Carnival Liberty Western Carribean Review (Nov 3-10) - with kids and grandma!

[papayagirl]

Hi guys! We’re back and settled from our Western Carribean cruise on the Liberty (Nov 3-10). It was our first cruise - me, my husband, our 5 yo daughter, 8 yo son, and mother-in-law. I’m going to focus a lot of my review on some of our experiences with kids because I didn’t find quite as much of that when I was doing my research, but I’ll try to include tips and highlights for everyone. ;-)

 

DEPARTURE (FRI)

 

Flew from NY > Fort Lauderdale on Friday. Mild panic associated with Hurricane Sandy and the runways at Laguardia being flooded a couple of days before, but all worked out and we got to Ft Lauderdale on Fri evening. While on the SAS shuttle to Miami, we booked a room thru LMT at the Doubletree Grand Biscayne Bay for $137/night including taxes. It was perfect for our needs – free wifi in the lobby, across the street from a Publix for soda, wine and last-minute items, etc.

 

 

EMBARKATION DAY (SAT)

 

Arrived at the Port of Miami at 11am. Despite short-ish lines, it still took a couple of hours to board. The kids were troopers though, because every step closer was a new adventure. After saying hi to the giant towel animal who greeted us, thanks to cc advice, we headed straight to the upper section of the Lido deck by the Fish & Chips place where we met up with grandma, who came separately. We were the only ones there, and this became our official family meeting place for the rest of the cruise. I had an awesome calamari fritter that I couldn’t get again until our last day at sea because we were always in ports during lunch when they’re open, so I’m glad I tried it when I did. Other things we did this day:

 

- Missed the sail away because we didn’t realize it was RIGHT after the muster drill, but that was our bad for not looking at the Fun Times closely enough. No biggie – watching the ship move from our balcony was cool too

- Went to the spa raffle, but it was a drawn-out sell job for spa services and we had to leave before all names were called to go to the camp orientation

- Camp orientation was a waste, other than to just pick up the forms – just a ppt presentation about what they do, which I already knew from cc

- We were still waitlisted for early dining in the MDR, so we showed up around 7pm for dinner. Had to wait less than 10 mins for a table, which was the longest we waited the whole trip. Kids loved our waiter Dede, and the food overall was fine. Can’t say any of our meals (this or any other night) blew us away, but I didn’t have to cook, so I won’t complain

 

Towel greeter guy: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8487/8184065325_bd07bd19d9_b.jpg

Funship Freddys sent by grandma: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8205/8196351376_d5f2209e35_b.jpg

[papayagirl]

FIRST DAY AT SEA (SUN)

 

Met grandma for breakfast in our usual spot, and thus began my husband’s love affair with the Blue Iguana burrito bar. Then my husband took my son for a haircut, just because he needed one and we had a half-hour to kill. (And when he finally agrees to get one, you GO because he changes his mind the next day.) After that, we waited in line more than a half-hour to get into camp carnival for orientation for the 10am start time/meet & greet. Since my daughter is 5, she was in the 2-5yo group. The delay was because a lot of the younger kids need special instructions, diapers, parent beepers, etc. But it was really only an issue this one time. The rest of the drop-offs and pick-ups were fast.

 

My son is 8, so he was in the 6-11yo group. We actually tried to switch my daughter into my son’s group after the first day because it seemed like she was doing lots of baby stuff (play kitchen, coloring, watching videos) while my son was having parties in the disco and going to shows. Camp agreed she could because she’s 5 years 8 mos and that’s close enough (I think the official rule is 5 years 9 mos), but when my daughter found out, she got really mad at us because she loved her group and wanted to stay! So she stayed there for the entire trip.

 

After drop-off, my husband and I got separate massages. He’s very particular and said his was just okay. I had a hot stone massage, and since I don’t’ get massages nearly as often, I thought mine was good, but definitely not the best I’ve ever had. (Since I’d pulled a muscle in my neck from sleeping in front of the fireplace in my sleeping bag with no heat or power in NJ the night before we left, I was just thrilled to have someone help me turn my head again!)

