Cliff notes- good cruise, some nice surprises

We're plat and got on the ship with first group at 12:00. As is with all CCl holiday sailings, there was lots of champagnes (nice to see that avoided the budget ax!). Food- most things were barely warm, or cold. It is to be expected that pancakes would be cold, but on the first night, the sweet and sour shrimp were cold, as if were sitting out for awhile.The lobster was very small and filet was absent the whole cruise, likely replaced with NY steak or flat iron. It didn't matter how I ordered a steak (I ordered MW), it came out rare (wife made fun of the mooing meat). On the lido deck, rather than hand you a burger off the grill (as I have seen it on all my conquest class ship cruises), the burgers came out of steel insert pan kept in a warmer, not good.Although overall, the food was fair, it was the worst of any CCL ship that I have been on. I attribute this to some better quality food items being missing and things being served cold. Entertainment- pretty good, with a few bright spots. The first comedian (can't remember the names) was excellent, 2nd (did magic and jokes) not so good, prop comedian was great. Singer Ned Rifkin was great, even if you don't like big band. The Big Easy show was great (I have seen it twice already) and seeing that singer doing the Envogue "Queen of the Night" song always gives me chills. Oh, and we also got a table artist to perform for us at dinner. I think he mainly does thricks if you have young kids, but my teenage daughter saw him, flagged him down and he did some tricks. The ship also had mexican performers come into the dining room on Acapulco night to perform. Cleanliness of ship- very good. I didn't see room service remnants lingering in the hallways or lots of dirty tables in the lido deck. I'd say it was above average for CCL. Tea time- the worst we have seen ever! We love tea time, but unlike other ships, it is not held in a room but in a hallway near the dining room. If you don't get there early, (before 3:30) you don't get a seat. Because it is near the windows, most people seem to plant their selves and not leave, enjoying the view.They also seemed undertaffed and it took 15 minutes for us to get hot water. Xmas stuff- we have been doing holiday cruises for the last six years. Last years' xmas cruise on the Freedon was the worst as they banned most things xmas, like xmas music (even on xmas day!). So,how did they do this year? Surprisingly, very, very good! Ship was decorated as usual. They had a nice gingerbread house display and the xmas kids show. Here's what else they had: 1) Pool band played a few carribean versions of carols, including Silent Night- very nice! 2) Christmas carols in the atrium! They passed out lyric sheets and the ships four singers lead the several hundered in attendance in singing carols. 3) Xmas night buffet! They had gingerbread houses set up in the desert buffet line along with delicious candy coated ginger cookies and, get this...cookies i the shape of reindeer! They did xmas very well. Our standard prior to this was out '06 Princess cruise and they surpass it. Crew- very friendly, lots of crew members saying merry xmas. Ports- Acapulco- it really helps if you speak spanish as most of the people we encountered didn't speak english so we had to switch into espanol mode. Leaving the port was tough as we were harrassed by overly aggressive cab drivers who step in front of us to ask for a ride. I got tired of saying "No quiero" and one even yelled out "Thank you for you no response!" We ended up seeing a VW bug cab whose driver took uo to see the drivers (watched it for free), two hotels, took pics for us, dropped us off at Caleta beach, picked us,took us to see sunset then returned us to ship for a total of $25. Caleta beach pretty bizarre. It was very, very native and we were the only gringos there. We were swarmed with vendors, pestered. Saying no thanks sounds easy, but not every three minutes. My daughter was freaked out when every ten minutes, someone would start rubbing her back ("Massage?") that's how they start their massage pitch. They even had people selling stuff in the water! I think a kid could make some good money if they roped off and area and for $5, shooed away vendors. Of course, this area did have its plus- it was pretty cheap. We went across the street to the vendor shacks and got a t-shirt for $2 and a large snow globe for $4. Oh, and a huge hint- when you get off the ship, BUY PESOS! In a nutshell, using pesos instead of dollars is like getting a 20% discount on everything. I only bought $40 worth, but had I a chance to do it again, I would have bought $100. Ixtapa- went to Las Gatas. Hint- walked toward the end of beach before picking a restaurant. You sit in chair, and you order food/drink. The ones toward the end are cheaper. Manzanillo-went Miramar Beach, played in waves while family laid on towels. That still wasn't enough to keep wife from being asked every 5 minutes if she wanted to buy a drink from the nearby bar. Platinum benefits- did the gallery tour. Funny thing- Ixtapa was our port stop and we left the cabin about the time they started tendering. We went down, flashed our plat cards and they let us on the next tender. When we returned to our room, we found a letter with for "Concierge Club Tender" passes.They now have special stickers for plat people to wear. What time did they deliver them? They arrived after tendering started, so that defeated the purpose. Laundry took two days to get back. Last year on the Valor, it was done in one day,both times.On the first day, I asked the front desk if we get a ship pin and they said we wouldn't. A few days later, we each got one, with a paper saying thanks for being platinum, or something to that effect. They also sell ship pins in the gift shop for $4.95, they are bit larger and not quite as nice looking. Cabin- 8158 extended balcony- heard noise of people running upstairs, but was tolerable.Location was great, would book again. Oh, we debated on whether to do self debarkation, but this can be tough with 8 bags and us being on the 8th floor, so we did plat with zone ones. This is good- we got off the ship and saw our bags immediately, would do again. Reply With Quote