Tom Spectrum of the Seas was the ship that we sailed for our 4 days 3 nights cruise to Penang with Royal Caribbean Cruise! Although we had previously covered Spectrum of the Seas, this was our first post-COVID cruise with a port of call. Hence, we were particularly excited to cover this Spectrum of the Seas cruise to Penang, with coverage on the Deluxe Beverage Package, Royal Caribbean VOOM Wi-Fi Internet and Specialty Dining Restaurants – Chops Grille and Izumi!
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What You Need To Do Before Your Spectrum of the Seas Royal Caribbean Cruise
Before we jump into the cruise proper, there are a few preparations that you need to do
1. Book Your Rooms Early. This time, we booked our inner state room for $930 for 2 pax or $465 per person. This translates to about $115USD per night per person. As a gauge, if you’re able to snag a room for $100USD per night, that would be really great. For us, it was not exactly the best price for an inner state room, but still not too bad for a cruise close to the peak period of June holidays.
2. Download the Royal Caribbean App and Book Your Arrival Time. Prior to your cruise, download the Royal Caribbean Cruise App (aka Royal App) which will allow you to make bookings and your arrival time. Note that you can select your arrival time to the cruise centre, 45 days prior to the cruise. Using your Royal App to select your arrival time will be one of the most important thing to do prior to your cruise. Thereafter, you can declare your health status and do the check-in via the Royal App to expedite the process during arrival day.
3. Book Your Beverage and Specialty Dining Packages Early. If your contemplating whether to go for a deluxe beverage package or specialty dining package, book first. This is because if prices decrease, you can always cancel and rebook to the cheaper rates as you track the prices closer to the date of sailing. From experience, prices are usually the cheapest a long way out from the cruise or during special events such as New Year’s sales. Moreover, you can cancel your beverage package 2 days before your cruise or specialty dining package 4 days prior to your cruise.
4. Put in a Bid to Upgrade Your State Room via RoyalUp. For this cruise, as we were booked on an inner state room, we decided to try out RoyalUp – a state room upgrade programme that is outsourced by Royal Caribbean Cruise. Through the programme, we were able to upgrade our state room from inner state room to ocean view state room for $35 per person or $70 – bringing our overall cruise price to $1000 SGD. We were informed about 3 days prior to our cruise when we were successful. On our previous cruise, we were unsuccessful and were only informed on the day before the cruise. Thankfully, we managed to snag an upgrade this time and the overall cruise price was cheaper than purchasing the Ocean View Room directly.
With all these good stuff shared, it’s time to share our 4D3N Spectrum of the Seas cruise to Penang proper!
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Spectrum of the Seas Review – Day 1 Cruise at Sea
Check-In Process at Marina Bay Cruise Centre
As we booked our arrival time at 11am in the morning, we were able to get onboard relatively early this time. Remember to book your arrival timeslots 45 days prior to the cruise when the selection is open!
The entire check-in process is actually pretty straight-forward. All you need are your passports and the Sea Pass available on your Royal App. Remember to do all the check-in process and health declaration online (via Royal App) and you’ll be right through. After a quick check-in, we were led to a waiting area to board Spectrum of the Seas in an orderly manner. Now, we can cross immigration by doing facial recognition, just like the airport. This means, we were onboard in a jiffy!
