Day 1 Embarkation, Saturday 12/10 Sail at 4:00pm
We used EZ-Cruise parking of Galveston & showed up around 11:45 pm. They led a line of us to the second lot (first lot is for mainly RCI ship) and we were onboard in time to have lunch in the dining room located to the right of the entrance. Although the website says the price for the week is now $55, we did see signs there at the port stating a drive up price for $45. We always get reservations & managed to book before the online prices went up. Im guessing that if the lot isnt full, then they put out the low rate sign.
Our stateroom, a balcony cabin on the Caribe deck, midship, was not what I expected. Both the Rhapsody & Sun had much larger balcony cabins. I guess one has to book a mini-suite to compare apples to apples. The balcony was huge, but the room itself appeared smaller than it actually was due to the design&the entry area has to be walked around in an L shape to get from the door to the room. On the plus side, this cuts down hallway noise to nothing&you can barely even hear someone knocking. Our room stewardess wasnt around, but her partner was. I noticed a urine smell in the bathroom that was taken care of the following day when the shower curtain allowed the floor to flood. Sprayed the soured curtain with Zero Odor & we were good to go for the week. Im not a neat/clean freak BUT the restroom closest to the Botticelli dining room also had a noticeable odor. And speaking of smells& this is the only ship where I noticed the fetid trash smell when tendering. RCI wins hands down for their enforced environmental recycling programs.