My husband and I decided on this cruise because it was so culturally immersive. We left out of shanghai and embarkation and disembarkation was a breeze. Make sure you write out the name of the cruise port in Chinese if your taking a taxi there because the drivers don’t know English. Also make sure they use the taxi meter so your not over charged. We got a balcony cabin and the room was super spacious and larger than other regular balcony rooms in other ships. We had cabin 9160 and it was awesome. The entertainment and announcements were all done in both English and Chinese and they did an awesome job. The ports were all amazing and it was the first time this ship had gone to Vladivostok and Kyoto so we had an awesome send off from the locals on the pier. All the staff onboard were awesome and super friendly. Everyone speaks English on board as well as most can also speak Chinese. The food was so yummy and the menu was huge every night! I would defiantly cruise again on this ship! The shows were well rehearsed and better than the ships in the Caribbean. The only thing was the shopping wasn’t the greatest on board. It was all super high end shops. The pools and hot tubs were never ever busy and super easy to find a chair. They do not have walking waiters by the pool or shows for drinks so be aware. There is no bingo on board either if that’s your thing. This ship is so different from the ships in the Caribbean but everything was great! There is always lots of activities to do presented in both English and Chinese. The ship never felt crowded even in the windjammer! They have a great variety of both western food and Chinese food which is awesome to give new things a try. Kyoto Japan was our favourite port of call so if you go make sure you get the motor coach into the city with royal! Vladivostok was really pretty and the locals were all very nice. You cannot go ashore without a visa or booking a tour directly with the ship so we booked a tour. Fukuoka japan was great too but the prices of merchandise was higher here. We also did explore dazaifu and you get free time to shop! Great tour! Read Less

The ports on this cruise were fabulous. Even though it was cold for the first few weeks, it was well worth going. The crew on Westerdam are some of the best I've come across on any HAL ship. ALL of them were wonderful. The cabins however, are tired & need an upgrade. Our bath had a crack in it & poured water all over the floor every time we had a shower. We tried to get them to fix it but, in the end, we fixed it ourselves with gaff tape!! The public rooms however, had been upgraded & were excellent. Food in the MDR was great, as was the service. The Lido however, was another story. Food was usually cold or luke warm & some of the service attendants less than friendly, so we stopped eating there. The entertainment was OK. Production shows were ordinary & so were the guest entertainers. BB's Blues club band were fantastic but played VERY little blues so we stopped going!! The ports were excellent & the guest lecturer Master Kam fantastic. Also, they are now giving lots on talks with info about upcoming ports which, if you are an independent traveller, is invaluable going ashore by yourself. The ship's shore excursions that we went on were all good. Only problem, of course, is rude inconsiderate people who WON'T be back at the bus at the specified time making everyone else wait for them & losing sightseeing time at the next stop. Read Less

Went on a far east cruise on the Celebrity Constellation. Firstly, our taxi didn't turn up to take us to the hotel for our overnight stay. When asking anyone from Celebrity Cruises they couldn't help us as they couldn't speak English. (we werent the only ones this happened to) While waiting to check in and board ship in Shanghai, we was shunted from place to place with no where warm to sit. (it was very cold) The staff was amazing so no issues there what so ever !!! But the price on board ship was so extortionate. The WIFI and Excursions was so overpriced. If we hadn't got a drinks package in place, I have no idea what we would have done. The ship docked in cargo type docks in the middle of nowhere. So, if you didn't have an excursion booked then you had nowhere to go. We ended up taking two trips just to get of ship. $49 just take us to Danang for a 4-hr trip which got cut to 3hrs which was not good enough for the amount they were charging. We complained and got a 30% refund. The second one was Singapore night at a glance, which most of it was done on foot and cost a grand total of $99 each for 3.5 hrs long trip. They only had American dollars on boardship. They should have had the relevant monies needed for each port docked at. The food on board was mainly rice type dishes and stir fry, very little of anything English. And you need very long arms to get the things from the back in the buffet. Ridiculous to have to pay to go in speciality restaurants. ( Just my opinion) To top it off we had to wait in airport for our flight home for over 12hrs because of turn around. All in all, very disappointing as this was for our 30th wedding Anniversary and my Husbands 60th Birthday. we saved long and hard for it. A big let down !! Read Less

