This was my 7th cruise with RC and up to this point I was very loyal to them and had always enjoyed my cruises. I was traveling with my parents and wife on this cruise and they are all very experienced cruisers too. All of us couldn't believe how bad this ship, staff and ports were and the amazing corners that RC is cutting to save costs. First, the service was awful. It seems that staff has been cut by 40% versus other cruises. Bars are packed, the windjammer is always packed and crew members just seemed overall annoyed with passengers. One of the funniest (in an awful way) anecdotes to capture how bad it is was that they don't allow you to pour your own water or coffee at the Windjammer. The problem is, half the coffee machines and ice machines are broken, so there are only ever 2 stations that are fully functioning. So this creates long lines at every station, just to get a cup of water. At times 15 people would be queued up, snaking between tables waiting for water. The staff had no urgency or worries about this. At one point I was standing there for 3-5 minutes while a crew member was watching individual cubes of ice fall into a bucket from a dis-functioning machine. So finally I went behind the station to pour my own coffee. Comically bad. The ship itself is tired and worn out. Rust everywhere, stains on the carpets and a general musty smell. Our hallway on floor 7 had a roof leak so there were buckets of water dotting the halls catching drips and huge fans running all day to try and remove the growing mold. The internet almost never worked even though we paid for the "streaming" package. One day it was down the entire day and didn't work at all. The pool chairs are nasty and outside decks have dirt and stains all over them. It just looked tired and worn out everywhere. The Vietnam ports of call were nightmares. Large container ports and if you didn't make your own plans you would be completely out of luck. The tender process was comically mismanaged. It was supposed to begin at 9am and didn't start till 11am. So there were scores of people lined up on the stairs, angry and hot. Finally they just started loading people onto the lifeboats regardless of their ticket number so people who had been waiting for 2.5 hours were passed by people who showed up 15 minutes earlier. Tempers were beyond hot. Overall, this cruise ruined RC for me. I brought a list of concerns to the Guest Service deck and the exact response was: "thank you for your concerns. Unfortunately we've heard these things from hundreds of others and there isn't anything we can do. Thank you though for not shouting at me like most other people have been. Hopefully this ship is dry docked soon because there is nothing we can do." My last comment is about the leadership. I think there is a serious concern with the Captain of this ship. It doesn't get this bad without poor leadership at the top. I was actually sad when I attended the exclusive crown and anchor night and he was giving out years of service recognition. An employee was getting their 5 year award and he butchered the pronunciation of their name. He just laughed and said "oh well, it doesn't really matter anyway." How awful....inhuman and embarrassing. I felt so sad for this crew member who had given 5 years of their life to RC and was then laughed at in front of the entire room because the Captain not only didn't know their name, but didn't even care what it was. Read Less

I have sailed forty-nine nights now on Royal Caribbean ships over the past 7 years. I guess you could say we are ‘experienced cruisers’. This past cruise was our first trip to Asia- sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore. We sailed aboard the Voyager of the Seas. Normally we have thought Royal Caribbean lines to be a slightly better cruise line than Princess and certainly heads above Norwegian Cruise Lines. After this cruise I believe Royal Caribbean may be showing signs of a major decline. Possibly this is just a worn-out ship with poor leadership. Specifically on the Voyager this cruise, I would say there is not one specific thing, but death by 100 paper cuts. ⁃ Ship is dirty. Look at the ledges or the the hanging decorations in the main centrum. They are beyond dusty. Room service was pretty good. It is specifically the public areas that are filthy. ⁃ Ship is old and desperately needs an update; many broken items. Fridge in our room did not work. We asked them to fix but they could not. Lights out on art in stairways. Ice cream refrigerator quit working at Ben and Jerry’s resulting in soupy ice cream. Ceiling canvas in pool areas rotting. Rust on balcony of our room. On and on…. ⁃ Dining staff is way over-tasked. We waited an hour+ each night between appetizer and main course. Food is fine but not as good as other ships. What is with not passing out bread anymore or taking order of desert with the main meal and the cheesy one page menu? Or what about the sales pitch on the bottom of this cheesy menu for a steak from Chops? Seems like Corporate is looking to squeeze every bit of revenue out of everything they can. ⁃ Captain is a slug. We went to the Captain’s appreciation event. The Captain spoke and recognized the crew. One crew member in specific had five years dedicated service. The