 

We all met up for lunch at the buffet and I waited FOREVER in a line of about 10 people at the Mongolian bbq. The kids literally got their burgers (which were awesome! – not like Five Guys, which seem to be everywhere in NJ lately), ate them, then passed me again on their way for ice cream and I was still in line. Then they wanted to go to the pool and the water slide. While they were really excited about these before the trip, they were actually a bit disappointed. Of the 3 pools on the Lido deck, the one at the back doesn’t allow kids. The middle one is right under the water slide and it’s small and weirdly situated. And the one toward the front under the big screen, which was used the most, is right under speakers that BLAST music all day long. My daughter literally covered her ears and had to leave some of the time, and even I didn’t want to be there.

 

As for the water slide, my daughter did it twice the entire trip, and my son didn’t do it even once. (Our town’s pool put in a couple of waterslides this past summer, so admittedly, they’re no big thing for them anymore.) The main problem is to get from the bottom to the top of the slide, its’ a pretty far walk up two decks and sets of stairs, so I didn’t see tons of people using it. And my son was disappointed that the slide doesn’t dump you into a pool, only a little chute. I’d originally tried to book us on the Dream because the waterslides there look like a lot more fun for kids, but this was the week the kids were supposed to be off from school because of the NJ teachers’ conference and the Dream was doing a different itinerary that I was less interested in. No biggie though, because by day 3 my kids were so obsessed with camp that they barely mentioned the pool other than to go in the hot tub for a few minutes each day.

 

This was the first elegant night at dinner and we all had fun dressing up. We got to dinner early (6:15?) and only waited about 5 mins for a table. This was the last time there was even a wait in the MDR at all, because people seem to go less and less as the trip goes on. After dinner, the kids loved just running up and down the deck of the ship on the 3rd floor under the lifeboats. This ended up being one of the few places we could find during the week that didn’t have many people and doesn’t play music 24/7, so we went back here to chill out after dinner for a while almost every night.

 

Waking up the first morning: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8490/8195554580_98b523aeac_b.jpg

Formal night: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8060/8184099738_2bd5687589_b.jpg

Kids dancing on the deck after dinner: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8337/8184097762_f4e7eba48a_b.jpg

First towel animal: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8184060785_979485cbd8_b.jpg

[papayagirl]

COZUMEL (MON)

 

Had breakfast around 8:30am and left the ship 9:15. Since this was 8:15 local time, it gave us 45 mins to kick around some shops. This turned out to be the best place of the whole trip to let the kids roam and look for stuff to bring back for our babysitter, etc. We also came up with a rule that if they spotted an iguana while in a port, they got to bring home a small souvenir. ;-)

 

Pulling into port/the bridge: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8066/8195579486_7ece8ccba0_b.jpg

Guy on the balcony below ours: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8204/8184097088_fcda95a7e4_b.jpg

Leaving the ship: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8184007621_2cf52b9832_b.jpg

 

We got to Chankanaab when it opened at 9am (lots of cabs and the under 10 min cab ride was a flat rate of $15+tip for 5 ppl). We were the only ship in port that day so we practically owned the park. Spent the first hour+ in the shallow area by the entrance where the adults lounged under an umbrella with beers while the kids practiced snorkeling – there were tons of tiny fish to see. We probably could’ve spent all day just here! We got the life jackets for free from the life jacket stand, and the other snorkel stuff for $8 each from the third of the four stands in a row. This was where the life jacket guy suggested, but equipment we rented from other ports was actually easier to use, so I’d suggest trying another stand in the future if you don’t bring your own.

 

Snorkel practice: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8339/8194495323_4da8b32ede_b.jpg

Teeny fish they were seeing: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8482/8184057932_eac0f021f9_b.jpg

 

We’d pre-booked the Royal Dolphin swim for 4 ppl at 11am over live chat, and they offered us the same deal we’d have gotten using the 2X1SWIM code. Total cost was $258. Technically my 5yo was too young to ride the dolphins, but this was the only way to get us all in the water in the same place at the same time, which I decided was worth it. The experience was lots of fun. My husband and I were the only ones that did the “swim” – my son chickened out, and my daughter wasn’t really strong or coordinated enough to want to try. (They initially made me agree over chat that because of her age, she could only participle in the “behaviors of the dolphin encounter,” but I was surprised to see the trainers actually encouraging her to try everything and even offer to have a lifeguard assist her.) But dolphins were what my daughter had been looking forward to the most and she got to kiss and pet them a bunch of times, which made the whole trip for her. Pictures cost a fortune, so we only bought a few for $30 each. (And they’re not even high-res, which is kind of annoying.)