The January 5th Southeast Asia Cruise from Shanghai to Singapore aboard the Sapphire Princess began with the worst boarding fiasco I have ever experienced, and I expect that holds true for most the other 2600+ arriving passengers as well as an untold number of those trying to disembark and catch a flight home. I started to get the impression that this was not going to be a ‘smooth’ embarkation while checking the whereabouts of the Sapphire Princess on the MarineTraffic.com website the morning of our scheduled boarding. Though it was originally due dockside by 7:00 AM, it was listed as ‘at sea’ with a speed of 3 knots. Around 10 AM I received an email from Princess advising of a ‘delayed’ boarding time by two and a half hours. Fortunately, I was able to extend our hotel checkout by two hours along with our scheduled private transfer to port. I consider ourselves lucky, as it was Saturday and the hotel was fully booked for the night. Right towards the end of our ‘extension’ I received an ‘update’ informing us that the boarding time had been ‘pushed back’ by another hour or two depending on cabin location. By that time our room keys did not work and it was too late to reschedule our re-scheduled transfer, so down to the lobby we went. As luck would have it, our driver was 15 minutes early. Weekend traffic was light and we arrived at the terminal at about 4 PM for wat was an original 2 PM boarding that was now pushed out to 5:30 PM. The Sapphire Princess was the only ship docked at the International Cruise Terminal, but our driver was directed to another terminal at the other end of this huge complex. Once inside, we found ourselves amidst hundreds of people waiting in row after row of ‘banquet’ chairs. As we were ‘Elite’ level passengers we were directed to a designated area near the other end of the terminal. Trouble was, there was no one overseeing this area, so there were very few chairs available. We stood. While standing we noticed what appeared to be an impromptu ‘check-in’ area near us consisting of a bunch of folding tables lined up near the escalators at our end of the terminal. They were staffed, but no one was being processed. We wait. As we chatted with fellow passengers, we found out that some had been in this otherwise closed terminal since early morning. Remember we are in China. Our phones don’t work. (who buys a sim-card expecting to be in the country for a day or so?). Google products (gMail, Google Search, youTube) as well as Facebook and Twitter are all banned and blocked in China. Unless you have made prior arrangements through a private VPN, land communication (especially if you have an Android phone) is limited. Your ‘Smart Phone’ is little more than a camera and a calculator. There were a couple of Princess staffers doing their best, wandering the crowd giving any update status they could, but by now there were well over a thousand passengers in queue and the bottom level of the terminal was overflowing. Somewhere around 6:30 or so, they began the ‘check-in’ processing. Mind you, we were merely processed, not boarded. A cruise card was issued, but we were instructed to return to the terminal floor and wait. When we tried to return to the area where we were previously, we quickly noticed there were no open chairs, so Cruise Card in hand we stood and chatted with others in a similar situation. While standing, an official looking gentleman approached us an said it would probably be awhile. It turns out he was one of the Chinese officials in charge of coordinating this chaos. We asked what the problem was, and he related that, though we would probably hear different from Princess, the delay was primarily due to passengers boarded on the arriving Sapphire Princess that did not meet the strict (and somewhat confusing) `144 hour’ Chinese Visa requirements and were not being allowed to disembark in Shanghai. OK, I must admit, we had some difficulty boarding our flight from LA to Shanghai at LAX, but the United Airlines Rep. called the Chinese embassy and made sure our documents and travel plans met the somewhat complicated Chinese criteria before issuing our boarding passes. I guess Princess missed that step. (As it turned out, dozens of passengers were unable to disembark in Shanghai and had to stay onboard for two more days, disembarking at our first port of call, Nagasaki, Japan.) Since the ship was full, I wonder where they slept… Somewhere around 8:00 PM we noticed some passengers being escorted through a door behind the ‘check-in’ area. Though no one had made any announcement, we grabbed our carry-ons and joined in because it looked like they might be headed towards the other terminal where the Sapphire Princess was docked. They were! It was a long trek in the rain to the other terminal, but we were a bit more agile than many and wound up being among the first handful of passengers through Chinese Customs. The queues at that time were minimal and we were on-board before 8:30 PM. Once on-board our first thought was a warm meal, but we were told by our Cabin Steward that there would be a required Muster at 9:00 PM. We wait… Even though we knew that there was no way the passengers would be boarded by then. As we stood on our balcony and watched as the boarding queue on the gangway grew ever longer. 9 PM came and went as the line continued to grow. When the ship was finally boarded, they called for us to report to our Muster Stations. After which, we went to the only venue available for a warm meal… The Horizon Court. As our Muster Station was the Princess Theater (Deck 7, Forward) and the Horizon Court is Deck 14, Aft. When we got there, we joined about 2,000+ other passengers (some of which hadn’t eaten a real meal all day). It was chaos! Lines four wide, out the doors, winding around and past the pool. Once you were able to get to something, there were no open tables or cutlery available to go elsewhere (room?) and find a spot to sit. Things could certainly have been worse. After all, we were inside and there were occasional trays of cookies, plain cheese sandwiches and the random boxes of potato chips, but it certainly was far from ideal or what one would expect from a world renowned international travel corporation and/or a ‘First World’ country trying to promote international tourism. I have waited until near the end of this cruise to submit this recap of an Epic Fail, hoping (expecting?) Princess to offer some sort of ‘compensation’ to offset or appease our ‘day of discomfort’, but none has been offered. I went to the Passenger Services desk to find out the status of the situation and was told ‘It has been reported to the Main Office and we are awaiting a response’. Well, I guess 12 days of no response is a response… Read Less

This was one of the worst cruise I have been on with Royal Caribbean. From the time we arrived at the port. We had to stand for a long period of time in the hot sun before we got to immigration. when it was eventually our turn after about 2 hours waiting, there seemed to be a problem with the visa we were told to get via email from royal Caribbean from the Chinese embassy and no one at the desk seemed to know what they were doing. After about three quarters of an hour we were finished, only to be met with the same problem a little way down the line. I felt no one knew what they were doing. Cabin was really nice at was the stateroom attendant. (best part of this cruise). We went to the Windjammer this was a bad idea to many people and nowhere to sit. food was cold and they seemed to have the same menu every time we went in. A lot of the food was Asian so if you didn't like Asian food there was very little choice. We went to the dinning room service was slow and when we did eventually get our food it was cold. We did not go to breakfast on a few occasions as it was not worth the hassle to try and find a table to sit at. When we did order room service they forgot half the food. Could not book some of the tours as they were booked out. the two tours we did book we spent much of the time on a coach and then in a shopping area. You also had to reserve your shows we saw no shows as again they were booked out. Only available if you paid for them. entertainment was not very good with the exception of two shows. Needless to say I would not do this cruise again and i would definitely not recommend it to anyone. Read Less