Captain attempted to pronounce her name and when he could not pronounce the name, he said, “Whatever. It does not matter” and she came to the front to have her picture taken and looked very humiliated. What kind of leader does this in front of 150 people? Why not practice the name beforehand? How would he like this public humiliation for his years of service? ⁃ Shore tender was the biggest joke I have ever seen. They promised the first tender at 9:30 AM; it did not leave until 11:00 - no announcement- just make people stand in line for 2 hours in a hot-as-hell hallway. ⁃ Windjammer sucks on this ship. NEVER were there enough seats! Not on the first day, nor subsequent cruise days. WHY? Do you want to know why??? Because the hacks at Corporate decided that since this old hulk-of-a-ship made in the 1990s did not have a “Chops” restaurant, they would take 25% of the Windjammer space and put a Chops there in it’s place. More revenue, after all. So it sits empty while we stand with a plate of food. ⁃ The staff seemed unhappy, distant (in attitude) and some I got the feeling were resentful. One man I observed appeared as if he could ‘snap’ any moment. We had a good time in Asia despite these hurdles and really, anyone who can even go on a cruise ship is a lucky dog in this world. However, at the same time, Royal Caribbean (on this trip) did not meet a high standard at all. I would give this ship at the most 2 out of 5 stars. Maybe one star. I would not book a cruise on this ship. I wonder if my days of sailing with Royal Caribbean is coming to an end. Read Less

Hello, I am in a position to be reviewed online to form service so I always ask, should I do this? And you know what, I should because telling the truth makes the world a better place. And RC needs to know and read a common experience so they can there support and advertising. First the ship is amazing, food tasty, and mostly ALL good, like five stars good. I cruise a lot and will stay on RC as I know hem. But when one two or three things go wrong, it starts to leave a bad taste. My biggest gripe is: THE FALSE ADVERTISING FOR STREAM INTERNET SERVICE. Internet is horrible and we pay tooth and nail to get a weak signal. RC will eventually Get a Class Action and get sued for false advertising. Why say you can provide a service when you cannot? Be real. Say, we will charge you half as we can only get you weak signal. Instead they lure you to pay upwards of $80 a day (four devices for nothing) I know I talked to management an got the real satellite skinny on how internet works. It does not work reliable but you'll pay anyway. RC- DO NOT FALSELY ADVERTISE-IT'S WRONG. Maybe this only happens on international waters, but cruisers beware and research before you buy. RC tell the truth. Secondly, what's with standing in lines at excursions when YOU are giving the ship money. Lots of profit in these marked up excursions. I know just look at Expedia activities and you will see the mark up. If you take our money, give staff of four so there is non line. You hate our vacation that we paid for. Lastly in room service Its a ice bonus. But two of three order so far are wrong. Of you can say, well they are busy, but again this is a staff issue or a QM oversight issue. Why should we duffer and thin k we need ot our our needs last? Do you get wrong service in Las Vegas room service, usually no... then add a manager to review plates before they go out. Worse yet, they call you three time to tell you they are out of something or you have the wrong menu. Ok this might sound petty and. maybe it is. But tow for three. Oh yeah I have not send my third order. Its sitting there as breakfast to be eaten, so we will see. I get cruises are are like "zoos with lots of people,' not all of them are nice BTW. But RC beef up the service, tell the truth. Other than than that, Most RC offerings are amazing, boat is spotless, and most staff greet with smile. The other cruiser's on the other hand, I have never seen so many push there way to first in line. It's like the "girl is invisible." So now I start to push forward like them, and my kids say I am rude. I say: "do as the Romans did and claim your space." Sorry of grammar errors. I'm on my way to excursion. But you get the general pic here. Read Less

Voyager of the Seas In 1999, when Royal Caribbean's 3,114-passenger Voyager of the Seas entered service as the largest cruise ship in the world, it was heralded as the most revolutionary vessel ever built, forever changing the world of cruising with such never-before-seen features as an ice skating rink/TV studio/concert arena, rock-climbing wall, in-line skating track, horizontal atrium (now known as the Royal Promenade), and inside cabins with a view. Having been on the ship that year, yes it was beautiful vessel Service, entertainment, staterooms, all what one would expect in a 5 Star Hotel. Having been on the ship that year, yes that was then. How things have CHANGED!!! Cruised RC many times before, including the Voyager of the Seas and loved every minute of it...NOT so this time!!! A first impression of the Ship was quite positive from dockside. Embarkation was ok and we were on board pretty quick. But once on board we were given no information about where we could go and