the_tyrant
05-02-13, 05:36 PM
Hello again everyone! I am writing this in London right now.
I have had a great time on my trip so far. I got from Florida to the UK on a cruise, and I thought I might as well review the cruise. This is my second time cruising with Royal Caribbean, they were great last time, but I had some doubts because of the itinerary. There is quite a few days at sea, with barely any shore excursions.
I'm not going to repeat the numbers and stats of the ship in the review, so I suggest you read the official link first: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?shipClassCode=FR&shipCode=ID&br=R
So let’s start by discussing the itinerary itself. Its 13 nights, starting from Fort Lauderdale Florida, ending at Southampton England. We get off the ship 3 times during the process, Nassau, San Juan, and St. Maartin. We were at sea for 8 days, and that was where my doubts started. After all, 8 days on a ship, I was worried about just general boredom, and a drop of the quality of service.
Nassau was just a "tropico" style little banana republic. It wasn't very interesting, and felt pretty "tourist trappy". I sat down at a bar (with free Wifi), got myself a drink, and soaked up the internet. The roads at Nassau were confusing though, people drive on the left side of the road, but the cars were a mix of American style (driver on left), and British style (Driver on right). Overall, Nassau wasn't that eventful, it was a decent interesting stop, but there wasn't too much actually worth doing on the island.
San Juan was the next excursion, and unlike Nassau, it was actually very interesting. San Juan is a great example of Iberian architecture, the look and feel of the city really feels like old Lisbon. There is a fort in the city, and it is very worth seeing. Tickets are 3$/person, and is well worth it. San Juan is a very good city just to "walk around" in, and soak up the atmosphere.
Finally, after San Juan, we stopped at St. Maartin, the last shore excursion of the cruise. St. Maartin doesn't really have anything interesting to do besides shopping. St. Maartin is very famous for shopping however, and it is a very good place to buy something for yourself or your significant other. I did check the prices of compared to the prices at Toronto and London. St. Maartin is a very good place to shop (they take USD and there is absolutely no tax), only for jewelry though, besides gems and watches, nothing else is sold there. I didn't buy anything, as I'm not in a relationship currently (ladies?), but if you are thinking of buying some jewelry, either for yourself or for someone else, St. Maartin is a very good place for shopping.
The next 8 days were at sea, However, my fears regarding the itinerary was unfounded, the cruise was great, I loved it overall, there are some minor issues though, but overall I really enjoyed it very much.
Let’s start with the food shall we? The price already includes practically all you can eat at 4 restaurants, 1 buffet restaurant, 1 formal dining hall (split into 3 levels), a café serving drinks and pastries, and a pizza shop on the on the promenade. There are also 3 restaurants that you do have to pay extra for, but I never actually ate there. Generally, the food on the ship was superb. Almost every aspect of it was great! Food quality was great! Service was great! Just about everything was pretty good. I went down to the dining room for dinner every day, and I either ate at the buffet or the dining room for lunch.
The food served in the formal dining rooms were of very high quality, not as good as the best restaurants on land, but definitely much, much better than the big chain restaurants like Olive Garden. I would say that very occasionally, the food quality was good enough to merit a Michelin star. The service is also pretty good, the waiters are very properly trained, and service is done very well, almost flawlessly. The dining rooms serve breakfast (both buffet and a-la carte), lunch, and dinner.
Note that the dining rooms do have dress codes, there were 3 formal nights during my trip, and I hear they actually enforce them on European trips (apparently the rules are not enforced on Asian cruises). The selection available in the main dining hall varies every day, there are a few staples that are always there, while the rest of the menu changes daily. Every day, there is a few meats, seafood’s, Asian inspired dishes, vegetarian, and glucose and/or lactose free dishes.
Me in a suit (snapped by my little brother on his phone):
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9813/36807649.png
Example of 3 course meal in dining room:
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/9333/19255042.png
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/4761/30702062.png
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/6029/72962457.png
As for the food in the buffet restaurant, it is good, but not great. Its quality is comparable to the higher end buffets you get on land. However, it suffers from all the problems buffets usually suffer from, like messy food, or food that has been sitting there too long. The buffet crew does perform well though, eaten up food is promptly replenished, and the food generally doesn’t get cold. The selection is pretty good, with a wide variety of foods, from curry to burgers.
