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Name: William Tomlinson
Email: tbill@netaxs.com
Age: 53
Occupation: retired CPA
NumberOfCruises: 12
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Renaissance-I
SailingDate: August 21, 1998
Itinerary: Istanbul - Holy Land - Athens
FoodDiningRoom: 99
CruiseDirector: 99
CabinComfort: 99
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 97
CabinAmenities: 99
FoodLidoDeck: 97
DiningRoomService: 98
CabinQuietness: 99
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 98
ShoreExcVariety: 99
FoodVariety: 98
DeckService: 98
ShoreExcValue: 96
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 92
LoungeService: 98
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors: 98
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges:
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 96
EntertShowLounge: 95
OverallPortsofCall: 99
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 95
CruiseActivities: 95
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 99
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 99
EmbarkDisembark: 99
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 98
Stabilization: 99
ShopsOnBoard: 97
SpaceRatio: 99
OverallCruiseValue: 99
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 15 Sep 1998
Time: 11:23:34
Remote Name: 207.106.60.121
Remote User:
Comments
Review of Renaissance R-ONE Istanbul to Athens August 17 to September 3, 1998
Getting to the ship: We drove from Philadelphia to JFK Airport and caught a Lufthansa
flight to Frankfort from the new and largely unoccupied
Terminal One. The flight connected smoothly and 12 hours later we were in Istanbul.
Renaissance representatives met us as we picked up our
bags. Porters loaded the bags on carts and whisked us through customs. The transfer busses
were there and we were loaded on the bus and on
our way within 5 min. Enroute, an ‘R’ representative gave us some useful dos and
don’ts and a sales pitch for the tours. About ˝ hour later we
were at the wonderful Ceylan Intercontinental hotel. Check-in was a breeze and we were
soon in an extremely nice and newly refurbished room
overlooking the Bosphorus (and the hotel-parking canopy). Our bags followed in less than
an hour. Our three days in Istanbul were a fabulous
adventure. Istanbul was exotic and chaotic. We felt safe and moved around the city at
will. We saw most of the attractions and ate at café’s and
restaurants on our own. The hotel was incredibly expensive ($6.00 mini-bar cokes) but
decent food and drink was available just around the
corner. On the day we were to meet the ship we opted to take a transfer tour that ended
with a 1 ˝ hour cruise on the Bosphorus. We docked at
a ferry terminal and waited about 20 minutes for the busses to transfer us to the ship
that was docked by the Galata bridge. At the terminal, the
busses were unloaded one by one and we boarded the ship after passing through security and
picking up our Great Times Cards. Check-in was
the fastest ever – virtually no waiting.
RATING: A+
Shipboard accommodations: We had a C category cabin which is 1 category below a suite but
provided 3 days on either end of the cruise in a
luxury hotel. The cabin was really excellent – very large (about 1 ˝ times the size
of a RCCI outside cabin) with dark wood built in furniture, a huge
comfortable bed, desk, sofa, balcony, mirrors, plenty of storage and a safe. It looked
just like what the brochure promised – and it was brand
new!. Pricilla our stewardess and her wet work assistant Angel (who was from Honduras and
insisted on pronouncing the g in his name as an h
much to Pricilla’s consternation) did a fine job keeping the cabin clean and orderly.
Our only complaint was that ice was sometimes tough to come
by. In room CATV was excellent, CNN was nearly always available (which was important to us
given the events of the last week in August 1998). In
addition to several excellent navigation channels and a very informative tour and history
channel (which provided real history and advice rather
than just a sales pitch) there were 5 or 6 movie channels which had everything from near
first run movies to classics. The ship did not provide a
printed news summary due to the availability of CNN.
RATING: A+ Food and restaurants: Food was available in the Club (main) restaurant as well
as an Italian and a Grill restaurant (Reservations
required but easily gotten after the first evening) and the Panorama buffet. The three
restaurants were all very elegant with dark wood and murals
on the walls and ceilings. We liked the idea of no assigned seating, which allowed us to
eat, when we wanted. This was particularly appreciated
after a long day touring. The food was really excellent – like a 4 star restaurant.
