Review of NOS March 5th-9th

[dfishner]

We are from Ft Lauderdale and this was on second cruise on the NOS. We arrived at the port around 11:30 No waiting at all did our seapass and on the ship in about 15 minutes. NOS was in great shape and it was kind of like visiting a good friend again, we headed to the Two Poets and had a beer then to the Café Promenade for a sandwich by that time our cabin was ready, we were in a Junior suite 9318 center hump, the was the first time for us in a Junior suite and what a difference from a normal size balcony, there was loads of room, a walk in closet and you can actually walk around in the bathroom, I told myself I better not get use to it :-)

 

Our cabin steward came by and introduced himself and then apologized to us about no mints we both laughed, he was very visible the entire cruise and it was nice to see. We walked around the ship and after being on the Freedom this December the NOS felt smaller which is funny to me because there is nothing small about the NOS but after our Freedom cruise I could tell that the NOS is a mini me of the Freedom. We check out reservation for My Time Dining and that off to the Muster drill which was short and sweet then on to our unofficial M&M which was a blast, this was a great group of people and they were ready to party, we saw many of our group throughout the group and we went with one of them on our shore excursion.

 

What we liked My Time dining this was the second time for us to do this and we both really like it more and more, our wait team was Sead and Harish and they were both excellent. We do miss having a table of different people but we now have breakfast in the dining room so we met new people each morning and we enjoyed it. I have read many comments about RCL food and I have made some myself in the past but I have to say on our last two cruises on Royal I feel the food has improved, portions were fine, you can have seconds on anything you wanted. The food was presented well and was hot when served. It is not 5 star quality food but it is tasteful. You do see more pasta dishes on the menu but I never had a problem finding something to eat and was very pleased with the menu choices.

The lounges were great our favorite this cruise was Boleros especially in the afternoon, we sit at the bar and chat with the bartenders and we had a great time, also liked the schooner bar as well, the guys at the pool bar make a mean drink.

 

The lounge entertainment was fantastic everywhere we went on the ship. I am sorry to say I do not remember any of their names but they were all great.

 

The production shows were hit and miss, did not like the comedian on the first night, did not like the first production show Ballroom Fever the singers sounded off to me and I could not get into it. They had a girls modern dance group on they did two shows in the theater and they were great, The magician was fun and he was not only good but funny as well. The last production show as called All Access and it was very good. The ice skating show was top notch and we did not need tickets for the show.

 

We decided to do an excursion we booked it on line not through the cruise ship. It as an all inclusive beach break at Mr Sancho's and I would highly recommend it to anyone, Beach was great, plenty of lounge chairs, and tables. This included all you can eat and drink, the food was a culinary delight and the drinks were good. We had one server Gabriel and he waited on us throughout the day, he was loads of fun. I would do this one again when ever we go to Cozumel again. There is lots to do there but we decided to just veg out. It was a perfect day in Cozumel and this was the first time we decided to do something more then walking around. Cozumel was not one of my favorite ports but after this trip it has moved up quite a bit on my list.

 

Our last day was a sea day and the wind was howling the entire day so we did not sit on the balcony much so we just wander around the ship finding all kinds of things to do that we never did before.

 

Getting off the ship was a breeze we were off the ship at 9:15 and home by 9:45.

 

some notes: There is no lobster on a 4 day if anyone ask, made no difference to me.

NOS now has My Time Dining and I cannot rave enough about it.

Portofino wine and dine is on the first evening we did not do this on NOS but did it on Freedom and would recommend it. It is a different menu then the normal Portofino menu.

NOS has a very friendly and helpful staff we were treated great.

We did not buy a future or next cruise because of the non combinability of benefits, this is the second cruise we did not purchase a next cruise on.

I did not experience any cutbacks of service of any kind on the NOS. The on board experience was a great as it always has been. To us that is all that counts.

 

It was a short but great cruise on a fantastic ship

[golfusaofcs]

Great Review. It feels like I was onboard . I was supposed to be on your cruise but had to change the date last minute to the 19th . How were the seas???

[dfishner]

Great Review. It feels like I was onboard . I was supposed to be on your cruise but had to change the date last minute to the 19th . How were the seas???

Coming back the seas were rough.

[golfusaofcs]

was the boat really rocking? My wife is nervous

[dfishner]

Not really rocking, I could feel it a few times but I would not call it rocking, when I was inside I could not feel anything at all. Tell you wife she will do fine.

[SeaCBear]

Thanks for your review, I really enjoyed it - especially as we'll be taking the same cruise next week!

 

Can you tell me how we can sign up for the My Time Dining once we're on board? I didn't realize it would be available on our cruise. I'm not exactly sure how it works, so any details you can provide would be much appreciated.

[dfishner]

Thanks for your review, I really enjoyed it - especially as we'll be taking the same cruise next week!

 

Can you tell me how we can sign up for the My Time Dining once we're on board? I didn't realize it would be available on our cruise. I'm not exactly sure how it works, so any details you can provide would be much appreciated.

 

Well you can call RCL or your TA and have them set up My time dining for you, your gratuities will need to be prepaid in order to do MTD. Once aboard the ship go down to deck 3 dining room I believe it was 3 and make sure they have you register. Our waiter was Sead who is one of the waiters in MTD he was very good you can request him we did for the entire cruise.

[golfusaofcs]

When I booked the trip even though we signed up for MTD and Prepaid Grat I was told I still have to go to the MDR to sign up once we get aboard. The RCL rep also said that this will change in May