Zui Review - September 17th-24th

[A02]

I'll start off this LONG review saying that I've intentionally kept away from these boards for the most part over the past 3 months. I found this place invaluable finding out specific answers to questions/concerns, but I also found myself getting paranoid about really petty things - like stained carpets or uneven hallways. I thought it best to go without expectations and roll with the punches.

 

 

Also, it's probably fitting to describe us a bit because what we may find interesting, average, or bad - another might find the complete opposite. We're both 30 years old and live in a loft in downtown Boston. We're used to really great food and really great drinks - as well as the really great prices that accompany them (unfortunately). Both of us work extremely busy jobs - where working 12 hour days is the norm. Both of us were looking to explore the islands - but mainly to disconnect.

 

 

 

Day 1:

We flew down the day of - landing in FLL around 11:30am. The check-in was smooth. We immediately booked the Pinnacle for Sunday and Friday and arranged for excursions at each stop except Nassau as soon as we got on the ship. We then headed to the Lido bar and grabbed a couple stools. The prices for drinks amazed us. Beers were about $1.50 cheaper a bottle and mixed drinks were at least half the price we see in Boston. It was funny to see people smoking at a bar again (Boston is smoke-free), but throughout the cruise - only one time did smoke bother us. We went to our room, and aft VA cabin (6165). For a couple of clothes horses like us - the closest space was plenty ample. The room was a tad bit small - but it's a cruise - I wasn't expecting a normal sized hotel room. The deck size is amazing and I can NOT stress enough that if you like the idea of a deck - get an aft cabin. It's definitely 3-times the size of the size of the side ones. We had a note saying that Tortola and St. Johns were being flip-flopped – which was cool with us. Dinner was good enough. We had the early seating, on the upper level, at our own 2-person table. We were by far one of the most dressed up people for the night and were asked a couple times if we were going to the Pinnacle... which stuck me odd because I was only wearing khakis and a blue blazer with a golf shirt.

 

 

 

Day 2:

While eating breakfast at 7am on the Lido we heard a rumor that we would be passing by HMC. Rita had just formed as a tropical storm around there. Sure enough, an hour later we were officially informed that we would be avoiding the storm, to expect choppy seas at times, and that we would arrive as scheduled to Tortola on Tuesday. We weren’t thrilled about 2 sea days in a row, but we were happy to just be out there – disconnected. This night was our first at the Pinnacle. My girlfriend enjoyed her filet and I decided to go nuts and do the wine tasting meal (seafood). I thought the tasting was excellent and would recommend it to those looking for something a bit more than beef, lamb or salmon. They did a pretty decent job pairing wines with the food and I walked away stuffed and happy (I even turned down the final cheese course and barely touched the dessert).

 

 

 

Day 3:

This was another sea day – and the one that was supposed to happen – so they had a good variety of activities and such. Weather was off-and-on. The formal dinner was decent.

 

 

 

Day 4:

Tortola, BVI. The humidity in the early hours was insane… but bearable. We had a 9am land rover tour. The tour was EXCELLENT. There were 5 of us in the back and our driver took us across the island – stopping here and there to talk about the island, his life, etc. The driver was extremely good. The roads were twisty and about half the drive was on bumpy dirt roads. The views were wonderful and the beach we stopped at for about 75 minutes was perfect. We had sun (except one 10-minute rain shower) the entire time. The beach had a total of maybe 12 people on it and it was perfect. They served rum punch if you wanted it as well. After the time there – we drove back to the ship a different way. Overall – it was about 4 hours or a little more. We were extremely lucky too, because it seemed like the island clouded over completely for the rest of the day. I would whole-heartedly recommend this excursion. My girlfriend and I were happy as could be.