Thanks to the team at Royal Caribbean Cruise, we were offered the VIP Package during our cruise on Spectrum of the Seas this time. It includes the Deluxe Beverage Package, VOOM (The Fastest Internet at Sea) as well as dining at Specialty Dining Restaurants. To get our holiday started, we first visited La Patisserie at Deck 5 where Putra helped us to confirm our Deluxe Beverage Package (as room key cards would only be available from 1pm onwards). Upon confirmation (thanks Putra!), we had our first drinks of freshly-squeezed orange juices…
Lunch at Windjammer (Deck 14)
After embarkation, you’ll be able to enjoy your first meal of the day onboard Spectrum of the Seas at Windjammer, located at deck 14 (aft) of the ship. If you’re unsure, follow others to deck 14 and that’s where most people will be heading to after embarkation. At Windjammer, we continued to enjoy the Deluxe Beverage Package by starting off with Pina Colada and the Ultimate Mai Tai – drinks that bring us memories of a great holiday…
Lunch on the first day was actually pretty good – especially the roast beef. There was a WHOLE LEG OF Roast Beef at the carvery. Juices flowed as the meat was being cut – definitely a sign of expertly prepared meats by Royal Caribbean Cruise. After our meal at Windjammer, we headed to our state room at Deck 3 to check out our Ocean View Room on Spectrum of the Seas Royal Caribbean Cruise…
Ocean View State Room Spectrum of the Seas
Thanks to the State Room Attendant, we also received some welcome fruits and canapes…
Within the room, we also received some information about the shows that we will be expecting onboard…
Overall, we were very satisfied with the RoyalUp upgrade from inner state room to ocean view state room. Not only did we pay less, we were able to get a very large window that allows us to see the views outside. The only downside of this upgrade was that it was located at Deck 3 and as part of the condition for RoyalUp, we were not able to choose our room. Views of the sea at Deck 3 can be a little dizzying as you’re closer to the sea. The same views at the higher decks would be comfortable. Well, the other good thing about situating at deck 3 was that we were just next to the Main Dining Room and the Casino Bar (for utilisation of Deluxe Beverage Package) was really close by as well. Hence, we had nothing to complain about, especially when you can take shots such as this…
Activating VOOM Internet Package
To set up your VOOM account, it is relatively straight-forward. You can follow the instructions provided in-room if you have purchased the package prior to embarkation. All you have to do is to create a user name for login and provide the necessary information as prompted by the Royal App and you’ll be good to go. For our cruise this time, the Deluxe Beverage Package was about $90SGD per person per day while VOOM costs about $25 per device per day. As it was by per device, you’ll have to share usage by logging out before another user could login via the same user name. As we have previously shared, if you intend to go for VOOM internet, the Key Programme could be a more economical way to do so.
It is also timely to check out the shows that are available during the cruise so that you will be able to plan your activities around the shows to catch them on time. During our cruise there were a couple of new shows such as the Effectors and Funny Bones, which were actually pretty good…
Shows Available during our Cruise on Spectrum of the Seas
“Join the Effectors; Pixel beautiful, sexy and confident; Reverb unpredictable and mischievous; Lume a sassy and dynamic supergirl and Captain Viz the leader of the pack and always first into the fight as they individually demonstrate their awesome powers, and then come together to battle their arch nemesis, Crash as he tries once again to stop the show and destroy the city of Showville.”
“Embracing all the great traditions of silent comedy and vaudeville, Funny Bones invites you to a vibrant, action-packed show with stunning physical dexterity, cheeky comedy, climaxing with an astonishing giant puppet finale!”
“The incredibly rich and diverse cultures, styles, designs and visuals that are synonymous with the famous trade routes of the ancient Silk Road, have been combined and integrated with beyond-state-of-the-art entertainment technology, to create one of the most unique live productions in the world! Two70’s highly advanced technology, including 12k video resolution and 36-axis robotics, will now be pushed to its maximum limits, as we once again redefine the boundaries of what is possible in the creative arts.”
“This incredible dance spectacular takes us on a stunning journey that focuses on one of the most iconic of all live entertainers. By paying tribute to the past, the present, and the future of the beautiful showgirl, this remarkable production will leave our audiences completely awestruck. Royal Caribbean Productions has assembled the biggest cast of international performers ever assembled in the history of the cruise industry with a total of 29 singers, dances and showgirls. It’s going to be quite a party!”
After deciding on the shows and the timings that we were going to catch them, we used the Royal App to add them to our calender so that we won’t forget which slots we had chosen – remember to arrive 30 minnutes prior to the show to get the best seats in the house. As with pre-COVID shows, there’s no longer a need for reservations for shows on Spectrum of the Seas during our cruise this time. We also called 7000 to make reservations at Chops Grille and Izumi. For specialty dining, it would be good to make reservations early to get the time slots that you want so that show times won’t be affected. After these were done, we headed to Seaplex (Deck 15) for our first activity on the cruise – Bumper Cars!
