Great experience as the Oasis class ships offer the cruiser so much variety of things to do.
The crew were brilliant and made it one of my most memorable & enjoyable cruises.
Good mix of sea & port days on this itinerary.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Embarkation was relatively okay. There was a bit of a wait initially but once you got to the check in staff it was quite quick & simple.
The trick here is to fill everything out on the RCI app before you get to the terminal.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
I dined all 6 nights of my cruise in the MDR and the choice on the menus was good. The quality of the food was good and service was great.
The buffet was good for breakfast & lunch, there are a good variety of choices available and it wasn't overly busy.
On other occasions I went to the Park Cafe for breakfast & lunch and Johnny Rockets for breakfast (which is free 😉) where you have to try the milkshake garnished with bacon!
The Solarium cafe is also a great alternative for breakfast or light dining.
Sorrento's & the Promenade cafe are great for picking up quick snacks or late night fillers.
Didn't visit any speciality restaurants.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Onboard activities mainly consisted of trivia quizzes for me and there's a good variety to them.
Things like the Flowrider & zip wire were popular too & had a good crowd'.
The mini golf was fun to do.
Even just lazing in the solarium for part of the day was enjoyable.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The main show on the ship is Mama Mia & even if you've seen the film, it's a great show to go see (esp as it's free!) but plan in advance as it's popular.
The Aqua show is phenomenal and I would say best seen once dark. Great mix of comedy, 'circus' acts and of course, diving.
One of my go to events is karaoke and there's plenty of opportunity to indulge yourself on the ship at various times.
The live musicians are good and I esp liked the piano player in the Schooner Bar of an evening.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The crew on the ship were fantastic.
Danilo & Resa were my servers in the MDR and they took time to learn my preferences & gave great suggestions from the menus.
Jayson, one of the chef's on the ship was always happy to make sure my food was to my liking & eager to make sure I was enjoying my time on the ship.
I had an issue with the timing of an event & was surprised to get a personal response from Craig, the cruise director, who took my suggestion seriously.
My cabin steward, Greyson, was a ray of sunshine no matter what time of day or evening.
Even the bar staff were eager to make my cruise by mixing me non-alcoholic versions of classic cocktails.
The fact that I can recall so many individual named from my cruise, even months afterwards says a lot for the friendliness of the crew on the ship.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
RCI's Oasis class ships really open up the possibilities that can be done with a cruise ship. You must sail on one of these ships at least once in your life to fully appreciate what they are all about.
The central park area is wonderful to sit in, have a light bite to eat or simply chill.
The Boardwalk area is great to experience and of course the Royal Promenade is the heart of the ship.
It did take me a few days though to learn which set of elevators were which & I did find myself using the wrong ones on more than one occasion lol
Everywhere appeared to be clean and in good condition.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
I sailed in a standard inside cabin with a standard layout.
One thing I noticed was that so e inside cabins have the bed/s across the room, whereas mine was on the back wall facing the door. This layout makes more sense to me.
There was a great sofa that I could lounge on and was directly opposite the TV so great for viewing plus a nice coffee table in-between.
Once nice touch was the clock with a built in iPod speaker (although it won't suit the newer Apple connection) but it meant I could play my music while in the cabin.
A wall rack was helpful to store all the paperwork you receive.
Still can't get used to the cabin door opening outwards though which is quite unique in my experience.
Ship tip
Take time to enjoy what the ship has to offer! A cruise with a mix of port & sea days like mine was ideal to fully appreciate all the different things these mammoth ships can offer you.
My sailing had only 2400 passengers of a potential 6000+ so it was easy to book for the things I wanted to do on the ship.
On higher capacity sailings with RCI my experience is book everything as soon as you can, whether before you cruise or as soon as you can on the ship.
I've been to Costa Maya before (visited the Mayan ruins which I'd highly recommend) so decided to stay local this time.
Having ignored the excursion sellers at the front of the port area I got a relatively good priced tour on a quad bike from the tour vendors at the rear of the cruise port. This was a small group (3 of us plus guide) and was good to see some of the local area.
The cruise port area itself is full of shops where you are constantly harangued to buy, and party bars if that's your thing.
There's nothing much out of the norm in the actual cruise port area but if you venture outside and around the island it's a fascinating view of the island.
I took a private car trip with another of the ship's passengers & it was great to find out from our young driver how island life works.
Huge contrasts in lifestyle from area to area on the island but well worth getting out there & some great beaches too.
My first visit to Cozumel and a good range of excursions or activities to do.
I took a tour around various spots on the island which gave a good flavour of the town & it's people.
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