SKY 7/28 Very Dissapointed.... (long review)

[JCJR]

What's the difference between crossings and the palace? Which is better?

 

Both served the same food. The Palace was in the forward section (front) and the Crossing was in the Aft (back). The Crossing was supposed to be the more glamorous restaurant of the two. It was reserved for those who wanted to dress up. No shorts or jeans allowed after 5pm. I went twice for dinner and wore white dress shorts the day of the Hot White party and they said nothing. I saw three or 4 people in shorts. I went with a party of 10 and they all dressed in nicely so I guess that is why did not say anthing to me.

What kind of foods are served at the buffet?

 

I did not eat in the buffet but it was not like the restaurants. THey had a pasta station were they mixed sauces for you, a carving station, salads, one type of fruit. They only thing better in the buffet than the main restaurants were the shrimp cocktails. THey had two large shrimp on a bed of lettuce with sauce in a cup at the buffet. The restaurant and a baby shrimp cocktail that all the ladies in my party ordered and did not eat them.

[JCJR]

The Sky is a smaller ship. She was one of the last ships built before the Freestyle era. She does not have as many specialty restaurants and hence the lines seem to be longer and reservations harder to get.

 

We did not wait in line at any of the restaurants. They were not full on our cruise. The most people in front of us was maybe 2-3 families and they were seated immediately. The specialty restaurants were filled the first night (probably because of the free BOGO coupon). The other nights there were alot of green spaces on the TV monitors showing that there is space available. The

[JCJR]

Blackerbys- I missed your post. Are there no umbrellas on Stirrup? The pictures all show nice blue umbrellas?

 

There are picnic tables around the food huts that have blue umbrellas. I saw a couple of families using those tables as their beach hangout and walk back and forth to the water. There are no umbrellas on the beach.

[JCJR]

thanks for the review. It sounds like although it wasn't your favorite cruise it was still fun. I think we will be ok as this is our first and we have nothing to compare it too. :)

 

It was a great cruise. I am just comparing my experiences. It was my brother's first cruise and his family had a blast. The good thing is if he ever goes again he will probably get wow'd on other cruises. We experienced cruisers (more than 3 cruises) have something to compare. Maybe it is not fair to compare but it is human nature. My wife, mom and sister loved the cruise but pointed out little details here and there. Beleive me the differences are very small. Maybe it had something to do the crew being less experienced and they will get better. Don't frett it was minor things. That is why I stated that I had nothing to complain about.

[JCJR]

Can someone explain the umbrella thing? What type of umbrellas did you bring?

How did you manage to get the 3 flasks of rum aboard? Did you put them in your checked bags or carry on? Thanks for the review and we're looking forward to our 8/11 4 dayer.

 

I ordered the Rum Runners flask that are talked about on the tips section on the main board. I ordered the cruise pack which brings 3 32 oz flasks and 3 8oz flasks. I put them in double ziploc bags and seperated them in different checked bags. You can easily carry them in your pockets but you need a lot of pockets. I had a 32 oz and 8oz one empty and planned on taking them ashore with us on the first port of call and buy liquor there and use the flasks to bring them back but we never ran out of our first batch.

[JCJR]

I thought someone posted that if you go across the bridge to the less crowded area the less crowded area there was shade in the back. Am I mistaken?

 

There is shade all over the place but you have to walk maybe 100+ yards or so to reach the beach. I was planning to go over the bridge on the right but the snorkling area was on the far left so that is were we camped out, all the way to the left. The right side was less crowded though.

[JCJR]

I don't know which I am more impressed by ...the fact that you brought your own umbrellas and snorkel equipement for Stirrup Cay... or the fact you brought your own BLENDER!

 

That is AWESOME!:)

 

Very good review and very assuring for future Sky cruisers like myself, thank you!

 

Thanks for the support. My wife and family thought I was crazy bringing all this stuff and embarrassed but once on the ship they were ordering pina coladas from me. My brother high jacked one of my small tequila flask and carried it every where. I used the coconut cream and pineapple juice not the premix stuff and those coladas were awesome.

[cruisewiththekids]

There is shade all over the place but you have to walk maybe 100+ yards or so to reach the beach. I was planning to go over the bridge on the right but the snorkling area was on the far left so that is were we camped out, all the way to the left. The right side was less crowded though.

 

 

I thought someone posted there was snorkeling also to the right side of the beach where it was less crowded. Can anyone confirm whether there is any good snorkeling to the right?

