Outstanding Cruise!!

Absolutely Stunning!! This was our first ever cruise. There were a lot of negative reviews about this ship that I read however I can categorically confirm that very little of them came to fruition. Now this was our first ever cruise so have nothing to compare it to. We come from NZ and were prepared to be a minority nationality which helps. Crew onboard were outstanding and could not be more helpful. Food was absolutely delicious. The only issue was that breakfast buffet was always VERY busy and would struggle to find a seat. But MDR dining room was wonderful for all our meals. Entertainment was excellent!!! Silk Road in particular was amazing! Our cabin was always clean, tidy and had plenty of storage and a nice little escape after a busy day in port. On embarkation day we had no hot water, but a quick call to guest services and in less than 20 minutes it was fixed!! My favorite spot was the Solarium! These Quantum class ships are beautiful and so easy to get around!! Would recommend this ship in a heartbeat!

5 Star Ship from American's Perspective

I wanted to start off stating that we are American. This ship was created specifically for the Asian market. I've read terrible reviews and since we had a great experience, I wanted to share our review. The Pros: -The service was top notch. Where ever we were on the ship, we were provided with excellent service and the crew were always smiling and willing to assist. -The quality of food was overall really good along with the selections. We only had one meal in the dinning room that was not good. The pizza was not great in Sorrento's too, but that's our opinion as an American. I recommend going to Café Two 70, it's never too crowded. -Instead of buying a drink package, we purchased a 10 drink voucher on board which cost around $95 USD. It included gratuities and was a good deal. There was never a line for drinks at the bar. -The ship was laid out really well and was very clean. I had no complaints at all about the ship. In fact, I never even felt the ship move or vibrate in any way. In past sailings on other cruises, the ship would vibrate especially when pulling into dock, but not on this ship. -The shows and evening entertainment was usually very good. I actually did not like Silk Road as I didn't really understand the story, but the entrainment in the theatre was always good. The Cons: -Boarding was a little slow. The check in process was quick, but after you checked in, you needed to wait in a boarding area to be called in groups to get on the ship, regardless of your designated check in time. The entry and exit process though Singapore was slow. -You can not make a reservation for the bumper cars. During our 5 day cruise, I was never able to ride them because the line was always an hour long or they limited the hours to only kids, teens, or young adults. They need to convert to a reservation system for the bumper cars. -You need to pay for the North Star. It was $20 USD on board for a short ride which was over priced in my opinion. -While gratuities are going up in price, housekeeping is going down. We briefly met our stateroom steward for a few seconds the entire trip. Our room was quickly serviced once a day and we got one towel animal for the entire trip. -Don't forget to bring your own shampoo and conditioner. There was only one product offered in the shower which was an all in one shampoo/body wash which I was not fond of. -The spa and fitness center was one of the smallest I've seen for a ship this size. The pricing was very high for services which is normal for cruising. I didn't end up using these services, but the sauna was free on this ship at least. Overall, we were really impressed with this cruise and would definitely recommend this ship to other people. Everything was communicated in English so there were no language barriers.

Would do it again

We were visiting our kids and grand kids in Singapore and decided to take them on this spring break cruise. There were six of us and we were at first a bit concerned about crowding with the ship being sold out. However, RCL did a superb job in crowed management. Never did we feel in any way encumbered: Boarding was a breeze, less than 30 minutes wait, cabins were ready and luggage was there when we got there, never much of a line up anywhere. Even tendering was as smooth and efficient as could be. The ship itself is great, with so many attractions that the kids were never bored. Even the pool areas were well managed and we had no problem finding lounge chairs. We had two cabins, an inside and a balcony. We found the inside one was actually more spacious than the balcony one by about the size of the balcony. Both were well equipped with large LCD and good WIFI. The RCL app had a chat function which was great in keeping in touch for all six of us. Food in the main dining room was excellent in variety offered and in quality.