When it comes to drinks, you generally do have to pay extra for anything above water, juice, milk, and ice tea. I suggest that if you like soft drinks, get the drink package ($4.50 per day for under 18, $6.50 per day for everyone else), you get an all you can drink package, and a souvenir bottle for you to take home. Before someone else asks, yes, the soda they serve is from Coca-Cola, they are my preferred brand anyways, but Pepsi fans would be disappointed that they don’t serve Pepsi.
If you would rather drink alcoholic drinks instead, you have a few options. Every single restaurant serves a variety of alcoholic drinks. Beers are 3 – 5$/ bottle, and you do get a choice of beers. Cocktails are 6 – 8$ each, and there is a drink of the day every day (you get to keep the glass too). There is also a large selection of other alcoholic drinks, but I never paid attention since as I was under 21, they never served me any. However, in my opinion, the best deal is actually the wine package. My dad likes wines, and they do offer a certain packages for wine drinkers. My dad purchased 5 bottles for almost 200$. He liked the selection, claiming that it was pretty good. There were even a few Lafites available to choose from in the package. Not the proper Grand-Vin though, but it was available at 2000$/bottle (I don’t even think the LCBO, the sole government run distributer of alcohol in Ontario sells them).
Overall, the food is very good. I was afraid that the food quality would decrease after a few days at sea, but thankfully, that never happened. The food was consistently good, and overall, I was very satisfied with the food on the cruise.
Now with multiple days at sea, boredom is a major "threat". Entertainment thus is a very important thing to consider. After all, I was at sea with them for 8 whole days, that's 192 hours in the middle of the ocean, 192 hours that they have to entertain me.
The biggest component of the entertainment is the headliner shows. Every single night, in the main theater there is a live show that they put on, and overall, the quality is very good. There are a few outside performers, the rest of the show was put on buy a professional team on the ship. For most of the cruise, the quality of the shows were very good. Of the 13 days, I was highly satisfied by 12 of the shows. There was one show that I didn't particularly like. They got an (apparently) famous British comedian, the guy was from the 40s, his jokes and references were from the 50s. I didn't really understand any of it, and that was the only show I didn't like. However, because of the clientele (something that I will touch on later), the shows were mainly geared towards an older audience. The singers sang stuff by Elvis, Stevie Wonder, and other songs that are more than 3 times my age. They even had a Four Seasons cover band!
During the days when we were at sea, they generally played a movie in the main theater. It was slightly older stuff (I have seen everything before, all stuff that is available on blu-ray). They also have multiple live bands and performers preforming in all the bars on the ship. The entertainment facilities on the ship were very good. I had lots of fun surfing, skating, karaoke, and in the hot tubs.
Overall, the entertainment activities on the ship were first rate. The staff were skilled and attentive, and the facilities were very good.
The TV on the ship is satellite TV, there is a decent selection, not good, but passable. I caught a few MLB games, and enjoyed a few movies. I had the choice between CNN and Fox News, so when the "analysts" from one side start annoying me, I can tune in to the other channel.
However, a major deficiency with the ship is the lack of good internet. Internet access is a ridiculous 69 cents a minute! And the speeds really remind me of dial up, and wifi is only available in an insultingly small area on deck 8. Good thing I stocked up on reading materials before hand. I hear that the ship is being refitted with whole ship wifi when after I get off, I don't know if the prices or speeds will improve unfortunately, hopefully they do somewhat.
Fundamentally, the entertainment on the ship is very good, I generally enjoyed the whole process. The shows and facilities were very good, but the internet access is insulting. During the 8 days at sea, I never felt bored, and thus, I consider the entertainment facilities to be pretty good.
The rooms on the ship were cramped, but unfortunately it is expected. It is a ship after all. The beds were pretty good however, and the mattresses (revealed to be a foam layer and two layers of mattresses) dampened whatever turbulence the sea created.
