AOS July 13th sailing review

We chose this cruise for our family vacation because it was leaving out of a port that was easy for all of us to get to. My family consisted of my husband and I and our 2 adult children along with my daughters boyfriend. My husbands cousins came along as well. Our groups age group ranged from 22 - 55 yrs old. We have been on Royal cruises before and love the cruise line. We did notice a few changes though.

Embarkation: We arrived at Cape Liberty at 11am and were on board by 11:30am. Our vacation has finally begun. Getting to the port was so easy. We hired a van to get our family there. We were dropped off and our luggage was taken, We checked in and up to the ship we went.

As soon as we arrived on board and met up with the rest of our group, we toured the ship. We were fascinated by the decks, bars and lounges. The helipad area was open and gave us a great view of NY and the Statue of Liberty.

We headed up the the WJ for lunch but of course as I had read, the line was awful to get in so we headed down the the Cafe Promenade. They offered pizza, sandwiches, salads and desserts. It hit the spot and by the time we were done our cabins were ready at 1pm.

We had an aft balcony cabin on deck 7 (7674). It was roomy enough for my husband and I and everything was clean. Luggage was in the hallway and we had received all of it except for one. It was time to go to the muster drill and figured we would find our last piece of luggage when we got back. Our roomy adjoined with our daughter and the walls were thin. You could see the light in their cabin from under the door.

After the muster drill, we went to the sun deck for sail away. The elevators were slow so we walked up the steps in order to beat the crowds and get a good spot which we did. There was music playing and drinks flowing. Although the pools and sun decks were crowded I still felt like I had a lot of room. We eventually made our way back to our cabin to finish unpacking and get ready for our dinner. My last piece of luggage was there and we met our cabin steward.

Dinner on our first night was a little rocky. We had our head waitress Putri and her assistant Xin. Xin seemed fairly new and very timid. We placed our drink order with Xin (we all had the drink package) but our drinks did not arrive until our meal was almost over. Xin came around to ask if we wanted coffee and I asked for a cappuccino. Xin told me I couldn't have one because she didn't know how to make it. This threw me for a loop. I have always gotten a cappuccino after dinner with no questions asked. So I settled for regular coffee. Our drinks finally came but we were not happy. My husband spoke to our head waitress who apologized to us for the lack of drinks and for Xin not being able to give us cappuccinos. The second night at dinner we didn't get our drinks until dessert came out. This time my husband mentioned it and the bartender came to our table personally to apologize. He then proceeded to "scold" Xin. It made us all very uncomfortable. We could tell Xin was not very experienced and seemed to be "thrown to the wolves". The following nights were great though. Xin knew which drinks we wanted and asked if we wanted capuccinos. She still appeared timid but was coming along nicely and I think just needs a bit more experience. Our waitress Putri was great though. She apologized every night and asked us if there was anything we wanted or needed to just ask her. I came to dinner one night and was disappointed to see the curtains drawn over the windows during the most beautiful sunset. She was able to have the curtains lifted for me so we could enjoy it. They do try to please you in any way they can.

Food: The food in the MDR was mediocre. I thought on our past cruises it was better tasting. My favorite dish was the mushroom risotto. With that said, we never left hungry. The appetizer portions seemed a bit small but we were able to order more than one. There were times I ordered 2 entrees and would share one with a family member. They never told you that you couldn't order multiple entrees, appetizers or desserts if you chose. We had the late seating at 8pm and were done with dinner by 9:15pm most nights. We did miss a lot of the trivia shows because of this. On our past cruises we used to be offered after dinner drinks/shots. Not anymore but Putri was able to get the bartender to come to our table every night and offer an after dinner drink/shot which was nice. Although the quality of food was not the same we still enjoyed our dining experience and walked away full.

Entertainment: We saw 2 comedy shows which were both great. We had to leave the dining room immediately just to get to the theatre to get a good seat though. We didn't go to the ice shows so I can't comment on that. There was a pianist/comedian in the Schooner bar every night. He was pretty funny just don't walk thought the bar while he's performing or else you may be part of his act.

Pool activities were great as well. Loved Bingo BUT did not love the lounge it took place in. There were too many people on board and the Imperial Lounge was packed and there wasn't enough seats for everyone. We sat by the bar and some of my family sat on the floor. We went to the Love and Marriage game and again got seats in the upper level because of our late seating at dinner. By end of our trip we knew we wanted to see and participate in the quest so my cousin and I left dinner a little early to get seats for our group. My family tried the slides and the wait wasn't awful but they had tried to go on the slides while we were in Port Canaveral and they were closed. More on ports coming up.

Sea days were full of poolside activities and music and there were plenty of things to do indoors as well. We saw dolphins swim next to our ship a few times as well. It was an added bonus for the first time cruisers.