 

Just before the dolphin swim: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8184096903_fa0796fc9a_b.jpg

Me and a dolphin: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8341/8184133846_a296d40cea_b.jpg

Daughter and a dolphin: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8184096847_b43b63ac23_b.jpg

 

After the dolphins, we had lunch at El Bucanero (the restaurant in the middle of the park, not the one where you first come in.) My husband loved his fish tacos, and MIL said her conch salad was really good. My sampler was average and the kids didn’t like their burgers because they were made with trace amounts of green pepper. But they wanted to go play anyway while we hung out and enjoyed the view with our drinks. =-)

 

Beer at the restaurant: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8337/8184020985_3be1821e44_b.jpg

Chips and pico de gallo: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8481/8195554460_b689a2fc16_b.jpg

Calamari salad: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8194462143_403b35768e_b.jpg

Mexican sampler: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8065/8194461867_05aa463a19_b.jpg

Burger: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8344/8195553872_dce83d508d_b.jpg

Fish tacos: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8069/8194461483_64ce367ec4_b.jpg

 

After I went to lounge in the hammocks at the end of the island for a while, and then my son became totally obsessed with snorkeling. We never found the underwater statue, but we did find a spotted eagle ray, which was the best part of the entire day for him. While we were doing that, my daughter made a friend and found an IGUANA! over by the lagoon. We packed up around 4:30 and both kids got their souvenirs before we boarded the ship.

 

Can you spot the kid in this photo?: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8208/8184007071_4016e4b1dd_b.jpg

Kids in hammocks: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8349/8184006931_f380070173_b.jpg

Snorkel face: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8184042978_b61180c063_b.jpg

Underwater creatures: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8481/8184006479_9cc3109132_b.jpg

IGUANA!: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8184042606_423141930c_b.jpg

 

When we got back, I mixed up some rum punches for my husband and me (passionfruit orange guava juice from breakfast stored in our mini-fridge plus rum from our rum runners ;-) and we sat on the balcony watching drunk people run to make the ship in their sombreros .

 

For dinner, my kids went to camp for kid food (something they did almost every night after this), while we did the buffet. It was also election night, so after dinner we spent much of the evening watching the presidential coverage in our room.

[papayagirl]

BELIZE (TUES)

 

Per cc advice, we planned to do Carnival excursions for only this stop so there wouldn’t be any risks catching the last tender. My MIL, husband and son did the Altun Ha and River Wallace trip. They had a great time, but said it was a long day, the open boat was super-hot under the beating sun, and by the time they got to the ruins, they had just enough time to run to the top, take a picture, run down, run to the next one, take a picture, and run back to the bus. The boat ride made the biggest impression on my son – he said they spotted a monkey, alligator, IGUANAS!, and a few other animals I can’t remember.

 

Boat ride: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8184019897_bf717d97d6_b.jpg

Bottom of the ruins: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8065/8184055988_2031b31b42_b.jpg

Top of the ruins: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8342/8184055794_22e7450da3_b.jpg

 

My daughter and I weren’t interested in the ruins, and I honestly had no idea what to do with her in Belize. In retrospect, I think the trip her brother did would probably have been more interesting than I expected if only for the boat ride. I’d read iffy reviews about the Bannister Island/Private Island excursion, but that probably would’ve been fine for her too. As it turned out, once I mentioned there was a zoo, she was sold, so that’s where we went. It was a 45 minute bus ride, which was boring for her (she fell asleep), but interesting for me to see daily life in Belize. It’s a very poor area with homes that don’t even look like they have doors or windows sometimes, sheet metal fences, and kids literally being bathed outside in drums. The zoo was nice … not dramatically different than other zoos we’ve been to – just more lush. In fact, my daughter swears she’d already been there with her Grandma Julie, who has pretty much never left NJ. But she had fun and saw lots of cool animals … including IGUANAS! It’s worth noting that there was no food the entire day until we got back to the tender area at 3:30-ish. Somehow a popsicle from the zoo and a Barbie movie on my iPad kept her happy on the bus back. When we arrived, we both inhaled a cheeseburger picnic lunch in our room while we waited for the others to get back from their excursion.

