Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Why I LOVE Royal Caribbean!


There are many things I love about Royal Caribbean and many things that are slightly disappointing. I summed up my top 3 things I love about Royal Caribbean and the 3 things I don’t like about the cruise line.


Thumbs Up


Entertainment – Royal Caribbean offer some of the best entertainment at sea. Allure, Oasis and Liberty of the Seas offer Broadway shows. Even with the Royal Caribbean Productions, you know the show will be fantastic. Talented singers and dancers, perform wonderful numbers and routines. I have never been to a show I have not liked.

Amenities – Royal Caribbean offer some of the best amenities afloat. Royal Caribbean brings out innovation, after innovation on their ships. Such as the Rock Climbing Wall on all ships and even the Zip Line on the Oasis class. Is this pushing the boundaries too much though?

Service – The level of service you receive onboard is amazing. Even though the crew are serving over 4,000 others, you still feel like they know you. The dining room staff are delightful. You build up a strong bond between them and they get to know what you like and dislike and your interests, which makes you feel special. I have never had a waiter or assistant waiter I have not liked. Although, I’m never that fond of the Head Waiters for some reason. They seem to welcome you on the first night and introduce themselves and then see you on tip night! For some reason, although we always pre pay our tips, I begrudge giving it to them.


Thumbs Down


Food – The food on Royal Caribbean is not the best out of the cruise lines, for sure. At the end of the day, I prefer familiar, comfort food, rather than white gloved, formal measly portion sizes. If I was served Royal Caribbean’s food in a typical restaurant on land, I certainly would not complain, but when you compare the food quality to other cruise lines. I understand why people do.

Staterooms – When I went on Oasis of the Seas, I found the layout was awful. You had very little space to get into the wardrobe and the air conditioning blew down onto your neck when you sat on the bed. Which by morning, you would have a stiff neck! The bed was very close to the wall, so it was hard to move a case past the bed. Also, I felt like Royal Caribbean had tried to squeeze as many staterooms in as they possibly could. Even on Independence of the Seas, though the ship is not that old, the décor looks out dated and worn.

Casino – I hate how the Casino acts as a through fare. I always feel like the staff are watching you and in my eyes, the whole place gives off a negative impression. The layout also annoys me. You seem to have to weave in and out of the machines and there is never a clear distinguished path.

Sunday, 27 November 2011

Domain Name Change

On 15th December we will be changing our website's domain name to rcifans.com. We will also be changing our email address. More details to come!

Monday, 7 November 2011

New Guest Blogger

Emma Gray is our new Guest Blogger over on our website. She has been on 5 RCI cruises and her favourite ship is Brilliance of the Seas. She will be posting some articles and posts about Cruising and Royal Caribbean. Keep an eye out for her articles on our website.

Check out Emma's blog at: emmastraveltales.blogspot.com

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Gibraltar Explosion - Then and Now

In May 2011, several passengers on board Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas were injured after a fuel storage tank exploded next to the 4,000 passenger ship.  


I visited Gibraltar on my cruise on board Grandeur of the Seas and after 5 months, I thought it would have been cleared, but I was shocked to see the remains of the debris still at the side of the dock.


It seemed some what eerie to see the remains of something like this. It is a vision that I will never forget.

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Grandeur of the Seas - The 3 Day Checkpoint!

Well, I can't believe it, I'm posting this message exactly 3 days before we depart on Grandeur of the Seas
That means we will be taking a weeks vacation from our website and other social pages. We will however be keeping you up to date on our voyage via Twitter. We will be tweeting a couple of updates throughout the week. During this time we would like to remind you not to be offened if we don't reply back to any of your mentions or emails.

We will be taking lots of photos and videos (3GB worth of SD card memory to be exact!) of our time on Grandeur of the Seas including a stateroom tour of our JUNIOR SUITE! Yes, in the last few days we recieved a free upgrade from Royal Caribbean International from a Balcony cabin to a Junior Suite. It's the first time ever we have stayed in a suite, so this experience will broaden our knowledge to help you even more with your cruising questions!

When we get back from the cruise, we will be writing a review about our cruise on Mikey's site, mikeyscruiseblog.com We will also publish a few videos on YouTube showcasing our time on Grandeur. We hope to also record a podcast about our cruise, when we get back, but this is still unconfirmed.



We hope to publish a farewell message just before we leave as well!

We will be back to normal on 31st October (in time for Haloween!) See you soon!!! Bon Voyage!

Guess That Cruise - The Reveal

We will be sailing on Brilliance of the Seas from Amsterdam on 2nd June 2012 around Norway!

Friday, 14 October 2011

Guess That Cruise! - Last Clue

Its the final clue and here it is...

We will be sailing from Amsterdam

Tune in on Monday for the reveal!