This was our first cruise, and my husband and I did it with 2 other couples. We spent 3 days in Hong Kong, before boarding the ship. It was easy to get on-board, although a little slow. We were provided with cold water whilst waiting to get through the boarding process. We found the ship great. It didn't feel overcrowded, except for peak times, like eating in the windjammer, or lining up for tickets to go ashore. We were in cabin 2578 on deck 2, with a port hole, which was larger than expected. The cabin was roomy, with ample space for us to unpack everything. We loved the Sapphire dining room, and ate there most nights. We had My Time Dining, but booked a time each night and had the same 2 waiters and table. The food was good in there, and service great. The windjammer was ok, but very crowded and noisy, and the food was average, although there was a large variety there. There were plenty of activities going on throughout the day, but things like the trivia were often very crowded. The entertainment was very poor. We went thinking there were going to be a few cabaret / Broadway type shows, but this didn't happen. The ice show was good. The staff were all amazing. From serving you in the eating areas to passing you in the hallways, they were always smiling and greeted you with a friendly hello. They were only too happy to help out where they could.

We booked all 4 excursions through Royal Caribbean. Our first shore excursion was Sanya, and it was very poorly organised. We had to queue up for bus tickets for over 40 minutes, then get of the ship and taken to Chinese immigration for another 30 minutes, before finally starting our tour. In the brochure it was advertised as a morning tour, but was done in the afternoon as this was when they got into port. By the time we reached the village, the cultural show was half over and most of the displays were closed, so we were lead through them and had it described. The air-conditioning and fans had been turned off in the display areas, and it was incredibly hot. We had our meal and then straight back to the bus, missing out on the pearl museum, which was one of the reasons we chose that tour. Our next tour, Nha Trang, we had to be tendered on and off the ship. Our Nha Trang tour was slightly better organised, however, we did the river cruise that consisted of 10 minutes on the river, a short shore tour and then another 15 minutes back on the river. We went to a temple, and were left there for 90 minutes, we had seen everything there after about 30 minutes. We arrived back at the wharf at he allotted time to be tendered back to the ship, only to have to wait in the direct sun for 90 minutes, waiting for the tenders to come. This was unacceptable. We did both days tours in Ho Chi Min, and these tours went very smoothly. My husband did the Cu Chi tunnels on the second day, and found this tour very informative. Well worth the effort.

We had an enjoyable cruise, and will probably look at doing another one in the future, but not for a few years. One thing we didn't like was the way they test your credit card by applying charges and having them as pending for 5 business days. We had three charges added as well as our sea pass charge, and had to wait to get it removed. Also, check your sea pass account daily, as we had 2 drinks added to it twice.