Lengthy review

We decided to do our first ever cruise as a way to celebrate our youngest daughter graduating from high school. She wanted to do one day at Disney World, so we chose a cruise leaving from Port Canaveral. We did a 4 night cruise on Utopia that went to Nassau and CocoCay. Since I had read that Nassau was the lesser popular of the two ports, I only booked a catamaran excursion (I think the name on the catamaran was Seahorse but not 100% sure). This excursion took us around part of the island where we saw points of interest and celebrity homes. The tour guide Chris was hilarious. On way back, he played fun music and everbody enjoyed the open bar and dancing along. It is quite a walk to the meeting place but this excursion was something all 4 of us enjoyed (our daughters are 19 & 23). The next day was in CocaCay. We did a Wave Runner excursion. This was fun to be out on the water driving 25-40 MPH on the Wave Runners following a guide (with another one in the back of the group). We did this at 8:30 in the morning... it lasted about 1.5 hours. We then headed to CocoBeach Club to use our day passes. We thoroughly enjoyed looking out and getting in the water. The beach was perfect , the water felt great, and we had a nice sunny day. The day pass included an awesome lunch as well. We had several yummy drinks and really just enjoyed unwinding this day. My only complaint is when the low tide set in, it change the landscape drastically. As for Utopia itself, we enjoyed all the shows offered but our favorites were the Ice Skating and adult comedy ones. We also went to Name that Tune and it was so fun and entertaining both because the singers and dancers from the All-In show were part of the entertainment on this game show. Our girls didn't do the pool or hot tubs because of how crowded they were. I'd rate the cruise a 10/10 for my husband and I and an 8/10 for our young adult daugthers. They aren't much into the party scene and had I been their age, this would have been something I did for sure! I was always willing to stay up much later than them on this cruise to enjoy the live music, etc. They still had a good time but said their favorite was CocoCay relaxing on the beach. The beds in our ocean view balcony were very comfortable and we loved the amount of storage, plus walking out on balcony early morning or at sunset was breathtaking. Our stateman was just super awesome and friendly. We tipped him well. He left cute animals made from towels each day. The service in everything we did was just awesome! We pre-paid gratuities but still decided to tip waitstaff, etc. The food was also fantastic! The Windjammer gets pretty crowded but it was bearable. We did the Main Dining Room for dinner 2 nights and did Mason Jar for one paid meal for dinner and food at both was great! We didn't fully understand until the end by the MDR noticed and maybe seemed disappointed we weren't at our 5:00 showing (we missed it the first night and went later) and had reservations at Mason Jar the secone night) and realized we would have had the same table and waitstaff and the waitstaff probably looks at this as an opportunity to possibly earn more tips by having the same family for multple meals, so we understand now. They were awesome! I've typed a novel, but we'd for sure do a Royal Carbbean cruise again and in fact planning to next. year.

1st time cruiser.

1st cruise absolutely wonderful can’t wait to go next year. Definitely going on a longer one. Would recommend shopping at the ports but not doing any excursions not worth the money or time. Do a little shopping at the port then back on the boat. Highly recommend trips with ur friends that are family and at least try the dining room once. State room middle of the ship with a window. While there were some kids that should have been better watched by parents still enjoyed the pool area. Who know maybe they come up with a couple of cruises in a year with no kids. Don’t get me wrong love kids but toddlers and young kids need to stick to their schedule they need naps. Also try the rides that are on the ship great fun even if ur grown kids think ur crazy for going again and again. Oh and the best we were on the boat first day immediately without any wait.

Excellent Cruise - A Few Notes

We did the three night cruise last week. Highlights: Went as a couple around 50 yrs old. No kids with us. My 7th RC cruise. Don’t miss the aqua show! Amazing. I was a bit disappointed in the production show, which is usually what I love most. However, the aqua show made up for it. Ice show was also just ok. We tried to get reservations for the aqua show well in advance, but it was sold out. Someone on here recommended going to one of the balconies (rock climbing, etc.) for a good view if you can’t get a seat, which was perfect!! Solarium for adult time and excellent lunch. Way better than the Solariums on the older ships. Izumi for sushi - best service we had in the specialty restaurants. Mason Jar for a drink. Pesky Parrot for great service and drinks. Central Park restaurant for dinner - duck was amazing. Chops for steaks and sides - apps were just ok - service was weird bec they stood over us when we paid our bill/gave a tip (we had the unlimited dining package and did tip). We were celebrating my 50th birthday, so we opted for the dining package. It was great, but honestly not sure if I’d do it again on a “regular” trip mostly bec you usually get to know some people in the main dining room. Playmakers actually had live hockey on, which was great. The British pub had a fantastic singer. Schooners bar was just ok (usually one of my favorites). Trivia was done in like 10 mins, which seemed very rushed. Did the Hideaway Beach (adult only) on the private island, which we felt was worth it. We stayed onboard for Nassau to check out more of the ship bec it was a short cruise and we had both been to Nassau before. Overall, a very impressive ship and excellent service all around. Honestly might prefer a smaller ship again next time to get to know some people. This was mostly larger groups. One complaint is that very few of the restaurants/bars actually have a view of the ocean — something I used to enjoy at the Schooner bar and other places on the ships. Seemed odd to us. The Vue, Mason Jar, and pool bars were the only ones we saw. Also, if you drive there, the parking garage has basically no signage, so try to remember where you parked (we even took a pic and were still lost lol). Excellent, quick onboarding and debarking experience. All in all, an excellent cruise.