[JCJR]

I thought someone posted there was snorkeling also to the right side of the beach where it was less crowded. Can anyone confirm whether there is any good snorkeling to the right?

 

Depending on which way you are standing. When arriving to the island the secluded part of the beach is on the right side, facing island. When on the island the snorkling area is to the right, facing the ocean. There are two huge rock formations coming out of the water about 25ft up. There is a life guard stationed on one of the rocks. The snorkling on this side is the best I have ever seen from a beach entry. I snorkle a lot living in Miami. You have to manuver through 3-4ft of water for about 75 yards before it starts sloping to the coral formations and marine life. We saw an anchor mid way between both rocks in 25 ft of water along with many fishes and even baby sting rays.

 

I did not go over to the secluded part of the island but I did not see any one snorkling on that side.

[ecclectic-eccentric]

Thanks for the upbeat review! I'm so relieved to hear that the last couple cruises seem to be getting the bugs worked out as far as ac and loo issues. Not having cruised before, we probably won't be as tuned in to the service issues.. I'm glad you enjoyed your vaca!

ee

[richtersl]

I enjoyed reading it.

 

There's one statement you made that I'd like to comment on:

Rooms: Very small compared to Carnival and RCCL...

The rooms are, indeed, small. They're even small in comparison to rooms on the Sky's sister ship, the Sun. The Sky was originally built for another cruise line. I don't recollect which one (I want to say it was Costa but am not 100% sure). It was partially completed and its cabins in place when NCL purchased it. It was either not cost-effective or just too much hassle, whatever, to replace the cabins so they went ahead and dealt with what they had.

[newmexicoNita]

Just got back from the 4day on the Sky and I am very dissapointed that I did not have many complaints. (Gotcha!!).

 

We were a group of 10 (including 3 boys ages 11, 9, 9 and a 6yr old girl) taking up two Ocean view (forward) 8012 and 8211 and 1 balcony (forward) 9016. All the cabins were fine no A/C or Toilet issues. I talked to about 10 different people on the cruise and all of them had good cabins except one person and they said they had A/C problems which were fixed. I asked if their room was Aft ( back part of the ship) and they asked how did I know? I explained about all the info from previous cruisers. Now on to my review.

 

Embarkation: Arrived to the pier around 12:20 and was able to walk straight to the counter, no lines. Our carry ons got x-rayed and the attendant spotted a bottle. She told the other guy to take me to the booze table. I opened my bag and showed them that it was just a Margrita mixer and no alcohol (the rest of the story comes later). Got on board around 12:50, we had to wait for the rest of our party. We were greated on the ship with flutes of your choice of orange juice or champagne. We proceeded to get lunch at Il Adagio. There was a pasta bar with one attendant mixing pasta and sauces 1 at atime and another making large pizzas (vegetatian, Cheese and Pepperoni) and cutting them into small squares. Portions of pizza were small but we got double orders for the kids. The pasta was good. The restaurant was on deck 11 Aft and I was feeling quite warm. No one else in my party new about the issues on the SKY and I did not want to ruin their vacation by telling them. So I kept asking everyone if they were warm ( they kept looking at me as if I was paranoid) and they were warm but not too bad.

 

We ate lunch and got to my mom's balcony room to drop off our carry ons. We then went back to make reservations for Cagney's for dinner on deck 5. We wanted to take advantage of our Buy one get one free Specialty restaurant coupon. We were only able to get reservations for 6:30pm or 9:45 We chose the 6:30pm thinking we will drop off the kids at the kids corner at 5:30 and have a peaceful adult dinner. We went to register (12-8pm) the kids at the kids corner to find out they opened at 8pm on the first day. There goes our 6:30 reservations and 9:45 was too late because we had to pick up the kids at 10:30 so we choose the Italian rest at 7:45. This was our first Freestyle snafu, it was difficult to make reservations and still be able to see the show and drop off the kids. The first and only main show on the first day was at 9pm. We did see the the late night comedy show at 10:30pm.

 

Rooms: Very small compared to Carnival and RCCL. We had a dbl bed and two upper bunks. When the bunks were lowered they covered 75% of the lower bed and we had very little head room. I could not see the TV from my side of the bed. The bedding was real nice and a lot of pillows that looked luxurious but they were not functional. Every one in my party complained that the larger pillows were uncomfortable. We had 2 lrg and 3 small pillows. After the first night we asked for a 4th small pillow and we recieved it latter that night.

