My Darling Aunt had booked this cruise for us, as we both wanted to visit the Holy Land and it was a priority on my Bucket list. I also was keen on experiencing a Royal Caribbean Cruise myself as my Aunt had always told me how wonderful they are.
Since I have been in hotel management for some time I always go by the motto 'one gets what one pays for', and when our agent sold us the cruise at a bargain price I wasn't too expecting. I am also fairly easy to please, give me sunshine a pool and a breakfast buffet that serves a descent coffee and french toast and I am Happy!
We traveled to Istanbul 2 days before our embarkation and stayed at a Holiday Inn in Topkapi, which was conveniently enough located in front of the Tram line that takes you in minutes to Sultanahmet with the Grand Bazaar and the Blue Mosque etc.
Inside State Room, in urgent need of updating. No refrigerator (however I did get a refrigerator on request to store my medications). Although there is good storage space throughout the cabin due to large/over sized vanity desk, there could be more space if the outdated television would be removed and the enormous glass coffee table would be taken away. The sofa is not big enough to sit on, there are curtains to divide the room and give privacy in the bedroom area. The beds (if twinned into singles) are too bouncy and it is easy to fall out of the beds. The Bathroom is surprisingly large (shower cabin, sink unit with storage and WC). The room is well lit up throughout.