when we could get our cabin, after an hour or so we were advised via PA, that our cabin was ready. The cabin itself at the front end of the ship, interior promenade cabin was nice and very clean, however the décor is very dated tired and in need of refurbishment. The Good Points: Cabin steward was very good as was cabin upkeep during the whole trip. Dining in the main dining room was very nice. We had booked for any time dining and had no problem arranging a table each night. The evening menu had a good selection and the food was well presented and very nice. We were fortunate to been allocated the same table each night and were very happy with our two lady waiters. Main dining room breakfast was OK, however the service was sometimes very slow as was the selection at the buffet. Promenade café, the food here albeit only snacks (Pizzas, sandwiches and cookies were very good The ice show. Stunning, absolutely fabulous and should not be missed. Bad Points: The cruise had the feel of being in an average all-inclusive hotel in Benidorm and was a real disappointment. The fact that RC push the sale of their all inclusive drink package, it was hard to find a waiter to take an order and if you wanted a drink of any kind one needed to go to the bar to get one but was still charged 18% service charge. The bands around the ship were good, but always seem to play in the wrong location, the star lounge on the top deck, which happen to be a very nice lounge always had either a DJ or recorded music never a live band. The promenade is popular place and a great idea but all of the entertainment was on the main street (in a busking style), which made it difficult to enjoy. Particularly when you have someone else playing in the pub and competing with the music on the promenade. Safety Drill (although a totally essential part of any cruise) was carried out on the open deck (Promenade deck) people were squashed together in the hot sun for over half an hour with no directions from the inexperienced crew other than to line up in rows of four. No consideration was given to elderly, disabled or infirm passengers. Instructions during the drill given by staff were not audible or demonstrations visible. Wi-Fi On board Wi-Fi was prohibitively expensive starting at around $15.99 per day for the basic package. Almost in any hotel anywhere in the world Wi-Fi is courtesy of the establishment. Even on the dock site the smallest shop or café over free Wi-Fi. It’s a Rip-Off. The theatre entertainment was generally Ok and the ship Orchestra was excellent. However one of the Star special guest lady singer ( Tamara ) was pretty poor. The Cruise Director (Ken Jones) himself was not approachable and did not interact with the passengers. He was hardly ever seen on the ship, he had little if no charisma as did the rest of his team. Cruise Itinerary Only during the safety drill did we find out though a fellow passenger that the overnight in Hong Kong had been removed and we would now arrive on disembarkation day. We have had 3 sea days in total due the change of the overnight stay in Hong Kong. To find a sun lounger on any deck was impossible with passenger having to lay tower on the floor to sit or lay on. According to the guest relation there where only 750 sun lounger on board for approximately 3100 passengers. Read Less

The itinerary: Singapore, 4 Vietnam ports and Hong Kong was great. Just enough days at sea to relax as well. Boat itself: I find all these boats tacky so I won’t comment on the looks. Now the rooms were fine, pool, exercise facilities and restaurant were just fine. Linens could be replaced and frankly did not particularly like the stains on the tablecloths. Service: again all ok. Not specially impressed. Some of the rudeness we felt we experienced was more cultural and lack of language skills. The excursion staff definitely needs improvement and I would skip altogether next time. Their overview of the ports of call and excursion was particularly appalling. Young rude personnel. Activities: they tried hard. We enjoyed the fitness center, sauna, steam room, rock climbing, skating and a couple of shows. We were never bored. Pool side activities were fun. Food: ok bit main dining not at par with other cruises. Windjammer cafe had better food. We had some bad dinners so we switched mid cruise and the windjammer was just fine. Read Less

We've done a fair amount of cruising, all on Holland America. We were intrigued by the idea of our first visit to Vietnam being aboard this Royal Caribbean "Voyager of the Seas". I guess we've been spoiled by HAL. RCL falls short in so many ways. Boarding at Singapore was well-organized and moved along well. One of the first indications about our RCL experience - we were asked (no, hassled) about purchasing the "drinks package" no less than eight times while going through the boarding process! We don't understand why anyone would purchase this overpriced addition - we noted that the only ones we found that had purchased it were British passengers. Upon setting food onboard we were greeted not with a hearty "welcome aboard" but ANOTHER pitch to buy the drinks package! Enough already! Cabin areas were blocked off with signs saying they would not be available until 2pm. Firstly, our cabin. We had