We decided to try our hand at cruises, and settled for a budget-priced, bottom-of-the-barrel
Bahamas Celebration cruise. We were disappointed, to say the least, but, alas, there is the age-old saying: you get what you pay for, and in our case, we paid next-to-nothing.
The ship was old and woefully outdated. Being a European-made ship, it lacked common
American household-type electrical outlets. If you didn't bring your own electrical converters, they could also be had aboard the ship- for a fee.
Everything aboard the ship was an added fee.
Soft drinks?
Extra.
Wifi? Extra. Using one of the three or four internet computers in the lounge? Extra ($
.50 per minute extra!).
Room service (changing of linens, bathroom tidying-up), extra, to the tune of $25 per day. This fee we avoided by placing the "
Do Not Disturb" insert in to the key slot on the door. As far as we know, no crew member stepped inside our room to change the towels and such, and so no such fee was added to our bill.
The rate we paid for the cruise included on-board meals, but, these, too, were lacking in taste and substance. The food was most comparable to high school cafeteria food. But, alas, here, too, was an upgrade option: diners could upgrade (for an added fee, of course) to a higher-class dining area than the ones included in the standard fare rate.
Alcohol is served aboard, but is also an upgrade, and woefully over-priced. Neither myself nor the person I went with drink, so this had no effect upon us whatsoever, but, still, there were the constant upgrade offers by the wait staff.
When we arrived in
Freeport, Bahamas, several off-ship excursions were available. These were WAY over-priced. We opted for a $51/person shuttle to a resort (the
Grand Lucayan, if
I remember correctly), which was a beach-front resort.
Lunch was served, but, too, was little better than the on-ship dining choices.
We liked the area we visited on the island, but discovered that a taxi could've taken us there for far less than what we paid for the shuttle. We both could've gotten to the Grand Lucayan, enjoyed the beach, and grabbed lunch somewhere at any of the nearby eateries for a total of about $50 for the both of us, far less than the combined $102 we paid.
The Bahamas Celebration was little more than a ferry boat with accommodations. As you are boarding, you can easily see the bow of the ship wide open, allowing cars and tractor trailers aboard for ferrying to and from the island.
Want to see some more reviews?
Visit cruisecritic dot com. There, you can view posts from other "travelers". You'll note that most of these are positive reviews, which makes me wonder whether actual "cruisers" posted them, or if any random person did (i.e., ship employees, to dress up the other dismal reviews left by real tourists). So, take the reviews there with a grain of salt. My full review is posted there under the title "We'd Have
Rather Taken The Titanic".
- published: 27 Jan 2014
- views: 27908