midisfan

1 hour ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

What did you think of Blue Lagoon?  I have been twice, but not for several years and the reviews haven’t been as good as they used to be.
 

 

Initially we had not planned to get off the boat in Nassau but I decided to book Blue Lagoon about two weeks out so the only thing available was the Beach day with lunch for $80 per adult. We met in the Theater at 9 am for a 9:30 departure but they had around 700 people signed up for Blue Lagoon. We didn't arrive on the Island until close to 11am and were told we had to depart on the 2pm boat back. Needless to say there wasn't much time to explore the island. The included lunch was good. Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Chicken. I think the VIP or Adult beach excursion had a different menu and unlimited visits.  Beach area was nice and still plenty of seating if you go farther away from the dock area. We enjoyed the time we had, just felt rushed. 

If we do a cruise with Nassau again, we will probably try Pearl Island to compare but I would try Blue Lagoon again if it wasn't during a Holiday week. 

14 hours ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

Debarkation was not good. We used self-assist and were assigned the earliest time, 7:15.  We walked straight from the cabin to the deck without stopping, then came to a screeching halt. We stood in an unmoving line, then finally started moving and merged with the people leaving from an area closer to the gangway.  I believe it was Key people. Our passports are being renewed and are delayed (ten weeks so far), so we had to use the birth certificate line.  There was one person working it for a while before another person was added.  The time spent watching guests digging through bags for their birth certificates was frustrating.  Even with self-assist and parking in the port garage, it took over an hour from cabin to car. 
 

We had an 8:45 time slot with Royal Theater Deck 3 as the waiting lounge. As we made our way to the theater after breakfast we saw a huge line and congestion at Schooner. After navigating through that, we get to the stairs to go down to deck 3 and a staff member tells us to just get in the line, the letter was wrong. Made it back through to stand in a line that wrapped from the casino through Schooner out to Port side deck back through the Theater and out to the Starboard Gangway. Quite a bit of standstill and people being turned back to go to guest services. Even though we hardly stopped once off the gangway (No line on the passport side and about 2 seconds to scan faces) it still took close to 45 minutes to get outside to wait with the masses for an Uber.

That was probably our only real negative from the entire cruise. While the food in the MDR and Windjammer was disappointing, the specialty dining and Playmakers made up for it. We figured with a sold out ship during spring break it would be crowded but to our surprise it really only felt that way on the pool deck. 

For those interested in the bottled water package, I purchased the package under the older pricing and we were given 16.9 ounce bottles of Niagra brand water.

13 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Does the change room for the gym/spa still have change rooms with showers, sinks and lockers?

I'm sorry, can't answer that one. My most strenuous work out was fitting into my clothes on day 4.😅

Just back from a trip including the 3/27-31 4 Night on Freedom. I believe it was a sold out cruise.  This was our first cruise with Royal and first cruise post pandemic. Only previous experience has been with Disney cruise line so we found ourselves trying to compare the two. 

If you have any specific questions I can try to answer them. In the meantime, a few observations...

Embarkation process was very efficient. From the time we were dropped off to the time we were on the ship was probably less than 15 minutes. We had an 11:30 boarding group and arrived at the port just before 11. We were coming from Fort Lauderdale hotel and our Uber driver must have been a former Nascar driver.

Straight to Muster station and so grateful for the way its done now. Wish Disney wouldn't have gone back to the traditional way.

Purchased the unlimited dining and was concerned about reservation times being gone but had no issues getting anything we wanted. Was expecting a long line to make reservations but again no issues. Walked over to a table set up on the Promenade and there was nobody in line.

Purchased deluxe beverage package, never had to wait for a server at any bar we went to. Personally, we wouldn't do the package again because we didn't get the value out of it but it so convenient and great to try no stuff.

MDR. We only had one dinner on Caribbean night and the food was not very good. Breakfast on the other hand was.

Windjammer, again a miss for us but only tried during breakfast.

Other thoughts on Coco Cay Beach Club, Blue Lagoon, Specialty dining and Disembark if anyone is interested just ask.  

Just noticed something odd in the app as I was looking for the menu at Johhny Rockets. In the "know before you go" section it states not included in dining packages. The website still shows it as included in the UDP. Wondering if this is just a glitch or if its going to be removed from UDP.