Other (Asia/Africa/Middle East) Cruise Reviews

It was overall a good experience with seasoned staff who were personable and helpful.  This ship is soon to leave the RCL Fleet and in desperate need of an overhaul before it starts with the Thompson Charter group.  Food was ok and cabin was comfortable though the mattress should be thrown overboard and a new one bought.  :)

Cruising with Oceania was FABULOUS....The Staff COULD NOT HAVE BEEN NICER....Entertainment was good, especially the Nautica Singers.  The food was good, but not excellent.  Our stateroom was very clean.  It was an Amazing experience to travel to parts of South Africa.  We especially loved Cape Town.

We choose this cruise because of the ports and tours.  We did a tour in every city, so did not do a lot on the ship.  We liked the smaller ship, but were a little disappointed overall.  We have been on larger ships and this is billed as the top of the line and we just didn't see it.  We had not cruised for 13 years, so maybe the next level is not as good now as it was then.  If you like the iteniary, the tours and guides are fabulous.  It is also fun to meet people from all over the world!

First, I would like to begin by saying that in 2014 I took a Viking cruise in Europe, and decided that they would be the company to take me to China.

in Shanghai we were divided into groups, with a tour guide.  Throughout the trip, we remained I. The same group with the same tour guide.  On the ship, we were all together, of course, but out guide accompanied us oh all tours.  There was also s local guide on each tour.

This is an excellent system, as our guide managed and looked after many things, both on land and on the ship.

we found our cabin to be very spacious.  The people who worked o. The ship were fabulous, worked extremely hard to please us, and always had a smile on their faces.  They also provided many nights of entertainment for us.  Unlike Europe, they were not able to bring on local entertainers, so they did the entertaining themselves, and put their heart and souls into it.

We saw many interesting things on our tours, in an attempt to show us as much as possible of the cultural aspects of China.  I certainly feel that we hit most of the highlights.

My wife Ann and I have been on several river cruises in many parts of the world.  We have never experinced a group of river cruise employees who went above and beyond to make sure that we enjoyed our time on their ship.  Every time we turned around, from Captin to waiter we were meet with a smile and freindly greeting.  We wil ldefinately be traveling with AMA again.  I would be amiss if I didn't single out Terry and Dulli, our Myanmar tour directors, for their knowledge and freindlyness. 

The ports of calls were great. One week went by very quickly. This trip was unique for us as  we had o

one sea day and rest of the time were busy taking in the sights. We were able to visit historic,religious 

sites and beautiful beaches.  The passengers represented different ethnic groups. The Cruise line was sensitive to the needs of the guests with different backgrounds. 

We also saw some variation in the entertainment provided using local talents.

I highly recommend this itinerary,only wished it was ten day cruise. I could have done more shopping.

The trip was well coordinated.  Service was excellent.  No complaints. I will do this again. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

The itinerary was great!!  But the new RCL seems to just view the cruise as a platform for selling stuff.  The internet packages were outrageous and you had to purchase them in blocks (30 min or days).  You could not just buy some minutes use them during the entire cruise like before.  Also the soft drink package is outrageously priced.  We tried Chops and the Italian specialty restaurants.  They have really cut back and I could not get a medium steak cooked correctly in either one.  (I am not picky - I order medium in hopes of getting anything between medium well and medium rare!  If you want a good steak in Chops you have to pay an extra $20 surcharge on top of the $30 surcharge you already paid!!  Even the hamburgers were much smaller.  Very little in the way of port, cultural or educational lectures (the poorest of my experiences) and the one lecture they did have was always scheduled very early  in the morning so the ship could sell drinks via bar games and spa treatments during prime time.  Speaking of the time,  time changes were done in the middle of the day (noon) instead of midnight.  Very confusing and it shortened the daytime and always confused lunch in the dining rooms. (I  guess this reduced the need for day time entertainment of which there wasn't much and maintained the drinking during the night!!  And there was sickness.  They were scrubbing the ship 24 /7.  Mediocre food in the dining room for the most part.  We did enjoy the breakfast buffet and the lunch salad bar in the dining room.  The buffet on deck 11 had very good food with a wide variety but with much repetition.  The service was very good -  the crew really does  its best for the passengers.  But the WOW factor for me is:  WOW what happened to RCL???

Everything in the ship is excellent except the experience of dealing with people who are in charge of visa/access entry. Most of passengers in this group are Chinese citizens and elderly with age over 80 who have applied all necessary visas and access entry before departing. However the people who are in charge of verifying the documents didn't collect them in the beginning and called elderly in the mid of first night after long & exhausted travel from China. They had very bad attitude and horrible warning if they don't come down to deliver the documents right way and they would be punished. It was the first night and left very bad memory to our guests.

The cruise was very relaxing and I was impressed at how smooth all the days at sea were. Been on many cruises with different cruise lines and usually there is at least one not so smooth sea day. I was glad that Captain did the safe thing and did not go to Israel, however we were very disappointed. They kept us well informed on what was going on both with not going to Israel and what we needed to do if there was a pirate attack.The excursions that we took were good and informative. The disembarkation was not pleasant.

it is a worthwhile cruise to take. We enjoyed Dubai and stayed a couple of days before we flew home. We could have used at least a couple of more days.

Compensation for missed ports should be increase. Should have more activities during the day.  Need to improve the quality of food.  Could not rate Israel because it was a missed port.

