We spent our last morning of the 4 night Isles of South East Asia cruise on Royal Caribbean's Legends Of The Sea wishing it didn't have to end. We had gotten used to food being cooked for us, our bed being made for us, and having everything within easy strolling distance.
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 1
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 2
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 3
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 4
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 5 And Review
When we had arrived back into our Stateroom last night there was a bunch of paperwork waiting on the bed. Instead of the awesome “Cruise Compass” that we had received every other night we now had to read “As You Depart – Singapore”.
For those of you with luggage, the Royal Caribbean staff request that you leave your large luggage outside your stateroom between 7:00pm and 11:00pm on the last night with luggage tags attached. Make sure to leave a change of clothes, your toothbrush and passport out for the morning.
Before you depart you need to settle any outstanding balance on your SeaPass account. If you chose to pay with a credit card instead of cash this happens automatically and there is no real need to check in with Guest Services. We still did. We just wanted to know what we had spent extra money on. Plus I wanted to experience the process of settling a SeaPass account. Guest Services staff were all very friendly and they checked every charge with each customer.
We docked in Singapore at about 7:00am, packed up our stuff, and went and had breakfast for the last time at the Windjammer Cafe. How we miss this buffet! You answered every one of our food related prayers!
Since we only had carry on luggage we were able to just leave the ship whenever we wanted, as long as it was before 9:00am. If you have luggage you are requested to leave the ship at a certain time to make sure your luggage is waiting for you.
Immigration and customs were fast and efficient and then we were back in Singapore. Back on land. Not on the Legends Of The Sea cruise ship any more.
If you want to reconnect with the digital world immediately, before you head out of the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore, go upstairs into the departure area and use the free wifi. Log in with your name and your passport number and catch up on all your emails. Or don't if you want to delay all that for a little longer.
Andrew and I had the most amazing week of our lives on this cruise ship. We thank you Royal Caribbean, and we hope to experience another one of your cruises soon!
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What did we most like most about Royal Caribbean's Legend Of The Sea Cruise Ship?
Perfect For Cheapskates: When you think “cruise” you probably don't think “cheap”. Most cruises do cost quite a bit of money up front. The price per day ranges from an affordable USD $50 to an eye watering USD $500. But once you are on board there is no real need to spend any money. The included food is great quality and unlimited. Some drinks like iced tea, lemonade, and really nice organic tea and coffee are also included and are available twenty four hours a day. Virtually all of the available entertainment and activities are included.
You could easily spend just as much for a stay in a resort that doesn't include anything but your room and your breakfast. By the time you fork out for lunch and dinner and whatever else comes along the cruise starts to look very reasonable.
If you pick up the cruise at a reasonable price and you don't go silly with your SeaPass card during your cruise you may be surprised by how affordable it is. Cruise companies do have sales and specials so start keeping an eye on their websites to snag a bargain.
Activities To Keep Everyone Entertained: We weren't bored once the entire time we were on board. There was something happening for every age group all the time. There was a baby, kids and teens club for the children; adults could be pampered, pummelled or brought to tears in the spa and gym area; and activities such as napkin folding, language classes and cake decorating were on offer. Don't forget the Bingo!
Comfortable Staterooms: Our Ocean view Stateroom was the perfect size for us. The room wasn't huge but we've stayed in regular old hotels that were far more cramped. In addition to the bed and the usual hotel room type stuff there was room enough for a couch and a small coffee table and we could still walk around comfortably.
Naturally there are far larger and more luxurious rooms available but they come with a heftier price tag. We did have a brief glimpse of a room the same size as ours that was set up to accommodate four people. Mum and dad in the double bed and two bunk beds for the kids. It looked like quite a squeeze but it was well laid out and would avoid families having to pay for two rooms.
World-Class Entertainment: The on board Royal Caribbean dancers, musicians and entertainers were fantastic and put on awesome shows every night. Special mention to the special guest entertainers! We saw so many brilliant performers in such a short space of time on this cruise ship. Totally amazing!
Helpful and Friendly Staff: Every person we spoke to was very friendly and helpful. It really takes a special person to work on a cruise ship day in, day out. It could get very tiring but at the same time be very rewarding and they seem like quite a happy bunch. We even met a person who works on another cruise ship who was taking his vacation on this ship. How is that for a person who loves what they do?! To everyone we spoke to, thank you for answering every question we had!
All Access Tour: If you really want to know how a cruise ship works then this tour is worth the money and time. We were able to visit the Galley, Bridge, Crew Areas, Waste Management, Laundry, and backstage at the Theatre. It will cost you USD $150 for one unless there is a special on. It will take around three and a half hours which can help you build up your appetite for your next meal. Highly recommended. Highly!
What do we think Royal Caribbean's Legend Of The Sea Cruise Ship could improve on?
