Other (Asia/Africa/Middle East) Cruise Reviews

So impressed with our cruise on Eclipse in 2015, booked on Millenium for SouthEast Asia from Hong Kong to Singapore via Vietnam & Thailand. Sadly, Millenium is not the Eclipse.

All the staff are helpful, customer oriented and cheerful. Some of them go out of their way to give customer satisfaction and even though we pay gratuities up front, several crew members impressed so much we gave extra cash tips. We don't mind if that is their intention but if someone looks after us extra well, we are happy to show our appreciation.

Embarkation procedure was faultless. Took 20 minutes from arriving to actually being on board. Rooms are not available until 2pm ish as always - no problem. So its a good opportunity to explore the ship, deck by deck and learn where all the facilities are. It was during this exploratory exercise that our first concerns were raised. It is the general careworn condition of the ship. As an example, having wandered about for an hour or so, we stopped in the Rende-Vouz bar for a drink and immediately noticed that not one of the lamp shades over the bar was intact. Everyone is broken or tatty. This causes you to start looking at everything with more attention to detail. Also, having presented our seapass cards for our drinks we were then subjected to an 'upsale' dialogue from the barman. We had taken the Classic package which more than cater's for our requirements but the barman was almost dismissive about its quality and did press us for sometime to upgrade. Clearly on commission! Part of his diatribe was that bottled water was not included in our Classic package. For two days we did not order bottled water because of his remarks. Turned out that premium bottled water such as Evian or Perrier are not included but lesser brands are. This misinformation and other lack of communication on various issues became a gripe of ours throughout the cruise. An example of this - we were required to surrender our passports to the ship for our immigration into Vietnam, Thats OK, its a normal requirement. We needed to retrieve our passports for our visit to Bangkok as we were disembarking for the night and staying over in the city. The info we were given was that we could collect our passports from 7pm to 9pm the night before. Question, what are most people doing between those hours? Either getting ready for dinner or at dinner! What a dumb time to arrange for this to done as I told the Customer Relations desk during the afternoon and I was very blunt about it and said it was not convenient. Oddly, later that afternoon, a note was passed around the ship advising passengers who could not collect their passports at the allotted time could do so at theit leisure. This is just one example of organisation that was always in the favour of ease for the ship - not the passenger - the paying customer. Everything seems to be angled towards making the passengers carry out their own tasks at their own expense of precious holiday time. Can you imagine hundreds of passengers during a two hour time period trying to retrieve their passports at the same time? No thought was given to this as I pointed out to them.

Again, and this is just another example of lack of info and poor organisation.

Upon arrival in Singapore, passengers were advised at around 8,30 am that immigration had cleared the ship and people could start to leave the ship. Then the messages startde over the tannoy systemj. Due to long queues, disembarkation was taking a while and would passengers be patient. This went on for 4 hours. The real reason for the delays is that Singapore immigration allow only 50 people off at a time for the purpose of checking passports and completing landing cards. Were we told - No. But this is standard procedure in Singapore and therefore Celebrity staff must know this as they are in and out of Singapore regularly. But it suits them to have passngers standing around in corridors and gangways for hours rather than give passengers tickets with a disembarkation time. Holiday time is precious and we do not go on holiday to stand about in queues just to make life easy for the cruise company. There are other examples but the above should be enough to make any potential cruisers aware and to ask questions about arrangements the ship make for you.

The food - oh dear! Oceanview on deck 10. Poor selection, poorly prepared and mostly boring. Not a patch compared to Eclipse - unless of course its policy throughout the fleet now and the food we experienced is the same on all Celebrity ships. The Select Dining lounge fare is better but had a couple of bad meals in their also. Speciality Dining - absolutey no problems but then @ $50 per head thats a given.

Other general comments - rust and flaky paint all around, spilt paint on balcony glass screens, doors hanging off wardrobe, TV made an annoying buzzing sound. Just generally 'tired.'

Planning to cruise on Eclpise to the Baltic from Southampton - watch this space!

This was a return cruise on the Millennium after sailing on her in January 2016. I'm sad to say that the attention to detail to detail and food quality and presentation has dropped in that time.

on two occasions we had bugs in our food - once was in a salad in the main dining room, and when the salad was sent back to the kitchen for a replacement, the replacement also had bugs. The third salad was fine. We had an apology sent to our cabin of four small under-ripe strawberries dipped in chocolate (I would have preferred a verbal apology). The second occasion was weevil bugs in the cereal in the Oceanview Cafe - an apology on the spot, but no further acknowledgement that the issue had been addressed.