The room and the staff throughout the ship were wonderful. The food was just ok in the MDR however, Chops and Giovanni's Table were excellent.  The sushi restaurant was way over priced and not good.  We spent a lot of time at sea and there was not enough to do during the day.  It got boring.  The ports were great however Israel was cancelled for political problems and violence so we really only went to 2 ports on a 14 day cruise.  That was disappointing but the safest option.  The cruise line did give us a $150 on board credit for the cancellation of the port. There also was a problem with 'pirates' in the gulf of Aden.  This meant that for the 4 nites we were in the area we had to keep our balcony and curtain closed and we could go out on deck.

 The ice shows were really great but the regular entertainment was just ok.  They had some fun 'parades' on the promenade- 70's and british invasion.

Guest services went over and above to help me with a lost luggage problem.

Cruise was interesting due to the itinerary.

Very disappointed at not being able to visit Israel, due to the hostilities in that country.

Attentive crew, good food, happy atmosphere.

There was limited use of the on-deck facilities during the sailing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.  For security reasons passengers were not allowed on decks or balconies between sunset and sunrise.  This certainly meant that the cruise line could not meet the expectations of it's passengers.

Would have liked more commentary when transiting the Suez Canal - we did not know what we were observing.  Also much better maps should have been displayed both on the tv channel and in public areas for this type of cruise.

Internet was expensive and ineffective.

Entertainment superb as always.

Disappointed that there were no lectures and presentations telling the history of the ports we were visiting.

Overall, my wife and I like the ship, clean, comfortable, excellent food and room service. I can recommend to all my friends the wonderful experience we had. Everyone on the ship board from room service to food servers was courteous, friendly and very accommodating. I will make sure we will cruise again with Royal Carribean.  However, shopping time on land excursions was too short and limited.

In a few words it was a nightmare. We not only detour from original planned destination but we ended in a comercial port at Korea where everyone was unprepared to received trourists. Food was distastful, got food poison at the ship reported to guest services. 80 % of the passengers were comoplaining protests were made every night in the ship. We were unable to shop or enjoy our staying at the ship. Our suite did not have TV or cable, toilet was leaking or cloged. Fortunately we bought another room and were able to use toilets. Among other unpleasant experiences we had. Please provide an adress were I can write in detail all this terrible experience we had. 

The ship is old and needs refurbishment (a thorough cleaning won't suffice). Staff is attentive and friendly, which helped to make up for what the ship lacked. Musical group was comparable to most junior high school performers.  Food was decent and tasty, and the menu was sufficiently varied although it would have been nice if the local port dishes had been featured for a fuller experience of the culture. The captain was friendly and approachable, and two bar servers (Maria and Laila) made every encounter with them an entertainment opportunity. 

Overall, I will recommend this cruise to my friends and relatives. I would like to commend the waiters (Jonard & Wei Lei) , bartenders, our room attendant (Katut), the cruise director and entertainers (Chris & his people) for doing their excellent services during our cruise. The following improvements are needed: (1) Hongkong embarkation is very dis-organized. No formal instruction for the passenger where to fall in line and it was a mess. (2) Due to limited number of local boats, the cruise excursion in Puerto Princesa requires a coordination between the tour director and the local people involved in the subterranean river excursion. There's not enough boats to accommodate the influx of tourist and we have to wait for hours under the heat of the sun in humid environment resulting the delay of our arrival in the ship.

With the exception of the continual and endless Japanese ,Korean, and Soviet immigration and customs examinations, the Japan cruise on Diamond Princess was wonderful .The Japanese people are warm, friendly and welcoming.  From the room steward thru the dining room staff, the crew was eager to please and they did an exceptional job.  Having so many Japanese touches including foods, cultural folkloric shows, etc. was wonderful. The shows had a top flight singer, pianist and the excellent zany duo-Mr. and Mrs. Smith!  Hopefully Princess will slightly alter the itinerary so that pax will not have hours wait for laborious customs and immigration process. Tours were missed and ran very late due to the in and out itinerary from Japan to Russia and Korea.  

Well, the bed was very comfortable and so was the cabin. The ports of call were also fun and the the excursions that I set up exclusive of those offered by the ship were great. The food in the main dining room was also very good. But that's were the good ended. The bad? The staff of the ship. The cruise drirector needed a personality replacement. I've been on other cruises where they have been much, much better. This guy, needs to learn to say something other than "how are you doing tonight?" or "did you enjoy the show?" Do you want smoked salmon in the Windjammer on the beginning of the cruise? Sorry, that's against policy. Although it did show up later in the later in the cruise. Did policy change somewhere in the middle of the South China Sea? Want a pancake that doesn't resemble something like a hockey puck? That, too, was an impossibility. Inconsistent food quality was a hallmark of the Windjammer.

Ah and now the very, very ugly...How about a a few rude crew members? Yes, they were in attendance on this ship of fools. How about a tendering process that must have been organized by a ten year old (no insult to ten year olds intended)? That's right...waiting in the hot sun for over an hour to get on a tender back to the ship on two separate occasions. NO apology even. You'd think these guys would have that down to a science by now. 

Think of complaining and getting and getting any kind of apology? Forget about it. They couldn't care less. And how about $36.00 for a 24 hour internet connection? I don't know what you would call that but where I come from I call it a Royal Ripoff!

I have taken many diferent cruises over the last twenty years and many on Royal Carribean and this one has to be the worst ever. It will make me question whether to take another Royal Carribean ever again. 

Excellent cruise overall.  The destinations are fantastic.  India is a little tough to get into with all the paperwork, and you thought it was complete once you got your Visa...so wrong.  However even with the additional bureaucracy India is worth the visit, just be patient you will get ashore.  

When you get to Dubai, take your own tour At the Top, it will cost you more then the ships excursions but you will be glad you paid the extra money http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/observationdeck/ticketinformation.aspx  "At the Top, Burj Khalifa SKY Ticket"