They are saying the grass is all the time greener on the opposite aspect, and after twenty Royal Caribbean cruises, I booked my first Superstar cruise. I assumed I used to be prepared for a change, however my seven nights onboard solidified my choice for Royal Caribbean.
I’ve been largely “Loyal to Royal” ever since my first Royal Caribbean cruise three years in the past. Though I’ve often ventured to different cruise strains, comparable to Princess and MSC, I’ve all the time discovered myself returning to my cruising roots.
Royal Caribbean, in my view, has essentially the most progressive ships at sea. I’ve by no means as soon as had a foul expertise onboard, even when cruising on the road’s oldest and smallest ships. With prime quality leisure, top-notch eating, and a various array of onboard thrills, I had little cause to look elsewhere for a cruise trip.
All through the previous 12 months, nevertheless, a number of of my fellow Royal Caribbean Weblog writers have tried Superstar Cruises for the primary time. Studying about their experiences, I used to be intrigued by the cruise line’s distinctive itineraries, adult-focused ships, and extra upscale environment.
So when planning a summer time cruise to Europe, I booked a 7-night Norwegian Fjords cruise on Superstar Silhouette. I figured it was time to expertise what Superstar was all about.
I boarded my first Superstar cruise feeling optimistic about my subsequent week onboard, however I rapidly realized that I most popular Royal Caribbean.
From the profitable loyalty standing perks to eating choices, right here’s why I’m going again to Royal Caribbean for my subsequent cruise.
Crown & Anchor Society provides extra helpful advantages in comparison with Captain’s Membership
Royal Caribbean and Superstar Cruises allow friends to match their loyalty standing from one cruise line to the opposite, however the advantages usually are not equal. For my journey model, I discover Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society provides extra profitable advantages.
As a Diamond Plus member with Royal Caribbean, my standing was matched to Superstar’s Elite Plus standing. This meant I may get pleasure from entry to unique events, a continental breakfast in a specialty restaurant every morning, reductions on choose add-ons, and two complimentary baggage of laundry, amongst different advantages.
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I appreciated the advantages not provided by Royal Caribbean, together with a free day of entry to the ship’s thermal suite and a complimentary scoop of gelato on the gelateria. That being stated, I didn’t make use of all the advantages, particularly as a result of my journey companion didn’t have standing within the Captain’s Membership, so I didn’t care to go to non-public occasions alone.
I missed sure elements of Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society whereas on Superstar, like grabbing night hors d’oeuvres within the Crown Lounge and utilizing my purchase one, get one free profit at specialty eating places.
Most of all, although, I missed my free Diamond drinks.
My favourite good thing about Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society are the Diamond drink vouchers, which provide various complimentary drinks every day relying in your loyalty standing. As a Diamond Plus member, I obtain 5 drink vouchers a day.
Onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise, I can use these drink vouchers at any time when and wherever I need with only a few restrictions. As well as, the vouchers can be utilized ashore at Good Day at CocoCay. I’m not an enormous drinker, however I like using the Diamond drink vouchers to pattern cocktails across the ship, whether or not it’s the Toasted Marshmallow Previous Original or Cucumber Martini.
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Superstar Cruises additionally supplies a drink profit to these with Elite standing and better, however it pales compared to what Royal Caribbean provides.
You may order drinks from a Glad Hour menu from 5-7PM every night. When you can get pleasure from as many drinks as you want throughout this time, the choice of drinks is extraordinarily restricted.
Neglect making an attempt the Martini Bar’s ingenious Bananas Foster cocktail or a refreshing piña colada on the pool deck. The comfortable hour drinks have been way more fundamental, comparable to a vodka soda or glass of wine.
I used to be nonetheless grateful to obtain complimentary drinks throughout my crusing, however I actually missed the pliability of the Crown & Anchor Society’s drink profit.
I assumed I would like an adult-focused cruise, however I missed Royal Caribbean’s onboard actions
As a 20-something with out youngsters, I often discover Royal Caribbean’s family-friendly environment—notably on the cruise line’s latest ships—pointless for my journey model. Whereas I might have cherished that carousel and stylish teen membership as a child, these options don’t essentially attraction to me as an grownup.
Nonetheless, it’s fairly straightforward to “escape” the kid-focused actions on Royal Caribbean’s ships. Most of those facilities are situated in just a few choose areas of the ship, and by venturing elsewhere, you could find a quieter, adult-centered expertise onboard.
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Even so, the shortage of family-focused actions on Superstar Cruises caught my eye. Though the cruise line nonetheless has a youngsters membership and actions like household karaoke, there’s a noticeable lack of thrilling sights like water slides and zip strains on Superstar’s ships.
I assumed this might make the cruise extra gratifying as an grownup traveler, since there can be (presumably) fewer screaming youngsters working across the ship.
As an alternative, I discovered myself lacking Royal Caribbean’s distinctive sights throughout my Superstar cruise. Regardless of attending actions like watercolor class, trivia, and a homicide thriller recreation present, I truly missed my exercises on Royal Caribbean’s mountaineering wall and afternoon rounds of mini golf.
It’s straightforward to imagine actions just like the FlowRider, indoor skydiving simulator, and bumper vehicles are meant for kids, however these actions are a variety of enjoyable for adults, too.
Throughout my seven nights on Superstar Silhouette, I got here to the belief that I desire high-energy, lively actions onboard a cruise ship as a substitute of simply sitting on a chair for a spherical of trivia.
It’s unlikely that Superstar will ever supply a majority of these thrills sooner or later, so I’ll in all probability e book my future cruises with Royal Caribbean as a substitute regardless of the upper variety of youngsters and households onboard.