This was a Holidays sailing, so we were on board for Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years. Previous Christmas sailings with Celebrity had seen them go all out with the food with a Christmas Day brunch in the dining room with Ice Sculptures and various food stations, with egg nog avaialable. This time saw nothing on the menu for breakfast or lunch that was remotely Christmas related, and there was only turkey on the dinner menu that was close to Christmas- not even any Christmas pudding available for dessert. Even the OceanView Cafe didn't have any special display of cakes to show it was Christmas. The only thing food related was a display of gingerbread houses at the entry to the OceanView and on the Grand Staircase but they were there all cruise.

We had also booked for the New Years Eve dinner in Tuscan Grill, which was sold as a special five course event and priced accordingly at $99 pp, but the whole evening was rushed like they were trying to get us out as quickly as possible (we were out in an hour and a half!). The only dish worth mentioning was the steak which was cooked to perfection and just melted in the mouth, the lobster on the other had was like rubber.

In general, none of the food across the ship wowed us like it had on our previous 10 cruises with Celebrity, and it feels as though they are starting to wind the ship down for retirement once the new Celebrity Edge ships are launched.

Bar staffing seemed very disorganised as well, and there was always a significant wait for drinks and understaffing in key areas - eg inadequate bar staff in the theatre before shows, inadequate staff in the martini bar prior to dinner seatings, and rarely enough Pool Bar staff on sea days, however if you went to less populated areas, such as lounges during sea days, they had more than enough staff - some readjustment of rosters in required. It may also be related to the fact that they are now including the drinks packages, so don't want to make it too easy for people to get a drink.

on the positive side, cabin staff were excellent. Celebrity have recently changed their staffing in this area with a single cabin steward responsible for a smaller number of cabins (rather than a Head Steward and Assistant responsible for a larger number). This works well, and you get to know your Steward much better, and they are responsible for all things cabin related. The Chief Housekeeper - Mila, was exceptional. One of the port days saw a large number of passengers return to the ship just as a downpour of rain hit. As they were queued to reboard, she was running out with umbrellas and towels just to keep everyone as dry as possible for their comfort - she was saturated in the process, but this is the type of service we have grown to appreciate from Celebrity in the past - I just hope it returns to other areas of the ship.

loved the ship ! it was a family holiday in [ mini suite] only complaint was cabin attendent !! very slack !! toilet had urine smell when we entered the cabin chip crumbs on balcony !! personal items left behind by past passenger in drawers under bed !! soooo not a nice welcome !! to cabin at a price of $6000 !!!! mmm dissapointing !! and my bed was broken so had to get that seen to !! so after all that was fixed we enjoyed the trip !! he was the worst attendent i had ever had !!

The time in the ports of Dubai and Abu Dhabi was enough to see the important stops, Grand Mosque is positively a must see and the Burj Khalifa at the top is worth the height!  To caution you, you will spend a lot of time getting between places in Dubai because of heavy traffic, so go the popular sights early! Lots of time spent waiting in traffic.

The Oman stops of Muscat was not worth the stop, all the sights ie Sultans Palace and Forts built by the Portuguese are not open to see inside, you can walk around but you can't see inside.  We took the Hop on Hop off bus 2 hour ride and no really good stops. It did not stop at the beach or near the Grand Mosque. so it takes a cab ride back to both and could be costly.  

The Fjords in Khasab Oman was a nice boat ride, saw some dolphins, went to telegraph island, sailed past some very small villages. Bring some good binoculars as you are not allowed to get very close to shore to see.  At telegraph island, they tie up for about 45 minutes and you can get off and snorkel if you want. 

After the Dhow cruise we took the shuttle from port into town $10, save your money there is nothing there....we did not get off the bus and went back to the ship

 Oh and be careful of the Taxis, get a set price before you get in the cab.  We got stung on one in Dubai at the Port.  We got spoiled in Abu Dhabi they all were metered .

