I’m on a boat! I took a cruise after a 20 year sailing hiatus and it was quite an experience. I was impressed on how many activities and features the boat had. The vibes were mostly good and going in September meant less kids.
Let’s start with the food. The main places we frequented were the windjammer which was a buffet open for all three meals and the main dining room which had a fancier vibe. The breakfast buffet was incredibly mediocre. Any bread featured item such as bagels or avocado toast felt stale. The eggs and other items didn’t hit either. I ended up going with the yogurt parfaits and cereal to hold me over to later meals. The lunch and dinner had plenty more options that were acceptable enough and mostly pleasant.
The featured main room dinners were excellent. Our servers were on it with leaving our glasses full and bringing us our 3-courses promptly. Each night had a different theme although there’d also be deviations to choose from. The absolute winner was the escargot. The plate was smothered in a garlic butter sauce with a soft breadstick to break apart and pair with each bite. The entrees were always solid and the portion size was perfect. Deserts were also decent and a step up from what you’d get at the buffet.
We did random assignment for our room and got a windowless cabin. It felt very spacious. For the most part we just used the room for resting and sleep, so it got the job done. The water pressure and heat of the shower was just right and while tight, it felt nice after a long day.
The room also had tons of drawers and hangers making it easy to unpack and hide our suitcases under the bed. Room service was nice and we got beds made and towels replaced daily. Bonus feature: baby Yoda.
The activities and shows were mostly fun. Some hits and some duds. For example, the bellyflop competition was a great tone setter to not take anything too seriously. Ice skating was ok, but got a little old by the time they introduced the clown costumes and tried to make it silly. The comedian show was eh with him mostly doing subpar crowd work. The audience never really got into it and the guy pointing it out constantly didn’t make anything better. The juggling guy was way funnier and as a bonus he could juggle.
The best activity of the cruise was The Crazy Quest. It’s a gameshow where the whole audience was involved. The crowd was separated into six groups with a male and a female team leader. The host would then ask for something and we’d all have to rush to get it to our leaders. For example, he asked for false teeth and humorously everyone actually ran up with dentures. Afterwards, he joked how that’s never happened and it was a play to get a hair clip or something like that. My contribution was my top for the quest of bringing up six guys shirts.
There were tons of cool looking bars onboard the ship as well. While we didn’t partake, there is an unlimited drink pass that would make these places frequent visits. I had a few old fashioneds and beers throughout the cruise, but we also brought two bottles of wine onboard. This let us have our drinking night without breaking the bank.
One of my favorite features was the sports bar that played all the football games. This allowed me to watch the LSU game in an environment that made me forget I was even at sea. Then we got to watch the Texans game on the big screen outside on the pool deck. Let’s just not talk about the results…
One of my main complaints is the absence of water fill up stations. We both brought our own bottles and there’s no where to fill them. Every water station has signs proclaiming “No water fillup allowed.” Therefore, we had to go to the windjammer, take 2-3 pre-filled water glasses, and pour them into our bottles. We bought water bottles the first night and refused to be scammed into doing that again. Let us stay hydrated.
Overall it was a great experience. I was sick for most of it and this was probably the perfect vacation to be sick for. Hard to get worse with that sea air and lounging around.
Rating: 857/1000
Alex Reviews All 