We went on our first cruise together as a family. B and I had been on Star Cruise many zillion years ago (ah ha!) but never on Royal Caribbean ("RC").
Heard lots about RC, about how big it is, how good the food is, how it is a city on its own. And yea, all are true. Not kidding!
The only thing I dislike is that for most of the 5D4N itinerary, it is over the weekdays. Monday to Friday. Meaning, working folks like us will need to take 5 days of annual / unpaid leaves! Okay, maybe you can board the ship on Monday afternoon, so you can work 0.5 day, and then you leave the ship once it docks on Friday at 8.30am or so and rush to work, you take another 0.5 day lesser, but it is still a good 4 days. Oh well... regardless of it, we enjoyed much the away-from-civilisation aka, away from phone calls, WhatsApp, internet, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. holiday. You see, we chose not to stay connected and thus did not purchase their WiFi router.
Onboard mariner of the Seas, we sailed to Port Klang and Phuket.
We did an online check-in before the sailing date and upon boarding at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre, everything was a breeze. No longer is boarding at Harbourfront but the new Marina Bay Cruise Centre, where we get a view of the CBD.
The interior of the Dining Room, grand and magnificent. We usually have our dinner at the assigned Dining Room at 5.30pm as the next seating will be at 8pm. Upon booking, the RC customer service personnel will place you at the 5.30pm seating if you have children with you.
Lunch is served on the day of boarding. Rooms are available at about 1pm. We took a family room, which can sleep up to 6 pax. A queen bed, a sofa bed and a bunk bed! The bad: family rooms are usually located at the front of the ship. Nice views but one got to walk a longer distance to the dining areas as those are usually located at the middle of the ship.
Tip 1: If you have elderly with you, try to book nearer the middle of the ship as dining areas are located at the centre of the ship. Thus, walking is minimised.
A city on his own, the ship has like how many floors?! Decorations during festive seasons makes the whole atmosphere even more attractive and photo-worthy.
Food is all so good, but all so western. When we were there, the menu were mostly western and Indian.
Tip 2: You can order more than 1 side if you like, but please don't be wasteful.
Tip 3: There is no Eggs Benedict on the breakfast menu at the Dining Rooms. But if you are a lover of it like us, you may order it with the waiter serving your table. Yums.
In total randomness, this is only a fraction of all the food we had. We mainly eat at the Dining Rooms, with once or twice at the buffet area.
Tip 4: There is a children's menu if the children do not fancy any of those adult's stuff.
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| E's portion of Mac & Cheese from the Children's menu. |
Food is plenty! There is a 24-hour cafe that serves pastries, fruits, cakes, sandwiches, coffee and tea. Literally feasting every other hour.
Still on food, there are a few chargeable restaurants, i.e. not part of the paid food on the cruise. One of them is Chops Grille. And we love their steaks!
Tip 5: If you decide to dine at these specialty restaurants, there are certain days when they give a 20% discount so make use of it.
Service is impeccable! They even offer to help slice the children's food to bite-size portions.
Activities aplenty! Whether is it the free shows, games or facilities around, there is bound to be something for everyone. Even sitting around enjoying the sea breeze is to me, a real treat.
Everyday, the room attendant will put a Cruise Compass with the next day's activities in the room when they do the evening turn-down.
Tip 6: Please bring long pants and long sleeves or jackets if ice-skating is something you want to try. There are no trainers nor coaches though. Beginners like us will just try to balance and walk. And oh, there are usually queues forming before the activity starts, so well, in typical Singapore style, do what is deemed fit. :)
Sports deck! Where one gets sun burnt so easily.
My boys love the mini golf.
Rock climbing is available at different times of the day. And it is free!!!!! E could not do it though as he was not tall enough.
There are swim vests available for children. I love the heated jacuzzi and dislike the swimming pool as the water in the swimming pool is actually sea water.
Which kid is not a fan of arcades?!
Tip 7: There is an hour of free arcade games on a particular night so play your heart out if you do not want to spend a penny for it. We realised that when we top up our seapass card using cash (USD notes), it gives us 1.5x the credit, which is for example, USD15 worth of credits for USD10 top up. Not sure if it works every other time, but no harm, right?!
One of the raves about RC is the availability of the drop-off services. Children can join the age appropriate activities while parents go about doing what they want on the ship. And from many friends' reviews, many of the children have so much fun that they went for the program every other day.
Tip 8: There is a doctor on board the ship should one needs one (though we wish we never have to). There are also such vending machines that dispenses medication and plasters should one need one. The next time a plaster is needed, do not worry as it can be bought at the medical area.
Tip 9: For the parents who would like to visit the casino. Bring USD! Simply because everything is in USD and a service charge is levied for topping up the seapass card if a credit card is used.
Tip 10: For the parents who love to have some wine onboard. Each stateroom is allowed 2 bottles of red wine, upon embarkation from Singapore (no, please do not buy any when you are off at KL, Klang or Phuket. Those are disallowed when back on board). However, please remember to have them in your hand carry when you board as any in the checked in luggage will be screened and you will most probably have to collect your luggage instead of them delivering to your cabin. This happened to us! Haha!
Yes, we would love to be back on the RC. Maybe on a different ship. The Ovation of the Seas look fantastic!!!!