The staff in the Blu were Fantastic!  Wilmer, Novi and Patricia very enjoyable

a very nice roundtrip with my family Dubai etc is beautifull

Just the most memorable cruise ever. A fantastic friendly buzz round the ship. Lovely ports of call but the Suez Canal transient was the highlight! Great ship staff and entertainment

Barcelona to Dubai  Just bad Agree with all the bad reviews. Newly refurbished ship with newly refurbished staff. Odor from the wet rugs and toxic fumes- sinus condition for 4 weeks and still have it. Tour guides awful- disembarkation awful Pre cruise hotel awful. This was just a horrific experience. Tour to Luxor cowboy driver. 3 hours- Everyone was afraid to get up and use rest room. I tried and almost fell- and I have great balance- Hubby threw up and missed first tour day recuperating. Disembarkation awful experience. Promised late transfer but did not happen. Was told if I dont like it to take a taxi and use the elevator to haul own luggage. And they make a 300% mark up on the pre cruise hotel. I was forced to do private tour at one port for $899 and the  private guide made $350 and had to pay hts overnite so he was left with $150. Awful--I could go on and on. Never told us it was a newly refurbished ship. They know cruise experts warn against that. They asked for time to get better- Yeah for that price I was not pleased to be the training program. Ugh stay away

Firstly the positives:

1. Blu restaurant was the highlight of the cruise: the service, cleanliness, friendliness and food was superb.  2.  Gym equipment excellent

Negatives unfortunately are many... Briefly as below:

1.  No Drinks package listed on arrival 2.  Incorrect advice on Whisky prices on Day 1  3.  No onboard voucher book ever received 4.  Phone broken 5.  Light in entrance to stateroom broken 6.  Shower had not been cleaned from previous cruise - I had to request on arrival 7.  1 pair of slippers  for 2 guests and state attendant said this was correct 8.  Shower extractor filthy for entire duration of cruise - 2 weeks 9.  No vanities replaced in bathroom nor facial spray or top ups done without request. 10.  2 bathroom towels only provided 11.  Bathroom superficially cleaned daily - I eventually gave up and did a thorough clean myself as necessary. 12.  Sheets not changed as necessary when not clean ie bed sheets - I inquired and was told that on a 2 week cruise this should be done 3 times. 13.  Balcony  rusted at sliding door and never mopped or cleaned - done on second to last day on my request- ship was recently in dry dock but this was not very obvious. 14.  Glass sliding door from bedroom never cleaned 15.  Linen frill around bed base torn and dirty 16.  Horrendous sewerage odour in passage outside our cabin area for 2 days. 17.  Breakfast buffet on 11the floor not very hygienic - spoons slopped into different foods carelessly - staff sloppy and untidy particularly on sea days 18.  On previous Celebrity cruises  there was no extra charge for certain gym classes eg Zumba, Yoga, .. Surprised to see that these were now charged for. 19.  Second to last day room not cleaned until I requested 20.  I needed a 10min app with the doctor ... This cost $150.00 plus $150.00 for medication 21. On previous cruises the staff were constantly cleaning railings etc - this I observed once on this cruise. 22.  Vietnam visa - it was unnecessary to spend the time and money on obtaining a visa in Pretoria before the cruise as on arrival we were told that a group visa would be issued at the cost of $6.00 per person!!!!  This seems to be another point were Celebrity is just adding costs at every opportunity .  Obvious in the constant upselling pressure. We had to courier my passport to Pretoria and pay a high visa cost and this proved to be totally unnecessary. Surely agents should be advised of this service?? 23. Docking towns were insanely far from cities and travel times to sites on ridiculously wild roads took hours. Luckily we organized private tours as the ship excursions were criticized by guests. 24.  The Persian Garden is an unattractive, unappealing afterthought built with no windows and certainly does not look like the brochures or the other ships. We did not therefore use this perk as we have done previously. 25.  The enormous overhang turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it protected us from the sun and the rain☺️☺️

Unfortunately as you see the negatives were many and we could not wait for the cruise to end. We were so disappointed that we have decided not to do any cruises for the  foreseeable future and if we do cruise again we will certainly not travel Celebrity again.

We have received a voucher of $ 500.00 from Celebrity for the initial beverage and state of the room problems but after a few days we decided to just let things be and not get involved or complain about all the issues. It appears that handing out vouchers is common practice to placate guests and hopefully get them 

We cannot believe the sheer, bare-faced arrogance of Princess cruises claiming over and over to be “The consummate host”

Do any Princess staff even know the meaning of the word “CONSUMMATE”? (i.e. “showing a high degree of skill and flair; complete or perfect”)

Despite being in business for many years, Princess appears to have learned little if anything about customer service or skill or flair and are nowhere near “complete or perfect” as they so arrogantly claim.

The naked and insatiable greed and grab for every possible dollar by Princess, coupled with their sheer arrogance, is really breathtaking!

It would take us some hours to list all the issues (from a customer’s viewpoint) that need immediate addressing by Princess, but here are just a few to start with, just off the top of our head:

UPGRADING TO MINI SUITE:

When we originally booked the cruise, we wanted a mini-suite but were told there were none available.   While in UK, we were told by your Southampton office that mini-suite A329 on Dolphin deck was available and an approximate upgrade cost would be around AUD$2,500.