 

Bathroom was average (which means small) for a cruise ship but there was room in the shower for my oversized body. The shower was excellent, it had very hot water ( I take lukewarm showers) and great pressure but was soft feeling. There were two dispensers one for shampoo and one for bath gel. The shampoo was good but the gel did not foam and it smelled like spearmint which was nice. I thought some one poured mouth wash in the dispenser because the other two rooms in my party did not have the spearment smell, they did not use the gel because they brought their own soap which was much better. A/C was strong and was freezing in the bathroom. We had clothe drying in the bathroom and it never got dry. Toilet worked fine in all our cabins and one day an engineer went to my mom's room to check her toilet because some cabins had an issue and they were on the same line as her room. Plenty of suction.

 

Room attendants: two were assigned to my cabin and service was terrible for my taste and past experiences. Since it is Freestyle there is no set time for them to clean your room or turn it down for the night. I would get knocks twice a day to see if we wanted our rooms cleaned. My experiences on other Cruise lines were that it was mandatory that the rooms were cleaned twice and you never saw your room attendant. I never got towel animals ( and I have two kids). Other cruises I got one every night with no exceptions. I also had no ice constantly and had to ask a couple of times daily. After the first day I would of thought they got the message that I use a lot of ice. My mom's room never got turned down at night and they did get 1 towel animal on the 2nd night. I never did ask my brother if his room was OK but I think they got 1 animal as well.

 

Entertainment: Poor compared to other ships. One comedian which was OK and they had singers and dancers. No band. Small stage and room never got filled. They did have 3 different shows/activities but that is average for any ship that I have been on. They did have an adult show on the last night that was interactive and every one had a good time (it was a blast). The comedian had an open mike contest for telling jokes and 3 passangers competed for a small prize. There were three rounds and I actually broke the ice as being the first one to tell a joke and I won my round and received a CD from the comedian, which he sells on board for $10 and are available in stores on shore for $15. They had a Monte Carlo night which was a casino style revue at the casino and the white out party which was packed but only lasted an hour.

 

Food: Buffet was so-so. We ate breakfast every morning in one of the main dining rooms (Crossing) which was located Aft. There was a slight smell of sewage everytime we went to that dining room (so the problem is definately in the back of the ship). Since I knew there was a sewage problem it was easy for me to notice it but the rest of my party did not notice until I pointed it out and still it was faint that they forgot about it. The smell was only outside of the dining room and not inside. I saw a blower in front of room 8260 every day of the cruise, I guess it was to dry the rug. I do not think anyone was in there but that is were the last bank of elevators are located that lead to the dining room. Food was OK and not as good as Carnival or even RCCL. That was the consesus of my whole party and not just me. Lobster was on the 2nd night along with Beef Wellington, Prime rib on the last night. The Creme Brulee was fantastic on the 2nd night and the bread pudding with vanilla sauce on the 3rd night was great as well. We did not have lunch in the dining rooms and caught the end of the lunch buffets twice. It seems on this ship everything closes and you end up eating Hamburgers and hotdogs. Pizza was only available for part of the day. The Sports bar actually serves food from 5:30pm-5:30am and is advertised in the dailies (noboard newspaper) but we did not notice it until the third night. They had chicken wings, Hambrg, Hotdogs and cheesecake.

 

Service was poor through out the cruise. There were a lot of new people (this being the fifth cruise, 3rd week) that they should of done better. Once in a while an experienced waiter/waitress would step in and fix the issues. Service was s-l-o-w. All the experienced cruisers in my party kept pointing it out to me. The crew really tried hard and was nice but that still did not make up for their short cummings. You would ask them a question and they would not know the answer. I have many examples but it is too long to list. My brother asked for an ash tray while on the pool deck and he asked three waiters and they all said they will be right back. There was 1 ashtray for every 100 tables (at least it felt that way) and my brother only asked after trying to find one himself. My sister bought a bucket of 6 beers and asked 3 waiters to open one of her beers and somw ice and they did not have bottle openers and took 30 min to come back. It seemed they were more concerned trying to sell you stuff than the service after you buy.