More Vegetarian Options at Romeo & Juliet Restaurant: I am not vegetarian but I do prefer more vegetables and less meat. I found the vegetarian options at the fine dining restaurant – Romeo & Juliet a bit lacking. The first night I ate pasta. It was tasty but nothing exciting. The second night I had a mushroom and blue cheese dish. That wasn't really that awesome either. It needed something else, maybe green vegetables or something, as it really was just a big plate of mushrooms with nothing to break it up. The fish and meat dishes at the Romeo & Juliet Restaurant is lovely but the vegetarian food could do with some tweaking.
Shore Excursions could be less shopping focused: It is difficult to see a place in just a few hours. Organizing comprehensive tours for a few thousand people would be difficult for anyone. That said, it felt like there could be more varied options available. At Phuket at least the tours all looked like shopping trips book ended by a tourist attraction. For the non-shoppers it would have been nice to have one option available that didn't involve being driven from shop to shop. Perhaps there just isn't sufficient demand for non-shopping tours. Most people seemed quite happy going from one shop to another.
If shopping for souvenirs doesn't sound like your thing consider going ashore independently or simply staying on board enjoying everything the ship has to offer.
Pro Tips For Anyone Going on The 4 Night Isles of Southeast Asia Cruise
Pack a formal outfit: A dress and heels for the ladies. For the men a nice shirt, pants, jacket and shoes. Dressing up isn't mandatory of course but it would be fun to really embrace the formal dining experience.
Drinking water: The cruise ship treats all the water, so you can drink the water straight from the tap and shower. Yay!
Meet a lot of people: There are people on board of all nationalities and ages. On this cruise the majority of the guests were from countries including Japan, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. Australians, Americans and Europeans of all ages were also on the ship. There were plenty of opportunities for us to meet people from all over the world. It was a pleasure sitting beside multi-generational families who were enjoying a family holiday on the cruise ship.
Choosing the MyTime option for the Romeo and Juliet Restaurant gives you the opportunity to meet people from other walks of life as you can choose to sit at large shared tables. We really enjoyed our dinner conversations.
By the way, infants on board need to be at least 6 – 12 months old (depending on the cruise ship). Everyone is happy then. The parents, other guests, the staff… everyone.
Internet access: It does cost a lot to access the Internet while on board. It works out to be around USD 65c per minute for casual usage. You could purchase bulk internet credit of up to 500 minutes for USD $150. We did find that the wifi access was a lot quicker than the computer terminal stations that were on offer.
There is also the option of roaming on your 3G sim phone card. We didn't try this out as we didn't have a live sim card with us but if you did have access to a really cheap roaming sim card with a lot of data, then you could easily hook up to the ship's satellite system. More info on this option here.
While it's possible to stay connected you may want to consider the duration of your cruise to be a period of enforced isolation. A period of time when you have no contact with the outside world and no choice but to just relax.
Be open minded: Line dancing is fun. Join in.
Would we, as long term digital nomads, go on a cruise again?
Yes! In a heartbeat! Four nights on a self-contained cruise-ship was certainly not enough time for us. We enjoyed it immensely.
Internet access is our main concern for spending more time on a cruise ship. If we were able to work our normal four hours per day, with three hours being offline and one hour being online, each day it may work.
The lowest rate for internet access from Royal Caribbean is around USD $0.30 per minute or $18.00 per hour when you buy the bulk 500 minute wifi pack for USD $150. This is just over 8 hours of Internet time.
Emails can be downloaded quickly by the use of a mail client, responded to offline, and then uploaded the next time you go online. Even Gmail has an offline app that can be used these days. Nice.
With a bit of planning Andrew and I could easily work offline for a few hours a day then both go online for an hour to upload the work we have done. It's not perfect but it's do-able for a few weeks. Or we could just wait until we're ready for a bona fide holiday…
Variety is the spice of life. Our StateRoom had a usable and very comfortable desk space. More importantly, instead of just having the desk in our room we would have nine decks of potential office spaces. There are restaurants, bars, outside deck areas, cafes…. many places to work at. The outside view changes often too! Lovely.
All in all we would be able to work online for a few hours a day (or just take a holiday), have awesome food cooked for us, a comfy room to stay in, be entertained daily, and would generally have a great life onboard.
We thoroughly enjoyed our adventure with Royal Caribbean. We hope to go on another cruise very soon. Thank you again for a fantastic time! Highly recommended. Highly!
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 1
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 2
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 3
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 4
- Royal Caribbean – Legends Of The Sea Cruise – Day 5 And Review
Disclaimer: We received complimentary cruise tickets on the Legends Of The Sea Cruise Ship in return for our complete and honest review – good or bad. Click here for more information about Royal Caribbean International.
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