I have to say I was excited about joining the ship even if it was only for 2 nights. It’s a big ship, 150,000 Gross Tons however, it’s only carrying 3200 PAX with over 2000 staff so it has the best passenger space ratio currently at sea and you feel that on board although the ship was only at 60% capacity.
They have some good concepts on board but I have to warn you, if you’re thinking of cruising on it, just be aware, it’s 99% Asian Passengers on board and the ship is programmed around that. The Asian spa doesn’t open until 2pm but is open until 3am, there must be a hundred foot massage chairs in there to cater for the popular Asian past time! Breakfast closes at 9am in the main dining room and dinner, we’ll there’re lined up at 5.30 – 6pm to eat and by 10.30 pm, there’s no one around. So it’s easy to get a drink later at night.
They have the first at sea Johnny Walker and Penfolds bar which is right next to Bubbles, the Champagne bar. In the same area there’s also a humidor lounge for those that like a cigar after dinner.
Two of the show’s I saw were the best I’ve seen at sea, amazing, usually I’m asleep after 20 minutes and I managed to stay awake for an hour. There’s lots of alternate restaurants on board although there is a cost, Mark Best from Pei has his first restaurant at sea, I did bump into him and discussed his new venture, I never ate in there but the menu looked good. If you’re a big kid at heart, the water slides are great, 5 really good ones plus small ones for the children.
At the back of the ship they have an outdoor night club which is awesome. There is a pool with water about 6 inches deep where they encourage people to take of their shoes and dance in the water, it’s pretty cook concept and can see it working really well. I think like any new ship it will take a while to settle down as there was a lot of new staff on board. Think I’ll give it 6 months and go back to see the difference.
