We are just off the 4-12 thru 4-19 sailing...Aruba route

We had a great time- 2 teens and 2 53 yr olds. We travel based on the ports and a ship has to have a promenade. On adventure, you can tell that the decor is older but everything was clean. We were on Freedom 2 yrs ago- liked the cabin decor much better on Freedom. ACTIVITIES___Tino, the activities director was super energetic and lively. Erik was also in activities and led amazing dancing lessons by the pool and also ran some interactive games in the lounges. Bobby was the CD-calmer , but seemed to be doing a good job. The shows were 50/50 . We had 8:30 dinners in hope of seeing shows before dinner like on our last cruise, but the shows were mostly at 10:30p and we were exhausted by then. Ice skating was FABULOUS-a must see! The final night's entertainer- a mime/comedian was really good too. Love and marriage and Quest were funny as usual. The staff shows were mediocre and an entertainer mid-week was good for those over 60- imitations of Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis. I thought other reviewers were exaggerating, but , there sure were alot of spanish-speaking people on board and everything was translated. They even had a seperate love and marriage show in spanish. They seemed to be in large groups and therefore did not interact with others. I like to meet new people and this severely hindered that. Thank goodness for the Reggae band at the pool- when they weren't playing - the dj was playing loud, pounding latin/hip-hop music which was not relaxing for me, and I enjoy that music-at the appropriate time. Nothing you can do about this except choose departures from another port. We loved our ports, our dining staff, room stewards, and all the ship's staff seemed friendly, hard working and polite except for a few here and there. Lounge chairs were still reserved, but if you go on deck 12- where it's more peaceful and breezy, you have a better selection.

FOOD____The MDR food was good the first 2 days and much better the remaining days. We could always get extra servings and the waiters encouraged us to try new things. Windjammer food was fine, except that my husband missed having lox as on previous sailings. The desserts weren't exciting here, but in the MDR they were delicious. With the soft serve ice cream by the pool and dinner time desserts, we need to eliminate some extra calories! Read more