Pools & Hot tubs: The pools were clean but crowded. Arriving at the pool area by 11am was too late to find loungers for our group. We ended up on the upper sun decks away from the music by the pool. It was quiet up there though. Another day we ended up by the sky bar at a table. Loungers were hard to find near the pool area. Kids were unattended in the pool as usual and on our last day my cousin witnessed 2 boys about 12 or 13 arguing. It got pretty bad and one boy yelled racial comments to the other. My cousin asked him to stop and broke up the argument. Their parents no where to be found. The lifeguard got involved as well. Kids are splashing and jumping on you. Those things haven't changed although there are 3 pools on board. Lifeguards watch the pools and try to calm rowdy kids. The solarium pool didn't seem any better.

Ports of call: Our first stop was Port Canaveral. We had to plans to not leave the ship and hang out by the pool and use the slides. Possibly enjoy a less crowded ship. Well the ship was a little less crowded but slides were closed, no music by the pool and shops were closed as well. The ship was more than half full so I couldn't understand this. That was a little disappointing but we enjoyed our day anyway.

Our next stop was Coco Cay. We arrived by tender around 11:30am and went straight to the beach with the floating bar. It was a lot less crowded and there were enough shady areas to sit. The water was shallow enough that we were able to walk out to the floating bar. The tide changes so when we got to the floating bar we were in about chest deep water but by the end of the day it was ankle deep. We saw a beautiful huge stingray swim by the waters edge along with a few other fish. Bring some snorkel gear. In addition, we saw a beautiful baby lemon shark (about 3-4 feet). He swam by a few feet in front of my cousin and I. I ran out of the water but he was actually harmless. He ended up hanging out by the bar until the bartender chased him away. We hung out in the water without another visit from him. This was a great island but lunch was only served until 1:30pm. We weren't ready for lunch till about 2:30 and the only food we could find was a hot dog stand. We had a couple of diabetics in our family and were pretty annoyed there were no other food options. They allow you to stay on the island till 5pm so they should offer some food options till at least 3pm. Here you could buy souveniers and there were plenty of stands.

Our last stop was Nassau Bahamas. We love this place and have been here on vacation before. With that said we knew where to go on our own. We took a cab to Paradise Island Cabbage Beach and were dropped off by the public access beach area. That is a few feet down from the resort we had stayed in the past. A lot has changed in 4 years. It was really crowded but what was worse was the locals trying to sell you drinks, umbrellas or chairs. It made our heads spin. We had a local carry an umbrella for us to a less crowded area and set us up there. We had a bartender remember my sons friend from a previous vacation and he hooked us up with coconut drinks. We were asked several times if we needed jet ski rides or banana boat rides but after saying no a few times they left us alone. The water is crystal clear on this beach but this time around the current was a bit strong. I'm thinking this was because a tropical storm had passed over the island recently. We spent a nice day here and taxi's were waiting to bring us back to the ship. We then went to Senor Frog's for lunch and drinks. We love this place and enjoyed our day in Nassau.

The 2 formal nights were great. The 2nd formal night took place on Wednesday. The same day as The Quest and white party. The Quest was a blast but the white party was lame. It took place on the sports deck and a small bar was provided along with music. I could not figure out why we needed to wear white though. There were no black lights or anything. I've done a white party on another cruise line and that was poolside and lot of fun. This was awful.

Overall we enjoyed our vacation very much despite the few negatives. Unfortunately we had 2 Medevacs on our trip and I hope all is well with those people. We had some rocky days and on our way back hit some rainy weather but the captain did his best to divert us and head into better weather. The captain kept us well informed over the medevac situations.

Staff: All were great!! We enjoyed the entertainment, 70's parade etc. They are very accommodating and do what they can to make your vacation memorable. My cabin steward was good. He made sure my husbands shirt was pressed and returned in time for formal night.

The size of the ship was perfect although there are some areas that are hard to get to unless you climb stairs so it is not completely handicap accessible. I saw a lot less kids play on the elevators because they are really slow. We found ourselves using the stairs most times.

Disembarkation: Well the dreadful day arrived. I got up at 6am in time to see an awesome sunrise and watch the ship pull in. We left our cabins and headed to the WJ for breakfast. Then to Studio B to be called to leave the ship. Once we were called, the line seemed long but a crew member pulled us off the line and brought us to another area and in 2 seconds we were off the ship :(

It was that fast and easy. Getting our luggage was easy and so was customs. Our ride met up with us and we could see new passengers board the ship.

What an awesome family vacation. The cruise port was easy for everyone in my family to get to. Parking was great as well for some in my group that used it.

We would definitely go on another cruise our of this port again.