We were told that we would have to contact Princess in Australia as that was where our booking was originally made.  This was where we found out that if in UK or Europe, it was impossible to call Princess Australia as all calls were diverted by Princess to Southampton office.

Not to be deterred, we then emailed Princess Australia who replied that the cost to upgrade to the mini suite would be AUD$11,640

When we told Princess what to do with their AUD$11,640 upgrade, they replied that they would do it for AUD$2,000 provided that we called them on a 13 number within 24 hours (Impossible from outside Australia and they knew we were then in UK).   Well, by the time we did contact them (through the kind help of a Southampton offices staff member’s friend in Australia) Princess told us that we hadn’t replied within the 24 hours demanded by them and consequently the mini suite was no longer available to us.

COST OF CRUISE DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU BUY IT !

As if this experience wasn’t bad enough, during the cruise a fellow passenger from UK asked how much the cruise had cost us.  When we told them AUD$20,000 plus they gasped – they only had to pay the equivalent of AUD$16,000 for the same cruise.   An American passenger present then advised us that they had paid a little over AUD$12,000 for the same cruise that we were all currently on

There’s a lesson here, never buy a Princess cruise in Australia – much cheaper if you buy in UK or better still in USA ! ! !

INDIAN VISAS

We were told by Princess prior to the cruise that we would be denied boarding if we had not obtained a visa for India, whether or not we planned to go ashore there. 

We had no intention of going ashore in India and would have been more pleased if the ship did not even call there.

We then had to spend some AUD$400 to obtain the visas required by Princess but when we arrived in India, the hundreds of passengers that had not obtained their visa’s were told they didn’t need a visa if they stayed on board as we had planned to do.

It turned out we were not the only passengers who had been forced by Princess to spend hundreds of dollars completely unnecessarily (and we spoke with several Americans who had been forced by Princess to similarly spend over a thousand dollars [AUD.] to get their Indian visa’s that they didn’t really need as they did not get off in India)

To rub salt into the wound, all passengers were then hurriedly sent a letter from Princess’s lawyers trying to shift the blame to the Indian government (obviously to try to avoid the class action that we have been told has been started by passengers against Princess for damages and compensation caused by Princess)

Not even so much as a word of apology to affected passengers from Princess for their incompetence !

LIBRARY:

Shortly after embarkation we decide to visit the library on board.   There was no library attendant and there were NO BOOKS other than a few in non-English languages (see pics) just bare empty bookshelves !

ON BOARD ENTERTAINMENT:

There seemed to be only a few decent shows put on by Princess and these were repeated over and over during the 48 day cruise. The other entertainment provided by Princess was of poor quality and obviously the cheapest they could get.

Most of the remaining entertainment was provided (at no cost to Princess) by the passengers – e.g. Fashion Parades, Choir, Talent Time etc and even those were repeated over and over.

Princess even spoiled the Talent Time show by preselecting a semi-professional screamer (singer) as the winner when there were several other contestants with more talent in their little finger and who the consensus of passengers gauged to be much better than the person selected by Princess.

FORMAL DRESS CODE:

Your review of this ship is misleading stating “Most men wear suits, though a number wear black ties, while most women opt for cocktail dresses rather than all-out formal evening gowns.”

There were around 8 Formal nights during our 48 day cruise and on each of these nights at least 95% of men wore Black Tie and the majority of ladies wore evening gowns.  It was rare to see a man in a suit or a lady wearing other than at her glamorous best.

Princess advertising blurb carries on about dress on Formal nights but we were amazed to witness a few improperly dressed male passengers (open-necked golf “T” shirt, no jacket) that were allowed entry to dinner at Crown Grill on a Formal night.

When we questioned the Maître D, we were told “We cater for everyone - casual dress is OK”.

What about the heavily tattooed male passenger wearing a blue singlet, shorts and scuffs who was allowed entrance to Horizon’s for dinner ?

DINING ROOMS:

After trying both dining rooms (we had anytime dining) we dined in the dining rooms only a couple of times after finding the food pretty ordinary and the service not much better.  On one occasion, my wife sent her meal back 3 times and in the end, we walked out in disgust and went up to Horizons to eat.  Other passengers at our table had similar experiences

HORIZON COURT:

We found the food here ranged from average to excellent and much better than the dining rooms. We found the staff both behind the counters and in the dining areas very good.  As a result we ate here most of the time

PRINCESS GRILL:

We dined here on three occasions and found the food and the service excellent on each occasion.  This restaurant was without peer in the dining stakes on board the Emerald !