 

There was only water, tea and coffee included in all meals. In the buffett the cups were so small you had to get up every 2 minutes to refill. I ended up bringing 10 galsses of water on a tray every time we had lunch and that was just for my family of 4. Capuccino and expresso was available as well in the restuarants for breakfast and dinner. Keep in my that this is what I saw and I might be missing something. Drink specials were $7.95-$8.95. We bought a couple of drinks and beers here and there. I brought the 6 Rum Runner flasks with the following Rum, pineapple juice, tequila. I also brought cream of coconut, margarita mix and a Magic Bullet blender. We made Pina Coladas and Margaritas. I saved my Drink special cups and used that when we brought some drinks up to the pool deck.

 

Kids Corner: The only one that enjoyed the kids camp was our 6yr niece. My boys did not want to go back. First time that happened, usually they never want to leave. They did play dodge ball and one 1st place in the tournament. A lot of people used the basket ball courts.

 

Casino: First day there was a lot of specials, Buy $15 worth of chips for $10, once per person and $20 slot card for $10. We are all small time gamblers (my bank roll was $50 for the whole cruise). I was able to stretch my bankroll for three days playing a half hour at a time.There were BlackJack tournements $15 entry and Texas Hold em tournament on the last night. I did not like the auto shuffling dealing shues ( or what ever they call them) and a lot of the slot machines do not except the promo cards. There were no free drinks for players. They did have a mini buffet nightly. Blackjack odds 3:2 and 6:5 with $10 min but they had a $5 table for some kind og Hold 'em card game. We did have a good time in the casino and used all the coupons they gave us when signing up or the players club.

 

Excursions: Since we were 10 pp it was quite expensive to do tours so we planned ahead and did things on our own.

Freeport: Our plan was to rent a car, drive to Lucaya Marketplace and spend 2 hours, drive to Golden Rock beach and the caves (2hrs) and drive back to Paradise Cove for snorkling (2hrs) We figured 9am-3pm (actual port time was 8-6). We rented a car (Thrifty)at the airport and called 3days before to verify and was told they had a desk at the port and our van will be waiting for us ($117) and confirmed 3 times with the lady. We arrived at 8am and went to the car rental agency and it was called Celebrety (there is a car agency at the port). But it was seperate from Thrifty. The lady was nice enough to call the airport and the confusion was they though I was on Discovery Sea Escape and their desk opens at 12 noon (BTW Sky docked in dock2 and Discover is dock1 and it is a small hike.) Since I s/w them beforethey offered to pick me up and take me to the airport. I waited and it took them 1 hr to pick me up, I ended up back on the dock with the Van at 10am. They did allow me to drop off at the pier but it had to be at 4pm.

 

We went to Lucaya Marketplace (following a taxi) and it took 20 min to get their. We walked around and decided to go to Golden Rock (GR). We got directions and the lady said it was 30 miles away. It ended up being 24 miles. We stopped at a market and bought drinks and chips and off we went. The road to GR was barron 20 miles later and we saw 3 vendor stands on the side of the road and it was in front of Lucayan National Park. SO we drove into a small dirt parking and there was a small concrete shake with a Park Ranger (no uniform). He gave instructions to the caves. It cost $3 adult kids under 12 free. We walked about 50 yards and saw some steps that lead to the cave. It was a small underground room with water and bats hanging on the cave roof. It was pretty interesting and the kids had a good time. It took 5 minutes. We exited and walked on a path another 50 yards and there was a second cave. No bats but it was interesting as well. Walked out (total time was 20min) and asked directions to the beach. He said to leave the car there and walk across the street and the beach was a short 15 min walk. It was hot and my mom has problems walking so we got directions to the east end (Bishops hote/restaurant) another 7-8 miles. We were able to park 20 yds from the sand and all got out. The beach was warm and water was nice. Snorkling was non existent only small fishes you find at any beach. It was getting late so we decided to stay there longer and skip Paradise Cove. We got back to the port and dropped off the van. I got a ride back to pier #2 from the car agent because she was leaving. They were not aware that the Sky is now arriving to Freeport so she said she will mention it to her boss. Gas was at $5.79gl and we put $30 worth a little more than we started with.

 

Nassua: Walked to the Fincastle and shops. Went to straw market and bought Rum at the Barcadi shop (2 -1ltr bottles for $15) Very hot. We got on a bus and went around the island for $1 pp. Got on board by 2pm.

