7. The dining room team is something else! Our server (Sinisa) and assistant server (Tita) were unbelievable. Sinisa would have two recommendations each night. I listened and he was spot on each night. But Tita, took things to another level. My girls literally wept while hugging her goodbye. She had a brain teaser for them every night, and seemed truly engaged in asking about their day. The two of them will be what we remember the most.
8. Take a drink class (or two or three). The best value on the ship (if you are a drinker) is the various tasting classes. I took three: mixology, martinis and whisky. I learned a lot and tried things I would never consider. In addition, I made some great friends who randomly bought drinks throughout the cruise!!
9. The kids clubs were great. Heed the advice to send your kids on day one. My girls made friends that will last past the cruise. Vibe was an amazing experience for my oldest. She had enough freedom to feel “grown up” but was supervised in a way where she did not feel it but I was comfortable.
10. Finally, Palo is overrated. From reading this board, this might be blasphemy, but I was not blown away. We did brunch and while the food was good, I found it stuffy. I am no stranger to five star restaurants, and it is not the level, not even close. The service in the main dining rooms was just as good and for the upcharge, ($90 for the two of us, 30 a person plus 30 dollar tip), it was not worth it.
11. Arrive at the port early. We arrived just after 10:00. We received boarding group 3. We were able to have almost a full day and avoided much of the crowds. This was despite a port arrival time of 1:30. No one ever asked what our arrival time was supposed to be.
12. Don’t be afraid to book your own excursions. We had originally planned to do the
DCL Beach break in Cozumel. The price was high. After researching, we canceled that excursion and planned a day at Paradise Beach on our own. For literally half the cost of the DCL excursion, we had a great day that was better than the families that did the DCL excursion.
13. Be nice to the staff. While I pride myself on the fact that I think I have instilled manners in my kids and we do this without expecting anything, we found that the staff repaid kindness in many ways. We were chosen family of the cruise by three different departments: housekeeping, room service and guest services. We were shocked to find a note in our cabin saying that room service had chosen us family of the cruise. We would return to our cabin to find treats (chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes, cheese plates. . .) at various times without being asked. Housekeeping left us 6 arcade cards. Guest Services sent us a note and three lithographs. When we asked our server how we were chosen, we were told that each department can chose families based on the interactions. The only things we did were simple. We said thank you and we talked with everyone about them, not us. What a lesson for my kids. Treat people with kindness and respect and it is paid back in ways you will never anticipate.
Happy to answer any questions. . .
It'd be great if that outside deck wasn't accessible, or didn't exist, but I'm sure others will disagree - c'est la vie!