Excellent Cruise; Star Class is overkill

I read a lot of reviews and insight prior to my trip and all I can say is - YMMV. For all I read about how crowded this cruise is, how long the lines are, and how incredible "Star Class" is, my experience doesn't align with what I read. This was a fully booked cruise and I expected it to be insanely crowded. Honestly, I never felt like this was overcrowded and didn't experience any really long lines anywhere. My only observation in that regard is that the pools could have been bigger. There are 4 tiny pools for 6000 people and that makes no sense. Apart from that, there is plenty to do. We needed a true two-bedroom suite, so our only option was the 2BR Aqua-Theater suite, which happens to be star class. We had a "shore-side genie" reach out to us about a month before sailing to start making all of our arrangements. After several emails back and forth over a 4 week period, everything the genie told me was inaccurate, and the itinerary she set up was not close to what my royal genie had at our first contact. I found the shoreside genie to be an annoying waste of time. The onboard genie was definitely helpful securing seats to shows, getting us the best tables at our restaurants, and helping us with a refund for an excursion that didn't go as planned. She also reserved the best overwater cabana at CocoCay for us, and (offered to) escort us off the ship in both ports. The zip line and ultimate abyss (giant 10 story slide) also have a priority lane for all star class guests and key holders. Having said that, you can easily make reservations for shows yourself and if you arrive 15-20 minutes prior, it was easy to get good seats. We saw folks getting better seats than the ones we had reserved just minutes before showtime...and this is on a fully booked cruise. It was also a little awkward having to chat with the genie before every dinner to go over our next plans. Getting on and off the ship was easy if you don't mind taking the stairs. Her real value was helping with accounting issues and coordinating expedited room service on demand (my sons really appreciated this). Those two things alone don't come close to justifying the cost. The 2BR ATS was a great room and the balcony is amazing. We still went to the aqua show in person and I can tell you it's much better to see it from the audience than it was from the balcony. We also hated having to walk down a long, narrow (and smelly) corridor any time we wanted to get to or from the suite. In contrast, the suite neighborhood hallways are almost 3x wider, and the rooms are spread out nicely. It was never a problem getting a table in Coastal Kitchen. The suite sun deck is also beautiful, and the bar in the suite lounge will give free drinks and beers from 11AM to 11PM daily whether you have a drink package or not. An actual pool in the suite sun deck would have been awesome, but it's still very nice up there. Only folks in suites have access, so it's much less crowded up there. I didn't see benefit to the "key" besides the internet, but again YMMV. It was easy to enter or exit the ship no matter what room you have. The Windjammer is huge. There are more than enough tables there, and so many food and drink stations that you can easily find what you want without a long wait, so the debarkation day breakfast really isn't a necessity. If you're paying slightly more than what the internet costs, the key is probably worth it for the boarding day lunch and priority access to the slide and zip line. There are also show seats allocated to key-holders, but again this isn't necessary because anyone with a reservation who shows up early can easily snag great seats. I saw this for myself and again, this was a fully booked to capacity cruise. The shows were all terrific. The aqua show is by far the best, but the ice show, "all in" production, comedy shows and game shows were all well done and a lot of fun. The promenade is very lively all day long and especially at night. The boardwalk offers a little of everything with a sports bar, carousel, a couple of dining options and of course the aqua theater. Central Park is a beautiful place to walk around and has some high end restaurants. The Trellis Bar is a great place to sip a few drinks and soak in the atmosphere. Chops, Izumi, and 150 Central Park are all terrific restaurants. The best one in our opinion was Izumi, but all are terrific. The Mason Jar was so-so. Playmakers didn't really have a broad selection of sports events to choose from...the only channels they have are ESPN 1 and 2. The food there was really greasy and meh. Giovanni's overlooks Central Park and has outstanding food. Nassau is a giant garage sale (excellent description by the comedian on board), the excursions there were very disorganized. We ended up walking around the newer shopping plaza there and did venture on to Bay Street; it was a nice change of pace from the ship, but we would have been fine staying on board for the day. CocoCay was beautiful, but they seem to cancel just about every excursion there due to wind and don't notify anyone. It would be great to send push notifications via the app when an excursion is canceled. We walked all the way to the jet ski stand just to learn that the tour was canceled for the day. All in all, it is a great ship. For us, we feel like we'd have gotten maximum value by booking doing the following: -Book two neighboring grand suites and opening the balcony between them so that they are effectively adjoining rooms. This would have given us two bedrooms and two bathrooms, while granting us access to the suite neighborhood. -Get the key if it's slightly more than the internet costs. The additional perks would cost very little since we need the internet anyway. -Reserve the premium restaurants that we want individually. Pass on the unlimited dining package. -as for the drink package, it really depends on what you're looking to do. We definitely had our fair share of drinks, but that was mostly due to taking advantage of star class. Again, it's a great ship, but a ship this size should probably go on longer (7 night) cruises to better destinations than Nassau.