Room service comes twice a day. They know what time you leave for lunch and dinner, and they fix up your room at those times. You don't really feel inconvenienced by them in any way, and they fold your towels in interesting ways (I think that is a very nice touch).
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3613/88895476.png
Now when it comes to cruising, the experience boils down to being stuck with a bunch of people on a big ship. So when it comes to cruising, the other passengers are a major portion of the experience. This is where the experience fell short for me on this cruise, but it would be good for others.
The absolute majority of the passengers are comprised of British retirees. Apparently, the Fort Lauderdale area is extremely popular for British retirees for their vacation homes. What a huge percentage of the passengers are actually doing, is that they spend the winter in Florida, and they are taking the cruise back home to England.
The older and Britisher passenger base has influenced many elements of the cruise. There wasn't anybody in the night club, nor was there many people in the in "disco" event. Events such as bingo however, were packed.
The live entertainment was geared towards that audience. The comedians were almost mainly geared towards the older British audience. The comedian unfortunately told many jokes I didn't get.
Youth events were practically non-existent. The youth club was empty most of the time. It really feels like teenagers didn't exist on the ship (the youth club organizer says that there is like 80 people between 12- 17 on the ship in total).
A major concern for many people would be the turbulence and possible seasickness. In the Caribbean sea, I practically felt nothing. In he middle of the Atlantic though, I did feel the ship rock a bit, but nothing too bad.
Finally, lets discuss the pricing for the cruise. The 13 night trip starts at 449$/person. The ship is run as a "classless" system, there is no difference in the service you receive, the only difference the room you stay in. Service charges/gratuities are 12$ per person/night. In my opinion, the cruise was an amazing deal. After all, even if I just went for the food, it was still a pretty damned good deal.
Overall, I really enjoyed the cruise. It was a great way to go from North America and Europe (the clock was adjusted by 1 hour per day, so no jet lag). It was an amazing deal (practically the same price as flying to Europe), and I had a great time.
What I liked:
- Great service
- Good food
- Enjoyable shows
What I didn't like:
- embarrassing internet
- older clientele (although it would be a positive factor for some people)
PS: the ship is 154,407 tons. Or in silent hunter terms, worth a whole convoy!
I have had a great time on my trip so far. I got from Florida to the UK on a cruise, and I thought I might as well review the cruise. This is my second time cruising with Royal Caribbean, they were great last time, but I had some doubts because of the itinerary. There is quite a few days at sea, with barely any shore excursions.
I'm not going to repeat the numbers and stats of the ship in the review, so I suggest you read the official link first: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?shipClassCode=FR&shipCode=ID&br=R
So let’s start by discussing the itinerary itself. Its 13 nights, starting from Fort Lauderdale Florida, ending at Southampton England. We get off the ship 3 times during the process, Nassau, San Juan, and St. Maartin. We were at sea for 8 days, and that was where my doubts started. After all, 8 days on a ship, I was worried about just general boredom, and a drop of the quality of service.
Nassau was just a "tropico" style little banana republic. It wasn't very interesting, and felt pretty "tourist trappy". I sat down at a bar (with free Wifi), got myself a drink, and soaked up the internet. The roads at Nassau were confusing though, people drive on the left side of the road, but the cars were a mix of American style (driver on left), and British style (Driver on right). Overall, Nassau wasn't that eventful, it was a decent interesting stop, but there wasn't too much actually worth doing on the island.
San Juan was the next excursion, and unlike Nassau, it was actually very interesting. San Juan is a great example of Iberian architecture, the look and feel of the city really feels like old Lisbon. There is a fort in the city, and it is very worth seeing. Tickets are 3$/person, and is well worth it. San Juan is a very good city just to "walk around" in, and soak up the atmosphere.
Finally, after San Juan, we stopped at St. Maartin, the last shore excursion of the cruise. St. Maartin doesn't really have anything interesting to do besides shopping. St. Maartin is very famous for shopping however, and it is a very good place to buy something for yourself or your significant other. I did check the prices of compared to the prices at Toronto and London. St. Maartin is a very good place to shop (they take USD and there is absolutely no tax), only for jewelry though, besides gems and watches, nothing else is sold there. I didn't buy anything, as I'm not in a relationship currently (ladies?), but if you are thinking of buying some jewelry, either for yourself or for someone else, St. Maartin is a very good place for shopping.