 

Stirrup Cay: Beatiful island that you need to tender (catch a small boat). The beach has no shade. We brought umbrellas (courtesy of Blackerbys tip, Thank you) and were the only ones with shade. One guy offered to buy one from us but were worth they weight in gold. There was shade but it was a way off from the beach. Snorkling was EXCELLENT. Best part of the cruise. My brother and I are divers and our kids live in the pool and we all went snorkling. We brought our own gear but had to rent vests. They did not allow any one to not have them. $5 adults, $2.50 child. Best $15 I ever spent. We swam out to a channel between two huge rocks. There was a life guard sitting on top of one of the rocks watching out for non vest wearing snorklers. Some one said you did not need a vest if you only had a mask (no snorkle) but we did not see any one. The depths was from 3ft-28ft or so. We saw a bunch of fishes including parrot fishes, seargents, grunts, trigger fish small schools of reef fishes, yellow tails and we saw 3-4 small sting rays. The sting rays swam also in 2 ft of water were everyone was able to see them. Every one said that this was the highlight of the trip, even the non snorklers. The beach was clean and clear. We were able to bring the chairs and loungers in the water and sit. There were haammocks and picnic tables in the back.

 

Thats it for now but I have to say that Freestyling is not for us. It seems the Freestyling is more for NCL than for the passengers. They did what ever they wanted and it felt like they were freestyling (winging everything). I heard, Sorry we can't do that from the crew often which we never experienced on Carnival or RCCL. I like the shows and dinners and this cruise did both poorly compared to others. I would rate this cruise a 6, my wife 7. I would cruise again if the price was right. It is a great cruise for first timers.

 

Any questions and I will try to answer them.

Every line has a nitch, what works for one, doesn't for someone else. I am a little surprised about a couple of your comments: 1-cabins are bigger on RCI, I guess it depends on what class of RCI ship, we have sailed RCI 3 times and always found the cabins to be unbelievably tiny. The other surprise is the entertainment, as NCL usually get raving reviews about their entertainment, but again, like everything I guess this too is subjective. Freestyle isn't for everyone, but it certainly has gained in popularity, that is why all mass marketed lines have now introduced or are going to, some form. I hope your next cruise is a more positive one. At least you didn't blast away and told it as you saw it, that is the way a review should be.

 

Nita

[JCJR]

Every line has a nitch, what works for one, doesn't for someone else. I am a little surprised about a couple of your comments: 1-cabins are bigger on RCI, I guess it depends on what class of RCI ship, we have sailed RCI 3 times and always found the cabins to be unbelievably tiny. The other surprise is the entertainment, as NCL usually get raving reviews about their entertainment, but again, like everything I guess this too is subjective. Freestyle isn't for everyone, but it certainly has gained in popularity, that is why all mass marketed lines have now introduced or are going to, some form. I hope your next cruise is a more positive one. At least you didn't blast away and told it as you saw it, that is the way a review should be.

 

Nita

 

I was looking forward to Freestyle but it just did not work for me. My wife, sister and mom also did not like it as much as the more traditional cruise. I felt like I had to plan and schedule more on this cruise than others because events did not line up.

 

You may be right about older RCCL ships, the only trip I made with them was Explorer of the Seas 6 months after its maiden voyage. I've been on older Carnival Ships and they have more space and storage.

[jenseib]

Thanks for the review. I was looking at possilbe going on this ship next year. Where can I find out the problems that you said the ship was having? Was your mom's balcony room bigger? I ws thinking about gtting one just for more space. Also really dont' want a bunk as DD wouldn;t sleep in it and I sure as heck couldn't climb up. I suppose DH would if he had too. LOL!

[McDebbie]

Great review, thanks for the balanced perspective. We too have a few cruises under our belts and are going with another couple who are first time cruisers. I am wondering how to keep myself from saying "well HAL does this better or Carnival had better food or RCL has better whatever" :) Seems you did a pretty good job of that, how did you do it?

 

One question, you said you went to your mother in law's room to drop off carry on bags, were the balcony rooms ready before the others?

[newmexicoNita]

I enjoyed reading it.

 

There's one statement you made that I'd like to comment on:

 

The rooms are, indeed, small. They're even small in comparison to rooms on the Sky's sister ship, the Sun. The Sky was originally built for another cruise line. I don't recollect which one (I want to say it was Costa but am not 100% sure). It was partially completed and its cabins in place when NCL purchased it. It was either not cost-effective or just too much hassle, whatever, to replace the cabins so they went ahead and dealt with what they had.

 

yes, it was Costa, so was the Sun, but the Sun wasn't as far into production when NCL took over as the Sky. I still didn't find the cabins smaller than our RCI cabins.

We had a lot of fun on the Sky didnt' we? It was a great cruise, especially Domiica including the ride back to the ship.

