Overall this was an excellent cruise. This was our first cruise on Royal Caribbean in many years--so we spent much of the cruise comparing this cruise to more recent cruises on Princess, Holland America, and Carnival. The variety of entertainment available on the ship is definitely one of the strengths of this cruise. The food was average in comparison with the other lines and the service comparable with HAL and Princess. The ship was very similar to smaller ships on the Princess lines such as Caribbean or Ruby Princess. We loved the classic wood and that there were so many places to sit both inside and out to watch the ocean. We also loved the 9 hole putt putt golf course and the shuffleboard. Liked that there was a climbing wall and pickle ball available. The internet was expensive and slow if it was working (which it wasn't on many days). They were installing a Starlink system on the ship which was going to improve the internet starting on the cruise right after ours.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Fast and efficient.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Food is above average, but not the best we've had on this type of cruise. The food got a bit repetitive on this 15 day cruise. Lido buffet was on the small side and very crowded on sea days. (Our ship was 70% capacity--I can only imagine the crowding when the ship is at full capacity). Specialty steak restaurant was very good. Suite breakfast at Chops was OK--not "great". We signed up for "anytime dining", but somehow got assigned a daily time to eat--which turned out to our advantage, as we got the same attentive wait staff daily.
Chop's Grille
5 out of 5
Steaks were excellent when we ate their twice--similar to many of the premium steak houses on land. The steaks were far superior to the sides and appetizers. Service was excellent for dinner. Suite guests also had breakfast at Chops--the wait staff was stretched a bit thin in the AM and sometimes the wait to get coffee or to put in one's order was a bit excessive.
Giovanni's Table
3 out of 5
None of us were very impressed by Giovanni's. The food just wasn't anything special--with the exception of the filet--which was as good as what was in the steak house.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
2 pools--1 outside and 1 in the solarium. This is a great ship for cold weather--not a ton of room for sitting around the 1 outdoor pool--so I feel like this wouldn't be an ideal ship for a cruise with lots of kids or a cruise to the Caribbean.
Casino Royale
5 out of 5
We like to spend time in the casino. Royal Caribbean is pretty straight laced about comps like free drinks--either you have 2500 points or you don't get free drinks. Period. It's nice that they are very transparent about what you have to do to progress in order to be eligible for free cabins, etc. First time in several years that we weren't offered free drinks in the casino--frankly would have spent more time there and consequently spent more money if we had been offered free drinks. After the first week of the cruise--the casino was pretty much empty on sea days--so there were many dealers standing in front of empty tables. What we liked: no automatic shufflers. Minimum 5 dollar bets (6$ blackjack) on table games. There were 2 Texas ultimate holdem tables--that is one of the more popular games on cruise ships these days, so were happy that there was usually a place to sit. There were also 2 3-card poker tables and multiple blackjack tables. Most of the tables did not have the newer "extra bets" available like prime on the 3 card or pocket pairs on Ultimate Texas holdem. What we didn't like was that the casino was smoky. There was a non smoking area--but it wasn't divided from the smoking area so the smoke was pretty much everywhere. Many of the slot machines appeared to be "older"--not too many of the newer machines.
Jogging Track
5 out of 5
Excellent jogging track--which got very crowded in the AM. Nice views.
Dunes Mini Golf
4 out of 5
Even though the course wasn't as smooth as many on land--it was still a wonderful course to play with a beautiful location right on the aft of the ship. We played every sea day.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
I was very impressed with the variety of stage shows and musicians. However--giving them a 4/5 because when I heard the musicians in the centrum--I kept on looking to make sure that there wasn't karaoke going on--its not good when you can't tell Kareoke from the hired singers. I didn't go to the 1 production show advertised--but other than that 1 show there were no singing and dancing "extravaganzas" on the ship--mainly comedians, a ventriloquist, a tribute group, etc. I liked that they had several enrichment lectures daily and a wide variety of trivia (including naughty trivia). I liked that there was a wide variety of other programs like game shows, egg drop contests, dance classes, stretching, etc--basically you had to really try hard to be bored on this ship.