 

We grabbed a quick snack/lunch on the ship and headed into town for some shopping and to see what was what until the end of the day. The town was extremely disappointing. Only one jewelry shop – and pretty small. The town itself was pretty closed up and most of the street crafts people were selling garbage. We found a cute village of huts near the Diamonds International place that had some interesting coral stuff, but most of the stuff there was also very cheesy. We ended up grabbing a couple beers, sitting down for a bit taking in the view and heading back on board… about an hour before “all-aboard”.

 

The excursion made our day and if it wasn’t as amazing as it was, I probably would have been pretty disappointed with Tortola.

 

 

 

Day 5:

St. Thomas, USVI. The funniest thing about the trip to the island was that it took the ship all night to travel 20 miles. The captain must have been turning circles all night… which cracked me up. We did the cat and champagne sail first thing. The captain was awesome, the trip was awesome, the weather was awesome, and the beach on St. John was wonderful. They provided snorkel gear, drinks and snacks. The water was amazing and the sky was sunny the whole day. The excursion was again – like Tortola – worth every penny. I’m sure a different captain can be a whole different experience, but Rocco (the captain) and the crew helping him were perfect. You could tell that they genuinely cared that we had a great time – and it showed.

We got back and headed straight into town. Immediately it was apparent that if you’re gonna shop on an E. Caribbean cruise – this was THE place to do it. We found a little café in the back of Jewels that made good bagel sandwiches. The owner seemed to be from NYC and we ran into a couple other mainland transplants in there as well. Of all the places we went to on the cruise, the best shopping experience was hands down at Jewels/A.H. Riise. Insanely friendly and not pompous… most importantly they were not pushy in the least. I ended up buying a watch and my better half got a couple simple bracelets.

 

 

 

Day 6:

Another sea day. The formal dinner was pretty good. Yeah.

 

 

 

Day 7:

Nassau, Bahamas. Before going on the cruise, I was most excited about Nassau. Now that it’s over, I really have no interest in going back. It reminded me of Jamaica. It was much dirtier and gritty than I imagined. The shopping was awful. We had no excursion planned and within an hour or so we both kind of wish we had signed up for some sort of snorkel trip or something. I think we both imagined some sort of pristine British colony vibe. There were some good things though. As crazy as the straw market is, you can actually find a few good that are handcrafted if you’re really looking. Outside of the market we ran across a wood shop stall where they were cutting and carving wood – and staining it. We got a couple simple pieces. As touristy as Frogs is… it’s definitely a fun place to drink a couple beers and eat some Mexican-American food.

 

Paradise Island was a complete turn-off to us. It was so manufactured… too much like Disney/Epcot for our tastes. Now, there’s nothing wrong with Disney, but it’s not what we came to the Caribbean for. We played some slots at Atlanis and looked at the big aquarium – well… the part that is a teaser… you have to pay like 30 a person to go in and see the bulk of it. We caught a ferry back and picked up some pineapple rum before getting back on board. Both of us really wished they went to HMC instead. We had our final dinner at the Pinnacle.

 

 

 

Day 8:

Our flight was late, so we were the last color called around 9:30 or 9:45. We pretty much grabbed our luggage and walked right out. A taxi guy was right there and told us to follow him – and we ended up getting a cab in less than a minute. I’m not sure why he basically cut us in front of the line like that, but with all the cabs there I didn’t feel so bad… they were literally loading about 20 cabs at a time.

 

 

 

Overall impressions:

The casino is nice. It’s small, but it kept us occupied. They had some really fun learning sessions early in the week where the casino manager showed us how to play craps and blackjack. We spent a little on slots every night and my girlfriend became quickly addicted to the nickels… guess it beats the dollar slots eh?! The only other gambling we did was blackjack a couple times on the $5 table. The non-smoking nights were insanely crowded and wasn’t as much fun… the casino isn’t big enough for that many people. What’s funny is that on normal nights – the smoke is no different. I notice smoke at Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods… but I never noticed it here. They must have a really good ventilation system.