Bumper Cars at Deck 15 Seaplex
Bumper Cars is definitely one of our favourite activities on Spectrum of the Seas. At 2pm sharp, there were already about 20 people queuing in front of us. The good thing about Bumper Cars is that it usually goes on for a few hours and you can just head back to queue again once you’re done with your turn. Of course, if you’re on the Key Programme, you’ll have dedicated time for Bumper Cars which allows you to have more tries at the cars as well. Thereafter, we headed upstairs for Archery. If you have not tried it before, it is a safer version to try out – especially for the kids, while still maintaining the same tension expected on the bowstring.
Solarium at Deck 14 Forward
Our vacation continued at Solarium, another favourite part of the ship for us because of the cool drinks that we can enjoy from the Solarium Bar (thanks Paquito, Adi, Arlyn for taking care of us!). Also, post-COVID, you can now bring drinks into the pool and hot tubs!
As you would have known by now, kids below the age of 16 are not allowed into the Solarium. This makes the Solarium a really nice sanctuary to just chill and enjoy views of the ocean during sea days.
Chops Grille Specialty Dining Restaurant Spectrum of the Seas
For our first Specialty Dining meal, we chose to dine at Chops Grille because of the excellent steaks that it offers. Here’s the full menu of dining at Chops Grille Spectrum of the Seas…
For Starters, we chose the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Tuna Tartare along with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Of course, at Chops Grille, you’ll never go wrong with the Wild Mushroom Soup that is scented with white truffle oil (Lobster Bisque is a no-go for us though). Browsing through the wine menu, we found the Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay (695) as well as the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (343) to be excellent whites for the meals…
As for our mains, we went with the 16 oz Prime Bone-In Ribeye in medium well and medium rare along with with the Robert Mondavi Private Reserve Merlot (147) and the Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (877)…
As usual, the bone-in ribeye at Chops Grille never disappoint. We enjoyed the medium rare rendition with some much of the juices locked within, flowing out as you cut into the tender and flavourful piece of grilled steak. The wines complemented our steaks very well. As for desserts, we chose the cheesecake which was served by Wilmar and team with a little anniversary rendition due to our 16th year anniversary celebration during this cruise!
The Effectors Production Show Time
For Production Showtime this evening, we watched the Effectors – an in-house production by Royal Caribbean Cruise which turned out to be pretty good. Love the renditions of familiar tunes such as Holding Out for A Hero (aka “I need a hero…”) as well as our favourite character – the humorous and cheeky Reverb.
Also, we were able to bring in drinks as with pre-COVID for shows as well (both at Royal Theatre and Two70). There was a make-shift bar set up at the entrance where we had a Corona as well as Gin and Tonic. After our first show this evening, we headed to Main Dining Room for our second meal this evening!
Dinner at Main Dining Room Spectrum of the Seas
As we were quite full from the excellent meal from Chops Grille this evening, we went with the evergreen of Spaghetti Bolognese (always an excellent choice if you’re not sure what to have) and Portobello Mushroom. We also had the crab cakes and apple crumble for starters and appetizers respectively…
Silk Road in Preview
We were told by our cruise director Raphael (a lady) that Silk Road production was in preview because some of the crew had recently joined the ship and still needed some time of practice before the full show with costumes could be put on. But as a preview, we were still treated to an excellent show – albeit having some singers and dancers perform without the Silk Road costumes. Nonetheless, we totally enjoyed Victoria on the violin and the drummer dude who had so much expression! Awesome show!
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Spectrum of the Seas Review – Day 2 Arriving at Penang Malaysia
Spectrum of the Seas Gym
On day 2 of our cruise onboard Spectrum of the Seas, we started our day at the gym at 7am…
Surprisingly, there were ALOT of people at the gym from 6am onwards. When we reached there at 7am, almost all the treadmills and weight machines were fully utilised. At the studio room next door, all the mats were laid out for yoga and morning stretches as well. Hence, we went on the cycling and stepping machine – which had visuals as though your were jogging through natural attractions such as Yosemite, Sequoia.