The next 8 days were at sea, However, my fears regarding the itinerary was unfounded, the cruise was great, I loved it overall, there are some minor issues though, but overall I really enjoyed it very much.
Let’s start with the food shall we? The price already includes practically all you can eat at 4 restaurants, 1 buffet restaurant, 1 formal dining hall (split into 3 levels), a café serving drinks and pastries, and a pizza shop on the on the promenade. There are also 3 restaurants that you do have to pay extra for, but I never actually ate there. Generally, the food on the ship was superb. Almost every aspect of it was great! Food quality was great! Service was great! Just about everything was pretty good. I went down to the dining room for dinner every day, and I either ate at the buffet or the dining room for lunch.
The food served in the formal dining rooms were of very high quality, not as good as the best restaurants on land, but definitely much, much better than the big chain restaurants like Olive Garden. I would say that very occasionally, the food quality was good enough to merit a Michelin star. The service is also pretty good, the waiters are very properly trained, and service is done very well, almost flawlessly. The dining rooms serve breakfast (both buffet and a-la carte), lunch, and dinner.
Note that the dining rooms do have dress codes, there were 3 formal nights during my trip, and I hear they actually enforce them on European trips (apparently the rules are not enforced on Asian cruises). The selection available in the main dining hall varies every day, there are a few staples that are always there, while the rest of the menu changes daily. Every day, there is a few meats, seafood’s, Asian inspired dishes, vegetarian, and glucose and/or lactose free dishes.
Me in a suit (snapped by my little brother on his phone):
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9813/36807649.png
Example of 3 course meal in dining room:
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/9333/19255042.png
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/4761/30702062.png
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/6029/72962457.png
As for the food in the buffet restaurant, it is good, but not great. Its quality is comparable to the higher end buffets you get on land. However, it suffers from all the problems buffets usually suffer from, like messy food, or food that has been sitting there too long. The buffet crew does perform well though, eaten up food is promptly replenished, and the food generally doesn’t get cold. The selection is pretty good, with a wide variety of foods, from curry to burgers.
When it comes to drinks, you generally do have to pay extra for anything above water, juice, milk, and ice tea. I suggest that if you like soft drinks, get the drink package ($4.50 per day for under 18, $6.50 per day for everyone else), you get an all you can drink package, and a souvenir bottle for you to take home. Before someone else asks, yes, the soda they serve is from Coca-Cola, they are my preferred brand anyways, but Pepsi fans would be disappointed that they don’t serve Pepsi.
If you would rather drink alcoholic drinks instead, you have a few options. Every single restaurant serves a variety of alcoholic drinks. Beers are 3 – 5$/ bottle, and you do get a choice of beers. Cocktails are 6 – 8$ each, and there is a drink of the day every day (you get to keep the glass too). There is also a large selection of other alcoholic drinks, but I never paid attention since as I was under 21, they never served me any. However, in my opinion, the best deal is actually the wine package. My dad likes wines, and they do offer a certain packages for wine drinkers. My dad purchased 5 bottles for almost 200$. He liked the selection, claiming that it was pretty good. There were even a few Lafites available to choose from in the package. Not the proper Grand-Vin though, but it was available at 2000$/bottle (I don’t even think the LCBO, the sole government run distributer of alcohol in Ontario sells them).
Overall, the food is very good. I was afraid that the food quality would decrease after a few days at sea, but thankfully, that never happened. The food was consistently good, and overall, I was very satisfied with the food on the cruise.
Now with multiple days at sea, boredom is a major "threat". Entertainment thus is a very important thing to consider. After all, I was at sea with them for 8 whole days, that's 192 hours in the middle of the ocean, 192 hours that they have to entertain me.