SHARE RESTAURANT:

Although we didn’t personally eat there, we were advised not to waste our money or our time going there by around 6 other passengers who had been there to eat and who described the experience as an egotistical, overpriced flop and simply another example of the insatiable grab for money by Princess

ROOM SERVICE:

Pathetic little menu - food served is terrible – examples - sandwiches made with dry, stale bread without butter, requested 3 minute boiled eggs and received cold, harder than concrete 30minute boiled eggs, etc etc all of which is obviously designed by Princess to save money by totally discouraging passengers from using room service

PRINCESS EXCURSIONS:

We were disappointed by the lack of knowledge or information / misinformation / (untruths) re ports and tours etc. by staff, especially tour desk and after our experiences during the Civitavecchia and Dubai excursions, we cancelled all 11 remaining pre-booked excursions

Rome excursion 3 October 2016 (winery) 3 ¼ hours in bus – told would be 1 ½ hours – no vineyards – taken to a shed with a few bottles of wine for sale – elderly passenger unconscious after falling backwards off a stool - bus would not start to return to ship – injured passenger not transferred to working bus for repatriation back to ship and forced to wait until bus repaired – tour was to have ua back on ship by 2pm – back at ship 5.45 pm

Dubai excursion 17 October 2016 – Elderly passenger about to collapse on the street - no compassion or assistance offered by guide - fellow passenger ill trying to walk back to bus in unshaded blazing heat told by guide “Come on hurry up we must get back to bus”

REFIGERATOR:

We arrived no board to find a warm refrigerator in our cabin.    Although a man came to “fix” it, he told us that it was the best he could do.   It was not even cold enough to stop butter from melting, for the entire trip

SMOKING ROOM:

Its one thing to restrict smoking to one room but quite another to restrict it to a tiny dirty, non-ventilated room with not even enough chairs for passengers who do smoke to sit in there (see pic)

ON BOARD CLASSES – EDUCATION:

Apart from those talks simply seeking to sell something at grossly inflated prices (by Princess) e.g. Diamonds, artwork, massages etc there was simply nothing !

What about some classes in Photoshop, Chess, Bridge, basket weaving etc. like other cruises ?

Again, apart from blatant advertising talks by Princess, most talks and discussion groups were contributed by passengers who advised us that Princess were too stingy to pay them even a small fee or even present them with a small gift or certificate for their trouble !

UNSOLICITED JUNK MAIL:

Finding unsolicited junk mail in our cabin mailbox daily and in also daily bulletin was a big turn off as was being personally accosted in public areas by Princess girls trying to sell overpriced massages etc

CABIN BOYS:

We had a good one.   However others were not so lucky e.g. comment one from cabin boy to another cabin boy overheard by passenger while placing room service tray out for collection “They must have been hungry – why can’t they eat with the rest of the passengers ?”

STAFF GENERALLY:

On a positive note there were some excellent, professional and caring staff on board who went “the extra mile” in Customer Services front desk, Drink waiters, in Horizons, our cabin boy, the bar boys on 16th floor smoking area (Southampton to Singapore) and Manager Michelangelo Dining Room to mention but a few.

However, there was also a really ignorant, arrogant senior staff member who had a standard reply to anything one said to him.

Obviously, this person never listened to comments/questions from passengers and would simply smile and reply “I’m so glad to hear you’re having a wonderful cruise on the beautiful Emerald Princess”

I’m pretty sure if I said to him “The back of the ship has fallen off and there are 400 passengers swimming for their lives” I would get the same smile and the same reply !

SUMMARY:

We have been on many cruises over the years, mostly with Princess.   The first time we sailed with Princess was from Sydney to Los Angeles in 2008 and that cruise was magical – when we arrived in LA 32 days later, none of the passengers including us wanted to disembark as we had all enjoyed it so much.   It convinced us to cruise with Princess in future.

After our experiences with the cruise from Southampton to Sydney, we would never sail with Princess again.

My wife and I have just finished our cruise on RCCL  “Ovation of the Seas “.

We boarded the ship in Barcelona and disembarked in Dubai , we wish we would have got off in Rome (which was the first port of call ) .

The ship is brand new ,this cruise is part of its Maiden voyage .

The ship is built to a price not a recipe , how cheap can you build a big ship.

The cabins are modern and basically comfortable .

We had a Balcony Suite.

Insulation between the cabins (if there is any) is almost nonexistent. When the people in the next cabin decide to stop talking or go to sleep we can to ,when the get up ,everybody up!

