It was a very good experience, there were some things we didn't like for example the nightly shows, the dusty room, the rude salespeople, some of the food, dessert options, and the canada port seemed rushed. But I would do it again except I wouldn't ever port my luggage at seatac airport since seatac lost my bag. But as much as I don't like cruising since I get sick, I didn't get sick here. it was a smooth ride. I am open to trying royal caribbean again just never out of Seattle- flight were cancelled twice by jet blue (one weather related and one mechanical) and lost luggage reasons, but definitely any other port I'd gladly come back.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Fast easy embarkation no issues. Easier muster station we ever experienced.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
only ate at the main dining and windjammer - it was very good food but not excellent. somethings are a hit or miss. Like the chicken parm tasted very processed. The sweet and sour pork was so tough, but all seafood was excellent and desserts were just okay. I loved the baked alaska and I wish there was a dessert that was more themed for example NY should be a cheesecake or apple pie, and all the other items should have more of the theme, it would have made the experience better - I felt like I was eating the same dessert every night. custard tasted like jello pudding as well as the pot de creme. it all tasted the same just the name was changed.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
we enjoyed the ifly experience, the rockclimbing wasn't a favorite since the kids found it too painful on their hands, but the seaplex was a fun place for the kids. We didn't like all the hassle with the shops - they made it hard to collect the charms - basically sitting through 20 mins of their selling speech, they were also rude and nasty. Like not giving us a charm if one of us weren't physically there even though they knew there were 4 of us all the other times -or not giving us the free champagne because they forgot about their own event and made us feel so uncomfortable. But I'm not counting this in my score since it's separate from the cruise so the shows were very boring and all activities might have been great for others, but it wasn't for us and we tried most of the activities, it just seemed like it wasn't well thought out.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The performers were spectacular but the storyline of starwater was nonexistent. If it had one, it would have been better- was just a hodgepodge of amazing dancing and singing with no point at all to it. Magician was really great but the show was a few mins too long, The earth instrument was fun but that became so long that we just wanted to run out of there after the first 15 mins. Revamp the shows, we need a storyline, a payoff for sitting there so long.
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
the kids loved bumper cars, ping pong, pretty much everything in seaplex, I spend a lot of time away from them because they really enjoyed it there. lazer tag was awesome and roller skating too. It was overall excellent.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
the room was so dusty that if you hit the pillow on the sofa you can see the dust fly up and settle on your nose. I took pics but I just didn't want to complain and get this nice old man in trouble. So we stayed out of the room as much as possible and cleaned up after ourselves. Everyone in the main dining room and windjammer were excellent, the only thing I noticed that bugged me is how long it takes for them to clean the table, unless you flag them down, they don't seem to be walking around as much as I experienced before on other cruises.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
it was always clean and it's beautiful. I get lost easily but this ship was easier for us to navigate, but not very easy. Like the fitness area was hidden in the spa, Also the fuse which is a teen club, the name was changed to the living room, the names didn't make sense even the 4th floor restaurant was called American icon, the theming seemed off. if the map says main dining room and the location is called American icon, it really confused us how inconsistent the names were. I was disappointed how dirty the outside window was in our oceanview cabin - you could barely see out of it the first day, it cleared up after some rain but if you pay for a view, the windows on the outside should be clean, shouldn't it?
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
We didn't feel right about complaining so that's on us - but the room was dusty, I took pics to show but we loved the staff and just clean up ourselves. the room was so small that when we walked to the window, my husband and son smashed their kneecaps on the sofa bed edge, the bed was left open and not put back as a sofa daily so the room was so congested all the time. We didn't request to leave the bed open either. Please do something about the bed edge - there should be a silicone edge protector or some cushion so nobody else hits their knees and gets badly injured. There were fine after a day but my husband thought he was badly injured at the time.
Ship tip
go enjoy all the food, the staff is great, skip all the shows, do every activity, avoid all the shops because the salespeople are mean. Don't take the jetblue out of seatac - I ported my luggage and they lost it even with an airtag
we spent the day there since our flight was late at night - bought a city pass visited everything and it was good to explore for the day, one day was enough time there.
sitka was okay we walked around and enjoyed the salmon jumping in the water. Otherwise it wasn't too memorable just walking around, def need an excursion for this place.
This is poor because there isn't much time to enjoy this port, by the time we got there everywhere was closing, the port itself is pretty but all we got to do was walk to parliament, look around a little and come back. It was beautiful and I think it would be great as a earlier port to really see the beauty of this place.
it was easy to disembark since we used the port valet to take our luggage to SEATAC. we just walked right past everyone that had luggage and that was most people.
We are going in May and I have all our excursions planned or booked already. Did lots of research on each port. I agree about the Canada stop won't be long. However, maritime law is that the cruise has to stop in a foreign port (if it starts and ends in US) so I figure they throw Canada in there to satisfy that requirement. Not much time but it keeps them within the law.
Glad you didn't get sick.
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