Cruise review - CB Dec 14-21

[nc_cruiser1]

The particulars: fairly active 50-ish couple in balcony cabin on Baja deck (deck 11) with our two sons ages 21 and 18 in an interior cabin across the hall.

 

This was our third cruise. Our first was on RCI’s Voyager of the Seas out of Miami and our second was on Carnival’s Glory out of Port Canaveral. Both were Western itineraries.

 

First, thanks to all you Cruisecritic posters out there. As usual, your contributions were a great help in preparing for and maximizing the enjoyment of our cruise.

 

I loved this cruise. Southern itinerary was wonderful. The CB is beautiful and will be even better after the upcoming facelift.

 

Some general comments concerning things we read about or observed. The balcony cabin (B307, starboard side) was fine for us. A couple of minor issues: the air conditioning was adequate most of the time (we set it as low as it would go), but during a couple of the afternoons or early evenings, it wasn’t keeping the cabin cool. We kept the cabin door open on two occasions to bring in the cooler air from the hallway. It was always cool for sleeping. The boy’s interior cabin was consistently cooler, and the public areas also were comfortable. The balcony was a nice size and I much prefer the sliding balcony door over the swinging type used on the Glory, which are subject to closing with a loud bang! I would have to say that I would personally not like the exposed balconies below ours. Our cabin also faced directly across the hall from the service elevators and there was some noise as a result. Not a huge issue, but I would stay away from this in the future. On the first night, sailing to St. Thomas, the seas were a bit rough, and the cabin creaked quite a bit as the shipped rocked some – somewhat annoying as the noise kept me awake some. No issues at all with seasickness.

 

I was looking forward to sailing out of San Juan. However, 11pm came and went and we were still docked. Same at midnight. Finally it was too late and I went to bed. We finally sailed at around 3am. I have no idea why we were delayed.

 

We had fantastic weather the whole cruise. The only negative was Wednesday evening after sailing from Grenada, when a party on the Lido deck was scheduled. A rain shower lasting about an hour moved in and the party was cancelled. Too bad, because they had a good bit of it set up, including some animals made from fruit, and it looked pretty cool.

 

Our cabin steward, Piyamat, was awesome – friendly, cheerful, efficient, thorough and unobtrusive. We left her an extra tip.

 

I liked the layout of the ship. Can be a bit confusing at first, but get yourself oriented, make mental notes of where things are, and especially which stairwells to use, and it’s not a problem. Plus, you can always ask any staff person and they will be glad to direct you. I liked the different pools available, each with their own atmosphere. Plenty of deck chairs were always available.

 

We purchased a coffee card – well worth it, as we like coffee and stopped by the Lobby Bar many times. The regular coffee in the dining rooms, room service, etc. was not great, but OK. We didn’t use the afternoon tea service, but the Lobby Bar has an assortment of cookies out in the afternoon. They also have an assortment of danishes and muffins out in the morning. The live music offered by the Lobby Bar in the afternoons was enjoyable.

 

We also purchased a soda card and had no problems with service except one bartender one time by Neptune’s pool challenged DW to produce her card (she only had the can with her at the time) and was quite nasty about it.

 

We also purchased the Thermal spa package ($119 per couple) which allows unlimited use of the spa facilities – hot beds, sauna (woefully underheated), couple of steam rooms, showers / lockers. It was nice, but I don’t think we used it enough to make it worthwhile and would not do it again. This whole area of the ship is getting a major (needed) refit in dry dock. As part of this, they will also be doing away with the running track, which is too bad - I liked it!

 

We did anytime dining every night (except one time when we ate at Sabatini’s) in the Palm. We always ate around 8pm. There are a few kinks in the system, but it worked well overall. Never a wait for more than a few minutes and we made reservations one day in advance. They only take reservations by phone and would only do it for the current day or the next. We also requested the same server (Olsen – table 91) each night. This was honored (no guarantees on this) all but once. He was excellent. Generally I found the dining room service to be quite good, except a couple of times when it was slow. One of those was the day of the Bonaire port, where the ship stays a bit late, so there were a lot of later arrivals that overwhelmed them a bit.

 

Sabatini’s was just OK to us. The service was excellent, but we didn’t find the entrees to be very special – I had the langoustines and DW had the sea bass and we’ve had better. The appetizers were very good. Part of it was some of the raving reviews we read here that set our expectations so high!

 

In general I found the dining room food to be very good. A few entrées a bit on the bland side maybe, but, overall definitely better than Carnival and better than RCI, too. Second formal night (lobster and prawns) was outstanding! Good surf and turf combos available (order two entrees). Overall I’d rate the dining room experience on par with RCI’s Voyager. CB gets the edge on food quality, but Voyager’s three story dining room is just stunning.