Breakfast at Main Dining Room
After getting our double-shot latte from La Pattiserie, we headed to Main Dining Room for breakfast. This time, we chose the customary Eggs Benedict with mushrooms, corned beef and hash brown as well as the Bagel and Ham (Kate swapped Lox with Ham)…
Surprisingly, the yolk of the Eggs Benedict was still runny when we tucked in. As always corned beef and hash browns were excellent options. Together with the mushrooms and bacon, made it an atas brunch dish as you would be getting from reputable restaurants on land. After breakfast, we headed to the Royal Esplanade for Dancercise…
Dancercise at Royal Esplanade (Deck 4)
Dancercise was held at 930am on Deck 4 of the Spectrum of the Seas. The instructor would teach us steps to several dances and then play a song to bring us through the dance steps. We went through about 4 songs and they were all really fun with increased intensity. Definitely a great work out to start the day. We then had a quick drinks break at Leaf and Bean…
Leaf and Bean Tea and Drinks
The drinks at Leaf and Bean were not really fragrant though it was actually nicer with the “cheese froth” added to the Taiwan Ruby. If you’re interested in coffee, you can get Flat White here as well. This time, we heard Olek playing melodies on his electric guitar as well…
Battle for Planet Z Laser Tag (Seaplex Deck 15)
This time, we made reservations for 1030 for a game of Laser Tag at Seaplex (Deck 15). The laser tag on Spectrum of the Seas costs $10USD per pax which was rather decent, given that the equipment was actually new-ish and able to shoot at a relatively far range. As a result of the good equipment, Tom was able to do several snipes on Kate from almost the other end of the maze. Kate didn’t know what hit her. 😂
For lunch, we went back to MDR (Main Dining Room) and were really full at this point. Still, we wolfed down the pulled pork sandwich and barramundi before heading to Schooner Bar for Charades!
Charades was really fun as the clues weren’t really hard and almost everyone gets a chance to win the RCL bottle opener – as long as you can shout out the answers loudly and fast enough. When it was Tom’s turn, he had “Spiderman” – which everyone got almost immediately and “Michael Jackson” – to which he did a moon walk and someone answered within 5 seconds. Must have been some excellent moonwalking from Tom. 🤔
Day Trip to Penang
At about 3pm, we alighted for our day trip to Penang. Thanks to our friends, the trip was pre-arranged and we walked right through from the ship (with a latte in hand) all the way out of Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal – which was a pretty beautiful structure. There, our transportation took us to our first stop at 8321 Durian Plantation for some Mao Shan Wang (MSW) Durian…
The journey took us about 1 hour due to the traffic conditions in Penang. Once there, we were welcomed to be seated, surrounded by durian trees with nets strewn all around. The durians are meant to catch the durians for 2 reasons (aka 没有敲过的). Firstly, for the safety of workers and visitors in the plantation and secondly, durians that do not hit the ground does not activate the “reaction” which actually seals that flavours of the durians within…
Thereafter, we returned to Georgetown for Chendol and then 1st Avenue Mall to do some shopping…
For dinner, we visited BaBa Phang Peranakan Restaurant Penang…
The meal at Baba Phang was excellent. We particular enjoyed the Sting Ray which was so enticing and appetizing with its tangy flavours while the signature pork had a fragrance from the dark soy sauce and sweetness from the honey/sugar. Moreover, the pork was not “over-braised” leaving a firm texture on every bite. Pig’s Stomach Soup was excellent as well! Yum!
Thanks also to our tour guide Frances, who picked up the Tambun Biscuit (aka baby tow sar bing) from Him Heang Penang personally via a friend that we were able to bring back these souvenirs for our friends and relatives back home.
Funny Bones Spectrum of the Seas Royal Caribbean Cruise
As we were back by 9pm and the headliner, Funny Bones was slated to start at 10pm, we stopped by Pool Bar for Mojito and Heineken before having a self-concocted drink at Bionic Bar. Turns out Mojito Syrup with Soda, Gin and Lime makes for an excellent cocktail…
Though we didn’t have any photos from Funny Bones, it turned out to be the best show during our 4D3N cruise onboard Spectrum of the Seas. Chris Peters (British) and K-Bow (Japanese) are the comedy-duo behind funny bones and are really creative in their performance. Using simple props like masking tape and brooms, Chris and K-Bow are able to creatively re-enact everything from walking sticks to standing microphones and even mimicking flying like Harry Potter. Laugh-out-loud funny, definitely a must watch for the entire family. For us, watching Funny Bones was creativity at its best!