Centrum
5 out of 5
The heart of the ship--liked that you could look down from floor 10 onto the Centrum. Constantly a hub of activity.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Service was excellent--the staff seemed to be stretched thin in the lido and for lunch in the main dining room--but everyone was friendly, enthusiastic, and hard working. No staff hiding in corners on their cells phones like on other similar lines.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
All areas of the ship were clean and well maintained. As far as layout and design--would have preferred an extra aft swimming pool. Loved the classic wood and loved the decor.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We stayed in an owner's suite--first time ever in such a swanky suite. (Heavily discounted since this was an older ship and a transatlantic cruise). My husband & I both thought it was a bit "much"--never used the 4 person dining room table except for putting things on it as we walked in the room. The suite was gorgeous--but on rough sea days there were several drawers that opened and closed as the ship rolled back and forth. Also the mirrored closet doors slammed open and close with the waves so we ended up using the dining room chairs to keep the closet doors closed. Plenty of storage space--no USB ports. The "marble" floor in the bathroom was cold and slippery when wet and there was a step down from the bathroom to the "marble" floor of the hallway which was treacherous at night. The bathroom was huge and had a bidet (didn't know how to use it, lol) and a large tub with jets. What I didn't like was how small the balcony was--there was only room for a small table and 2 chairs--no lounge chairs. Next time we feel like splurging will get a smaller room with a larger balcony. We felt that access to the concierge club made the cost of the suite "worth it". The concierge club had free adult beverages from 4:30-7:30 daily as well as a concierge, Fabio, who was probably the best cruise ship employee we have ever come across. He made it a point to get to know every suite guest personally and solved problems left and right with efficiency and grace. During the cruise we found out my elderly mother in law got Covid and Fabio arranged for us to call her to make sure she was OK when the internet/cell coverage did not permit us to reach her. The concierge club also was the location of the best coffee machine on the ship (the reputation of the coffee machine was legendary and there were loads of folks trying to sneak into the club to get coffee). The pre dinner snacks were pretty good, also.
Ship tip
Consider upgrading to a suite--the concierge club alone is worth the price.
One of the things that makes this port 5/5 is that the dock is adjacent to downtown. You literally walk off the ship and are a 10 minute walk from the Roman theater. The theater is very interesting and one of the oldest excavated theaters--definitely worth walking to. Even though most museums were supposed to be closed since it was Monday--they opened due to having a cruise ship in town. Shopping and outdoor restaurants were steps away from the port. We also took a non-ship motorcycle "trike" tour in the afternoon. Frankly--we were more interested in riding on the trike than where we were going--but the scenery in the smaller mountains outside of the city was beautiful.
The cruise ship docks in an area that isn't particularly interesting to tourists--but one can take a bus to the downtown area and walk around. We took a ship tour by bus to a lookout areas, an aloe farm (lots of aloe products available to buy), and to a lava tube cave --developed to the point where there were restaurants on both ends. The cave was more like a grotto and the area quite beautiful--but not the lava tube experience that we've had in other places like Hawaii where there is less development in the caves. The island is quite beautiful--all buildings are white washed and is very picturesque.
Here the ship docks right next to an area where there are restaurants and shopping that you can walk to. We took a ship excursion by bus that visited several look outs--one was looking over a volcano crater. The bus tour traveled by roads with hairpin turns and steep drop offs. There were some on the bus that got carsick. The tour ended at the aquarium located in the downtown area. The aquarium was incredible--one of the best I have visited. The aquarium is about a 30 minute walk from where the ship docks--so you can do this visit right from the ship on your own.
This is another port where the ship docks very close to downtown and you can walk there right from the ship. There is a McDonalds right at the end of the dock and a port building where there is shopping and where wi-fi is available (when working--it was not the day we visited). We took a ship sponsored bus tour to a look out area, to a park with a waterfall, and to a rum distillery. My husband complained about how this was only a tour so we would buy rum--he ended up tasting a lot of rum, loved it, and of course ended up buying 4 bottles of rum. We also walked thru a village overlooking the ocean where they grow bananas in their backyards, side yards, and anywhere their is soil available.
There were no taxis available by the time we got off the ship (we had a leisurely breakfast at Chops)--so consider booking transportation to the airport in advance.
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