This was my second trip on board the Spectrum of the Seas. I had earlier travelled on board this particular cruise ship back in December 2022. In 2022, I went on a 4-day 3-night cruise to Penang and Klang. This time round was a 5-day 4 4-night Penang and Phuket cruise.
Oh and a hot tip, if you want to add a guest, it is restrictively high. My family usually brings our domestic helper along with us. However, our previous helper wanted to return home due to some family matter at the conclusion of her contract. Therefore, we cancelled her name from one of the staterooms. Adding our new domestic helper would cost us in the range of $3,000 thereabouts. I cannot remember the exact figure. It was so ridiculous that I deemed it pointless to leave a compartment in my mind to store that information.
As a point of reference, this is how much it costs for my stateroom.
I paid $2,154.15 for a stateroom with a partially blocked view. It could cater to 4 guests but we only had 3 guests for this stateroom. There was an offer for kids as well. We booked rather early. If I am not mistaken, more than 6 months before the sail date. In fact my family booked a total of 3 staterooms. We could connect the rooms from the balconies. Two of the rooms had an access door in between them as well.
Lesson learned: Do not remove a guest from the stateroom if you intend to add a new one at a later date.
As you can see, the initial cost of the 4th guest was $508.05. There is a cancellation schedule and I believe you can cancel for one guest. Hence if there is a chance that you can get a replacement, you can maintain that guest and call in to make a change. There is a fee that needs to be paid. I did it for my previous cruise in December 2022.
As for the internet situation, it is not great. You will need to subscribe to the onboard internet ahead of time to get it a little cheaper. They call it VOOM and it is heralded as the fastest internet at sea. It uses Starlink. A company run by Elon Musk. So it gets internet connectivity through satellites hovering in space.
It costs about $20+ per day per user for one device and the subsequent devices are slightly cheaper. The ideal solution would be to decide on the number of devices that require an internet connection and place all the subscriptions under the same user. So say you have a family of four that requires four devices to be connected to the internet, you can subscribe to VOOM under one guest and have that guest pay only full price on the first device and the other three devices will be under the discounted pricing.
For starters, this is Spectrum of the Seas…
Beautiful right?
This is the layout within the ship.
Our stateroom was on the 6th level. Those were the only staterooms available at the time of booking that were next to each other. The balcony view was partially obstructed by lifeboats. The advantage was that it was just one level above the speciality restaurants and the Royal Theatre. If you bought the Unlimited Dining Package, which my family did, then it would serve you well to stay in the staterooms on the 6th or 7th level. In fact, even if we did not get the package, we would still be closer to the theatres on those levels of the ship.
The gym is on the 13th level and the Windjammer Marketplace is on the 14th level. The 14th level is also where the swimming pools are located. Solarium is an adults only area where there are jacuzzis and sunbathing decks. Perhpas for those that want a quieter area to relax. The swimming pools can get very rowdy. Oh and forget about doing laps in the swimming pools. It is eternally crowded. There is no way you can navigate laps in the pool on the Spectrum of the Seas.
First things first, boarding the cruise ship was rather simple and hassle free. You just turn up at Marina Bay Cruise Centre at the allotted time. You go through a registration process and immigration and you’ll be on your way!
Here is my 9 year old daughter after clearing immigration. Up ahead is where we hand over our passports. This is so that the cruise can register us with immigration at Penang and Phuket. We just need to hold on to our SeaPass card to disembark and board the cruise at the ports.
Once you enter the cruise ship, you will enter into level 5 of the cruise ship and be greeted by a very inviting foyer. You will have to clear a safety briefing on level 4 of the cruise ship before being allowed to head up to the Windjammer to have something to eat. If you have the unlimited dining package, you should make your reservations with the relevant restaurants once you board the ship. You can do it at Sichuan Red on level 4. This was what we did. The staff attending to you should be very helpful. They will recommend you your options and share with you when you speak to them. The customer service that you get from Royal Caribbean is truly top notch. So just feel free to ask the onboard staff about booking your dining options.
Sichuan Red is next to Leaf & Bean.
This is the rest of the foyer at level 4. You see that small cafe on the right of this picture?
You can get fruits and dessert here. Everything is included in the cruise fare except the ice cream.
Once we had our restaurant bookings sorted, we headed to Windjammer. It was frantic, it was chaotic and there were limited seats.
The view was good though…
Although you will know that you are in Singapore when you see the port and cranes.
This is the view around the 15th level of the ship.
Ample sunbathing decks although there were not many who used them throughout the cruise.
This was perhaps the least crowded the swimming pool was throughout the whole 5 days.
The bumper cars were located on level 15 at the SeaPlex.
The DogHouse serves up hotdogs. This is all included in the price of the cruise. Me being vegetarian went for the improvised option…
This was as vegetarian as I could get at the DogHouse.
It was actually a good thing that I did not have many options at the DogHouse. Dinner reservation was at Wonderland restaurant and it was barely an hour later.
This was the second time I was going to Wonderland. Wonderland is a fine dining restaurant where you get creatively crafted dishes in line with the Alice in Wonderland’s story.
Do not worry if you are vegetarian. Throughout my time at all the restaurants, the chefs were able to whip up vegetarian options for me. This was my vegetarian main. Also, all the starters, appetisers and desserts all had vegetarian versions as well.
The desserts were amazing. I do not think that taste wise it was fantastic. However, the effort and creativity was off the charts. I cannot put it into words but the manner the food was presented to us, the storytelling from our host was excellent.
The first time I went to Wonderland, the food was not as good as it was this time round. This time, the food was excellent. Coupled with excellent hospitality, Wonderland was one of the best places I dined at throughout the cruise.
Royal Caribbean cruises are well known for their excellent entertainment. One of the most popular shows on offer was The Silk Road. It is located at The 270°. The 270° is located at the back of the ship on the 5th level. It is a performance and lounge area.
For me this was not as entertaining as expected. Yes there were acrobatics but the story was a bit abstract and hence boring. Especially for young children. My 9-year old daughter dozed off. Well good thing for me because I myself was feeling a bit lethargic from the show. Perhaps one thing that I’ve learned from this was that sometimes things are just so very overhyped.
And that concluded the first day of my 5 day adventure on Spectrum of the Seas. See you all at the next article!
Yours sincerely,
Daryl