The biggest component of the entertainment is the headliner shows. Every single night, in the main theater there is a live show that they put on, and overall, the quality is very good. There are a few outside performers, the rest of the show was put on buy a professional team on the ship. For most of the cruise, the quality of the shows were very good. Of the 13 days, I was highly satisfied by 12 of the shows. There was one show that I didn't particularly like. They got an (apparently) famous British comedian, the guy was from the 40s, his jokes and references were from the 50s. I didn't really understand any of it, and that was the only show I didn't like. However, because of the clientele (something that I will touch on later), the shows were mainly geared towards an older audience. The singers sang stuff by Elvis, Stevie Wonder, and other songs that are more than 3 times my age. They even had a Four Seasons cover band!
During the days when we were at sea, they generally played a movie in the main theater. It was slightly older stuff (I have seen everything before, all stuff that is available on blu-ray). They also have multiple live bands and performers preforming in all the bars on the ship. The entertainment facilities on the ship were very good. I had lots of fun surfing, skating, karaoke, and in the hot tubs.
Overall, the entertainment activities on the ship were first rate. The staff were skilled and attentive, and the facilities were very good.
The TV on the ship is satellite TV, there is a decent selection, not good, but passable. I caught a few MLB games, and enjoyed a few movies. I had the choice between CNN and Fox News, so when the "analysts" from one side start annoying me, I can tune in to the other channel.
However, a major deficiency with the ship is the lack of good internet. Internet access is a ridiculous 69 cents a minute! And the speeds really remind me of dial up, and wifi is only available in an insultingly small area on deck 8. Good thing I stocked up on reading materials before hand. I hear that the ship is being refitted with whole ship wifi when after I get off, I don't know if the prices or speeds will improve unfortunately, hopefully they do somewhat.
Fundamentally, the entertainment on the ship is very good, I generally enjoyed the whole process. The shows and facilities were very good, but the internet access is insulting. During the 8 days at sea, I never felt bored, and thus, I consider the entertainment facilities to be pretty good.
The rooms on the ship were cramped, but unfortunately it is expected. It is a ship after all. The beds were pretty good however, and the mattresses (revealed to be a foam layer and two layers of mattresses) dampened whatever turbulence the sea created.
Room service comes twice a day. They know what time you leave for lunch and dinner, and they fix up your room at those times. You don't really feel inconvenienced by them in any way, and they fold your towels in interesting ways (I think that is a very nice touch).
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3613/88895476.png
Now when it comes to cruising, the experience boils down to being stuck with a bunch of people on a big ship. So when it comes to cruising, the other passengers are a major portion of the experience. This is where the experience fell short for me on this cruise, but it would be good for others.
The absolute majority of the passengers are comprised of British retirees. Apparently, the Fort Lauderdale area is extremely popular for British retirees for their vacation homes. What a huge percentage of the passengers are actually doing, is that they spend the winter in Florida, and they are taking the cruise back home to England.
The older and Britisher passenger base has influenced many elements of the cruise. There wasn't anybody in the night club, nor was there many people in the in "disco" event. Events such as bingo however, were packed.
The live entertainment was geared towards that audience. The comedians were almost mainly geared towards the older British audience. The comedian unfortunately told many jokes I didn't get.
Youth events were practically non-existent. The youth club was empty most of the time. It really feels like teenagers didn't exist on the ship (the youth club organizer says that there is like 80 people between 12- 17 on the ship in total).
A major concern for many people would be the turbulence and possible seasickness. In the Caribbean sea, I practically felt nothing. In he middle of the Atlantic though, I did feel the ship rock a bit, but nothing too bad.
Finally, lets discuss the pricing for the cruise. The 13 night trip starts at 449$/person. The ship is run as a "classless" system, there is no difference in the service you receive, the only difference the room you stay in. Service charges/gratuities are 12$ per person/night. In my opinion, the cruise was an amazing deal. After all, even if I just went for the food, it was still a pretty damned good deal.
Overall, I really enjoyed the cruise. It was a great way to go from North America and Europe (the clock was adjusted by 1 hour per day, so no jet lag). It was an amazing deal (practically the same price as flying to Europe), and I had a great time.
What I liked:
- Great service
- Good food
- Enjoyable shows
What I didn't like:
- embarrassing internet
- older clientele (although it would be a positive factor for some people)
PS: the ship is 154,407 tons. Or in silent hunter terms, worth a whole convoy!