While the cruise was relaxing and overall enjoyable, if I had to do it over again, I would have gone on an Oasis class or newer ship instead. That is just our preferrence and may not be yours. We like more food choices and more activities the newer larger ships offer. That may not be your choice, but it is a better fit for our tastes. We mainly did it for the ports we have not been to before. But after visiting them, it probably was not the best choice for us.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The service was good. The next part is no shock to most those who regularly go on Royal. The selection in the main dining room use to be better in my opinion. It is not bad, but needs some revamping. The Windjammer buffet was the worst experience with the same food served every day. Also, the toast, butter and eggs are all in different places which makes no sense. How many ways can you make chicken? Jerk chicken, honey chicken, southern fried chicken with no seasoning, BBQ chicken with no real BBQ sauce or flavor. You get the idea. Much of the food sat out too long and was either cold or hard when it should have been soft. The desserts all look really good, but the taste is not. Then at the Prominade Cafe, I was insulted by crewmembers working there that said I looked like Adolph Hitler because I have a mustache. I was shocked and just said "No". Who says such a thing to a guest? Totally inappropriate.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The ship was totally packed so on sea days forget about getting lounge chairs unless you get to the pool early in the day. The hot tubs were packed with people and kids. What can I say? Same old ship, different day. The movies shown were old which I have seen several times. We made the best of it and still had a good time.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The ice show was the best. It's well known that the best entertainment is on the newer ships so no surprise there. Shows were okay but not awesome.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Overall, service was very good with a few exceptions. I still have a problem with the cruise line raising the price of the gratuities while lowering service. (Can we just call them fees already, since that is essentually what they are now.)
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
This ship is showing it's age. Several of the windows in the Windjammer Buffet have smeared paint on them so you can't see out the windows. Looks like an oops from the maintenance crew that, I guess, can't be fixed. Also, there was a large brown stain on the carpet next to our bed (hopefully a coffee stain and not something else. And no, I did not get down and try to smell it.🤣) We also had pink marker writing on the couch in our stateroom. I'm sure some child's abstract artwork. Who knows, it might be worth more than some of the artwork they sell at the art auctions on the ship. Some of the walls had fingerprints that we had to clean off ourselves.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
I kind of covered this above. The stateroom was an inside stateroom. It is cleaner now, since we cleaned it as best as we could with lysol wipes and you don't want to see how black they were after cleaning the bathroom. Unfortunately, rooms don't get a deep clean very often as they should. Also, the beds were very hard, but we know this so we bring our own foam mattress pads. The room stewart told us that they can't provide foam pads to guests anymore due to hygeine issues with multiple guests and no way for them to clean them. Also, As we requested, we got an ice bucket with ice, but they did not have any tongs to get the ice out. Finally, on the older ships, we bring a battery tea candle as a night light for the bathroom since they don't have night lights in them. We also bring extra hangers, because there is never enough on board.
Ship tip
Other than stated above, be aware that the ship is older and showing it's age. We went on it because it had some ports we had not been to. It's not going to have all the amenities that the newer ships have, so you have to just accept that to get the most enjoyment from your cruise.
If you are a senior, this ship may not be what you are looking for, since it had a lot of kids and younger partying adults on it.
We've been here many times. Not much to do at the port, you need to go do a shore excursion or go out and explore by taxi to get the best experience in St. Thomas. There are no good beaches around the pier where Royal docks.
This was our first time here. We liked the area just outside the dock with the shops, but they were tourist traps and overpriced. I would have worn my swim suit if I knew they had a beach area with a lazy river there. Outside the shopping area looked a little sketchy so we didn't go wondering into the city.
I saw some people complain about the traffic at the port. We had no problems driving and parking in the port garage and getting on the highway after the cruise.
I wish RCCL would add a resort pool to Labadee like Coco Cay and update it, especially since more ships are now getting sent to Labadee instead of Coco Cay.
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