Not a bad way to spend a few days with family. Great food, great service, & I would go again if I only had a few days to do it in as opposed to going longer on a bigger & newer boat.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Nothing to complain about there
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Izumi food and service were spectacular. Romel went above and beyond to make my sons 18th bday dinner an excellent decision. My family members were in food heaven!!!! We didn't go to any other specialty dining. MDR for all other meals were great. I don't like going to the buffet for any meal if I don'tt have to as the food in any buffet on any ship is just not good to me. Our MDR dinner servers for table 420 were Lalchawin & Michelle and they were spot on for service, friendliness, & advice. A very great dining experience with this MDR crew indeed.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
I wish hot tubs on any boat didn't include young children, (sorry but that's how I feel). As this is an older boat, I knew that activities would be limited so it means if you want a thrilling vacation pick a newer boat-this boat was good for relaxing. Waterslide lines are too long. Fitness center is huge and nice. All shows are great. Lots of talented dancers, ice skaters, and some of the singers are good. RCI needs to follow other cruise companies and put water bottle filling stations on their boats instead of trying to prohibit folks from hydrating so they can charge people for bottled water to make a profit. It's water. C'mon man!!! Hydration is a human factor we need to live healthily.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Shows are great, lots of talent, but I think for me personally the singers aren't as good as the dancers.
Children's Programs
My children are adults.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
MDR waitstaff for table 420 Lalchawin & Michelle were excellent. We thouroughly enjoyed all of our dinners there. I prefer MDR for breakfasts & lunches as well. No MDR complaints at all. Izumi food was excellent as well as our waiter Romel. What a great dinner w/ a great view, service, & quality far exceeded. Our room steward cabin #1674 was Arthur. He's great at making sure to please guests all the time. Always helpful & friendly. Very patient with us considering my 18 year old son just likes to sleep alot.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Ship is kept pretty clean. However, we did notice it was difficult to find any sanitizer stations that actually had sanitizer in them. This boat is like a few others I've noticed in the fact that some of the floors didn't go all the way thru. Not a deal breaker but not convenient at all when trying to get around.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Balcony is the only way I will cruise so that was as expected. In all my 11 cruises now, I will say after 6 Carnival, 3RCI, 1 NCL, & 1 HAL, that the most spacious overall cabins, bathrooms, storage options, and best beds were always Carnival & HAL. RCI beds are too hard & unconformable by far. They need to up there game on their beds for any boat that isn't new. They also keep providing smaller pillows as well. This boat is certainly okay but it is showing some wear & tear--to be expected.
Ship tip
Be prepared to find limited hot tub space, limited lounge chairs, & limited sun exposure if you're in the Solarium. That being says, thank goodness it exists as I dying wish to hang around young children.
Port is pretty far from airport so keep that in mind. Spent no time in San Pedro. The cruise port is with the industrial port so not much to look at there.
Catalina is gorgeous!!!! My first time there & I will revisit for sure. Casino Tour AWESOME!!!! Sub tour not worth the $$. If you do go on one, Do Not waste your $$ on feeding the fish. Only 6 different kinds of fish, not spectacular. Just okay.
Port was okay but to be fair we didn't really get to experience it as they were very adamant that cruisers stay close for safety reasons. They cancelled all shore excursions due to dangerous happenings going on in town. This was a bummer as I genuinely wanted to explore here.
In all my cruises, this was the LONGEST debarkation experience I've EVER had. At least an hour in line trying to get off of the boat. I've been on much bigger boats that took far less time.
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