Pre-Cruise: We spent 3 nights in Shanghai at Les Suites Orient on the Bund. Great hotel, and amazing views of the Bund from the 20th floor. If you stay there, I recommend a high-floor, Bund view Deluxe room. Shanghai is an amazing city. Very clean. Super modern. No horns honking ($30 fine). Chinese food and drink surprisingly poor with some exceptions, but we had a fantastic time. Did some private tours that really made the experience enjoyable. Transportation: I recommend that you get around by taxi. We took a taxi to the port and it was maybe $25-$30 USD and a similar price from the port back to the airport. You'll probably want to have instructions in Chinese, as most drivers don't speak/read English, but this was convenient and the price was quite fair for the distances involved. Embarkation: Kind of a disaster, really. No porter (we don't travel light), very hot, sweated like crazy, which is not the way I want to start my cruise. Huge lines and the staff outside of the port spoke very little English. They initially directed me to the "foreign passengers" line, which was so long and moved so slowly. Then I saw a line for suites and Jr. suites, so they directed me there, but sent me to the Golden suites line, then shuffled me around some more. A slow, long, hot, uncomfortable and unpleasant experience. Highly disorganized and needs substantial improvement. The Ship: Very clean and modern. Not "elegant" like some of MSC's newer ships, but nice with a lot of technology. Maintenance was quite good. I didn't love the layout of the ship, and maybe it needed more than 2 elevator banks. I only used the ship's Wi-Fi for a day, but it was fast and fairly priced. There was a lot of focus on upsetting, which got pretty annoying. Sanitation was a focal point, which I appreciated. Activities: They offered things like indoor skydiving and Northstar, but with an extra cost, which I didn't love. Otherwise, there weren't a lot of things to do that we were interested in. Entertainment: Limited and not the best. We attended a high-tech show at Two70 which started off bad, but was good in the end. The sound and special effects were as good as I've seen. Quality of performers was good but not great. Overall, not as many quality entertainment offerings as I'd like to see. Passengers: Mostly Chinese, but more Americans, Aussies and Brits than normal. The menu and experience was definitely geared towards the Chinese passengers. Food: Mixed and mostly not in a good way. We had dinner in the Suite restaurant Coastal Kitchen every night. Most of the food was pretty good, but I'd still say below my expectations. The rack of lamb was quite good. Veggies and such, basic and so-so. The same for desserts. They did not often rotate the menu. For example, they used the same menu the first 3 nights and then switched back to it. Sirloin steak mediocre. Ahi Salad had maybe 3 tiny cubes of ahi surrounded by iceberg lettuce. While there's no lobster night (bummer) we ordered it at an extra cost and it was quite good. The food in the main dining rooms was poor. We only ate there for breakfast and lunch, but offerings were quite basic and really outshined by the Windjammer Cafe buffet, which was a surprise. Not only was the food not great, but again, the menu often was not rotated. While we had a nice time, I think it's fair to say the food was below expectations, especially in terms of lunch and breakfast. Lines in the main dining rooms were very long and very slow and all of this wait for a rather mediocre offering without proper menu rotation. Needs improvement. I might also add that there was no coffee in the room. Only 2 bags of Green Tea and sugar. $7.95 charge for room service, which I didn't love. Ports: Only 1 or zero shore excursions offered for most ports. We hired 2 private guides and did the Osaka ship's tour, which we enjoyed a lot. Hard to figure out why they didn't offer many tours. The ports themselves were quite good. We got a hotel and spent the night in Tokyo. But getting off the ship in the first port, Osaka, was a bit of a nightmare, as you have to clear Japanese Immigration, which is quite slow. My suggestions is to try to do the ship's tour on the first Japan stop, as you'll get your immigration clearances done and you'll be the first off the ship. Also, bring a clear copy of your passport because you'll need it. Also, I recommend that you get your cash (Yen) at the 7-11 shops, which are everywhere. Staff: Super friendly and super nice. Great experience with the crew. They have some good people working on this ship. Disembarkation: Far better than embarkation. Waits were reasonable, and fairly well organized, although the taxi situation was a bit disorganized. Overall: We really had a lot of fun. While I've shared some criticisms, I think we got a nice cabin at a fair price and we enjoyed the heck out of ourselves. This cruise truly is a cultural experience. It's not the typical cruise where you go to the Caribbean and pound down rum drinks, but I learned a lot and had a super time. Read Less

We have sailed on the Royal and loved it. We knew Majestic was different as designed for a Chinese market but did not expect how little was avaliable. The Piasa has 3 bars,most closed at 2200. There is no Wheelhouse bar. No casino bar. No Vista Lounge bar. Crooners is a converted high rollers bar which is a thoroughfare from the theatre and had a high screen running through the middle which stopped people seeing the piano. No dance floor. 3 pool bars. Trivia was in Princess live for the first week then moved to Vista. Table service was very slow as crew had to get drinks from the Crown Grill bar. Bingo was an after thought and the first games were a disaster. 1 production show per week. No Night Club. The only dance floor was the Piasa. International cafe is great for a snack and Vines for a drink. The paid French restaurant was a thoroughfare so people walked through as you dined. There was a band who were fantastic who played in various venues including the pool. Varied artists playing piano, singing and violins. Princess staples. Nightlife was centred in the converted Crooners with the fabulous Tonya on piano until 12pm then DJ Chris. Dancing on carpet was a pain. On average the bar closed around 1am. Sanctuary has also been removed and is a public area but get there early as seats are taken early. For those of you who smoke the choice was an uncovered area on 17 which for most of the time was either to hot or a wind tunnel. The other on 7 was semi protected but no chairs. The deck chairs wooden tables were the only seating. Chairs were brought in a week into the cruise. They also opened another area on 17 with tables and chairs plus ashtrays. If you cruise with Princess you are used to multable areas to gather, drink and dance. Majestic has removed most of these. 22 days became very long. If you only want to sit, read this ship is for you. If like me you like to dance this ships not for you. We did have fun and met some amazing people and as bars and entertainment was limited we made our own fun. There is one redeeming feature of Majestic and that was the crew. As the realisation of the many missing Princess staples became apparent and many passengers became disheartened the crew made all attempts to raise the spirit of the ship. We named the ship the Majestic guinea pig as management juggled areas, venues limited as they were and entertainment to try to offer a come back new experience. The load was mainly Australian and as such we like to party. This is not a party ship. Again I cannot fault the crew. Read Less

Have cruised with Princess many times and always had a great time. This new ship was built for the Chinese market at it shows. Poorly staffed, beds too hard, boarding process in Shanghai was abysmal. It did improve as the cruise progressed, but was a really bad start. I would not take Children on a Princess Cruise, average age of passengers is in their 80's. Way too many zimmer frames and wheel chairs and heart attacks and diversions for medical evacuations. That said, the cabin was good, although the mattress was way too hard and was not up to the standard of the promoted Princess Luxury mattress. Dining was fine food was wonderful, not enough staff in the first couple of days. Entertainment was average with only 3 production shows for the entire 22 days. Would I cruise again, yes, with Princess - not sure. They will need to reduce the number of old people first. Read Less