 

Free water at the zoo (good for drinking, better for squirting): http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8184059211_4987aef7bf_b.jpg

Howler monkeys (boy are these guys LOUD!): http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8483/8184095432_72c46ccb6f_b.jpg

Pretty colors (and pretty girl :-): http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8184095358_15dc072e03_b.jpg

Popsicle lunch on the bus: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8349/8184095104_02543a7b45_b.jpg

Burger picnic in our room: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8184094852_a94b921b23_b.jpg

 

ROATAN (WED)

 

I’d booked a private island tour with Victor Bodden, and although I hadn’t requested him, I was happy to find out Tex was our driver. We had lots of things in mind to do, but unfortunately the day was rainy and it never really cleared up, so we scratched a lot off our list. He took us to Eldon’s Supermarket to pick up coffee and vanilla to bring home, plus some tortilla chips and lollipops. (From that night on we’d fill up an ice cream bowl with pico de gallo from the burrito bar every morning at breakfast, and keep it in the fridge to have with the chips in the afternoons on our balcony.) The kids dug getting Honduran money to bring home. From there we went to Victor’s home to see the monkeys, which was their favorite part of the day. I wanted them to zipline and there’s an easy one there for them to do, but they weren’t interested. (If I’d known it was going to rain throughout the day, I would’ve tried to be more persuasive.)

 

My son and a monkey: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8342/8184005643_c61d8ac0dc_b.jpg

My daughter and a monkey: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8209/8184042302_57aec08635_b.jpg

My husband with a scarlet macaw: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8200/8184019083_fa6116216a_b.jpg

 

After that, we stopped by the shore to see the dolphins in the water, which I thought my daughter would love, but since she’d already swam with them, she surprisingly didn’t care. She did, however, become fascinated with counting the number of dogs she saw everywhere. There was even one in the water as Tex drove us along the beach. I think she got up to 12 in the end.

 

We kept driving and went to West End (I think?) to do some shopping. Then Tex took us to Beacher’s Bar & Grill in West Bay (I think?) for lunch on the beach. I had coconut shrimp and plantains, which were good. The kids had fun just playing in the sand and water in the rain, and they were so excited to find a coconut that had washed up ashore. Bummed to learn they couldn’t take it home though! The funniest part was when my son ran up to ask if he could swim to retrieve a suitcase that was floating out in the water. He was referring to a buoy, but Tex got a look of panic for a moment because on rare occasions, a suitcase filled with drugs really does wash up after it gets dumped off of a boat!

 

Playing on the beach: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8207/8184041094_4fee501666_b.jpg

The coconut: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8184041286_b06879f26d_b.jpg

Lunch with Tex: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8195640092_7fc26710e4_b.jpg

 

After lunch, we drove around a bit looking at local homes and things – very similar to Belize in some areas, but also much nicer spots too where I wouldn’t mind living at all, and then it was back to the ship. The last tender boat was at 2:30, so it was the shortest port of all four. Sadly, no iguanas to see in Roatan, but we let them pick out a souvenir anyway for being good.

[papayagirl]

GRAND CAYMAN (THURS)

 

This was the craziest day of them all. Toward the end of breakfast, the Cruise Director Jacques announced there appeared to be a life raft or something ahead, so we were stopping to check it out. As another reviewer mentioned, it turned out to be a boat with 25 Cuban refugees. It took more than an hour to reach them, throw them ropes, and pull them against the current toward the people waiting at the gangway. The whole ship was watching from the deck or their balconies and cheered when they came on board, although it’s likely that this wasn’t the outcome the refugees were hoping for. The Cayman News later reported that they’d left Cuba, ended up at Grand Cayman, been inspected by immigration and cleared to proceed to their destination, and then they got picked up by our ship after that when people in their crew fell ill. I’m not sure if that’s true or not. News reports also said they had two diesel engines, but we saw none. Ultimately the people were given food and then sent to Cayman Island on one of the first tender boats, along with reps from Customs, the Police, and Immigration.