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

I was looking forward to Freestyle but it just did not work for me. My wife, sister and mom also did not like it as much as the more traditional cruise. I felt like I had to plan and schedule more on this cruise than others because events did not line up.

 

You may be right about older RCCL ships, the only trip I made with them was Explorer of the Seas 6 months after its maiden voyage. I've been on older Carnival Ships and they have more space and storage.

Carnival does have the largest cabins of any mass marketed line other than Disney, but I don't really put them in the group of mass marketed line: they have so few ships, attract a certain group and are quite a bit more expensive than other lines.

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

Great review, thanks for the balanced perspective. We too have a few cruises under our belts and are going with another couple who are first time cruisers. I am wondering how to keep myself from saying "well HAL does this better or Carnival had better food or RCL has better whatever" :) Seems you did a pretty good job of that, how did you do it?

 

One question, you said you went to your mother in law's room to drop off carry on bags, were the balcony rooms ready before the others?

Everyone does the comparison some, it is human nature, but you have to look at whatever you find NCL does better. We have no line we really don't like except Costa. Some much better than others, but each has something that stands out in our minds as better than another line. Beleive me, most mass marketed lines are more alike than different...

 

Nita

[richtersl]

yes, it was Costa, so was the Sun, but the Sun wasn't as far into production when NCL took over as the Sky. I still didn't find the cabins smaller than our RCI cabins.

We had a lot of fun on the Sky didnt' we? It was a great cruise, especially Domiica including the ride back to the ship.

 

Nita

I knew someone would remember! :D

 

Yeah, that ride back to the ship was like being on a roller coaster...LMAO! I've never cut it so close getting back to the ship. :eek:

 

Our cabin was small, but we managed. Packing was harder than unpacking -- my sister and I kept bumping into each other. But I will NEVER get a cabin again underneath the Garden Cafe. Every morning we woke up to the sounds of chairps scraping. We never had to set our alarm. :p

 

The southern Caribbean itinerary we were on was super! I don't know why NCL did away with it after they moved the Sky over to Hawaii.

[newmexicoNita]

I knew someone would remember! :D

 

Yeah, that ride back to the ship was like being on a roller coaster...LMAO! I've never cut it so close getting back to the ship. :eek:

 

Our cabin was small, but we managed. Packing was harder than unpacking -- my sister and I kept bumping into each other. But I will NEVER get a cabin again underneath the Garden Cafe. Every morning we woke up to the sounds of chairps scraping. We never had to set our alarm. :p

 

The southern Caribbean itinerary we were on was super! I don't know why NCL did away with it after they moved the Sky over to Hawaii.

i have always wondered the same: we have done the southern route (diffeent ports) 3 times, plus southern and part of the Panama Canal. We loved every one of them..

 

AS for cutting it close, now, unless we have a couple of hours to spare I don't do private tours. Actually we almost always do private ones, but only about 4 or 5 hours.

 

Nita

[JCJR]

Where can I find out the problems that you said the ship was having?

 

Keep reading all the new reviews from passengers that just traveled.

 

Was your mom's balcony room bigger? I ws thinking about gtting one just for more space. Also really dont' want a bunk as DD wouldn;t sleep in it and I sure as heck couldn't climb up. I suppose DH would if he had too. LOL!

 

Same size. Since there was only two people I did not see if the couch turned into a bed like other ships. Maybe some on will chime in.

[JCJR]

Great review, thanks for the balanced perspective. We too have a few cruises under our belts and are going with another couple who are first time cruisers. I am wondering how to keep myself from saying "well HAL does this better or Carnival had better food or RCL has better whatever" :) Seems you did a pretty good job of that, how did you do it?

 

I was the one to setup the cruise for every one so I kind of felt responsible so I did not mention all the hoopla that was going on before the cruise. I tried to stay neutral.

 

One question, you said you went to your mother in law's room to drop off carry on bags, were the balcony rooms ready before the others?

 

Yes, my mom's room was ready a 1/2 hr before ours. I do not know if this is consistant with other cruisers.

[McDebbie]

Carnival does have the largest cabins of any mass marketed line other than Disney,

I thought our room on HAL was much bigger but maybe it was because they had the full bathtub and the nightstands on both sides. I did like the Victory that had all the shelfs under the TV, the Triumph did not have those when we went. Heck, we're going to be on a cruise so no matter what size the room we're going to enjoy that balcony.