Scarlet Lady Review
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The biggest draws for us when we booked this cruise were that there would be no one under 18 and there were no buffets. Don't get me wrong, we loved cruising with our kids, but they're grown now and we don't feel like we should have to deal with other people's kids on vacation. Since we lived on the east coast at the time we were more than happy to book a cruise out of Miami, but we booked pretty early. Afterwards I took a job on the west coast and that meant there was no choice but to fly into Miami. We hate flying so that kind of soured the start of the vacation for us. That's not the cruise line's fault though.
Check-in: I liked the idea of the pre-booked check-in times but they weren't very well advertised and we HAD to download the app to set it up. Just for anyone interested, the app is TERRIBLE and required for booking just about anything while on the cruise, from restaurants to spa treatments to shore excursions. You have to have the pre-check-in information completed in the app on your phone (not available on a computer) before you can even get in line at the embarkation point. We wanted to put all our shipboard expenses on one card so on one of our apps it showed we hadn't completed the check-in because no matter what we did it didn't accept that only one of us was paying. We almost got kicked out of line and routed somewhere else because there was a "problem." When we lined up for our check-in time we had to wait in line outside. Then we had to wait in line inside downstairs. Then we had to wait in line upstairs. This may be more organized for the cruise line but it seemed like we were waiting in line forever as a result.
On board: Our cabin steward caught us first thing when we went to our cabin and explained everything to us. He was very prompt and efficient. We were thankful that we didn't need the app to get around the ship. There was signage pretty much everywhere so the only problems we had were when something was tucked into a corner like the nail salon was. There wasn't a lot of shopping available on board, which normally isn't an issue for me because I hate having the cruise line's stores pushed at me, but there was a lack of less expensive options for gifting. I love my family but I'm not buying them Bulgari.
Cabin Review
Not gonna lie, I loved the hammock on the terrace. I spent quite a bit of time in it. The cabin bathroom was actually very nice, especially as compared to those on other ships I've been on. The rainfall showerhead + hand shower knocked it out of the park, and the glass door rather than a curtain clinging to me was very welcome. I have two complaints about the cabin. When the brand launched they had a combined sofa/bed setup that was supposed to change depending on time of day, with the sofa set up for the daytime and the bed set up for the night. It seems they've done away with changing between the two and just leave the bed setup. If that's going to be the case going forward, could they at least give us a little more seating in the cabin? There's only one chair inside so one person either has to drag a chair in from the balcony or sit on the bed. The other complaint was the AC. We followed the instructions, we kept the terrace door shut and the handle down, but for some reason the cabin still got hot at night. We're the type of sleepers who keep our room ice cold and add blankets if need be so this was unwelcome. We also discovered on the last day as we were leaving that the terrace door was actually off the track and wasn't able to lock correctly so we don't know if that had anything to do with it. But the room would get nice and cool during the day and warm at night no matter how we set the AC so I doubt that was the problem.
Port Reviews
Bimini
Loved this port and the options for entertainment ashore, but the shops all closed pretty early so we didn't get to look at them.