 

Teeny black speck in the middle under the horizon is their boat: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8184015543_489cb62e64_b.jpg

Bringing them toward our ship: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8340/8184056455_4cb9553f5d_b.jpg

Their boat up close: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8062/8184093444_b7a107bb98_h.jpg

 

The rescue knocked the whole morning into chaos. Instead of going to port in Georgetown, we were told we were going to another port. I’d booked a Stingray, Hell and Turtle Farm excursion with NativeWay and was supposed to meet them at 11:15, which we were now never going to make because all of the Carnival-booked excursions tender first (well, after the 25 refugees who went alone on a 300-person boat), and everyone else goes after that based on when you get your sticker. (Tip, go at 8:30am when they start giving the stickers out, and make sure everyone is with you. I went to get them for the family and was told we’d be in boat #12, but when they realized the kids were still in the room with their dad, they made me come back with all of them and by then they were up to boat #20 stickers.)

 

At this point, it was about 11am, and no one had left the ship yet. So I went to the excursion desk and quickly booked a Stingray & Turtle Farm excursion thru Carnival. It cost $36 more total than NativeWay would have, but it meant we’d get off the ship much faster and I wouldn’t have to worry about paying $10/pp cab fare to get to the original port for a company that might or might not even be there. We finally boarded our tender boat at 12:15pm, so I’m guessing our original boat #20 probably didn’t make it off the ship until at least 2-3pm.

 

Once we were off the tender boat, minibuses took us to a marina, and a boat of about 50 of us headed to the stingray sandbar. Finally at that point, I started to destress from the chaos. My son thought the stingrays were incredible, and even though we were only with them for 30 minutes, everyone got to touch them, take a picture, and borrow snorkels to see them under water. Everyone was laughing at how strange they felt swimming against you, and even my husband and I ended up liking it a lot more than we expected to. My daughter freaked out once a ray touched her foot and spent most of the time on my husband’s head or back on the boat, which suited her just fine.

 

Family in the water (and the problem with underwater cameras): http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8062/8184040850_5b2b3693dc_b.jpg

Husband and son: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8184040624_c0c2758082_b.jpg

Posing with a ray: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8488/8184004093_b36ab59785_b.jpg

Under water view: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8194573773_6720d526ce_b.jpg

 

Back at the marina, the kids spotted tons of IGUANAS! by the docks. Then we boarded the busses and headed to the turtle farm. We arrived around 3:40 and the farm closes at 4:30. The guy there said “Well, you guys don’t have much time, so let’s get going! And then it was a little bit of a race to see everything. Tons of big turtles, medium turtles, and small turtles, and the kids got to pose for pictures and had a great time. My daughter continued to hold as many turtles as she could manage while my husband and son snorkeled at the lagoon for a bit. It was basically a 3-foot deep pool stocked with fish and a few turtles that my husband said was really lame, but my son didn’t mind. Plus there were tons of IGUANAS! near the beach, and a guy there even picked one up for my son to touch. Like Belize, there wasn’t really a lunch break on this trip, but thank goodness I snuck off to the snack bar while my daughter was doing who-knows-what to the turtles to get the kids an $18 order of chicken fingers and fries to eat on the bus back. They were probably the only ones on the trip who’d eaten all day. We got back to the port at 5:45 (even though the last tender was supposed to have left at 5:30), and the line of people before and after us was huge. The total excursion was supposed to be 4.5 hours (which some reviewers say is a rushed pace), and we crammed it into 4 … but at least switching to the Carnival excursion was the right call.

 

Turtles: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8184040026_951af01c4b_b.jpg

Turtles kissing: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8063/8184050704_793b665b90_b.jpg

Bigger turtle: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/8184050104_ba4fc1b396_b.jpg

Biggest turtle: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8058/8184014941_5fbde1d65f_b.jpg

Iguanas by the lagoon: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8200/8184013451_775e9c3cb5_b.jpg

Waiting for the tender boat at sunset: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8486/8184049270_dcba366e06_b.jpg

Souvenirs: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8064/8184039896_0a57251615_b.jpg

 

At night, the kids did their kid dinner again at 6pm, and although we’d been picking them up at 10pm most nights, this time we told them they could stay as late as they wanted because we knew they could sleep in the next day. We went back to check on them at 10pm, then at midnight, and finally at 1pm when they shut the place down. My husband and I would literally go back to the room and take naps toward the end, setting our alarms for the next pick-up time. They were practically zombies by the time they got to our room, but they can’t say they didn’t get to go to camp as much as they wanted!

