the thunder you wouldn’t have known you were in a storm. The next day was beautiful.

Rental Cars-Those renting cars to drive to and from- I was worried after the cruise, it would be crazy with hoards of people trying to get shuttles to rental places. Not a problem. We were on first shuttle with no one else. He went over to Disney and picked up more people. We were at Avis and had car in no time. We started off and heard ding ding. Our gas tank was empty! We continued on back to terminal as one of our bags was missing. We followed the Avis driver back and went into the area designated for shuttles and taxis. As we pulled up, I saw our bag. I jumped out to grab it as a security lady was yelling maam, maam. I hurried to my bag as people were saying is that yours? As I grabbed it to run back to the car I said, yes, the Avis guy forgot to get it. Another security guy came up and said we have called the police and they are on their way. What? Oh no. I was putting it in the car, when he got on his walkie talkie and told the police I am assuming not to come. Some crazy person just forgot their bag. My husband actually wanted to stop by Mcdonalds on the way to get the bag and I said I think we need to get it before someone grabs it. Thank goodness, by the time we would have stopped at MCD’s, there probably would have been police and dogs sniffing the bags. That bag had our precious Crown Royal in it we had purchased. With the successful retrieval of our bag, we were back to Avis to let them know they gave us a car with no gas! Husband went in to tell the, and we were told we rent it empty and your return it empty. WHAT THE? She said it takes about 6 to get to Orlando. We put in our 6 and off we went praying we didn’t get stuck in traffic. So, FYI Avis rents empty, don’t know about others and the Security at the terminal is on top of it with unattended bags.

If anyone has questions, I would be happy to answer. This was by far one of our best trips and we have had several great vacation. Those of you soon to be cruising, enjoy. You will have a great time. If you are bored, you aren’t trying hard enough. Too many things to do all of them.

[maudde]

We also spent our nights in the casino. We had up nights and down nights, but always a lot of fun. By the way, we had a $700 OBC and used that and some, not counting our casino spendings. Whoever said take half the clothes and twice the money is correct. Good advice.

[LBumb]

nice review, thanks for sharing.

[wah20]

Very nice review. I was also on that trip and had lots of fun. Allen Brooks was really funny. I liked his whale song and his skit with the wind. The storm was amazing. I'm glad you went outside to experience it.

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Thanks for the review.:)

[maudde]

Thank you and you are so welcome. I know how exciting it is to read other people's experiences and info. on a cruise you are about to take. Even though I am going through depression from having to depart from my cruise, I wanted others to get excited about their upcoming cruise : > Yes, Allen was great everytime he was "on". He was a hoot at the crew vs guests dodgeball tournament. Very quick witted and a cutie pie which is a bonus. I also remembered at CocoCay, even though people had their own snorkel equipment they brought, you have to have a life jacket. They were calling people out of the water to get a life jacket on. Most of them were surprised they needed one, so be prepared to have a life jacket to snorkel. Glad everyone enjoyed the review. I am ready to plan another cruise. Have a great day

[bionicman97]

Thanks for the review. Close call with the bag ;-)

[nannybeth]

Hi, thanks for the review. Makes me even more anxious to go...

 

Do you happen to remember the dining room schedule? When were formal nights, was there lobster? What nights were semi-formal and which were casual. Thanks so much!

[maudde]

Formal Nights were night 2 after a day at CocoCay. The suggested entree was tenderloin with peppercorn sauce and I thought it was very good. Second formal night was night 6, Friday, which was a sea day. The suggested entree was lobster which I also found cooked just right and wonderful. The other nights are casual which meant most men in pants and any kind of shirt and women in capris or sun dresses. The nights were 2 formal and 5 casual. We had late seating which began at 8:30 and the early seating was 6:00.