a balcony cabin on deck 8, forward. RCL was advised weeks ago that we would need to have electric at the bedside for a medical device (CPAP). This information never was passed on to the ship. And not only that, but a small powerstrip that is carried for this device was seized during check-in. We all know how busy the crew is on embarkation day, and since this 21-year-old ship has only one electrical connection in the room, it required an extension cable. RCL didn't provide it until after dinner - along with our luggage, which we didn't get until after our 5:30pm dinner time. The cable proved to be a continual annoyance since the ship had no gaffer's tape and refused to do anything to make the situation safe. When we DID get our luggage, we had to chuck it on the bed - which didn't have the usual leather bedlinen protection we've always had on HAL. Furniture and fittings in the room were old and tired, as were the bed linens and towels. One of the deck chairs was broken, and huge areas of rust could be seen on our balcony and the balcony of other cabins we visited. • Our refrigerator never worked properly. • The sink drain was broken when we embarked, and we asked for it to be fixed. A repairman did visit but didn't have a correct part to make it fully functional again. • The announcement speaker in the cabins is a nice touch, but ours never worked. When there was an important announcement we had to prop open our door to hear it. • The room was never OUR temperature; I don't think the thermostat did anything. With a cruise in mostly 90degree tropical temperatures, we never felt the room was cool enough. • Three days in, we had to make a special request to have our linens changed on the bed. If you don't ask, they won't do it. • No ice service from the room attendants! Really! Couldn't believe this is the case on RCL. The lifeboat drill was a joke. This was the first of many problems that RCL has created by having large numbers of passengers from Mainland China with only Mandarin language skills and NO staff or announcements in this language. There WERE announcements in German. Unlike other ships, the attendance at the lifeboat drill was recorded by hand on clipboards instead of by scanning room cards. It was clear that many passengers did NOT attend this drill. Maybe there are not the same legal requirements for this drill as there would be on cruises leaving a US port. I was disappointed with the cavalier attitude by RCL staff during this important exercise. Many (most?) from Mainland China are very inexperienced travelers and they could have benefitted from some outreach by RCL to them. Instead we had eight days of problems with what looked to be 25-30% of the passengers. DINING Windjammer Cafe (Buffet)? Had to go there while waiting around for our cabins, which were not available until 2pm. It was packed to overflowing. It was the only time we ate there - shipboard buffets are IMHO hideous. We went up to look a couple times and the food looked mostly unappetizing and uninteresting. The dining room, three floors tall, was nicely decorated and not noisy. We enjoyed all our meals in the dining room; breakfast, lunch, and dinners (early seating). The breakfast menu got boring quickly and the cheap ingredients were the same as in the buffet. We really dislike the cheap bacon and sausage used in the dining room, and the frozen hash brown potatoes were hideous. Both breakfast and lunch had a large number of items that had to be personally retrieved from a buffet set up in the middle of the room. We thought this lazy by RCL. If we wanted a buffet we would go to the Windjammer. At dinner the first night I attempted to order a bottle of wine. Should be easy, right? Nope. RCL has NO wine stewards, and the waiter at our table (who barely spoke any English) was no help. I asked if there was a wine steward in the dining room, but apparently not. I ordered a bottle of a California Cabernet Sauvignon. Sorry, don't have. They didn't have my second or third selection, either. At this point I gave up. Really glad I hadn't purchased the drinks package. LOL The first morning I ordered a Bloody Mary. NO CELERY? This was just one of many, many cheap cost-cutting decisions that we've not seen elsewhere on a cruise. Dinners had a wide variety of items, but we found that many were made with cheap ingredients - tough beef, chewy pork, and mostly an indelible duck (that found its way into a duck salad the next night). Even the ice cream was poor quality - but I guess they didn't want to compete with the Ben & Jerry's onboard. Finally, we were absolutely shocked that Royal Caribbean would charge US$10 for ROOM SERVICE. I asked our room attendant about it and he said "almost no one orders room service, the goal". ONBOARD Like the rooms, many areas of the ship looked tired and worn-out. The pools were a case in point. However the big atrium area was striking and always busy - as a respite from the small cabins, especially on the three sea days. We don't understand why anyone would buy anything but essentials at the onboard shops, nor do we understand the so-called "art auctions". ENTERTAINMENT We're not much for onboard entertainment, but we did attend a couple shows at least for a while. A female Mongolian singer was hideous - she couldn't even sing in pitch. The juggler and magician were entertaining. But the idea that "world class" entertainment is on a cruise ship is ludicrous. There was little else to do, especially on the sea days. No cooking classes, no organized exercise or yoga classes. Yes, they have wall climbing and the wave rider. Not interested. PORT CALLS We had two RCL excursions, and two excursions organized via Cruise Critic and other passengers. Vietnam has seen an explosion of tourism the last few years, and this has left their tour industry hustling to catch up. We found all of the tour guides difficult to understand and travelers shouldn't expect the same range of expertise that one would find on other cruises. We knew that going in. HO CHI MINH (SAIGON) This RCL tour was replete with problems, mainly of the guide who told stories that were blatant propaganda and largely anti-American. The war ended in 1975 and the guide wasn't old enough to have experienced it first-hand. And towards the end of the day he kept passengers onboard while he attempted to sell a book that were clearly bootleg copies. We reported all the antics to RCL the next day. NHA TRANG Nha Trang is a tender port, and RCL struggled to move passengers ashore for unknown reasons. Our tour, with a company called Shore Excursions, was well-done and interesting. Nha Trang was the most advanced tourism destination of all our port calls and the town was well equipped to handle the influx. The temple visit was interesting, and a half-day boat ride ended at a riverside restaurant. The food was pedestrian and dumbed-down for the tourists, never a good sign. The tour ended at a traditional weaving shop. Nha Trang would be great for a repeat visit. HUE, HOI AN, & DA NANG This was also an RCL tour day. The problem at this destination is that the port isn't close to anything. We planned to take the tour to the ancient city of Hoi An. This was a two hour bus ride from the port, and then two hours back. Others who visited Hue, or Da Nang, had similar harrowing stories about the long travel times. And quite often many passengers hope to see a destination "on their own" using a local taxi or Uber to get around. The few taxis at the port wanted US$200 PER PERSON to take people to Da Nang! And the walk from the port to even the nearest village was 10km. Hoi An was interesting for about five minutes. The town is a backpacker destination and ill-equipped for the large buses which (to the surprise of all the passengers) saw us dropped off in a dusty parking lot over a mile from the town! The more elderly and disabled were unimpressed that RCL hadn't told them of the bad conditions. We had a great, real Vietnamese meal for a very reasonable price in Hoi An. We also had two experiences of shops trying to rip us off. (Sigh). HA LONG BAY Tour choices at Ha Long Bay were either the Ha Long Bay boat tour, or a longish ride to Hanoi for a tour of the capital. We did Ha Long Bay and were very impressed. Again Shore Excursions organized this tour day. When we booked our cruise with RCL we were told Ha Long Bay was a tender port. And then weeks ago we were told that we would be docking. It was a new cruise terminal built there, and we were one of the first to use it. This made the whole tour day go much smoother, of course. The boat ride through the Ha Long Bay is well organized and a nice relaxing tour. The onboard lunch was adequate, but hardly Vietnamese cuisine. ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS: The internet service on the Voyager of the Seas was far better than what we've had on Holland America, but not able to stream anything despite the hype. We purchased service for two devices but could not get it to work on more than one. Onboard support was non-existent. Windows everywhere on the ship were filthy, all the time. I commented on this to several staff but was greeted with shrugs. There didn't seem to be enough staff on this cruise liner. Room attendants were rarely seen; they had too many rooms assigned to them. We've had "relationships" with room attendants and dining room staff on all our previous cruises. Not so here - they were all too busy. Long lines at the Guest Services counter were a fixture, as were staff who spoke little English. Officers were rarely seen, either. The drinks package wasn't the only thing that was being pushed incessantly. So were the "specialty restaurants". We thought them grossly overpriced and with the pedestrian quality of the meals generally, we had no illusions that these options restaurants would be any better. Conclusion? We never expected that there would be such a wide variation in the quality and experience between cruise lines - we naively assumed they were all pretty close in overall quality. We'll never go on a Royal Caribbean Cruise again. Read Less

