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This was a very relaxing cruise for us. Took a taxi to port at 10:30am and spent over 1/2 hr. stalled in traffic waiting in the terminal to be dropped off. Not fun. They could work on that. Once inside, it went fast, as we are Gold members. No champagne welcome that we have been used to. It was cold so we just went to eat and get aquainted with the ship layout. Our luggage didn't get to our room until after 4, which is much longer than any of our other cruises.
Our balcony room was very nice. LOVED LOVED LOVED the quality bedding! Like the rounded shower door as opposed to a shower curtain. Very clean room. Plenty of storage. Asked our room steward to have 4 towels each day and a bucket of ice. TV was old, and they were still showing a film telling about the largest ship, Freedom of the Seas, which is OLD (2006) news! Definitely not the largest ship now! The ship looked very good, and was sparkling, except for the carpet in the hallways.
We had my time dining and ate at Chops the first night. Delicious! I had the filet mignon and it was amazing! The other nights, we were usually seated between 6 and 7. We carried on 2 bottles of wine and a corkscrew, so we took glasses of wine from our room to dinner. You can't take the bottle without paying extra.
The food in the dining room was very good. We usually had 2 appetizers (soup, salad), entree and dessert. Very satisfied with it all. The lobster night (second formal night) was the largest we've ever had on a cruise! A treat! About the formal nights...most didn't really dress formal. You won't feel out of place if you like do formal, because there were some who did, but mostly it was just dressy, cocktail wear. Not all the men wore jackets.
Ate breakfast, lunch and one dinner in the Windjammer. A little hard to find seating, but the food was always good. They have iced tea, lemonade and water, so we didn't buy the soda package. Desserts in the Windjammer were more "European" as in not real sweet. Made use of the ice cream machine often! Ate at Johnny Rockets once and most nights had a piece of pizza at the snack place on the promenade. DH appreciated that they always had a pitcher of milk out to go with the cookies! A plus to the Windjammer is the fella who welcomes you and "makes" you do the hand sanitizer! I didn't get his name but he was full of life! :D
Don't miss the ice skating show! Very good! Went to a couple other shows...normal ship shows. Did a ballroom dance class, which was fun!
Used the gym most days. Tip: we only take the elevators the first and last day with our luggage and always take the stairs the rest of the trip...a pretty good workout!
We had lots of children on this cruise, which we think was due to vacation over Mardi Gras in New Orleans. They were all well behaved. Was actually fun to see many of them dressed up and eating dinner in the dining room!
Enjoyed the 70s party in the promenade, as well as the Mardi Gras parade. Other times it is just fun to sit there and watch people! It's fun to shop the cheap stuff as well as the expensive. DH bought me a beautiful ring (from the expensive shop :)! Enjoyed browsing all the different stores.
We thought the staff was very friendly and helpful. There were lots of hand santitzer stations that I saw many people use. No sickness on this ship as far as I know. Don't really know what we would add to make the ship or the cruise better. Just a very relaxing time and thoroughly enjoyable!
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