Saw this ship all over the news last year, being the largest cruise ship to ever visit Australia and thought it would be something new and exciting to try.
We booked through a local travel agent which made things easier, but there are caveats first time cruisers need to be aware of (and they don't let you know up front)
Firstly, we discovered the cruise was split in half by the agent, this ...
My wife and I took back-to-back cruises on royal Caribbean from Hong Kong to Sydney. The following is a summary of the problems: Lengthy check in times, messed up visas for China and Viet Nam, lengthy waits for all services, no port information, average food quality and no premium selections except at extra cost (also my wife got food poisoning on the ship), poor punctuality, poor movie ...
Where do I start? Over the years I have travelled on 13 cruise ships ranging from the very high end to the more budget and everything in between and the one thing that I can say for sure is that I will never be travelling with Royal Carribean again.
Anyway to continue, suffice to say that I will not bore other readers reiterating what the previous writers, Bron and John, have stated other ...
we were told we had accommodation in Hong Kong which happened to be new years eve which never happened and were lucky to have any accommodation at all. even though we had an email saying we had they would not cover our accommodation. So we cannot trust what they say. One may have enjoyed the trip if they did not pick up the worst disease for 25 years one has ever had. The Ship is a floating ...
We embarked in Hong Kong for the leg to Australia. Our first problem was our cabin which had creaky floors before we even set sail so we asked to be changed. We took the third cabin on offer. We had inadvertently booked a sheltered balcony. What a mistake.... no view when sitting down and furnished with two rusty and chipped chairs and a tiny rusty table.
Dining.
We did find the Britannia ...
This was our first cruise with Cunard and it was with high expectations we boarded the ship in Hong Kong after spending an enjoyable, somewhat frenetic week in Honkers during Chinese New Year.
EMBARKATION
A very convoluted process which I can only assume was necessary due to the large number of people (close to 2000 I understand) who boarded in Hong Kong. We were processed at the airport ...
We had planned our trip on the Queen Mary 2 well in advance due to recommendations from our travel agent about needing to secure cabins due to popularity of ship (we had a group of 8 friends travelling together) and we had thought that this cruise would be one of the best, having cruised many times before we just wanted to experience the excitement of the Queen Mary 2. We all paid for up-grades ...
OK, first off the good news: Arcadia is a great ship, the crew is excellent, the food is really good, the spa is brilliant, knowledgeable speakers on Asian art & astronomy etc, pretty good comedians/magicians, mediocre dance groups which seemed to rely on decibels only, destinations were OK but shore excursions were patchy.
The major negative is that you could be on a floating nursing home what ...
Taking this cruise was a big mistake as in February both China & Japan are very cold at this time of the year, also there were 6 continuous sea days from Japan to the next port of call and warmer climate.
The ship itself is beautiful, including the balcony cabin, but there is little else to commend.
Lots of empty bars, containing bored waiters, and a few sleeping passengers.
It was nice to ...
This review is a bit late but as I am recovering from surgery so I thought I would do some cruise reviews.
Hong Kong February 13 2010
My wife and I had joined up with my sister and brother in law in Hong Kong and we made our way to the hotel where the coaches pick up and transfer you to the ship, which was berthed someplace deep in the harbour.
Right from the start I was feeling pretty special, ...