If during the night you can’t sleep ,instead of counting sheep you can listen to the toilets flushing , it can be 1 deck up ,1 deck down or 10 cabins away and you can hear them .

We had an issue with the noise from the adjoining cabins and went to Guest services who took the time to listen and do absolutely nothing . After 5 nights we changed cabins due to the noise .

Getting them to change our cabin was an ordeal ,apparently other people were also changing cabins due to noise . It must be like musical cabins .

Guest services is where you go if you have a question or problem .,staffed by a Chinese team  (as are many of the restaurants and shops on the ship ) who listen and say yes to everything but have no idea of what to do .

It is very clear that many of the Chinese staff on board got their jobs by connections and who they know not on an understanding of service.

If RCCL continue in this direction they can leave all their ships in China .

If I want to do a cruise with a crew like this ,I would book a cruise up the Yangtze. Lucky the ship is going to be based in China  ,as a European Ovation of the Seas is not for us .

My wife is Asian so we understand what they are saying , we both said they  have no idea of how to treat the passenger and it is obvious this is a learning cruise .

Lest try to relax and swim in the single outdoor pool on a 167,000 Ton Ship , if you want to swim outdoor between 2 and 4.30 forget it ,this is volley ball time , if you came on board to play Volley ball great but many people like to be able to enjoy the outdoor  pool.

The indoor pool is lovely if you like to sit inside with a fresh smell of Chlorine .

If you wish to sit on the top deck in the shade  and there is very little shade ,good luck . The ship has a great system , the guys that look after the towels take money on the side and no matter what time you get up in the morning the chairs in the shade are reserved .Try 6.30 AM and these chairs are taken ,the rest are all empty.

Wonder where this scheme came from ??

Dinning on board is an experience , there are a number of restaurants , Windjammer is a buffet for Breakfast ,Lunch and Dinner with a wide variety of food , staff are rude .

The rest of the restaurants , Icon Grill ,Chic , The Grand and Silk are ok ,1 time in each on a 16 night cruise they become monotonous , the food is ok but boring and the menus do not change.

We much prefer eating in a dining room with a varying menu that has variety and interesting food .

Many of the restaurants on board that you pay extra for are a hard sell by the crew. We arrived back on board from our day in Athens and had not even got to the elevator and the staff are trying to sell Jamie’s Kitchen amongst other restaurants .When you get on board after a day ashore the first thing most people want to do is go to their cabin and freshen up .

RCCL tours are a real take , they push the tours telling you how experienced RCCL is .

Really ! we took the tour to Petra in Jordan ,we booked this 4 weeks before we went on the cruise , pre leaving for the tour RCCL wanted to sell everybody a bottle of water , the tour only cost USD475 for 2 , understandable that a bottle of water is extra ,how could they include a bottle of water for this cost?

Got on the bus and the windows were filthy and could not see out ,asked the tour guide why ,he said that it was a rush to get the number of buses ,obviously cleaning the windows was a rush job as well . Thanks RCCL for the arranging the tour 4 weeks before we got on the bus .Top job.

You would think on a Maiden Voyage RCCL would want the guest to have a really great time and go out of their way and give them the WOW factor so when they get of a new ship the comments would be great .

We kept discussing what does RCCL stand for we now know.

 “Really Crummy Cruise Line”

RCCL you really have lost the plot and if this is the future of the ships you are putting into service and the staff you are manning them with ,then we better book our cruises with other lines very early as you are going to lose your loyal customers .

We have cruised many times on different cruise lines ,we normally cruise with Princess  and look forward to our next cruise on Princess .

This was our second Oceania cruise and we enjoyed this smaller ship more than Marina.  Everyone was professional and the food was excellent as usual.  We especially enjoyed Professor Ruiz' historical overview of the Region.  We booked our next cruise on board and are looking forward to another great adventure.

Though I have been to Asia a couple of times in the past, those trips were a very long time ago and they were business trips.  And, I traveled there by myself.  Thus this cruise and our visits to the various ports was a new experience for my wife.  With her company, in spite of my having seen a couple of the places before, this cruise was a unique and most enjoyable experience.

This was our longest cruise to date.  Seventeen days.  Add to that the travel time to and from and the extra day spent in the area at the end of the cruise and it made for what seemed like a long time away from home.  Well actually it was a long time away from home. 

When it comes to describing these cruises, after the first few, the accounting becomes a little repetitive.  "Left the embarkation port, settled into the cabin, enjoyed dinner and the evening show and the shore excursions."  There you go.  That can cover the basis.  So what is notable about this one?  Of course it's in a different part of the world from any place we have ever visited by cruise before but the same can be said for each new cruise destination we've done before.  That's ok.  It adds to our catalogue of enjoyable cruise experiences.

