Spectrum of the Seas Review
Amazing ship, great service, but a frustrating cruise...
Rating by category
Additional details
My girlfriend and I booked a 4-night "Tour of Malaysia"--which in reality, was a day in Penang, sandwiched by a day at sea on either side. The primary drivers for booking this cruise were to check out RC's brand new ship, and to enjoy the convenience of taking a cruise out of the city I live in for the first time ever (growing up in the north-eastern US, I always had to fly somewhere in order to board a ship).
Although it was challenging to research the cruise ahead of time given it was a brand new ship, I had come across this wording on multiple websites: “Please note that this cruise is focusing on the Asian market and the service, on-board activities as well as the entertainment on-board will be adapted accordingly.” It made me a bit nervous, but figured it was worth a shot, and worst case scenario, my girlfriend and I spend our sea days relaxing by the pool and enjoying the time away from work.
On embarkation day, we jumped in a taxi from our condo and were at the port in 20 minutes. It was a unique experience for me, but such a relief to not have to worry about flights, possible delays, pre-cruise hotels, Ubers, etc. We had printed our luggage tags in advance and immediately handed our suitcases over curb side. The security line was short, and once through, we were immediately at a check-in desk with a very friendly young man helping us sort everything out. After that was probably the lengthiest part of the check-in process: immigration. But even immigration took only 15 minutes from start to finish. Soon after, we handed over our passports (which felt wrong, but we knew in advance this was the system. We received it all back on day 4 with no issues whatsoever) and were walking towards the ship. We were on-board by about 1:30pm, and immediately headed for our balcony stateroom on deck 8 to drop off our bags (see below for cabin review).
Cabin Review
Ocean View Balcony
This being my 7th cruise, I was very impressed with the stateroom. It was good size for a balcony room and may just be the nicest room I have ever had. It even had a bit of a “new car” smell still left in it. The bathroom was nothing extraordinary—exactly what you might expect on a cruise ship built in the last 10 years. My only complaint was the shower product situation. There was a dispenser on the wall with 2 in 1 shampoo & conditioner. I appreciate this is better for the environment, but it instantly gives the entire experience a feeling of less luxury. On day 2, we asked our stateroom attendant for body wash (bar soap was provided by default), and he delivered 2 small bottles, along with a small bottle of shampoo.
The only issue we had with our stateroom was the streaming service. On day 1, it was advertised that you could stream Netflix to your stateroom television (as long as you had paid for the Wi-Fi, which we had). The service never worked though, and when we inquired about it, staff said it was offline for the entire ship due to technical issues.
(Note: I do not remember the Cabin Category)