Overall we really enjoyed this cruise. The ship was beautiful & very clean, & although there were 3,800 guests on the ship it never felt crowded. The staff were pleasant & helpful. This was our first RC cruise & we were very pleased.
We want to specifically call out several staff members who went above & beyond in providing excellent, friendly, & passionate service. In the main dining room, I Gusti, I Komang, & Stavio were ALWAYS welcoming & provided amazing personal service. They were extremely friendly & made excellent dinner recommendations.
On the first day, Joseph at the Cafe Promenade coffee bar took the time & answered several questions that I had patiently & with a smile. Also, in the Cafe Promenade coffee bar, Dom, Larry, & Arianne ALWAYS provided very friendly, pleasant, patient service.
Diego on the activity staff was so fun, funny, entertaining, & personable, he should be promoted!! He reminded me of the Carnival Entertainment team members. I wished he was involved in more of the activities. We enjoyed Andy as well, he’s funny & he made karaoke better when he was there.
Now for the not so great, our room steward, Arthur was not very pleasant or helpful. He just wasn’t friendly or accommodating. When we first went into our cabin there were black fingerprints on the front of the cabin door, bathroom door, & walls. There was also debris on the floor of the cabin & inside the closet. It just made us feel like our cabin was not very clean. So I used my disinfectant wipes to clean it all up myself. On one of the days, we asked if he could come a bit earlier to clean our cabin, & he told us due to the number of cabins he had, that was not possible. On past cruises our room attendants have always been excellent & helpful, so this was a first negative cabin experience for us. We also only received one towel animal our whole cruise. :(
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was quick & easy. We were on the ship in under 15 minutes.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food was good & hot. There were a few of the deserts in the dining room I didn’t care for, but I was able to get an alternative when that happened. There were lots of choices on the buffet. RC doesn’t have as many complimentary options as Carnival, which was a bit disappointing, but there was still plenty to eat. We ate at Playmakers one day & the food was really good & it wasn’t expensive. The RC pizza is pretty good, much better than Carnival’s. We had lattes daily at Cafe Promenade & they were always made perfectly to order.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
There was plenty to do. Bingo with Andy was a really good time. Trivia with Diego was a blast!! Diego is so funny. The adult game shows were really fun too.
I’m giving 3 stars because of the only negative, which is the hot tubs were always packed on this ship. We were able to get in a couple of times, but not as much as we’d like. Though sunny, the weather was not hot. Temps were in the high 60s, so no one other than children wanted to be in the pools. It would be nice if the pools were heated that way they would be comfortable all year round.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The band playing at Boleros was soooo good!! The Caribbean band playing poolside was also really good! The DJ was hit or miss. We went to the Red Party & the music was just okay, a lot of techno/house music, not really our thing, but too much of it gets old. They need to learn how to switch it up. The Ballroom stage show we saw was excellent! The staff performed really well; the singing & dancing were top notch. The “comedy” shows were lacking & boring. Carnival has excellent comedians, so we were expecting more & were quickly disappointed.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
With the exception of our room steward, Arthur the service was excellent. Our dining room staff were amazing! The staff at Cafe Promenade were awesome! The bartenders were all great & available! The wait staff in the buffet & around the hot tubs were attentive & very pleasant!!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was beautiful & very clean. Every bathroom I went into was clean or being cleaned. There were rarely any dirty or empty dishes on the deck area. We would always see them cleaning & even painting when we were in port.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The cabin size was nice. We loved the door on the shower; that was a first for us. The cabin decor was nice & modern, which we loved. It was in a great location on the ship. The cabin could’ve been a bit cleaner, there were black fingerprints on the doors & walls of our cabin, as well as debris on the carpet. Our room steward was not the greatest, so we eventually understood why initially it wasn’t as tidy.
Ship tip
If you got a drink package you don’t need to pack a reusable cup because RC provides one for you.
We stayed one night at the Hyatt in Long Beach which was really close to the port, but there was also a lot to do within walking distance of the hotel.
The island is beautiful & scenic. There’s not a whole lot to do, but it was our first time here, so we enjoyed the views & beauty of the island by renting a golf cart & doing a self guided tour with the map the cart company provided. It was a lot of fun & we toured the whole island taking in all the views & beauty it holds. There is a beach club there, Descano Beach Club, but it wasn’t warm enough for us to do that.
We did a horseback riding excursion through RC & it was awesome!! The reviews were all good & they were on point. The staff was great, the ranch was beautiful, & we rode horses 1,000 feet high into the hills of Ensenada above the coastline. It was an experience we’ll always remember. I’m so glad we did it!!
@DemeJJ Thanks for sharing your experience with the Cruiseline.com/Shipmate Community. If you would like to share with Royal, here is contact info for the Cruise Line: Phone: 866-562-7625
Website: royalcaribbean.com
Email: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/contactUsOnline.do
Social Media: For the most part, the Twitter feed is promotional rather than customer service-driven. However, the line tends to respond to posts on Facebook. Twitter (https://twitter.com/RoyalCaribbean) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/royalcaribbean).
Thanks for the review and glad you had a great time. Be sure to tell RC the names of those staff. They don’t read these reviews and names of crew members don’t mean anything to others reading this review.
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