We would rate it several cuts above the standard mid market
cruise cuisine on HAL or RCCI. The servers were really excellent drawn to the ship by
promises of upscale tipping (suggested $15 per day per
customer). The newness and complexity caused by no set seatings and a kitchen on a
different deck than the dining room sometimes led to long
waits for food. The food was always hot and well presented. At dinner the Panorama Buffet
had many of the same menu choices as the Club
restaurant and allowed us to dine at our own pace (fast) on four evenings. Outdoor seating
was available for the buffet. The Panorama Buffet’s
posted menu was often incomplete and the choices were always much better. Our favorite
restaurant was the Italian specialty restaurant. The veal
medallions and the tarragon shrimp were excellent, as was Petar our server on three
occasions and the wine server. The service in the Grill was
not as good as the service in the Italian restaurant and the Grill’s wine server was
particularly bad. Bar waiters on the ship were unobtrusive but
always available – a nice change from the predators we have experienced on other
lines.
RATING:A
Shipboard Life: The daily routine on R-ONE was very much like staying in an excellent
hotel that happened to be in a different city each day. The
whole nautical theme was downplayed – there were no captain’s receptions, crew
shows or annoying announcements for art auctions or spa
treatments. Uniformed people were scarce, only the lifeboat drill and disembarkation talk
reminded us we were on a cruise. Shipboard life was
heavily oriented toward the tours that were really excellent. If you weren’t into the
tours and away during at least part of the day, there wasn’t
much in the way or staff organized activities. Most of the time, the ship was docked in
pretty industrialized ports so the option of sunning while at
dock was not totally appealing. Not to miss tours include Ephasis, Galilee, Masada and the
Dead Sea, Jerusalem and Bethlehem and Delphi. The
busses were comfortable and well air-conditioned. Shipboard security was excellent and
very much appreciated given that the US had just bombed
Sudan and Afghanistan. The staff controlled entry and exit from the ship with the Great
Times cards. Bags were searched with metal detectors
prior to getting back on the ship. There was no problem bringing booze on board –
which was great since it wasn’t sold in the ship’s shops. The
security did cause some delays in leaving the ship for tours – particularly in Israel
where there was a second set of security to deal with. Bingo was
sparsely attended and the kids won everything. The fitness facility was well equipped and
accessible – particularly after the first day. The jogging
track was small. It was located on the deck above the pool and it had no chairs or other
obstacles to deal with. The top or sun deck was our usual
hangout. On days at sea, there was often a shortage of deck chairs (caused by people
reserving unoccupied chairs for extended periods of time)
which led to some passengers laying on the decks. Shopping on the ship was more limited
than on larger ships but adequate until the shop-aholics
could be evacuated to the nearest trinket shop at the next port. The casino was small and
much quieter than we expected. The smoke free
environment here and throughout the rest of the ship contributed greatly to our enjoyment.
The ship had a free Laundromat with two full sized
commercial washers and dryers. This was very much appreciated as we were away from home
for 18 days. The passengers, at times, seemed to
need lessons in basic Laundromat etiquette. A number of people solved the problem by using
the facility very early or very late. The entertainment
was provided by a comedian (excellent and clean) and the Paramount singers and dancers.
The shows were better than average – assisted by a
state of the art lounge. The singers and dancers seemed to have difficulty getting excited
about the golf chipping contests and other activities they
typically lead. The cruise director Richard Joseph was excellent. He did a very good
bridge tour and a very informative cruise ship history from his
personal slides. Richard was nearly always visible throughout the ship. The captain and
officers were nearly invisible. They were never introduced
at any of the events we attended. RATING: A+
Leaving the ship: The transfer to the Intercontinental hotel in Athens and the transfer to
the airport several days later for our flight to JFK were
flawless. The hotel accommodations in Athens weren’t quite up to Istanbul standards
– though the rooms were large and very clean.
Overall Summary: We have a new favorite cruise line - Renaissance. Our experience was that
they delivered on all their promises and everything
was much better than we had expected. Next year, we will likely try one of their smaller
ships to some exotic destination. RATING A+
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