This was my 5th Royal Caribbean cruise and my 10th cruise overall. This was a very unique cruise in that I cruised with my 3 year old daughter and my father-in-law who does not speak English (my Portuguese is can be considered broken at best) while my wife stayed at home due to work. This was my second cruise out of Bayonne, NJ. This was my first Quantum Class ship experience. Embarkation overall went extremely smoothly and since we got to the port early (around 10:00 AM) we really didn’t have to wait at all from driving, parking, checking in, and security. The only waiting we had was waiting for the ship to start allowing passengers onto the ship which started at around 10:30 AM. The only warning I would give is from my previous cruise out of Bayonne that if you do not get to the port area between 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM, the traffic in the port area could make you wait between 30 minutes to an hour. There is really only one road in and out with no way to avoid the traffic so you could be waiting in your car to park or be dropped off. That said, this cruise had just over 4,500 passengers compared to the Oasis of the Seas I went on last time which had 6,500 passengers so the number of passengers you are expecting may also have a significant impact on the delay you may have with traffic.
We had a standard balcony cabin on Deck 11. The room had the standard two twins, or when combined, one king size bed and the room had a couch which converted to a bed for my daughter. The balcony had two chairs and a little table that felt spacious. Also included are the safe, phone and tv which were all functionally easy to navigate. The bathroom was a standard small bathroom with the normal circular shower had the plastic/glass closing enclosure. There was just enough storage space in the bathroom for two people. In the shower there was a combination soap/shampoo dispenser. I would advise bringing your own soaps and shampoo products.
Since I was with my 3 year old daughter and father-in-law and this was a getaway cruise we attempted to limit our budget and not purchase too many extras except those we were definitely going to use. We pre purchased a 24 pack of bottled water ($16) and the coffee card ($35 including gratuity). We brought with us onto the ship a 12 pack of sparkling water and two bottles of wine. I also pre purchased a discounted amount for the arcade for my daughter to use.
Although I love specialty dining, my daughter and father-in-law would not appreciate the different cuisines offered by specialty dining so we stuck with the complimentary dining options. My reviews of those are as follows: Windjammer Buffet - This was probably one of my favorite windjammer buffets on any cruise ship I have been on. This buffet had multiple island stations instead of one long line which spread out the foot traffic and limited the lines at any individual station which helped significantly with wait times. I’ve been on ships with more options in the buffet but this buffet was large enough that it had ample selections to choose from every day. One of the biggest waiting issues every buffet I’ve been to has is the wait at the omelette station. Anthem takes care of this wait in two ways; This buffet had a fried egg station and pagers for the omelette station. Essentially having the fried egg station (which I utilized every day) decreased the amount of people waiting for omelettes which in turn decreased wait times. In addition when you ordered an omelette they would give you a pager so you could go about getting your other items and finding a table while you waited for your omelette to be finished. You did not need to wait on line. There was ample seating both inside and outside (nice alfresco touch) that we never had a real issue finding a table for the three of us. That said we had 4,500 passengers on our sailing so if the ship exceeds double occupancy of 4,900 passengers and the passenger count reaches closer to 5,500 people it may be difficult at times to find a table. The food quality was on par (mediocre to good) with the other Windjammer buffets I have experienced. Solarium Bistro - We stuck with the windjammer due to my 3 yr old daughter liking routine. That said I would always recommend the Solarium Bistro as an alternative to the Windjammer. Promenade Cafe - This is standard on most Royal Caribbean ships with some limited sandwich, snacks and dessert grab and go options. Food quality as always is good not great. Sorrento Pizza - I must say as a NJ native the pizza at Sorrento’s is always surprisingly good. Obviously it’s not up to NJ/NY pizza but it is good. My daughter and I partook for one lunch and both enjoyed ourselves. Cafe 270 - My father-in-law tried this establishment for lunch one day and enjoyed to salad. I would have liked to try some of the options myself, however, my daughter was quite happy with the Windjammer. Main Dining Room - We did early dining and ate here every night except one. The majority of the food we had hear was very good but we did have the occasional “miss” and the occasional spectacular item. As always with the MDR if you do not like one item, do not be afraid to ask for something else. The service we had at the MDR was amazing. Shout out to our Waiter Jayute, Assistant Waiter Joseph and Head Waiter Edwin who all took care of us and even gave my daughter a happy birthday song and cake on the last night (her bday was in a few days after the cruise). I was extremely happy with our dining experience.
