And here we go: the parts that didn’t work well.
Queues. Sure, queuing up is our national past-time. But the fact that guests have already sunk in this much money into a compacted trip, and then feel like they’re getting herded into lines e.g. for selected headline shows, really didn’t sink well for me at least. A specific case in point: we’d reserved seats for The Silk Road for the 8:15PM Day 4 evening. But not willing to chance it, we queued up outside Two70 1 hr ahead of the performance start time. And don’t think for a moment think we’re kia-soo-kia-see nuts here: because we weren’t the first in the line even then.
By 7:45PM, there were already about 70-80 people queuing up for the doors to Two70 to open. When the doors finally did open at around 7:50PM, the persons who’d been already queuing up orderly had to split further into two lines: those with, and without reservations. And that’s not the end of it: those of us who were in queue for reservations were then told to form two more lines – which we did. But shortly thereafter at 8PM, we were told again that there should be only one line for those with reservations: and a new line for priority guests needed to be formed.
If there’s one thing Singaporeans do not take kindly to, it’s losing their spot in a queue because event organizers did not anticipate that queues will form early and fast, and folks get told to reform lines. Thankfully, most guests obliged without complaining too loudly – but make no mistake; the annoyed looks were for all to see. The wife did point out politely to one of the event ushers that we seem to be getting conflicting instructions – to which the usher just said in a dismissive tone “it’s OK”. Really…?
Finally, and at the risk of sounding like I’m nitpicking: that the priority queue was right beside the normal queues themselves and how priority guests were expediently directed was also unsettling: those of us not in the priority queue felt like second class citizens. Sure, you get for what you paid, and I get that the queue organization isn’t different compared to other transportation modes, e.g. boarding for your flights. But the mood coming out of the disorganized queues weren’t already so great at this point. That the priority queues weren’t handled more discretely felt like adding salt to the wound and making the guest experience for us plebeians just that bit worse.
Stationary ship. This one was a surprise to us, but also on account that with the exception of the missus, this was our first time sailing on a cruise ship. The sailing was to nowhere sure, but we didn’t expect the Spectrum to sail to maybe around 150km off the east coast of Malaysia… then seemingly anchor there sitting pretty for much of the rest of the trip, until it was time for the ship to sail home on Day 4 night. OK, the TV in the stateroom frequently reported that the ship’s current speed was 2 knots or so – which is roughly a speed of 4km/hr. Just for comparison’s sake: humans routinely walk at 5km/hr. So, the ship was moving even slower than a human. You might think this is a non-issue: but there’s something incredible to see a huge ship sailing through the sea, and how the bow carves the water. We didn’t get to see much of that. And I reckon passengers on the upper decks would have at least enjoyed a bit more breeze when the ship is in motion: but from what I experienced, there wasn’t much air movement. That basically made the experience of queuing up on decks 14 and 15 that bit more humid.
On the upside, we did see small groups of dolphins occasionally. Peter was disappointed that we didn’t see sharks though. 🤣
Formal evening or not? Gosh – where to begin with this one! To start, here’s what the Guest Ticket Booklet says on page 6:
So, going with the above, our cruise will have a formal evening and it’d be at Main Dining. These formal evening events are also widely mentioned in YouTube reviews of RC cruises. Still, just to be sure, I checked with several friends who’d just returned from sailings on the same ship. And guess what – all of them said there were no such formal evenings at all for their respective cruises.
Never one to leave things to chance, I emailed RC’s contact point to clarify would there be a formal evening on our cruise itinerary. No reply. So, I called RC’s hotline, and politely explained my query. And I was told, emphatically, that there would be a formal evening, and it’d be on Day 2 dinner at Main Dining. Just to be sure I did not mishear, I repeated the provided advisory, and the RC hotline operator affirmed that I’d heard correctly from him.
But don’t hold your breadth now: as it turned out, there was no formal evening, or at least none that we were aware of. So, all that additional clothes and footwear we packed just for this formal evening was wasted effort.
Persons who work in public communications would be familiar with the need to close the gap when it comes to feedback items. So, I specifically included a brief of this above incident in my post-cruise survey back to RC. But I’m not holding my breadth for them to pick this reaction up for follow-up.
Guests behavior Sure, you’ll find instances of poor behavior everywhere you go, and this particular cruise was no different. To be fair, the issues regarding behavior were still relatively minor, so I’m noting these down here just for my posterity’s sake. There were guests running down the corridors of guestrooms, and you can clearly hear the loud thuds as they do so, even from inside the stateroom. Guests who brought bubble tea into the Royal Theater – disregarding the no food or drink signs – and spilled their tea and bubbles onto the carpet floor. And finally, guests who walked around indoors without wearing masks, and no, they were not consuming food or beverages.
I don’t think RC and its crew could finally do much of the first two behavior types. But I was curious if mask rules were supposed to be complied with when in the ship interiors. I certainly got the impression that such were present: since at Windjammer, there were regular announcements over the Public Announcement system for diners to wear masks unless they were actually eating or drinking. But with the sole exception of a single instance where I observed an usher at the Royal Theater reminding a guest to wear his mask, at no point did I see RC staff reminding guests to do so when they were not.
Before I sound like I’m making a mountain out of a molehill nothing, the four of us strictly complied with mask wearing, whether it was a rule or not onboard ship. I care for my family’s safety and we’ll take the necessary steps to protect ourselves. And if others don’t want the same, it’s on them. So, in a sense, moral indignation aside, that masks were not worn by others finally would not bother me too much otherwise.
Coffee. The coffee – whether it was at Sorrento’s Pizza, Main Dining, Cafe@ Two70, or Windjammer – left much to be desired. It felt diluted. C’mon: give us better coffee, RC! 😂
Next post – Final notes!