Cruise travel as a lesser abled person

Due to health issues my mobility is not so good and I have to use a walker and furthermore I have to have frequent toilet breaks. I knew that traveling the usual way would be a real challenge for me. So cruising became my choice. Spectrum really interested me because it was an “Asian” orientated cruise ship and had an itinerary I liked. Visiting Vietnam and Thailand and Singapore. Embarkation was crap. No choice of time and we got alate boarding time at 16:30. Even though It was not super busy…it was hectic as hell. Luckily I was able to get wheelchair assistance. Unfortunately the quick access was not for whole party and I had to wait for my party to clear everything. Worse was the mix up with passports. Singapore is very strict compared with other ports and we needed our passports to disembark if we wanted to visit the city. My party got their passports but mine was taken in. Meaning…I couldn’t leave to visit the city. The wheel chair assistance was only until we got on ship. My wife had to wheel me the rest of the way to our rooms. Frankly by then I was totally exhausted. It has been a long day since we left our hotel. First few days or last days…don’t bother going to the guest services the lines are so long. But that’s logical. At the beginning I was unsure about prebooking internet, drink packages and restaurants. Internet is a must…very expensive but in our day and time we want to be connected. Drink packages…they have 3 levels. Soft drinks only, non alcoholic and alcoholic package. Ididnt like any of these packages. Non was worth it. Reasoning: at MDR and buffet restaurant you get free drinks and coffee and tea. Basically the whole day. And on port days…you are not using it anyway. Also for non alcolic options choice was disappointing and spread out. The tea specialist didn’t know how to make a decent fruit tea or bubble tea. We are in Asia!! And there was no real juice bar. All juices were concentrates. This was a huge miss. Asia has fresh fruit all year round. A juice smoothie bar changes everything. If you have money to burn…get a package.or if you plan to stay onboard all the time. Weirdly the soft drink package excludes water. Wth. Luckily we didn’t bother with dining packages. They were expensive and we chose to eat at MDR and buffet. Plenty of choice that changes daily. We splurge when we were in port. A perfect combination. Tbh food was terribly disappointing. The new menu stopped offering lobster tail night. Lobster cost extra. For example during formal night we had Caribbean food. Lol. I guess due to complaints they offered lobster rolls. A bit dissappointing as they mixed in shrimp in the mixture. Giant prawns was an off menu item that we needed to ask. And not offered in person or on the menu. Any feeling of luxury is literally off the menu. The setup of the menu for an Asian cruise is disappointing. Plenty of western and Indian options. But Chinese options were really really poor. Think fried noodles. Strangely enough on the silver and gold restaurants they had regular Chinese options. What’s the story here?! IMHO they should make sure Chinese food like Indian should have a few dishes a night. Luckily we had a good waiter. He was always able to steer us towards the good dishes. What was always good were the fried fish…from fish and chips to calamari’s…all tasted fresh and hot. If you like steak…everyday they had a steak dish. Most of the time it’s good. Just make sure never to go above medium. The buffet was simply huge and had everything in it. Also changed daily and I was impressed with the Indian station. But I am not Indian, wonder what real ndians think of it. If you can handle the hectic…why not. Tbh I prefer the MDR. Time to unwind and talk about your day with your party. Back on topic how was it for me with my health issues. In all…was great. The proximity of invalid toilet was literally everywhere.every end of the ship on each floor in the public was a toilet.and each toilet always included an invalid wc!! Wow. To be fair only the family toilet included a washbasin. But others were big with hand rests and auto doors. It was also always clean. And unlike mainland…it was not used by abled persons. Basically on ship I could do whatever activities within easy reach of a toilet. Rather dining, seeing a show or doing other activities. Superb. Also I was able to get my exercise. Minimum 6000 steps a day. While at home I was limited to 3000 steps a day. Amazing. Everywhere you can reach with walker and wheelchair. I was only refused to enter the sports arena because my walker could injure other players. So no shoot around for me. Port visits Saigon and Bangkok were at cargo terminals. Quite far from anything. Leaving and entering…u need to join a tour or arrange private transport. In Saigon there was a shuttle bus to entrance of the port. But in Bangkok was an hourly bus to a nearby mall. Also guest services didn’t understand the procedures either as this was their first cruise to these destinations with a basically new crew. Embarking and desembarking could be scary depending on the tide. The difference in height between entrance and dock could be pretty big. A good thing about cruises…unmlimited bagage and shopping. We bought an empty suitcase and that was easily filled. Entertainment was great. There was a piano guy laurel Lachance e who was great. Catch him any time you can. Amazing singer. The Main shows was great. Especially the show girls and super hero shows. Must see. The show at 270 was quite dissappointing. Simply to weird for me. I suggest a visit to the library if you like to read.excellent choice of books. Always the best way to relax. I was kinda shocked for the influence of theses on the ship. Especially the size of the spectrum. With its stabilizers out I expect it to handle much rougher seas easily. But even at relative wavy windy day…ship rocked. So much so we stopped booking cruise to Japan. How would this ship handle typhoon weather…hate to be in it then. All things considered…it was an incredible and enjoyable cruise and if your health is not as good. Cruise is the perfect way to travel.