Entertainment and Activities on Royal are always great. If you are willing to pay you can make reservations for North Star and Ripcord by iFly before the sailing. If you want to take part of the complimentary offerings, you may be limited to port days and you must make your reservations starting at 7 PM the night before using the app. The complimentary offerings can book up fast. We were not able to do the North Star due to a 42” height minimum which my daughter did not meet, however, we all were able to do the Ripcord by iFly which had a minimum age restriction of 3 years old. I thought she would chicken out before doing the sky diving simulator but she didn’t and she enjoyed herself thoroughly. The instructor I think had a lot to do with it. You can also make reservations for the spectra cabaret show using the app when you first arrive on the ship (you may be able to make reservations for this show before you board as well so check your cruise planner). The other main productions show, We Will Rock You, does not take reservations. You just need to show up before the show as seats are on a first come first serve seat basis unless you are in a suite. As a family we did Spectra Cabaret which is only about 50 minutes long, had lots of electronics, screens, singing, dancing and lights. It was a perfect length for my daughter. We Will Rock You is a musical featuring the music of Queen was 2 hours long so I did that on my own while my daughter was at the kids club, Adventure Ocean. I enjoy Queen music and the cast was extremely talented so I enjoyed the musical thoroughly. If you dislike the music of queen this might be something you want to skip. Bumper Cars and roller skating was also available in the Sea Plex but we did not partake due to my daughter not meeting the minimum restrictions for the activities. I did not partake in the casino this time so I cannot say how busy it was but the casino is quite large.
Adventure Ocean kids club I cannot say enough great things. My daughter was part of aquanauts (ages 3-5). It is complimentary. Just sign your child up on the first day when you first get on the ship. Afterwards you can drop your child off whenever they are open. My advice is to make sure you drop your child off the first day after dinner (opens at 7 PM) so they can make friends when everyone is new to the area. Although my daughter didn’t really want to go the first night, she made friends and by the 4th night, she didn’t want to do anything else after dinner but go to the kids club to see her friends. Also, during the day at the pool she sometimes ran into a “friend” from the club and was able to play with them at the pool. In total she went to the kids club 6 of the 7 nights, missing only the night we went to see Spectra Cabaret, only because she wanted to go. That said, Adventure Ocean, at least this version of it, appears to be extremely structured which my daughter likes. Some kids might not like structured plan as much and so might not enjoy this version of Adventure Ocean as much. Something to keep in mind.
Pools and deck space were surprisingly not as crowded as I anticipated. As this was a winter cruise and they have an indoor heated pool area, I was expecting the indoor area to be packed in the first two days and last two days. To my surprise, the indoor area was only full early afternoon on the last day and the second day (11:00 AM ish). Otherwise you could always find a seat. This may be due to the fact the Solarium was also indoors, available and with pools (and beautiful) but since I had my daughter and the solarium has a minimum age of 16 years old, we had to stick with the indoor pool area. We enjoyed the pool area every day except the Coco Caye day from about 9:30 AM until about 12:00 PM. We also enjoyed the “toilet bowl pool” outdoors in Nassau and in Port Canaveral port days.
Ports - The only port we got off the ship was Coco Caye, Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas. Since we were with my daughter we stuck by the pirate ship, splash away bay and the pool. I must say, my daughter is still just a tad young to really get the full enjoyment of splash away bay, but that place is phenomenal as a kids get wet adventure. I can never complain about the food offerings at Coco Caye. Whether you want to go to the snack shack or one of the buffet areas, the amount and quality of the complimentary options is superb for a private island.
Overall a great cruise on a great ship and with the indoor heated pools, it’s the perfect ship to be leaving from NJ/NY area in the winter. Both production shows I saw were filled with talented casts and were highly entertaining. Make reservations on the app when you board for Spectra Cabaret and show up early to We Will Rock You. Make reservations if you want to do North Star or iFly and if you want to do it complimentary make sure you get on your app after 7 PM the night before. My favorite highlight for this cruise was seeing my daughter do the iFly experience. No matter what you want to do, just make sure you do what you want to do! Enjoy!