Every day aboard ship is approached with the attitude that we are going to relish ever minute detail for after all, seven days or seventeen days, in a blink it will all be over and we will be back home.  Some things in life are just too valuable in the way of personal experiences to gloss over and let slip past without savoring each tender morsel of the day.

As is our custom, upon boarding the ship for the first time we will dump our extra carry on items in the cabin and stroll about the outside decks just getting to know the ship.  This one was no different.  We knew that we would have a little while before the mandatory safety muster and besides, we were physically worn from our trip from home to the port of Singapore.  No, we try but we both find it difficult to sleep on airplanes thus it had been what seemed like a couple of days since we had actually slept.  So, we'll keep moving and keep to the local time schedule and go to bed not too late tonight.

'Sapphire Princess' is the biggest ship we'd been on for the last couple of cruises.  Four mostly identical dining rooms plus a fifth, the International Dining room separate from the others.  We initially set out to try each of the four at least but shucks, they do have the same menu and other than being physically laid out a little differently, there is no real difference.  We'll just stick with the Santa Fe for the rest of the cruise.  Besides, after the first couple of nights at the same table, we became more familiar with our regular table mates and that can make for some nice dinner conversation.

We opted for the 'Anytime Dining' rather than a set dining time.  That does not mean we differed much in time for our entry into the dining room but at least we had the flexibility in the event that something such as a late return from a shore excursion occurred.  Following dinner, it's off to the theatre to catch the first show.  Following that, most of the time it's back to the cabin for us.  No, my wife and I are not party people.  The idea of partying till all hours of the night is just not out thing.  Everyone to their own, you know.  I have pictures to dump from the cameras to the laptop and some time to spend doing some photo processing while she watches a movie before lights out time.

We do tend to be somewhat early risers.  We'll usually be in the Horizons Dining room even a few minutes before it officially opens for service.  Coffee, juice and something sweet to start off before going through the line and we'll sit by the window and look for passing ships or the approach of the next port. 

Speaking of the Horizon Dining Room.  Is it just me or has the quality of the food slipped a bit?  This was our second Princess cruise and the previous one was several years ago so whether this was just unique to this ship or the line, I don't know.  Now we're not food snobs and we do not consider the food uneatable.  It fills the belly and suffices until the next meal which may be lunch on board or out on shore.  So, I am not making this a complaint.  Just an observation.  Additionally, it seems that considering the size of the ship, the size of the serving islands and thus the number of offered items is a little small.  It seems no more than on the much smaller ship we were on through the Panama Canal.

But, if there is a complaint about the cruising experience which is pretty much across the board, we eat too much on cruises anyhow.  It's not like we're ever going to go away hungry.  Our eyes can sometimes be bigger than our stomachs, to use that old adage.  Dinner in the sit down dining room will be just fine and there indeed the food quality lived up to our previous experiences and expectations.

We have never tried any of the specialty restaurants before and though we did briefly consider it, perhaps being slightly on the cheapskate side, the cover charge put us off.  We did try out the pizza place on Deck 4 in the Atrium area a couple of times for lunch.  We do enjoy pizza so that worked for us.

We had what was labeled the "extended, angled" balcony cabin.  We do often set out on the balcony on sea days.  With its configuration it is a little deeper and even wider but also angled such that the view to the front was a bit enhanced.  This one was at the end of the side balcony row on Deck 11.  We're good any place on the ship and have had cabins up front as well as all the way aft.  The cabin itself was very much like the others on previous cruises.  Nothing really of note other than it was clean, comfortable and met our needs as expected.

Obviously due to where we were the shore excursions were interesting, and yes, enjoyable.  I may add some comments on some of them at a later point but we did make each one an adventure of its own.  Both my wife and I shot a lot of pictures on these excursions and as I get to it I will post a few.  The operation of the tours was handled well with the guides and staff being knowledgeable, personable and even entertaining.

The shows in the evening were a treat.  We enjoyed some very different and very talented acts.  When one makes review posts such as this it's pretty much expected that what is said will reflect just the opinions of the one making the post so though we do enjoy the evening shows we realize that what appeals to us, may or may not be everyone elses' taste preference so I will just say that we found the acts entertaining and enjoyable and let others who also made this cruise judge their own experiences.