 

 

The Pinnacle Grill was good. I wish they would change up the menu a bit during the week, but overall I give it a 7. Based on the wine tasting meal from our first night, it would have been an 8 or 9, but the salmon I had the final night wan’t anything special… and I felt the Vista dining room was equally as good. The pinnacle makes a wonderful Squash soup though. Yum!

 

 

The Vista was on and off for us both. One night we were so uninspired by the options that we went and ate on the Lido. Some dishes seemed to have great flavor one night and the next they would seem too bland. Overall, the staff and the food was very good maybe a 7 as well.

 

 

The staff that did the dirty work (the waiters and stewards) was EXCELLENT, but we both found their bosses to be grumpy and half as charming. Our cabin steward was amazing.

 

 

The room was nice. Small, but nice. I thought the storage space was ample enough for us both. The shower ran at good pressure and was as hot as you could ever want it to be. The deck was dirtier than I would have liked when we arrived, but oh well… I had a deck – so whatever. The aft deck was wonderful and the sound of the wake was perfect for afternoon naps… it lulls you to sleep – just like a large waterfall. We experienced significant vibrations only one night… but it wasn’t anything that kept us up at night or bugged me. Our bed was plenty comfortable.

 

 

 

 

 

That’s about it for now – if anyone ants to ask questions or anything about our experience in regards to the cruise or the islands – feel free to ask!

[drdaddy]

Excellent, balanced, and very non-biased review. Similar to what I would have written one year ago. And we are still going back in 4 weeks.

 

What cabin were you in? We have an VB aft on deck 4 and it sounds like you were in a similar one.

 

Were you on the Champagne Sail and Snorkle thing in St. Thomas? I chose the other one that goes to Buck Island but your's is not the first one I read about the Champagne trip, and it sounds pretty good. How many snorkle sites did you get to? I am doing these excursions strictly as a snorkeling trip (doing it each port) so I want to see as many different spots as I can.

 

Great to see all these upbeat reviews lately.

[sail7seas]

Thanks for your review. I really enjoyed reading it.

 

Welcome Back.......glad that for the most part, you enjoyed.

 

[lizzielady]

I enjoyed your review. Sailed the Zui in June and had very similar experiences.

[vicocala]

Thanks for the review. Glad you got to disconnect. I am looking forward to my trip in 3 weeks. We have a lot of excursions planned and the only day we have any real shopping time available is in Tortola so I wasn't to happy to hear that it is weak in that department, but it's better than running up the street to Wal-mart.

 

I am a big Sox and Pats fan, hope we have another great year, nice to re-catch the Yanks tonight. :D

[atlantamoi]

My wife and I were also on the Z this same week. Had a great time. I've only been on three cruises, but I will say this. From now on I'll read harsh reviews with extreme skepticism. I'm not talking about you AO2, but past reviews. Sure, there were little blemishes on the ship. Big whoop. I don't understand how those kinds of things can make people so put off.

 

Anyway, I thought the food was great. Better than what we had on Carnival Conquest two years ago. We tried Pinnacle one night... while it was also very good, I would blow it off in the future to stick with the acceptable main dining meals that we already paid for.

 

Didn't care about missing HMC. I expected storms issues when signing up for a Septmember cruise so I was okay rolling with the punches. Nassau is awful. We made a mistake snorkeling at St. Thomas and walking around Nassau. Should have done the opposite. Virgin Gorda was the highlight of our shore excursions. Amazing place to visit.

 

My wife and I are kind of picky about entertainment. We go to see small rock bands in dank clubs and I'm not a fan of Broadway tunes. The Z singers/dancers didn't disappoint in my expectations. AWFUL! But we didn't care. Watched a couple of tunes then went on to have fun elsewhere on the ship. Joel Mason (as Elton John) on the other hand was incredible. Had us in stitches. Jen 'el tell ya!

 

Overall, I'd have no problems suggesting this boat. Especially with the upcoming drydock improvements.

[sghetrick]

Thank you for your review it was very helpful. I currently have a VA guarantee and we booked the Champagne Catamaran as well so it's nice to hear about those specifics...