SHIP: We chose this cruise as we had not visited any of the destinations previously, save for Brisbane where we remained on board. The ship is indeed a large vessel, but that's the way its going these days. The crew had been used to servicing Asian customers who generally have a different cultural expectation to that of westerners. There were approximately 2700 Aussies on board with the next group being Americans numbering only approximately 90. I think the crew did a magnificent job accommodating and adapting to the expectations of the Aussie passengers, although it did take a few days. There were many complainers on board that we noticed, but hey as other reviewers of other vessels say, look for the positives and not the negatives. CABIN: We booked M130 a deluxe balcony cabin. This was well appointed, tho a little smaller than the equivalent on Pacific Pearl. Standard features, Large comfy bed and couch with a smallish balcony containing two chairs and a small table. Our cabin Steward was attentive and friendly and provided for all our requests. DINING: We chose anytime dining and the "World Fresh Marketplace" provided a wide and varied choice for all meals. A favorite being the bakery which had a large selection of cakes and sweets to follow your meals with. The other dining choices including Crown Grill and Harmony Chinese were of a great standard and ample food was served at our 2 sittings for each of these. We did not try LaMer simply because we are not fond of French cuisine. The other eateries including Alfredo's Pizzeria and the Burger Bar and International cafe were also of a high standard serving a variety of choices. ENTERTAINMENT & ACTIVITIES: We found the entertainment on-board to be of a high standard. The shows in the main theatre were great. We did not like the american entertainer (pianist) in the crooners bar as she did not know the words to songs she was playing, and repeated the same performance for all 22 nights we were aboard. Also if we wanted karaoke we would have gone else where. Using passengers to supplement her inabilities did not go down well with not only us but others we were sitting near. One of the older american passengers ,named Francine, she used managed to racially slur the whole Asian population and this was inappropriate. Hopefully she will not be aboard any future cruises we undertake. Overall, however, the entertainment standard was high and varied enough to provide a choice every night for the whole 22 night cruise. SERVICE: The crew were impeccable in their willingness to be best with their service. Particularly we would like to mention Nenad in the International Cafe and Sascha in the gift shop. These two gentlemen went out of there way to accommodate requests and help us with purchases on board. All of the crew and hotel staff were friendly and courteous when we needed assistance. A big thanks to the medical staff on board who assisted us with an injury we sustained on the tender transfer into NhaTrang. PORTS & EXCURSIONS: This trip we only took Princess Shore Excursions and we found these to be interesting and informative. Only one tender transfer was required at NhaTrang and although it was hot and humid we managed this without major hiccup. We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise, and yes we were aware of issues at boarding in Shanghai, however this is something the Chinese authorities need to address and Princess need to keep abreast of. We heard many passengers complaining about things that to us seemed insignificant, so again I say look for the positives people not the negatives. If that's what you set out to do you are bound to have a crap holiday. We on the other hand enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and would sail again on this class of vessel if the itinerary appealed to us. Read Less

We chose Majestic Princess again as we had cruised on her maiden voyage a year ago. It's a wonderful ship and there are so many restaurants and bars to visit that you will never be bored. The production shows are some of the best we have seen and the visiting artists were all very good. One of the other reasons we chose this ship was that we were celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary and wanted to do it in style. We opted to do a vow renewal ceremony and we couldn't have chosen a better ship to do it on. The ceremony was amazing; the attention to detail from the Princess staff was simply mind blowing! They brought in fresh roses for my bouquet plus roses and orchids for decoration in the Hollywood Conservatory from Hong Kong where we had docked 2 days before. We were greeted on arrival by all the officers in their dress uniform; our music of choice was playing and our friends were all seated comfortably. Captain Craig Stuart then performed the ceremony and my husband is still convinced that it was better than our wedding in 1968 so that's saying something! If you are thinking of getting married or having a vow renewal ceremony then there is no better place to do it than on a Princess cruise ship! Read Less

From embarcation in Shanghai, where no one from princess could be found. You had to shove and push your way for over 500 metres inside terminal. People in wheelchairs pushing there luggage through the terminal with not even 1 staff member from princess to even tell you you where in the right terminal! No queues, just passengers pushing and shoving. The captain blamed the late arrival of the ship. The real reason, princess crew to lazy to help, and couldn’t be bothered to send anybody to take luggage on outside of terminal , staff to help people to properly que up, or just to direct people to right terminal! Most passengers only found the right terminal because they went to terminal 1 where another ship was embracing passengers. I have to tell you that the 3 terminals are probably 1 kilometre apart!. We took 3 1/2 hours to board, others took up to 5 hours to board. This ship was a nightmare. Don’t be fooled. This ship has no public space to the amount of people she carries. Everywhere you go there are no seats to sit. On sea days you que for everything, from a cup of coffee, which takes more than 1/2 an hour, then you can’t find a seat to sit down..The grand class ship has double the public space than this ship. The food suffers the same problem, they can’t handle cooking for over 5000 thousand every meal. The food in the main dinning rooms and the buffet is very poor quality. Ships have gotten bigger, prices have come down, something has to give? If you cruised 15 years ago, and compare with what you get now. It’s like night to day! The service is exactly the same. How do they find staff for all these ships there building each year. Most of the staff don’t speak English which is a bit of a problem when most of your customers only speak English. The ques at the customers service desk for the first 5 days had to be seen to be believed. They weren’t there to say how good a job they were doing! My balcony door was broken and couldn’t get it to open. It took 3days and several phone calls to staff who barely spoke English, for them to come to fix the door. After reading the reviews on cruise critic about this ship, princess should be ashamed to have this ship in there fleet. To anyone who think this was a good ship,you need to wake up, don’t listen to there crap about how good they are, which they drum into you from the moment you walk on. This cruise is a nightmare! Read Less