I think the same thing can be said for pretty much the entire experience on this cruise and applies to any cruise which I may review.  We did not have any negative experiences nor did we find anything to be short of our expectations.  The crew and staff were all great.  The on board services were good and thus nothing negative or out of the ordinary to report.  Thus this may seem to be a bit of a non-informative review and perhaps it is.  But, that's what a cruise should be about, I think.  Enjoyable with no drama nor unpleasant experiences.  Just relaxing and memorable.

1) Crew attitude (apart from waiters) rude, short and couldn't care less. 2) Food, (Was promised it would be amazing) was super average. 3) Prices all in US$. It becomes evident that MSC are going to wring every last cent out of you at any opportunity! 4) Drinking water, not available for free other than on deck 11. A sign on the deck 11 water dispenser saying that you may not fill your own water bottles due to hygiene means that you are forced to pay for clean drinking water by buying it or using mini bar water.  5) Queues. Be prepared to queue for EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. 6) Entertainment, sub standard and bland. Staff have a no-care attitude, you can see they are just going through the motions. 7) Constant PA announcements mean that you are constantly bombarded by noise. When disembarking from the MSC Sinfonia onto Portuguese island there are disembarkation announcements every 15 minutes for 3-4 hours. Should you decide to stay behind on the ship you have to endure the same message over 16-20 times in the morning. Unbelievable! 8) Be prepared to be charged $1,50 for a Unicef fund raising initiative. Unless you specifically request not to be charged by MSC, they will dock the amount from your bill. Requesting that the charge be removed involves waiting in queues to get to a service consultant at reception. Surely this should be an opt IN service and not an opt OUT service? 

Overall, if you are looking for a relaxing and "different" holiday, I suggest you stay far away from MSC Cruises in South Africa. You would be well advised to spend your money elsewhere.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our 17 day cruise through Asia.  The room was wonderful with very soft beds, and good service.  Our dining room was the international and table 71 and William was our head waiter and Anastasia the other waiter.  They were both excellent and made us look forward to dinner every night.  We were amazed at our fast our orders got to our table after they were placed.  The food was excellent and each night something new to try and look forward to.  We loved the pizza place and international cafe also. We have been on many cruises and none had the quality and variety of food that Princess does. Wish you had a cappacino machine in the Horizon food court. Room service was always on time and well done. The entertainment was also excellent with 15 in the troupe which is really unusual with lots of different themes for the shows to cater to every taste.  . Loved the pink cadillac.  We enjoyed the violinist, 2 pianists, magician and Nat King Cole singer.  The pianists in the lounge were also good.  Dance classes and trivia and zumba were fun.  The juggler at the beginning of the cruise was terrible - couldn't sing, tell jokes or juggle well - good you removed him.   You need more bicycles in the fitness room - there were only 3 and one didn't work.  The choir was not really a choir but a singalong.....choirs have parts waste of time for many choir singers.

Ports of call were all excellent, just too bad they were so far from the cities at times.  

Overall a great cruise and itinerary. Food and service was good. Enjoyed the tours, the knowledge of the tour guides was good, some spoke better knowledge than others. Water was provided on most of them. 

The ship itself (Soleal) is nice and well maintained. The size is good--rarely felt crowded. This French line definitely caters to the French. They did take some extra measures for the English-speaking passengers, which amounted to about 30%. 

The food was good, but not extraordinary, not living up to expectations for a French chef. The afternoon tea time snacks and pastries were basic, not too tasty, and repetitive.

The satellite television feed rarely worked. The engineer told me he needed to manually reset it to function after switching satellites. But he only took that action once, in spite of our requests to staff every day.

Overall, this line is not ready to be considered a high-quality luxury line.

This was a great cruise the places we saw were great and very beautiful and the shopping was great lots of different shops and markets all the places we saw were great and worth seeing

This was one of my best cruise that I have done nice places to see and plenty to do

Excellent itinerary with all-inclusive shore excursions, which all were very good.

Suites are spacious and excellent.  Service by all staff was flawless. Entertainment was very good.  Smithsonian lectures were superb.

Pre Cruise Excursions were poor- Guides English poor itineraries inflexible i.e Tokyo towers in the fog asked to move on -no we were scheduled for 2 hours-

Poor communication from Regent on several issues- Never informed that wi-fi not available in Japanese waters-

Not informed when in Hong Kong that could not get money from bank with copy of Passport- lucky for some they had ATM.

Last day going to China lack of wi-fi Could not check in for flight-

Taken to airport in am - Japan Airline Desk closed- no boarding pass till 2:10- 3 1/2 hours in terminal- no lounge.

Trip other wise pretty good- good entertainment