Buyer beware: I bought praying cards and bracelets in the store on board the ship. The prices for BOTH items rang up for more than the sticker price. It was embarrassing to hold up the line while multiple staff members figured out how to fix the charges.

In the tobacco shop, I asked how many cartons of cigarettes people were allowed to bring back to the U.S. tax free and was told 8 cartons. This was a bold face lie. Turns out each person is allowed only 1 carton tax free. Also, cigars that were described by one staff member as Cuban cigars were not in fact cuban cigars. These multiple experiences together made me feel like it was all a bit shady.

The coffee shop provided quality drinks. (The coffee on the lido deck was weak as was the tea.) I added a tip only to notice when signing the receipt that the gratuity had already been automatically added. I had not noticed it previously as there was another place to add the gratuity near the bottom of the receipt. So I had been double tipping all along. Read more