choose this cruise because it fitted our itinerary. 1. Cruise Itinerary Just prior to the cruise we were advised the our overnight in Hong Kong had been removed and we would now arrive on disembarkation day. Booking cancellation was not allowed unless the cruise was paid in full without refund. 2. Check-in All embarking passengers were checked in at the same time but cabins were not available until 13:30 so hoards of passengers were milling about with their hand luggage, people were jostling for seats in the buffet and temper were getting frayed almost to the point of fighting. 3. Safety Drill Was carried out on the open deck (Promenade deck) people were squashed together in the hot sun for over half an hour with no directions from the inexperienced crew other than to line up in rows of four. No consideration was given to elderly, disabled or infirm passengers. Instructions during the drill given by staff were not audible or demonstrations visible. 4. Main Luggage Delivery Luggage arrived at the cabin very late (long after the ship sailed) 5. Dining Room Reservation Our booking reservation for dining was completely ingnored, we eventually was offered an alternative table tucked away in a corner under the main staircase. 6. Shore Excursions Shore excursions were very badly managed, passengers for all tours were mixed up together and held in the very overcrowded theatre for over and hour past the assembly time with no idea what was happening. The staff member in charge could not express herself or tell us what was happening in English (or any other language). No announcement were made about where the gangways were located. We were walked down three decks via the stairs and moved from the forward part of the ship to the aft gangway to disembark for the tours. No consideration was given to elderly, disabled or infirm passengers. 7. Library The ships library was a total waste of space with very few books and most of which were in foreign languages 8. In Cabin Movies In cabin movies on the cabin tv were chargeable at between $10 - $15 US dollars per movie 9. WiFi On board WiFi was prohibitively expensive starting at around $15.99 per day for the basic package. 10. The majority of the Cruise Directors staff could not speak English very well which made quizes and trivia games very difficult and hard to understand. No PowerPoint or visual aids were available. The Cruise Director himself was not approachable and did not interact with the passengers. Our whole experience with Royal Caribbean was horrendous. Read Less

We travelled as a couple but made many new friends on board. Cabin - see below. We had aa promenade facing interior on the 8th d. Quiet and good size. Activities - found details on the Cruise Compass and checked off what we wanted to do. All good from fitness at sidoku, to entertainment and scrap booking. Loved tge kronos band. Food- had 2 nights of dining at tge Chops Grille and Giovanni. Both excellent value undet tge BOGO package. Main dining room the next day was quite the opposite. Gave feedback and food improved after that. The dishes were ovet salty or sweet. Windjammer food was convenient and tasty. Meats there were mostly overdone. Enjoyed the white porridge white bait fish. Eggs, bacon, sausage. Fruits and drinks. We always say at the back to enjoy watching the propeller wake. Café rpmenade was the meeting place for late breakfast and afternoon tea for many. Good bran raisin muffobs, muffin surg egg n ham, beef on rye. Service - good but mixed crew had problems covering each other.. Swimming pool was small. Read Less

This was our first cruise and in the middle of a short stay in Singapore and onward trip to Bali. First impressions of the boat was quite positive from dockside. Embarkation was ok and we were on board pretty quick. but once on board we were given no information about where we could go and when we could get our room, after some time i found a crew member who advised me the pool bar was open. so myself and my wife sat at the pool bar and had a drink whilst we waited information. after a few hours we were advised via tannoy, (which was very quiet) that the room was ready. we managed to find our room which was at the front of the boat and to be fair quite nice and clean even though the interior was identical to a 1980's caravan. We then tried to get some food, this was a disaster, no tables. poor food choice and poor food quality. we found a crew member about a table who tried to get us to sit with others on a table. This is not for me or my wife, i dont expect to pay for a cruise and be expected to sit at a table with people we dont know. This happened every day of the cruise and as a consequence of this both my wife and i at very little on board. Entertainment what can i say it was shocking and whoever the entertainments manager was should be sacked. We thougfht we would see a main show one night and awaited what we thought would be a quality show (from what we had been told by our friends) when the show was introduced we found out it was two mime artist. The standard and show was so poor we left after about 5 mins. The bands around the ship were ok, but have seen better in my local clubs. the best singer was a guest who sang with the band at pool side. The pool area was ok. clean and the pool bar and service stsff were really friendly and helpfull. so as a consequence we spent most of our time on board in that area. I became also fed up with the way RC were always trying to sell stuff and became very annoying throughout. All announcements i made in English were made by people whose first language was not English and we simply could not understand a word that wa said and as a result had to keep going to reception to find out about things. The cruise has the feel of being in an average all inclusive hotel in Benidorm and was a real disappointment. so all the hype we had read about was completely false. Overall it was very disappointed with the cruise. I am gald it was not longer and as it was our first has convinced both myself and my wife i will never set foot on a cruise ship again. A shame really as we both really wanted to enjoy and hoped it would be the focus of future holidays. Read Less