 

We’re not big fans of buffets, but Princess does a nice job here. Loved the different roasted carved meats and overall variety. Crowding was not really a big problem. At peak times you may have to wait a minute, if even that, but who cares?

 

We had room service for breakfast every day. We asked for – and received except one time – hard boiled eggs. One little thing, on your breakfast request form, you select a half-hour interval for delivery (for example, 8:30 – 9:00am). No matter what time we selected, delivery was always 10-15 minutes early.

 

We didn’t use MUTS, but the boys did and enjoyed it. There are always a few big hit movies on TV also. We didn’t use the Princess Theatre, but did stop by Explorer’s Lounge for the comedian from South Carolina, who was quite funny.

 

Yes, there was a large Latino presence on this cruise – maybe half? I hate to even bring it up – don’t like to single out a certain ethnic group. It was a non-issue. I did not see any overall difference in “them” than any other “group”.

 

Some folks have written about bad experiences in San Juan, vowing to never sail out of there again. This was not our experience at all. At both the airport and cruise terminal, operations were quite smooth and efficient. When we exited them, we were immediately greeted by someone who asked where we were headed and called the next taxi forward. They told us the exact fare in advance. The taxis are pretty much all vans and held the four of us and our luggage. No problems handling our luggage, and porters were readily available. Embarkation and debarkation were smooth. I would definitely recommend waiting until early afternoon to head to the cruise terminal. With so many people trying to arrive early, the lines get very long. We got there at about 2pm and were on board in under 30 minutes.

 

We made use of the liquor store at the terminal to bring some on board in our closed carry-ons. No issues whatsoever. The store has a very complete inventory of liquor; however, wine selection is very limited (e.g. one chardonnay) and no beer.

 

We did a two-night pre-cruise stay at LaConcha Renaissance, and would definitely stay there again. Review posted here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=17410692#post17410692

 

We did Sunny Liston’s tour in St. Thomas and liked it: Review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/newthread.php?do=postthread&f=133

 

Dominica - my favorite stop, quintessential Caribbean, with its rugged beauty. The least westernized of the ports with no resorts or shopping malls. We used Levi for a wonderful tour. Review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/newthread.php?do=postthread&f=151

 

Grenada – another nice stop with a few hours at Morne Rouge beach. Another scenic island and more developed than Dominica. Review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=17410759#post17410759

 

Bonaire – a lovely day at Eden Beach. Great snorkeling! Review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=17410741#post17410741

 

Aruba – easily the most westernized port – if you miss Little Caesar’s, TGI Friday’s, etc., no problem, they are all here. No Caribbean vacation is complete without time on the water. We did the Jolly Pirate’s tour. Review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=17410723#post17410723

[LoraJ]

Thank you for review. Glad you had a great trip I will have to take a look at your reviews because I am still trying to figure out what to do in most of the ports.

[nc_cruiser1]

My links for St. Thomas (Sunny Liston) and Dominica (Levi) are wrong. Sorry about that. Hopefully these will work:

 

Sunny: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=892571

 

Levi: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=892567

[nc_cruiser1]

There was a medical emergency of some sort Thursday evening. About 8:30, the captain announced he was bringing the ship to full speed towards Aruba for a medical evac around 1am. At about 10:30pm, he came back on and asked for blood donors, type O. Later they announced they had plenty of volunteer donors, didn't need anyone else.

 

The next day the captain announced the evac went fine and the patient was recovering. Never heard what happened, except that it involved a 20 something female (and could not confirm that).

 

Our waiter (Olsen) in the Palm also said a new crew member from Chile had gone beserk and had to be restrained the night before. Evidently the stress and being away from home got to him. Sad.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank You for the excellent review! We are looking forward to the same cruise, although we will be doing the same itinerary in reverse. We are also booked with Jolly Pirates, so I will now go and read your review. Thanks again!:D

[maldemar]

There was a medical emergency of some sort Thursday evening. About 8:30, the captain announced he was bringing the ship to full speed towards Aruba for a medical evac around 1am. At about 10:30pm, he came back on and asked for blood donors, type O. Later they announced they had plenty of volunteer donors, didn't need anyone else.

 

To the credit of the passengers, we got to the med center less than five minutes after the request for donors and the line of people offering to give blood was already out the door. It was good to see people looking after each other in that way.

[fxcarden]

I heard 2 different stories regarding the medical emergency....

 

Story #1: Crew member - hemophiliac.

 

Story #2: Crew member - emergency apendectomy.

 

 

Just glad whatever it was turned out well.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[MrSchwump]

Thanks for the excellent review! We're sailing the same route in Feb. Which ports did you have to use tenders to get ashore?

[nc_cruiser1]

There were no tenders at any ports. The cruise documents indicated tendering at Dominica, but we docked there.