Embarkation was very quick. We landed at Fort Lauderdale, took a taxi for 12 dollars to Port Everglades and was on the boat by 1. The rooms were ready when we arrived so we dropped our bags and began exploring this massive ship. We purchased the all you can drink package and began celebrating our vacation by the pool. We arrived at Nassau at 7 and the boat was scheduled to leave at 1. We got off and walked around town an hour then re-boarded and began to enjoy the boat. It was never felt crowded, with the exception of shows letting out, the muster drill and may be right before dinner. There was always plenty of loungers at the pool and plenty of space in the hot tubs. The lines for the Surf Riders, rock climbing and the zip line were never that long and moved pretty quick. Even on sea days, there was never an issue with waiting or availability any of the amenities, with one exception, the comedy club. I highly suggest that you make reservation for this before the cruise. It was fully booked before the cruise, there were always very long lines to wait list prior to the show and only a few people get in. We ate in the main dining room every night. Our server Anthony was outstanding. He was friendly and attentive. The food was good, not great. We planned on eating at a few specialty restaurants but never got around to it. Breakfast options were plentiful. The windjammer was crowded each morning but there seem to always be at least a few tables available, the main dining room offered a nice buffet or sit down dining. The Solarium café, Wipe out café, Johnny Rockets and Park café were very nice options. Lunch options were plentiful as well. I really enjoyed the nacho bar at the wipeout café which gave me a lighter lunch to go with my many shot of Patron and Frozen drinks by the pool. I am glad that I opted for the premium drink package for two reasons, aside from the obvious not having to worry about the unexpectedly massive bar bill at the end of the cruise; that I have experienced before. It gave me the freedom to try many new and different drinks, if I didn’t like it I could just toss it away and not worry about the 9 dollar charge. Secondly I was able to stock up on bottled for the ship and for my excursions to the beach off the boat.

The boat is so large that it cannot fit into the Charlotte Amalie, so it berths at a more industrial looking dock a mile or so from town. We took one of the taxi busses to Megan’s Bay, this ran $16 each way person, admission to the beach was another $4. The beach was beautiful and the water was clean and warm. There were crowds at the end that all the taxis dropped off the people. On that end there were rentals of loungers, kayaks and snorkel gear. If you wanted to get away from the crowds you could walk to the other end of the long soft beach and have as much room as you wanted. Most people stayed right at the end the taxis dropped them and by noon it was wall to wall people. The ride there and back takes over a mountain that has outstanding views of the beach, the ship and Charlotte Amalie. The taxis all drive back through town and offer to drop you a off to shop, but we opted to get back to the boat and eat and drink and relax.

St Maarten was outstanding, by far the best of our 3 stops. The boat docks at the main pier with all the other ships and a short water taxi ride takes to the center of Phillipsburg with lots of shopping and a beach to lie on. The day we were there the port was packed, 8 cruise ships so many that two ships has to anchor outside of the port and tender passengers. We decided to avoid the main beaches, Orient and Maho, because the crowds would be overwhelming. I like to people watch some times but Megan’s Bay offered plenty chances for that. We found a cab driver to take us to Friar Bay for 40 dollars each way. Split between the 4 of us this was a good option. When we arrived we walked to the far side of the beach and along a ½ mile nature path over a short hill and arrived at our destination, Happy Bay Beach. This long stretch of soft sand bordered by large rocks on both ends had 8 people on it, including the four of us. The two other couples left a little while later, giving us our own private beach. One person in our group became very bored after a couple of hours so we walked back to Friar Bay and stopped at the café. We had a delicious cheese plate and looked at the topless women, there were 3 and they were all at least 50 so this was not as exciting as it sounds, the cheese was delicious. We all enjoyed fresh coconut and our taxi driver showed up on time to bring us back to the ship. There was a lot of traffic and our taxi broke down on the way back to the ship. Another taxi volunteer to take us and the return trip ended up taking over an hour. We headed to the boat to enjoy our last couple of days at sea. The shows on the ship were very good. Come Fly with Me show was a bit disappointing, it was talked up a lot and never lived up to the hype. Most of the performers where outstanding, somewhere not, mainly the male lead in Hairspray and many of the other show was really horrible actor and his sing voice was quite grating. At night after the dining and shows we went to dance at the night club or the solarium for two special nights and found the DJ were not the best. They would play thirty seconds of a song and jump to a Pitbull song. They did a very poor job of matching beats and styles of music. Read more