We cruised the week of 4/26/15. We loved the ship and the itinerary. This is my 7th cruise with Carnival and my friend’s first cruise. She’s 30, and I’m 39. Age on the ship seemed to be mostly 30-60, and there were very few children on board I think due to the timing of the cruise near the end of the school year.
Great: Excellent service, beautiful ports, perfect steakhouse experience, great value for the money
Needs Improvement: Air temperature in the staterooms.
We had cabin # 9250 on the Lido deck. It was your typical Carnival room, but this was the first time I’ve had a balcony room (enjoyed my cave like inside cabin in the past), but it was nice to see light in the morning and have a sense of the time of day! We also enjoyed seeing the port when we arrived and sailed away conveniently from our room. We loved this room location. No noise from above or below. There was some occasional hallway noise from neighbors, but nothing major. Cabin location was perfect for going to the Lido to eat without having to deal with staircases or elevators as it was a quick walk past the pool to the burgers, burritos, and main buffet area. The only complaint we had with the room was the temperature. I asked our room steward for a fan, but he said we’d need to contact guest services. I called them twice our first day on the ship, and finally at about 9:30 PM someone came up with a little meter to check the temperature in the room. She said that it was in the low 70s and in their acceptable temperature range. That basically meant no fan for us. The room was the warmest in the afternoon when the sun is beating in so we made sure to always keep our curtain closed and during the middle of the night. I’m pretty sure Carnival turns the air off in the middle of the night. The room felt stagnant as there was no air movement. Opening the balcony door wasn’t a help since it was hot and humid outside even in the middle of the night. I know I’ve read many other CC reviews complaining about the temperature so I know we weren’t the first with this issue although I’ve never had this issue on a previous cruise. I usually slept with no covers on at all or just a sheet and then it was ok. I would have liked a nice cool room so I could cuddle in my covers and sleep, but you make do and move on. Usually we were so exhausted from our daily activities that getting to sleep wasn’t an issue! Air temperature wasn’t an issue anywhere else on the ship. Most common areas were chilly by comparison especially in the dining room and the Venetian Palace.
We arrived in San Juan on Saturday and stayed at Hotel El Convento for a night pre-cruise. This beautiful old world hotel has a great location in Old San Juan. We enjoyed exploring OSJ, seeing the wedding going on across the street at the Cathedral from our hotel balcony, having excellent tapas in the hotel restaurant, and the wine and cheese reception in the evening. The hotel is also walking distance to the El Morro fort. After doing some exploring on Sunday morning at the fort we took a taxi to the port. San Juan was the most hot and humid place we were on the cruise. Maybe because there are more buildings that block the ocean breezes. We were ready to get on the ship and relax! We stopped at the CVS across the street from the port to pick up bottled water and soda (12 per person allowed in your carry on per Carnival). The costs for items at CVS were comparable to prices in the US. The taxi from the airport to the hotel was $25 with 4 bags, and it was $18 from the hotel to the port. The port is actually quite close to the hotel so not sure why it was that expensive for the taxi, but it was too hot and hilly to consider walking there with all our bags in tow!
We got off the ship about 9 AM. We walked down the pier to where the taxis and guides were waiting. We said we wanted to go to Megan’s Bay and we were directed to an open air taxi. We waited maybe 5 minutes for the taxi to fill up (about 15 people or so) and we were on our way. Set rate is $8/person each way. We had no issue getting a taxi back from the beach either as they were all parked there waiting for passengers. Megan’s Bay costs $4/person to enter the beach. The beach has nice facilities and was very clean. It is very calm water and crystal clear. We saw a number of cool tropical fish swimming around us as we were out in the water. There were beach chairs you could rent, but there are picnic tables spaced out along the beach and we set our stuff on that while we were in the water. I’ve been to St. Thomas in the past, and I booked the beach excursion through Carnival to Megan’s bay. This was ½ the cost per person, and you could spend as much time at the beach as you wanted instead of being rushed back by the excursion.
We were off the ship by about 9 AM again. We walked to where the taxis were parked and we grabbed the first taxi to the Boatyard at Carlisle Bay. $5/person taxi ride from the cruise terminal. $15/person entry fee at the Boatyard gets you a chair and an umbrella, a free drink at the bar (from a select list of options), and a taxi ride back to the boat when you are ready to go. We picked out our lounge chairs and two guys who worked there offered to bring us cushions for the lounge chairs. We tipped them a couple of bucks, and the cushions were very comfy! The ocean here was beautiful. Fine, white sand beach and crystal clear blue water. A little more waves than we had at Megan’s bay, but it didn’t detract from a fun time. The Boatyard has all kinds of activities like a rope swing, ocean trampoline, climbing iceberg etc… which we didn’t take advantage of but we enjoyed watching others use them. They also have free wifi at the bar. We ordered a flying fish sandwich and some drinks from the bar while we checked in with people back home over wifi. Once you are ready to go, you exit through the gift shop and we waited maybe 5-10 minutes max for transportation back to the ship which only took 10 minutes or less. Great day at the beach!