Cruise - royal caribbean

[dreamz]

thank you all for the info... hope this trip will not turn out to be diastrous... :yikes:

[sylzanita]

i heard there is something like Wavehouse’s flowrider in the new royal caribbean. is it true?

[Dnls_mum]

dreamz:

thanks for all the info. will be travelling with my kids on RC and was reading that for the gala dinner, need to dress formally. can anyone share what is their standards of formally? been on star cruise and their formal dinner only requires collar-shirt... I had been reading for RC, no jeans are allow and men are require to be in suits & women in evening dresses, how about kids? really no idea what to pack?!? :?: :?:

I have on both the Alaskan and European RC cruises. For formal nights, guys are normally in suits (or at leaset a blazer) and ladies in cocktail dresses or pant suits. I said normally, becasue there will always be a few exceptions. But definitely no Tshirts and jeans and slippers. I think it is being polite to other too if we dress according to dress code, don't want people to say \"Singaporeans blah blah blah\" But you can choose not to go to the formal dinner, and take the buffet dinner on the formal night, so no need to dress up. But then I feel dressing up and having a nice dinner could be part of the fun and experience for the kids. My daughter was 3 and my son 12 when we went on our European cruise. My boy looked and behaved so grown up in his suit and my girl really enjoyed dressing up and receiving compliments from our fellow cruisers at dinner. It's been 2 years and she still has not forgotten those nights! Little of such opportunities in Singapore.

That said, I have not been on their Asian cruises, but I would tend to believe it will be less formal knowing how casual Asians can be.

[Dnls_mum]

zp1503:

I went on RC (Legend of the Seas) in Feb and it wasn't what i expected, maybe bcos this ship is the smallest of the fleet or maybe bcos i'm bringing a 3 year old onboard.


The food was ok as they serve buffet but it can be a bored if they keep serving the same old food for 5 days. Maybe they should have some theme menu everyday. For the activities, they have many and I think it should be fun (though I did not have the chance to attend any). But if you are bringing kids, you will be so disappointed with the swimming pool as it was small and nothing for the kids to play with. It was basically a normal swimming pool filled with salt water, kids were crying when the water gets into the eyes… And you can only send your kid to the Adventure Club if they are fully toilet trained. So if they can’t get into the Adventure Club, there isn’t much things to do…

And the service staffs, came across a few rude ones and they are all China-Chinese. Usual, these people are only very nice to those ang-mos. This will be the first & last time I’ll go on RC.
However, this is only my personal views.

My colleagues have similarly complained about their experience with Rc's Asian cruises.
Strangely, this is very different from my experience with RC. :scratchhead: I have taken both Rc and Star cruise, and RC win hands down. But then, I must say, I did not take RC's Asian cruise, but their Alaskan and european cruises. Those were wonderful. On our Europe mediterranean cruise which included Egypt, our chamber maid even folded the Sphinx from the towels for us. She left us a different folded item every night which really delighted our 3 yo girl. Waiter and asistant waiters were all attentive and provide great service. They remember our lights and dislikes from day one. One major difference, we are not talking about PRC service staff, but mainly Eastern European, Philipino, Americans, Mexicans.

For food, sit down dinner is different everynight for both our 7 night Alaskan cruise and 12 nights European cruise. Even the buffet serve different main courses every day.

[Wan]

Talking about service standards, the details did leave an impression, esp on kids. My kids love the rabbit & different other napkin folding designs. We were served by the same Caucasian waiter at fine dining every evening (yes, fine dining everyday bcos the other buffet line was not inspiring except u get pizza & chicken wings round the clock). Can’t find this level of service standard anywhere in Singapore. I’m only referring to legends of the sea. Shall try Alaska cruise when kids r older!