Chose this cruise as it was part of a "cheap as chips" package from Cruise First. Probably won't book another holiday with them as was not that impressed with the service and having to fend for ourselves with all of the transfers. This was my first experience of Royal Caribbean having previously only sailed on celebrity and p&o. My first impressions were not good. Minimal communication, the worst online check in experience and a dreadful website. Forms, half the fun of a cruise is using the cruise personaliser to tailor the cruise but there was a long delay before we received the magic code and even then the website was confusing (and I work in the website business). Anyway, the day of the holiday finally arrived with the flight to Singapore on Singapore airlines. Considering we were at the back of the plane in cattleclass , the flight was really good. Singapore was an amazing city and a brilliant port to embark from. If doing an overnight, get downto marina bay for the lightshow and the gardens. The cruise terminal was a bit of a zoo as two cruises were boarding at the same time but check in was very well organised and painless. We boarded relatively early so had to wait for the cabin to be ready so rather stupidly headed to the windjammer for lunch. Not my choice as I was with my in-laws but OMG what an experience. No seating and more Australians than an ashes match at the MCG made for an experience, never to be forgotten (or repeated if I get my choice). However that is fairly normal for any cruise as people want to take full advantage of the free food from the moment they get onboard. To be honest, RCL is similar to other cruise lines (I guess it is now a proven formula) so other than the conflict created by cruising with a different mix of nationalies (predominantly Aussie and Chinese onboard which made life interesting). Good points: First time in an ocean view cabin and was actually quite impressed. Cabin steward was a bit useless with the daily newspaper missing on the first couple of nights and no statement of account on the last night. The odd duster left in the room for good measure. Dining in the main dining room was amazing. RCL had managed to book our party on different tables even though the bookings were linked but did resolve this painlessly. The menu had an Asian feel to it which was really welcome and the addition of a self service section for breakfast was a great idea. Promenade cafe. What a brilliant idea. So nice to be able grab snacks without having to fight my way through singlet clad passengers to get lunch was really welcome. The pizza and sandwiches were of really high quality. We frequented this quite a lot. Access to helipad on the front of the boat. This made for excellent sailaways as well as somewhere to hide in the evenings. The ice show. Stunning, absolutely stunning and should not be missed. Bad points Entertainment. Only went to one show which was the Aussie boys and had to walk out as it was so bad. Poolside. I am probably getting old but why oh why do the entertainment team assume that lying peacefully by the pool needs to be accompanied by loud music and inane games. Worlds sexiest man? Really? 30 minutes of my life I will never get back Smoking in the casino - why in this day and age would this be allowed. Quite beyond me. The promenade. I am sure this is popular and a great idea but all of the entertainment was on the main street (in a busking style) which made it difficult to enjoy. Particularly when you have someone in the pub playing and competing with the music on the promenade. Shops were pretty rubbish too. Lack of quiet areas with comfortable seating for those of us who enjoy a quiet evening. Other than the cabin, there are no quiet areas on this ship 3d films on the sea days. Just wanted something else to do than put up with the inane entertainment by the pool and watch a film and they decide to show 3d films. Really? Thought wearing stupid glasses to watch a film was acfad in the eighties. Obviously not in RCLs eyes. The windjammer. This was good for diets as the food was so bad. It was always busy as it was the only restaurant that allowed singlets and shorts but the food was either cold or inedible (and in some cases both). Overall the destination was amazing with amazing weather and excellent ports. The excursions were poor but that did not detract from the destination. RCL obviously targets a certain type of cruiser so if you want a really lively cruise where dressing up for a formal night means putting on a clean singlet and shorts and the entertainment is pumped out at you at load volume, wherever you are then RCL in general and this itinerary in particular is perfect. Unfortunately this does not suit me so will not be sailing with them again. Read Less