It’s arduous to beat the number of leisure on Royal Caribbean
After crusing on 5 separate cruise strains, Royal Caribbean’s leisure has been the crème de la crème.
Leisure is all the time fairly low on my listing of causes to e book a specific ship or cruise line. I all the time recognize the quantity of theater reveals obtainable whereas cruising, but when I’m being trustworthy, I don’t all the time attend the reveals. Most evenings I desire listening to music at a bar as a substitute or lounging on the outside decks to observe the sundown.
The exception to that is once I cruise with Royal Caribbean. Except for the oldest Imaginative and prescient and Radiance Class cruise ships, the entire cruise line’s vessels supply distinctive leisure venues, whether or not it’s the ice-skating reveals, technology-focused performances at Two70, Broadway productions, or diving spectacles on the AquaTheater.
With so many distinctive venues, Royal Caribbean is extra the exception than the rule. Historically, cruise ships have all the time provided productions in a theater, and theater reveals have been the one model of efficiency provided on Superstar Silhouette.
I attended the ship’s manufacturing of “On Broadway” whereas onboard, which featured dwell music and choreography from a choice of Broadway reveals, together with Hairspray and Les Misérables. I didn’t have any complaints with the present, however it, in fact, couldn’t examine to the full-length Broadway productions obtainable on Royal Caribbean.
Each cruise strains fared equally effectively when it got here to different leisure, comparable to dwell bands and comedians. But if I needed to decide a cruise line based mostly on leisure, I might select Royal Caribbean in a heartbeat.
Superstar provided upscale eating, however I desire Royal Caribbean’s meals choices
Practically each overview I examine Superstar raved concerning the cruise line’s meals, however I truthfully desire the eating venues on Royal Caribbean. Given the optimistic critiques, this was one of many greatest surprises of my trip.
Meals is so subjective that I used to be apprehensive to even embrace a meals overview on this listing, so my opinion must be taken with a grain of salt. For those who ask 5 cruisers to overview meals amongst an inventory of cruise strains, you’d possible see 5 drastically totally different rankings.
As an example, I discovered the meals on each of my MSC cruises to be glorious; the emphasis on high-quality Italian meals matched my palette completely. Others, nevertheless, rank MSC dead-last of their rankings on cruise ship meals—some even name it inedible!
All that stated, I assumed the meals on Superstar Silhouette was not as seasoned as I desire, and menu choices have been generally too elegant for my tastes.
As a traveler who loves spicy, worldwide flavors, I’m undecided I’m within the cruise line’s goal demographic for menu choices.
I loved the number of meals on the buffet, Oceanview Café, and there have been gadgets I’ve not often seen in Royal Caribbean’s buffet, together with hummus, ceviche, and even lobster mac and cheese. Regardless of this, I felt that the majority dishes may have used extra taste.
More often than not, I caught to the stir-fry station so I may customise the dish to my liking with additional spice and seasonings.
So far as the Most important Eating Room, I discovered myself lacking Royal Caribbean’s menu. I like how Royal Caribbean incorporates a theme into every night, whether or not Italian or French evening. At instances, I felt Superstar tried a little bit too arduous to make traditional dishes elevated.
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As an alternative of a traditional basil pesto present in Royal Caribbean’s Most important Eating Room, as an example, Superstar provided a extra enhanced model, made with walnut-arugula pesto, asparagus, tomato confit, and parmesan cheese.
Whereas fancier, the dish was fairly earthy in style, and I felt the traditional dish would have tasted higher, regardless of being extra easy.
Once more, meals is a subjective subject, and maybe my palette isn’t as refined as different cruisers onboard. There have been loads of dishes I loved in the course of the week, particularly the Indian curries, however I merely desire the meals choices and menus provided on Royal Caribbean.
I’d nonetheless e book a cruise on Superstar, however largely for the itinerary
Though I most popular Royal Caribbean over Superstar, one cause I might e book a Superstar cruise over the previous is due to the itinerary choices.
Superstar Cruises provides a wider vary of itineraries in comparison with Royal Caribbean—you could find cruises to international locations like Argentina, Peru, Samoa, and India, together with extra conventional itineraries. The road even provides cruises to Antarctica, which permit friends to sail by the continent and revel in views from onboard, in addition to expedition cruises to the Galapagos.
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Royal Caribbean nonetheless provides intriguing itinerary choices, and I’ve sailed on the road in North America, Europe, and Australia. Nonetheless, as somebody who chooses cruises primarily for the vacation spot, Superstar’s choices are price searching.
If I have been selecting between an identical itinerary, I might possible decide Royal Caribbean over Superstar. If I needed to e book that bucket-list cruise to Patagonia, although, I wouldn’t hesitate to e book one other Superstar cruise.
Typically it takes trial and error to seek out the perfect cruise line for you
Each cruiser has their very own journey model. Some desire the get together environment of a Carnival cruise whereas others get pleasure from a luxurious expertise onboard a cruise line like Silversea. There’s no proper or improper approach to cruise, and generally it takes just a few tries to seek out the cruise line that matches you greatest.
After taking so many Royal Caribbean cruises, I couldn’t assist however surprise if there was a greater cruise choice on the market. But after making an attempt 5 cruise strains previously three years, I’ve come to understand the standard and consistency of Royal Caribbean’s product.
Whether or not it’s the morning mimosa with my Diamond drink voucher, afternoon journey on the zip line, or night stroll by means of Central Park, I like how various the Royal Caribbean cruise expertise might be.
Ultimately, I’m comfortable I attempted Superstar Cruises. I made great reminiscences throughout my time in Norway, and I had nothing however nice experiences with the ship’s situation, service from crew members, and itinerary.
But finally, I’m nonetheless loyal to Royal.