***3 DAYS AT SEA - RESTAURANTS AND STATE ROOM REVIEW***
After visiting Oman we have three days at sea, and time to review this huge ship and some f the facilities. Our stateroom is on deck 13, the highest accommodation deck. The benefits are great uninterrupted views, the downside is the 4:30am wake up call when the deck chairs are arranged on deck 14 directly above our room. This is the time they wash the decks and move everything around to clean and set up for the day. We will choose a lower deck next time because of this. There is no noise from the pool deck itself, just the 4:30am deck chair scramble. The ship has some settling in noises. We have a clunking noise from the verandah washing track outside our room which is so loud sometimes, you need to keep the verandah door closed. Not a huge issue because it is stifling hot outside so the air conditioning is a welcoming relief.
The stateroom itself is large enough for two people, with a king size bed, a large sofa and a reasonable workspace. Lighting is fantastic. The bathroom is the normal size cruise ship bathroom, but our shower has a glass door, not the stick to you curtains that some cruise lines supply.
A large flat screen television has satellite television. There are two Royal Caribbean channels which show specials, reviews and news. Although the daily schedules are still delivered to your stateroom daily, RCL have an app that can be downloaded to any IOS device (all restaurant and other reservation computers are Apple) that does not need to be connected to an Internet package and works off internal wifi. This app allows you to book restaurants, activities, and displays all shore excursions in your calendar. You can also see your account, nearly in live time, having a delay between leaving the restaurant and getting back to your room, and it will be displayed. Handy for us last night when we were over charged by $85 for a few bottles of wine that we did not have. It was fixed swiftly by guest services.
The staff are very helpful, and it is obviously there are so many new staff in training, but are trying so hard to impress. If you are tolerable it is not a worry.
The new dynamic dining means there is no main dining room, and you book into many complimentary or fee based restaurants. You still have the option of the buffet or cafe style eateries if you don't want to go to a restaurant. This system really works and there has never been queues for meals and it certainly does not feel like 4000 passengers are on this ship at meal times.
Our first night was at the American Icon Grill.
