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Name: Pat M.
Email: webmaster@cruiseopinion.com
Age: 30
Occupation: Cruise Agency Owner
NumberOfCruises: 14
TravelAgent: Yes
Ship: RoyalCaribbean-Splendour
SailingDate: 12/07/96
Itinerary: 7 day Southern Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 72
CruiseDirector: 75
CabinComfort: 92
FoodRoomService: 75
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 75
DiningRoomService: 99
CabinQuietness: 10
FoodMidnightBuffets: 75
CabinSteward: 99
ShoreExcVariety: 93
FoodVariety: 85
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 88
GoodForHoneymoon: 85
CasinoStaff: 95
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 88
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 88
GoodForSeniors: 88
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 85
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 80
EntertShowLounge: 82
OverallPortsofCall: 93
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 70
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 96
EmbarkDisembark: 80
DiscoNightclubs: 94
DeckSpace: 82
Stabilization: 95
ShopsOnBoard: 88
SpaceRatio: 88
OverallCruiseValue: 84
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 03 Jan 1997
Time: 13:24:02
Remote Name: 206.173.98.39
Remote User:
Comments
This was our second sailing on the Legend-class ships, and our third on Royal Caribbean.
We were certainly looking forward to getting away from Michigan’s constant gray skies
and boarding this elegant new ship. I’ll cut to the end first - we gave the overall
cruise an 84 - neither bad, nor great. If I had to use two words to describe the overall
experience, they would be bland, and inoffensive. Bland, because the food was bland, the
cruise director was bland, and the show lounge entertainers were bland (with the exception
of Davey Jones, of the Monkees). Inoffensive, because everything was middle-of-the-road as
far as excitement was concerned. Nothing overloading your senses like on Carnival, but
nothing that was outstandingly good either. Here are the positive and negative aspects of
the cruise, taken directly from our notes during the sailing:
Positive Aspects:
A great itinerary. Aruba was beautiful (but expensive if you are shopping at the many
high-end shops), as we had heard from everyone that has been there. We heard the scuba
shore excursion was good, but not outstanding. Curaco was also very pretty; we chose the
"Canoe Safari" excursion. While this was a scenic and very enjoyable cruise for
us, it was surprisingly physically demanding - you are canoeing in open ocean over one
mile along the coastline, with one break. We’d recommend it, but only for physically
fit travelers. St. Maarten was as beautiful as usual, but our experience was enhanced
greatly there by one of the best shore excursions we’ve ever experienced. The
"Explorer Cruise and Island Drive" was a well-organized trip (with very friendly
guides) that takes you for a scenic drive through Philipsburg and over to the French side,
where you board the Explorer double-decker boat. We sailed to the downtown shopping area
on the French side, with great women’s clothing (if you’re petite, that is) and
fresh-baked pastries and croissants. The ship then stopped for an hour at a private, white
sand beach with jet skis and swimming available. Altogether, this was one of the most
enjoyable excursions we’ve taken, and well worth the low $34 per person price. Too
often, it seems you pay too much for excursions that are not memorable; this was certainly
an exception.
Fantastic service. This has been consistent on all RCCL ships we’ve experienced. Our
waiter and assistant waiter, Shawn and Ashley, were perfect. Courteous, friendly,
efficient, and very willing to help with special orders. Both were very intelligent, and
truly friendly people; not "just putting on the act" and then cursing you when
you leave. Also, our cabin stewardess, Edina, was absolutely fantastic. She was friendly
and did a great job. This service has become the aspect that we like best on RCCL ships.
Every waiter, assistant waiter, and cabin steward/ess we’ve had contact with have
been great.
The ship was very clean, and looked as new as it was throughout. The San Juan airport and
cruise terminal have both been nicely refurbished since our last visit; both are very
pleasant and modern now. Remember, we still recommend that if you have a late flight out
of San Juan, have something to do in town during the day (RCCL excursion, or do like we
did and just shop, and visit the new RCCL mariner’s club downtown). Even though the
airport is nicer, it’s still a bad way to end your trip by waiting 6 hours in the
airport.
The disco was very busy, much more so than on our Legend and Sovereign sailings. Karaoke
and Country Western nights were the favorites, with people packed in (and loving every
minute of it) more than any other ship’s disco we’ve seen. Guest celebrity
entertainers, Davey Jones and Domenick Allen (formerly of Foreinger, now does a variety
act) were great. This is a nice feature that more ships should adopt. The ship had a
surprisingly diverse age distribution; we expected a median age of about 65 like on Legend
and Sovereign, but there were a great variety of age groups on the ship, to our very
positive surprise. Pizza in the solarium was surprisingly good. Midnight buffets were not
popular, like on Carnival, so there were no long lines if you chose to partake in the
feeding frenzy yet one last time each day.
Now, for the negatives:
Food quality. This is our number one complaint, not just on this ship but on all RCCL
ships we’re experienced. No fresh seafood, no fresh beef, everything (just about) had
been stored frozen and was of so-so quality. There were occasional dishes that were quite
good, but overall the food was quite bland. Midnight buffet food quality was poor, and
most items in the Windjammer Café were mediocre. In our opinion, RCCL’s food quality
is the lowest of all the lines we’ve sailed, and definitely a few notches below
Carnival. This does not mean the food was bad, but it’s nowhere near, say what
Celebrity offers. First-timers will probably not think it’s bad, with no other cruise
to compare it to.
The cruise director, and RCCL production shows, were mediocre at best. Nothing exciting in
the way of entertainment (except aforementioned guest entertainers), and the cruise
director could have been replaced with a cardboard cutout and I don’t think anyone
would have noticed the difference.
Next, a complaint we (and others ) have way too often - creaking cabins. When are they
going to solve this &^%$ problem?? It does not seem too difficult to engineer a cabin
with materials that don’t squeak when they rub against each other, as inevitably
happens when the ship is moving. This particular cabin had what sounded like a family of
mice in heat in the ceiling, and no amount of bending, or eventual pounding, made any
difference. For light sleepers, bring a portable fan, headphones, or anything else you
need to drown out this terribly annoying squeak and rattle.
Disembarkation was way slower than it should have been for 1,800 passengers (over 3
hours), but at least it was organized (unlike many Carnival ships). The workout room
seemed too small for the ship, and with only 4 treadmills there was a constant 15-30
minute wait to get one. Deck space seems in very short supply on sunny at-sea days, as the
entire area occupied by the golf course is no longer available for deck chairs. Finally,
though no fault of RCCL, traffic in downtown Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas was horrendous.
And, traffic is no longer blocked off along the main shopping street, which used to be
very nice for shoppers.
Overall, while it was great to get away, and the ship was certainly pretty, we felt the
best word to describe this cruise overall was "bland". Not bad, but not great.
To see a different point of view on this ship (first-time cruiser), look at the review by
our tablemate Nikki Kim on this same sailing. But when you’re sailing along in the
Caribbean while it’s 20 degrees back home, what’s there to complain about?
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