Queues of the Seas. – Size impacts Quality

Let's do the good to bad game.

EXCELLENT: the ship is an engineering marvel, and your jaws will drop the moment you set foot at the ship. It's like stepping into a DreamWorks movie. Choice of food in the main dining rooms is extensive. The evening shows are the best we have ever seen. The rooms were clean.

GOOD: most staff is friendly, the guest service is doing everything to help you, the food in the main dining areas is ok. The Royal IQ app is handy to have the only overview of all activities and excursions.

BAD: 1) Queues, queues, queues. On average we spent one to two hours (!) a day queuing. 30 minutes for the water slides. 30 minutes for the wave rider, 10 minutes for the breakfast, 30 minutes for diner (although we have MyTime, which is free dining moments), 1 hour (!) twice for guest services... and the list goes on. Sorry, we don't book holidays to queue.

2) Prices: The extras on the boat are just way overpriced. Half a glass of (not very good) red wine: 14 dollars. Really? Come on. That feels like a rip off, no matter if you can afford it or not. For that money we expect a very good wine. And the beverage packages don't make up for it. Internet: when you are three people, it comes to more than 300 dollars for 7 days. Excursions: you easily look at minimum 200 dollars per person, for sometimes not more than a (guided) city visit with a cheap lunch.

3) Quality of the food in the specialty restaurants. OK, we admit, we are foodies. We travel a lot and we love wining and dining. We don't expect three star menus on a ship, but if you ask ridiculous prices you should offer ridiculously great quality. And that's absolutely not the case. Far from it. Rather very average.

OVERALL: We are a bit disappointed considering the criteria that we rate as important being on holiday: value for money, ease of mind, entertainment and wining & dining.

Let's do the good to bad game.

EXCELLENT: the ship is an engineering marvel, and your jaws will drop the moment you set foot at the ship. It's like stepping into a DreamWorks movie. Choice of food in the main dining rooms is extensive. The evening shows are the best we have ever seen. The rooms were clean.

GOOD: most staff is friendly, the guest service is doing everything to help you, the food in the main dining areas is ok. The Royal IQ app is handy to have the only overview of all activities and excursions.

BAD: 1) Queues, queues, queues. On average we spent one to two hours (!) a day queuing. 30 minutes for the water slides. 30 minutes for the wave rider, 10 minutes for the breakfast, 30 minutes for diner (although we have MyTime, which is free dining moments), 1 hour (!) twice for guest services... and the list goes on. Sorry, we don't book holidays to queue.

2) Prices: The extras on the boat are just way overpriced. Half a glass of (not very good) red wine: 14 dollars. Really? Come on. That feels like a rip off, no matter if you can afford it or not. For that money we expect a very good wine. And the beverage packages don't make up for it. Internet: when you are three people, it comes to more than 300 dollars for 7 days. Excursions: you easily look at minimum 200 dollars per person, for sometimes not more than a (guided) city visit with a cheap lunch.

3) Quality of the food in the specialty restaurants. OK, we admit, we are foodies. We travel a lot and we love wining and dining. We don't expect three star menus on a ship, but if you ask ridiculous prices you should offer ridiculously great quality. And that's absolutely not the case. Far from it. Rather very average.

OVERALL: We are a bit disappointed considering the criteria that we rate as important being on holiday: value for money, ease of mind, entertainment and wining & dining.