We celebrated our 50th with Viking and they took care of us royally. We liked it so much we may take that same cruise again for our 55th. We are impressed with Viking and will travel again with them. We've done one of the European cruises with them and that was also very much a delight. Thank you Viking! Our guide was awesome, I had some medical issues just before we were to leave and he took such good care of the group and made sure that the issues that almost kept us from taking this trip were taken care of in the most discreet ways that no one else knew that I even had any problems. I don't know how that could have been done even if I were home in the US. A special thanks to IOWA.Our accommodations were so nice and those that tended our room were helpful and so professional. The Dining both on board and on our excursions were just above anything we could have hoped for. The food choices, wine pairing and the wait staff( well I wanted to take some them home with us). The excursions were so unbelievable, that one of our traveling companions took notes and could actually write a book. Educational, enlightening, and awe-inspiring. We were just saying today we may take the same cruise again. In all of the areas that are one would give the highest of ranking or stars there was only one that I felt could be added to, the Fitness area. But that is my thing, trying to keep off extra weight when the food is so..so great. Ray and I recommend Viking and their River Cruises highly and we hope to take an ocean cruise with them next year. We have taken other ocean cruises and they were good, but we feel certain that Viking will surpass. Much Aloha, Read Less

We did three consectuive sailings I think though because we were in a suite we didn't need to line up embarkation was super smooth Priority access boarding for suites guests, Pinnacles, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald and Platinum. Gold cards holders could eat at the Coastal Kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you wanted to at no extra charge. Silver card holders could use the Coastal Kitchen for evening Meals. This is a brilliant restaurant with waiter service and everything is cooked freshly for you The Windjammer is very busy but had some nice options. We ate at the Hot Pot twice excellent, Jamies Italian three times excellent, Izumi great choices and Wonderland was great. Disembarkation at the ports was great as well with the conceige escorting you off and back onto the ship. The conceige lounge on deck 12 aft was a littele oasis as well as the Spa I beleive if you are not in a suite you would be pushed and shoved quite a bit. We loved the entertainment and found that most of the shows were in English The cruise Director Kris was hysterical and his assistant Bonnie was absolutely great. We booked a local guide in Shangahi with China Tours also in Nagasaki we found this invaluable and they took us to non tourist places as well We went on the bullet train from Yatsushiro to Kumamoto which took 11 mins a great experience. Overall we loved the ship and all the staff everyone seemed very Happy to help Read Less

We choose this cruise to see the places in Japan and to link it with our extended holiday and to have a very special occasion which is my daughter's wedding ceremony on this cruise. Although the majority passengers were Chinese and they have shown limited regard for personal space, consideration of others and privacy, the services and entertainment onboard Quantum of the Seas were an absolute disgrace. It reminded me on the different "Classes" when traveling by train. The food in the Windjammer buffet was always not hot or cold but room temperature, glasses and cups limited and very dirty. As usual the lack of tables and chairs in the buffet. Entertainment and shows were not in English which is the international accepted language of communication. Other entertainment was non-existing or fully booked. Only one show session per evening. As for the wedding ceremony, the facility was booked but nothing done to make it special. The photographer had no idea of ensuring his camera is nin focus when taking photos for such an important occasion. (this was the whole purpose of our cruise - we were a group of eight adults) Trying to book dinners etc, was not that easy. But thanks to the staff, they made it possible to have a laugh all the time for us! Embarkation and disembarkation were total failures. Disembark 3 hours late due to unexplained reason. Cost us extra to have our our train tickets Changed in Shanghai. RCI will not refund that, nor will my travel insurance, both just passing the ball... No theme nights on the cruise. Read Less

Me and My Husband Decided to travel by RC Quantum of the Seas, on 1st May 2017 for 5 nights. As we entered for check in, the staff pointed out that we had only a single entry visa and we may had to be docked off at fukoaka Japan. We were really upset and proceeded to the Main Lobby Service desk where we met the Assistant Front Desk Manager - Quantum of the Seas, Daniel Pargan. Daniel contacted the relationship mgt team, who further contacted the immigration dept and assured us that we could come back to china and could enjoy all our days on the cruise. This is our 2nd time with RC and first time with Quantum. The experience was a little overwhelming as compared to our time with Mariner as we were not used to the Chinese Way of things. The Star Water show was completely booked for both the days before we could even know of what shows were on. Daniel, again came to our rescue with Booking the VIP seats for us (as the rest were full). Over the 5 days on the cruise ship, Daniel made us feel extremely comfortable and warm. We had literally no words to express our gratitude. Shows & Food: The daily shows on the ship are of good quality and standard. Especially the finale show was beautiful. Go early as people tend to reserve seats nearly 30 mins before the show starts. Our experience with Mariners with regards to the show timing and segregation was more appreciated comparatively. The food at the specialty restaurant is good as well (if you make it through the Crowd).The Windjammer is okay for lunch but should be your last option for dinner, the standard at the WJ was not up to the mark this time around, and we are not sure why. Our Pilipino server at the American Grill was very friendly and sweet. Crowd: The staff onboard were of different cultural backgrounds and we enjoyed the experience with them on varied encounters. The crowd on the cruise in general is 70% Chinese which for some reason felt claustrophobic. Be it while entering a restaurant, at the buffet, at the check-in / checkout lines, or while trying to attend a show. It feels like everyone, at all time, are in hurry. Shore Excursion: We did not take the shore excursion as we like to explore on our own. Fukouka was absolutely wonderful and Kumamoto was so so. Room Service: Our Room Service attendant at 11156 – Lei was absolutely fantastic at his job and also very very cordial. He made us feel at home on the RC. Activities: We Tried the Bumper Cars, Trapeze, Ifly (chargeable), and North Star (shockingly chargeable) & Rock Climbing and a special mention about the trainer/staff Vijay, who was awesome with his advice and encouragement. We also had two drinks at the Bionic Bar just coz we were mesmerized by the technology. If you do come on this ship, you have to try all the activities, they are what makes the ship worthwhile. Room 11156: We enjoyed our room and the view. It was worth the extra bucks we paid. Clean and Spacious. The bathrooms are bigger than that of the Mariner. And The aesthetics are soothing and modern. Closing: The Ship on a whole is mesmerizing, gorgeous, technically mind blowing.We enjoyed our trip coz of the awesome service, out of the way help and warmth of the Crew members, Mr. Daniel Pargan & Lei Thank you for making our first time on the Quantum a memorable one. We would definitely cruise again, hopefully at a different destination. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the cruise line, the ship and the destinations. The Millennium is still good value with a big caveat. Celebrity has installed an outdoor cinema on deck 11 aft. Because of the cold weather we didn't spend much time on the balcony but the cinema was still intrusive. On the balcony or with the cabin door open it was very annoying. For this reason I would not travel on Millennium again which is disappointing becuase we rather liked the old girl. Apart from that, Aqua class on deck 11 is ideal. Blu restaurant is of a high standard but perhaps the menu could be reviewd. Staff were very good and helpful and Fernando has an excellent team. The itinerary was good except for the 3 day stop in Tianjin (Beijing), China. There is nothing in the port area and it is a long way to Tianjin, Tenggu (Yiujapu) and Beijing. Celebrity provided no transport for independent travellers and taxis in the port area are cowboys and not to be trusted. Read Less

