We have been wanting to sail on a Royal Caribbean ship for a while. We were even considering doing one of those cruises to nowhere that were operating during the pandemic but for some reason or the other it never happened.
Dear husband booked us on a round trip cruise to Penang as my birthday gift this year. We had a great time on board. Our ship— Spectrum of the Seas— was beautiful (and massive!). We had booked an ocean view room with balcony. I loved chilling and just reading in our balcony. It was therapeutic.
The itinerary is: start sailing from Singapore late afternoon on Day 1, reach Penang at around 3 pm on Day 2, start sailing back at around 10:30 pm on Day 2, full day of sailing on Day 3 and reach Singapore early morning on Day 4.
Food on board was also good with lots of options. We tried pretty much all the options that were included in the cruise fare. With the exception of Windjammer, which is the ship’s buffet restaurant, we generally had a good dining experience. Windjammer was chaotic and service was minimal.
There is typically a long queue for check in because everyone tries to get on board asap on the day of embarkation. We reached around 11:30 am and it was already super crowded. Inside the ship, Windjammer was a total fish market and that first experience put me off Windjammer for the entire cruise. We ended up having lunch at Cafe 270 instead which has a much smaller selection but at least it was quieter.
We did try one breakfast, lunch and dinner at Windjammer. Plenty of options— especially liked the live pasta station and Noodle bar. But be prepared to hunt for a table and wait in long queues for all live stations. I really wish Royal Caribbean can improve service at this restaurant.
For dinner and lunch, my preference was Main Dining Room. They have designated seats for all guests. The service is personal and food is really good. I think apart from one meal where I didn’t enjoy my vegetarian lasagna, everything else was pretty nice! For breakfast, I didn’t enjoy Main Dining Room. Windjammer or Cafe 270 has better options.
There are a lot of activities and entertainment options to choose from during the cruise. In fact, for activities you will be spoilt for choice because there is something going on all time in different parts of the ship. Most of these are also included in the cruise fare.
However, if you want to try North Star i.e. an observation capsule that takes you 100 metres above sea level and is the world’s tallest viewing deck on a cruise ship, you will need to pay for it. We tried the full experience and it was worth it. It’s not possible to get those views of the ship via any other way.
We have been to Penang before and it is one my favourite towns in Malaysia. When we embarked, we had absolutely no sightseeing pressure. We chilled at Mugshot cafe, walked around a bit, got massages done— it was super relaxing! I also got a pedicure done which incidentally was in Little India. I don’t remember visiting Little India on my last trip so probably something new this time. I was surprised how quiet it is in comparison to Singapore’s Little India.
The facilities on board were good quality. I especially liked the gym and the yoga studio. The quality of live shows was very good and far exceeded my expectations. We loved the Silk Route show. The tickets get sold out pretty early so will highly recommend booking these as soon as you book your cruise.
The pool area gets extremely busy due to the kids. Thankfully there is an adults only pool and jacuzzi section called the Solarium. It had a great vibe and sweeping ocean views.
The Royal Caribbean app is very helpful in booking shows, navigation, as well as checking out the itinerary of activities for the day. It even has a messaging feature for reaching out to other guests on the ship. We did not take any internet package on board because the plan was to disconnect. If you also plan to do that, the app’s messaging feature will be handy to contact your group/family. We did buy a basic roaming pack from our Singapore provider for browsing in Penang (mostly to use Google maps and Grab app).
Voyage Treasures 
Leave a comment