[mfseng]

I just came back from Royal Carriean 3 nights to Malacca and Penang with my 2 kids, age 10 and 12. The ship is Legend of Seas. This is my 3rd time went for a cruise. The first 2 times were Starcruise Virgo and Starcruise Aries. Comparative, I prefer Royal Carribean. In term of facilities, Starcruise is better as it has children fun pool, while Royal has 2 pools, indoor and outdoor, both are adult pool. In term of service and food, Royal is better but you must go for dining at Romeo & Juliet restaurant. This was reserved during we booked our tour. The table number is shown on the boarding pass. Every night, you will sit on the same table, with the group of guests and same waiters/waitresses to sercve. The overall dining experience was very good as the food was fantastic and the service was personal. The drawback is you will need to sit with other guests. In term show, Royal is better. Overall, I prefer Royal to Starcruise. In fact, I planned to go again with my 3 kids (plus the 11 mth baby) for 4 nights to Phuket by Voyager of Sea. This is a bigger ship which has ice skating, in skating, rock climbing etc... Should be more fun. BUT BUT BUT..... I was very dissapointed :stompfeet: with Royal as they charge every guest the same price regardless the age. For my 2 elder kids, I am acceptable but I am not willing to pay the adult price for my 16 mths (by then) baby whom does not consume anything at all. Due to this, I will give it a miss and will consider go for Cherating Club Med.

[Cuppamocha]

I went with Royal on my virgin voyage and I am very impressed with all the things they have to offer. Before I signed up, I asked a few friends and all gave thumbs up for Royal compared to other ships. Like most pple, we went for the fine dining every night. Food was very good and they are very accomodating to special dietary requirements. The kids and my spouse enjoyed tremdously.

[dido]

Hi,


I just came back from my 5 Nights trip with Voyager of the Sea. I would say that every cent is worth it. I have been to Star Virgo and now that I have tried Royal Carribean, I guess I will stick with Royal Carribean from now onwards.

What makes it so unique?

Imagine watching international performance every night on the cruise like broadway, magic show, ice skating etc. It is world class standard.

Fine dining every night with the same waiter at the same table with different menu each night. If you are a family of four, you will most likely be allocated a table of your own. If you are a couple, you will be assign to sit at a bigger table with another group. A lot of people has the wrong idea that we have to pay the meal or give tips, it is not true. It is already in the price which also includes the tips (gratuity). So we can relax and enjoy our meal.

The service is excellent as well. There is always a smile on every crew members we met whereever we are. It makes us feel at ease. The cruise director (Gordon) has done a great job in making everyone feels at home. I thought that he only appears on our cruise TV channel and I didn’t know that we can see him on the ship hosting and appearing in most of the events. He has created such a great party mood for everyone. I hope I will see him again.

Dreamworks characters are on the ship as well. We managed to take photo with Kungfu Panda, Shrek and Fiona. Unfortunately we overslept and did not get to eat breakfast with them which we have reserved earlier.

For those who intend to gamble day and night, this is not the cruise for you. It only opens for a certain time like 7pm till early morning, or 9pm onwards. It only opens day to night on the last day.

Everyday there will be a schedule printed and sent out to every cabin. There will be something to do every minute. We went to Penang and Phuket on our own. We did not take the land tour organised by RC because it is pretty expensive. But it does save a lot of time and planning for those who are not familiar.

Penang - We did not take the taxi but instead we took the free bus to the shopping malls. When you walk out of the port, look out for Standard Charter bank. The bus stop is just right infront. There is also an Information office nearby. We took the free bus back to the port as well. As the local took the free service, we got to brave ourselves and squeeze with them.

Phuket - The cruise ship could not anchor at the port. We were transported by a smaller ship to the land. On top of that, our time was delayed by the clearance of imigration by the Thai officers. As we did not wish to squeeze with the crowd, we finally reach their land at 12pm. We have intended to take a taxii to Patong Beach and was quoted 2400 baht. We are lucky to be approached by another Singaporean family of 4 to combine and share the ride. We ended up paying 1000baht for a total of 8pax. We arrange with the same driver and took the same taxi back.

I am now planning to join Royal Carribean on their Europe trip. Will update again if my wish comes true.

Cheers
Dido

[Dnls_mum]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. We did an Alaskan and a Mediterannean cruise with them and enjoyed both too. We also hope to go on more through we have now fallen in love with River Cruises (we like Amawaterways) and will do those if it is just hubby and I. Otherwise RC will be our choice family cruise.

[Cuppamocha]

Hi as many have pointed out, once you try RC, you will stick with it. I did not sign up for the recent trip. I missed going out on RC again.