We loved the ports of call (except Taipei -- they stop in some industrial port, as Celebrity always does) and we loved the people we met on board. We felt the service was outstanding, and all the ship's crew were very nice, courteous and helpful people. The ship is starting to age massively, however. Also, the food was just completely -- and we're talking COMPLETELY -- mediocre. It was like if you went to a Denny's and ordered a steak. Yes, it looks like a steak, and there's some kind of hard, undercooked vegetable on the plate with it, but it sure isn't what other Celebrity cruises have been like. The food was such a disappointment in the main dining room that if we hadn't had nice people to sit with, we would just have said "why bother" and gone to the buffet for every meal. Another aspect of the trip that was completely mediocre was the music. There is usually a little jazz group here, a DJ there, and so forth . . . this ship had not much of ANYTHING. Sure, they had a totally average little band and singer in the lounge, with no enthusiasm for what they are doing or personality. A few dancers out there. But there was no competent musician to be found anywhere, or even a DJ. The cabin was clean and nice, getting a bit old now, and the cabin steward was terrific. I would not take the Millennium anywhere from now on, until I hear reports that there is a new chef in town and that they have improved the quality of the music in bars and lounges. Read Less

We chose this cruise in order to visit some highlights of Japan. I was expecting that entertainment- shows, movies, spectacles, orchestra as well as the various activities on the ship will be on a high level. Unfortunately, they were not adapted to European or American audience. The main dining room was very crowded and always noisy.Later on we kept dining in the special restaurants that were excellent. I also think that the shore excursions and ports of visit should be better checked before. Kochi for example was a very poor place to stop in. There was nothing to do' especially when we are in such a special and unique country as Japan..Hiroshima and Hatsukaichi were very interesting and beautifulas well as Kobe. I have to say that the room service as well as the staff of the different restaurants , all was very nice, polite and attentive and always willing to help. . Read Less

Unfortunately for us the embarkation was a real big disappointment as it was delayed due to fog for 6 hours but that was a minor setback for our entire cruise journey. Once we were on board the service was excellent, staff was always ready to help at went out of the way to make you comfortable. The variety of dining options was what exactly me and my husband were looking for on our honeymoon and we found it a plenty. Wonderland and Jamie's are must visit restaurants on board. while windjammer gave us a plethora of options my favorite were the desserts, where i was spoilt for options. While we were not interested to visit on of the port we took the opportunity to enjoy an empty ship without the crowds or queues. We had a hot tub just for two of us at the solarium and the best seats at two 70. Would always recommend to fellow crusiers to skip the shore excursions and njoy the ship all for yourself. Looking forward for the next adventure on RCCL. Read Less

The cabins on our ship were always well maintained. We had a great view off our balcony and we could hear the scenery descriptions as we sailed down the Yangtze River. We really appreciated the surprise gifts left in our cabins during our journey. As always we enjoyed the varied Viking menu which included food and beverages native to the areas we visited. The crew put on some outstanding shows and the audience participation was a lot of fun. The stops we made, the excursions and our on board native country guide were all excellent! Our guide was easy to understand and always attended to our every need. We had plenty of time for sightseeing and shopping. And the on board shopping had an outstanding selection as well. This trip also featured an on board tailor so we could special order apparel. My husband, brother, sister-in-law and I would strongly recommend this trip! Read Less

