This was our 4th cruise and 1st with RCCL this year. We chose this particular cruise as we’d never been to Japan. Because the ship sailed out of Hong Kong, we were anticipating a large contingent of passengers from Hong Kong and mainland China. While more than half of the passengers were Asian, and some spoke limited English, there was a significant number of passengers from Australia, North America/Canada, the Uk and NZ, so a good mix of interesting people to meet. Consequently, all safety instructions, show introductions, PA messages etc were delivered in English and then again in Mandarin. Sometimes, I got the feeling some information was “lost in translation “ but the crew did their best to keep everyone informed and up-to-date with shipboard activities. I thought Mike and Kitty’s morning update show on TV channel 14 was informative and good fun.

This is a very big ship, so yes, there was a bit of bustle and noise at times and yes, sometimes dining room queues were long but it’s not as if you’ve got somewhere else to be! I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with the continual whinging of some of the “international” passengers (particularly a couple of British and US passengers). As early as the first sea day there were a few passengers that others, myself included, were already doing their best to avoid. One very rude woman was observed loudly berating pool bar staff because they couldn’t produce an ice bucket for her water bottle! She turned to me and announced she was having a terrible time, thought the ship was terrible, the staff were hopeless, and that she was “done!” I had to bite my tongue and not suggest we’d all be happier if she jumped overboard and swam back to shore. Others were complaining about the food. Seriously, there was so much variety and choice I just don’t understand what the problem was. Perhaps they lost sight of the fact that feeding 4,000 people at roughly the same time dictates what can be served, how, and how fast. Fine dining was available at the specialty restaurants and take-away style food could be taken to the deck or back to your cabin so there was always a choice if banquet/buffet style was not to their liking. The buffet restaurant and MDRs WERE very busy at peak times but we chose to dine either earlier or later and avoided the melee and had no wait at all. We also booked the Solarium Bistro if we wanted a quieter and more intimate atmosphere for lunch or dinner. We generally had complimentary room service continental breakfast, which was more than sufficient and a pleasant way to start the day.

Overall, our experience of this cruise was very positive. The cabins were well appointed with heaps of storage and a very comfortable bed. Cabin stewards were professional but friendly and went out of their way to attend to any special requests. Deck 13 stewards, Kolen and Joela, always acknowledged us by name and with a smile and an enquiry about our day. Read more