2 Nights South Africa from Durban Cruise

Awesome for quick getaways

I recently returned from a 5 night sailing on board Margaritaville at Sea’s newest ship, the Islander. I am a travel agent and longtime cruiser with Royal Caribbean, just so you know my perspective on the industry. I have to say, Margaritaville has a real chance to make some waves in the cruise industry. I very much enjoyed my time on this sailing. The crew was fabulous, very friendly, talented and knowledgeable. The food was good (aspects can certainly be improved) but most of it was very good! The pizza especially rivals some of the bigger cruise lines. Cheeseburger in Paradise was another great venue as were every single one of the bars and lounges. The entertainment on this cruise was top notch as well, comedians, variety acts and production shows were all FANTASTIC. The thing that really sets MAS apart from everyone else is the “vibe” so to speak. This was the most laid back cruise I have ever done, from the dress codes to the crew attitudes it was incredibly chill and relaxing. The ship was clean, our room was perfect for a 5 day trip (We had an interior). If anyone is considering this line I would HIGHLY recommend trying it. There are going to be negative experiences on any vacation and sometimes they can seem louder than the others who have a great time, but I wanted to give Margaritaville some serious props for this cruise. Once again, if you are considering this line, most definitely give it a try, especially if you are a Parrothead. P.S. The secret room “QMN” is not to be missed!

Fantastic cruise on the Regal

Ill start by saying the main reason for writing this review is to give credit to princess and the Regal staff and to not believe all the nasty reviews where the writer is looking for things to complain about. Is the regal a bit older - Yes Could it use a little refresh - Yes, and it will happen soon Is it the downfall of princess - Absolutely not! Pros- Very friendly and accomodating staff. All staff seemed happy to help and happy to have us onboard. We absolutely love princess service. They are there if you need them, without being pushy or hassled. Hardly any on-board sales pressure, no daily announcements in your cabin. Bar staff worked hard all week and even on a busy sea day was able to get all the drinks we wanted with minimal wait times. Pro Tip: Use the oceannow app to order drinks if you want service away from the bar. This is what the princess demand system is based on with adequate servers to complete the orders. The days of expecting dozens of roaming servers around the pool are over, replaced with technolgy and efficiency. Many that complain, referencing the "days of old", are reluctant to rely on technology to better their experience opting to complain about it "not being the way it used to be" instead of embracing modern service. This was our fourth medallion cruise, and I have to say it worked better than any other ship weve been on. This includes the oceannow app which we had abolutely no issues with this time around. Internet was very reliable and decent speeds as well. Buffet was full and fresh with plenty of varietey. Not everything in the buffet is going to be gourmet on any cruise line! We never had a problem finding something to eat and it was all good at the least. Plenty of clean tables anyime a day including extrememly busy times. Never waited for more than a minute after sitting to be delivered waters/coffee/juice or anything you needed. After reading a few bad reviews prior to the cruise, i saw nothing but fantastic service, food, and cleanliness in the buffet the entire trip. Pool chairs were plentiful almost any time of day. Staff was good at cleaning up old towels and monitoring the chair hogs. We heard/witnessed this consistently throughout the trip. Embarkation was 35 min from curb to cabin, disembarkation started 40 min late, but was also a speedy 17 min from cabin to curb. We were impressed. Areas for improvement that did not ruin my cruise even in the slightest- quality of meat througout the ship has declined, but not inedible in any way. Food was good every night, but i cant think of any memorable meals that made us say "wow". Pool bars are obviously going to be crowded on warm weather itineraries. Maybe a seperate line for mixed cocktails and another for beer/soda/water would have sped things up. Embarkation day had roaming bar carts with beer/soda/water that really helped keep the bar lines down, however that was the only day we saw the carts. We also had a couple problems with our cabin, that our room steward gladly addressed. Lightbulb in bathroom was replaced within an hour after reporting. We also had a foul smelling (not sewage, probably gray water) persistant leak outside our bathroom door that our room steward helped take care of every day, doing everything possible to minimize its affect on our trip. Problems happen, and i admire the ownership and solutions that our room stew/princess delivered on. Movies under the stars shows too many long concerts with little to no passenger engagement. 2 hr rolling stones follwed up by a 1.5 hr shania twain doesnt make for a very exciting sea day. However, The greatest showman movie had the entire full pool deck capitvated. Now for my only real complaint that princess can control : Main Pools often got taken over by rowdy children/teens. Jumping, diving, pushing, screaming, using towels in the pool. Pool staff did absolutely nothing to adress this. Most parents of the rowdy ones nowhere to be found, leading to other parents disciplining children that were not their own. Overall it was another fantastic cruise and we will not hesitate to consider princess in the future. Side bar: ship engines seem to be fixed, we did not notice any excessive exhaust and we cruised around 20-22knts almost the entire trip, exceeded 24 knts on the last day.

Brilliant Cruise on Elation!

Our experience on this cruise was absolutely brilliant! It was a lovely ship with even lovelier staff! Our cruise director, Franco, was absolutely wonderful! Very charismatic and wonderful at his job! He was entertaining and a very hospitable cruise director! Our stateroom attendant, Ron, was absolutely awesome! Other stand out staff members include: Dom from the Fun Squad, who was very charismatic and welcoming, and Tianna, one of the waitresses who was so sweet and very talented! The only negative feedback I have is that there were very few hand washing stations and little signage for restrooms. Other than that, everything ran smoothly! The food was delicious and the playlist productions were very entertaining! The boarding and debarkation processes ran very smoothly and were mostly stress free! The stops lasted for a satisfactory amount of time and getting on and off the ship at ports was quick and easy. Highly recommend this cruise!