Shanghai is a beautiful city and even more beautiful at night. I would compare the ability to use public transportation (Subway) as easy as it is in NYC, with most everything (street signs, subway communication) written in Chinese as well as English. Most commercial retail, hotels, and landmarks spoke enough English to be able to communicate our needs. We had one good day of sunshine and was able to get out and enjoy a full day of the local sites, the second day was affected by the approaching Typhoons with heavy rain. This didn’t stop us from getting out and visiting a nearby historic Garden/Temple. The thing we quickly learned in Shanghai, is that there are no such things as being courteous, having personal space,waiting your place in line, and speaking at a level that can be heard 50ft away. It was basically a survival of the fittest. Another thing we learned is that selfie sticks are used everywhere, so be prepared to duck as the person walking in front of you decides to take a selfie in the middle of the sidewalk or street cross walks. Cruise onboard the RCCL Quantum of the Seas The day before we departed, we received an email from RCCL (Royal Carribean) that informed us that the 2 Typhoons were headed for Japan, so there would be a change to the cruise itinerary. If you remember my comment earlier about not being respectful about waiting in line, then you can possibly imagine what the luggage drop off and the boarding process were like - uncontrolled chaos. Being that RCCL has been embarking from Shanghai for several months, then it’s very evident that they have much to improve on the boarding process. If it weren’t for the fact that we have boarding priority with RCCL it could have been much more stressful. Once onboard the chaos continued but were able to immediately go to our stateroom, which was crisp, clean, and very comfortable. The new layout, despite it’s appearance, allowed plenty of room for our clothes and a large flat screen television. The downside was the television only had 2 English stations (One was Dreamworks, the other was a movie channel) and anything you wanted to watch on demand was $6-$12. This was a FAIL for RCCL in my opinion. So, we decide to go grab some lunch in the Windjammer and you would have thought it was the last food after the apocalypse. No order, complete chaos, people reaching over your plate to get to the food that we have been waiting our turn to get to, and then finally, no place to sit. Apparently, the Chinese do not believe it eating and then making space for others in the dinning room and it appears that everyone is related in that people will just come and sit at your table and try to take it over. We may have taken it as a friendly gesture, but what were we thinking. They didn't even speak English. Finally they started making announcements to please enjoy the food, but once you are done to please leave. I’ve been on 23 cruises and I have never seen lines to get into the Windjammer to eat any meal, but now I have! So let me go back and remind you that we did receive a notification of the change in itinerary one day before boarding, however we received notice in our room (which is on your television), that due to the change, we could get a full refund if we had decided to cancel, but this was not in the email and a little too late. They did give a partial refund ($700/stateroom) due to the change. The new itinerary was two new ports in South Korea, so we were willing to adapt, however each port only offered 3-4 excursions for ~2700 people. Day 1 (at sea), was raining most of the day, and the indoor activities were mostly limited to shopping extravaganzas, bingo, trivia, and some ship featured activities (bumper cars, roller skating) however, the ones that we tried to do were already full or had an hour wait for a 30 min experience. Day 2 (at sea), more rain and more shopping extravaganzas, more lines to do ship feature activities, bingo, and trivia, more rude people. Day 3 (at sea). after more of nothing to do, trying to get a table for lunch and watching people fight for food in the Windjammer, this was the day we made the decision to book our return flights home at the first port as we were beyond the rude passengers and limited activities. Day 4(at sea), the sun came out so we were able to do the NorthStar, however the Flowrider had a sign stating no more availability for the day and the iFly (skydive tube) had a sign that said it was booked for the rest of the cruise. When we met for the debarkation we were not alone. There were a total of 16 that were getting off, some for medical reasons, but most due to the displeasure with the cruise. Let me clarify that the staff onboard were extremely friendly, polite, and some even made comments that the Asia Cruises are NOTHING like any other cruises they have even experienced from their perspective, referring to the passengers. The Ship: Amazingly beautiful with mix of modern flair and technology for artwork, large touch screen monitors throughout to help find your way around the ships (including room #s). The Bionic Bar can pump up the jam while shaking up a cocktail. Shops are upscale for those that like to buy duty free items. The rooms were spacious and had extra storage with flat screen TVs. Interior rooms have a large monitor (approx 3x4) on the inside wall that is to represent a large window outside (and it’s from a realtime camera), which makes you feel that your not in an inside cabin, as much as when it was just a wall. Royal IQ application and VOOM internet The new Royal IQ, which can be accessed from your mobile device, television, laptop, or any of the many tablets throughout the ship is a great new innovation on the new and upgraded ships with VOOM, high speed Internet. This was a life saver in that we were able to keep up with emails and communicate via FB and it wasn’t a cable connections, but just a few steps below that :) The downside was that being out of the US proximity, several websites were not accessible from “overseas.” The Royal IQ app was nice to book reservations for dinning, however it also allowed you to book other activities and by day 2-3, everything was booked for the week for most all of the exciting additions to this Genesis class ship (NorthStar, iFly, Flowrider). There are many stations around the ship to use this but you can also use your television, mobile device, or laptop. SportPlex: Very innovative use of space. You can play basketball, soccer, volleyball, rollerskating and bumper cars all in the same arena while enjoying a hotdog from the SportPlex hotdog stand. The second floor is just on the outside of the open area where you can watch the activities while playing XBOX, table tennis, or fuzzball rain/or shine and with a cocktail. Onboard activities: Approx 40% were shopping sales on the Promenade in the middle so it was like trying to maneuver through a shopping mall on Dec 24th. Usually 3 movies per day (2 outside day/evening and 1 inside in one of the lounges. Several trivia games at a bar, and karaoke. Overall, the activities line up was not attractive to us. Dining: We ate mostly at Chops. Where it used to be one price for anything on the menu, they have now started charging an additional fee of $18-$30 (in addition to $30/pp fee) for lobster or prime aged cuts >12 oz. The 10 oz NY strip I got, looked like it was the same steak served in the dining room. The atmosphere was nothing compared to fine dining by our standards. Kids running around and playing hide and seek around other guests, loud conversations, people stretching out at the tables. We tried Jamie’s Italian one night. This was not our typical Italian Restaurant. It was more of an Italian pasta with seafood infusion served with baked french fries. Still full of small children running in between and around tables while parents eat their meals, disregarding the fact that this restaurant is not a playground and that other people may be trying to enjoy a nice dinner. RCCL did nothing to stop or diminish this behavior. Windjammer lunch and breakfast: Complete chaos and like a feeding frenzy that would scare a great white shark away. The food was not that good when we could find something of the non asian cuisine. (Note: in the chinese culture, they don’t believe in deboning anything prior to cooking, so the chopped up chicken was full of bones) RCCL was not encouraging passengers to wash there hand or use the Purrell dispensers. You would think they learned from several other stomach virus outbreaks on previous cruises. We disembarked at the first port (day 5) and returned home due to the new itinerary, limited onboard activity options (which was affected by the passengers and ability to book reservations your entire cruise activities on day 1), and the culture of the majority of the onboard passengers. Spa Service The spa staff were extremely nice, however they didn’t speak much English. I had a 75 min massage that lasted 57 mins from the time I was escorted back until the time I was presented the bill. The “deep tissue” was not so deep despite several requests to press harder. The music in the room cut off about mid way so the sound of the gym with treadmills and running track above became more apparent. They masseuse said she couldn’t control the music from the rooms. When I addressed the issue at the desk, they offered to take me back in and give me 10 more mins of massage vs crediting my bill the difference of a 55 min massage. Shows: We only wanted to see the Cirq style show and we could not get reservations to any of the 3 nights at sea it was showing. The Pools: One pool outside with a child splash wading pool next to it. One indoor solarium pool that was very nice especially during the many rainy days. Then the front Solarium that is restricted to 16hr or older, but didn’t keep them from allowing their children to play in the pool, and was not enforced by the RCCL staff. So basically there are no Adults Only areas. Overall: Royal Carribean is built an incredible ship with lots of features that need to be tweaked in order to allow people to enjoy their cruise without having to plan everything the first day and then be held to a time schedule in order to make use of all the amenities. After all, isn’t that the purpose of a cruise is to relax and not have to worry about the time. Great use of space for multipurpose events indoor and out. The staff were always smiling and willing to help with questions and issues, however there were some areas where they didn’t understand the concerns due to language barrier. So to summarize, we would not recommend traveling all the way to China, just for a cruise as the itinerary is subject to change and there isn’t a lot of options to go in the vicinity of Shanghai. Be prepared for the loud talking, splitting in public areas (and from down deep in the lungs, people!), cutting in front of you, and not being respectful, to the point that it makes our society look civilized. Read Less