[papayagirl]

LAST DAY AT SEA (FRI)

 

We did a little a little of this, a little of that. I took a martini-making class at the Alchemy bar. Finally got another calamari fritter at the fish & chips place. Took a towel-folding class with the kids in the morning and then poked around the gift shops and bought some photos of the kids while they watched the towel puppet show theater. (WOW there were a lot of people buying pearl bracelets for 40% off!) Had tea with my MIL in the afternoon, and the kids hung out with dad playing cards and drinking Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers outside the casino. And of course, camp where they met Funship Freddy.

 

Towel folding: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8070/8184091716_c1d7f08560_b.jpg

Puppet show: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8208/8184054475_2c10dcf0ba_b.jpg

Tattoo from Freddy: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8184054241_504a652b18_b.jpg

Shark faces at our last lunch: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8348/8184089606_0d948e2886_b.jpg

Special cruise cocktails: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8487/8184051961_3a63611cae_b.jpg

 

After dinner, I’m guessing most people were packing because the Lido deck was pretty dead. I spent an hour by myself in the hot tub (under the big screen showing Pirates of the Caribbean), and it was one of the most relaxing times of the trip for me.

 

DEBARKATION DAY (SAT)

 

Our room was on the Lido deck, so we were assigned Zone 1 to leave the ship. I think we were off by 8am and in our SAS shuttle back to Ft Lauderdale by 8:20 … and we weren’t even in a hurry. In retrospect we should’ve hung out on the ship for longer because we ended up having 4 hours to kill in the airport, but since everything was all packed and the pools were closed, there would’ve have been much to do with kids anyway.

 

 

OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS

 

- I booked a Carnival ship because it’s the Fun ship, and I figured it would be great for kids. I don’t regret that at all, but I’ve realized that my husband and I (both about 40) must not be as “Fun” as we thought we were. I’d pictured myself laying on a lounge chair reading books on my iPad all day while the kids were in camp, and that never happened. There’s practically nowhere to go on the ship that we found to escape the noise and music, except perhaps our balcony. Even the Serenity deck has music going all the time (not Wham and Ricky Martin like the Lido deck, but not terribly peaceful music either), and people talking loudly by the bar area/hot tubs. The secret decks toward the front were really quiet, but there are only a couple of small benches to sit. So this was the biggest disappointment for us.

 

- We stayed in room 9274 on the Lido deck. A great location, and yes, you do hear the music a little bit coming from the atrium at night, but it didn’t keep any of us up after such packed itineraries each day. The other drawback is that the door opens up to the elevator area so you have to be careful when you open the door that no one is changing inside. But for the convenience of the location, I think it’s a good spot.

 

- We went to the MDR for the first few nights, but we got bored of that after a while. I realized the food in the buffet is the same menu each day (minus some of the appetizers), and it was much easier for us to just go there. (I also realized at the end that the deli menu and the room service menu are the same - duh.) The warm melting cake was the one highlight of eating in the MDR, although one day it was super-melty, and another day it wasn’t melty at all.

 

- My MIL did the Chef’s tour and dinner and she said it was amazing. Three hours, nine courses, and lots of fun.

 

- The one thing I didn’t know to bring that I wished I’d had? A rhinestone lanyard! I saw women all over the ship with them and I wished I’d had one too!

 

That’s about all I can think of for now. I’m happy to answer any questions people have!

[coops]

Thank you so much for the excellent review. It was nice to read a review from start to finish , without it taking months on end. lol

Looking forward to our time next May.

Thanks again,

Dawn

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[keystonemama]

Nice review, great pics, yours kiddies are super cute, luv the dancing photo of them and you guys look like you had a blast!

Thanks again,

Happy Sailing,

[Beth]

Super review and nice to be able to read the whole thing

[ABCGreys]

Great review. I love the dancing shot of the kids. Thanks for posting all the pictures.

[tracyvansmith]

Thanks for writing the review.

[jdvmd]

Great review! Thanks for sharing!