This cruise was all about the crew and how they made our journey truly memorable. Out of the 10 cruises we have done with RCI, this was the one where we experienced the best service and the greatest attention to detail and customer satisfaction from the crew. So a big thanks and a big round of appreciation to the following RCI Quantum of the Seas crew: - Deepak, Igede and Maricriz on Coastal Kitchen. You were all truly amazing and we will never forget the way you greet, treat and serve your guests. I hope to see you again in the near future. - Fatima on Sorrento's. Thanks for looking out for us during late hours every night, and thanks for your great midnight stories. - Zhen on Wonderland. We had many requests that night, and you delivered on all of them without any hesitation. We enjoyed your company and wish you the very best for the future - Wendy, the Concierge. Always helpful, always a smile, no request too much or too little. Thanks for enhancing our cruise experience, and by far the best Concierge we have met on RCI so far. - Jason on Schooner. Thanks for greeting us every day and thanks for following up on our drink requests. - Sang, stateroom attendant. Great work man, always a smile, keep it up. This was one of the first cruises in Asia for Quantum, so definitely there are areas which are up for improvement. To mention a few from top of my head: Check in was a mess, even for suite guests. RCI did not know where to appoint guests. Luggage delivery to crew was just a big mess. Some of the entertainment were definitely below par. Cruise director was just ok. Few and expensive shore excursions. Overall, we are very happy with our cruise experience. Read Less

Reading other reviews I went in with an open mind. I think some of the previous reviews been right out racist. And for your information I'm mixed Thai and Swedish. The embarkation and the passport control was swift at all ports, considering the number of people going on or off the ship. At the check in I got a glimpse of the nationalities list, there were litterarly more than 99% Chinese nationals. Due to this a lot of differences to your regular RCCl cruise: First there are only open seating in the MDR, according to the waiter it's because the Chinese come in diferent sized groups daily,thus you will get different waiters each day. You'll be alone in the bars, except for a few Chinese playing cards. I asked the bartenders how many drinks they made per night during Shanghai cruises, the answer was five a night, and I truly believe them. As the Chinese don't seem to be interested in drinking the beverage packages are heavily reduced (US$29 for ultimate package), but this doesn't help. And it was sad watching the bar artists playing their tjnes for me alone, or for a Chinese crowd making noise playing cards. The menus throughout the ship are different from the regular RCCl menus, with only a few western food items. The first day in MDR the food was horrenderous, but the other days ok (we ate mainly western food), although the vegetables was bad during the whole cruise and the rice always overcooked according to Thai and Swedish standards, but I've noticed that in China they seem to cook it that way. The entertainment was aimed for Mandarin speaking guests, which ment that we were left out a lot of the times. Finally, the cruise was barely ok, if you happen to live in Shanghai then go, but if you've tried cruising before you will be dissapointed. RCCl should consider pulling out of China so that it won't drag down standards and the reputation of the company. It is also clear that the Chinese audience are not interested in the usual cruising experience. If the RCCl so badly want a share of the Chinese market they should create a separate daughter company under a different name aiming for the Chinese market. Read Less

The first cruising trip with my boyfriend. We were so excited for it. This was something we longed for a very long time. A 6D5N trip, from Shanghai to Nagasaki and Kobe is our choice. We booked for a balcony cabin because of the limited budget. Both of us believed in an old saying in Chinese: a buck in exchange of a buck’s worth service. So we didn’t expect much. In contrast, the sea view turns out to be absolutely stunning!! We had a great time spending overnight in the balcony. We watched the sunrise with the dolphins swimming. The buffet area was filled with sea and sky view. In fact, we enjoyed the view more than the food. The food was not bad though. They was traditional Italian dessert called “Cannoli” which I love the most! If you like to eat dessert, you couldn’t leave without eating it in the Club Restaurant. Swimming alone was always a precious sport to pursue. I went to the swimming pool 30 minutes after the meal. I felt flesh and blood after exercises. So did my mind. I didn’t remember the route to get to my room! I got lost! Haha. Fortunately leading the way back to my room was part of the customer service. The staffs was nice enough to lead me until I set foot in the door. We went offshore and had a One-Day Tour in Nagashima. The atmosphere and clean environment in Nagashima were excellent. There were so much entertainments to we could do in the ship. Live music, Opera each night after dinner, art and craft sessions. We joined the Captains Night once. We got dressed up and showed off. LOL. This was our first taste of cruising. After all, we felt great and would definitely bring my parents next time and let them feel how relax I felt this time. After this trip, I concluded who suitable for cruising trip. 1. People who won’t have seasick: you could feel the cruise shaking 2. Family trip with seniors: you don’t need to spend too much energy on moving from one spot to another. Keep packing and unpacking the luggage is tedious thing to do.   Read Less