Book with Klook Here: Royal Caribbean Cruises
Spectrum of the Seas Review – Day 3 Final Sea Day
Sunrise as seen from Spectrum of the Seas
On our final sea day on Spectrum of the Seas, we started by catching the sunrise before working out (because we felt guilty after pigging out indulging for so many days)…
The day started out where we saw a row of fishing vessels using green LED lights to differentiate themselves at sea – probably an easy way for the fishermen from the same group to recognise each other. We then headed up to deck 15 where we saw a beautiful sunrise this morning. Many guests were there this morning as well…
@2bearbeartravel Spectrum of the Seas Morning Surise (Royal Caribbean Cruise) #spectrumoftheseas #royalcaribbeancruise #rccl #royal #royalcaribbean #sunrise #beautiful #nature #seas #waves #cruise #travel @royalcaribbean @royalcaribbeanasia @royalcaribbeancruises ♬ Sunrise – Lil SoleFly
Breakfast at Windjammer and Two70 Cafe
After exercising at the aft of deck 15 (a great place to take in the sea views), we headed to Windjammer for a light breakfast…
Breakfast at Windjammer was quite meh this morning as it was the usual eggs, bacon and sausages. However, we did have some porridge and bee hoon (which was not that great). Hence, we decided to adjourn to Two70 Cafe which had a pretty good “McMuffin Sandwich” as well as an amazing view out to sea. This time, Two70 also screened a pretty funny Redbull Soapbox Race where competitors designed their luge with creative themes.
Chilling at Solarium
After breakfast, we headed to our favourite venue – Solarium to just relax and catch a quick nap as we slept rather late the night before. Thereafter, at about 10am, we went for wavehouse FlowRider of Spectrum of the Seas…
FlowRider Spectrum of the Seas
Before you go on the FlowRider, you’ll have to register and sign an indemnity form before being able to join the queue. This time, it was drizzling lightly. Thankfully, the activity could still continue despite the rain. However, the instructors had to call for 2 safety timeouts as guests did not know how to hold the boogie board correctly (by tucking elbows in) and to protect their head (and curling into a “ball” position) during a wash-out. Otherwise, we saw several guests that were able to surf on their knees and a Korean girl who could even pose with 2 hands while lying flat on the boogie board! Definitely another instagrammable moment there…
Lunch of Pizza and Beers from Sorrento’s at Solarium
As we were only able to take 4 slices of pizza from Sorrento’s per person, we had to make a few trips walking between the forward and aft of the Spectrum of the Seas before we tucked in. Talk about working for your meal.
Open Mic Karaoke and Beanbag Throwing (aka Cornhole) Tournament
In the afternoon at 3pm, we stopped by Star Moment at Deck 4 Spectrum of the Seas for Open Mic Karaoke. You can only sing 1 song per person – unless someone else chooses a duet then you can be a partner to that duet for a second song. After a quick couple of songs, we headed to the Beanbag Throwing (aka Cornhole) Tournament at Music Hall (Deck 3) where a few of our friends made it to the finals and even made the top 2 winners of the tournament! 😀
At about 5:30pm, we went to the reception at Deck 4 to clarify on the bill for our drinks. Apparently, Royal Caribbean Cruise’s website had already updated the Deluxe Beverage Package to include drinks up to $14USD but it was not so on Spectrum of the Seas…
Thankfully the ship was able to waive off the additional $1USD that we paid on two drinks after seeing this update on the Royal Caribbean Cruise website. Hopefully, it will soon apply to all passengers on Spectrum of the Seas for future cruises.
Pre-Dinner Drinks at Vintages Wine Bar
For wines onboard Royal Caribbean Cruise, we realised that it is usually easier for the staff to take our orders using the numbers allocated to the wines. Hence, our favourite white would include 343 Sauvignon Blanc and red – 877 Cabernet Sauvignon. After pre-dinner drinks at Vintages Wine Bar, we headed to Izumi for a meal at the Japanese Restaurant onboard Spectrum of the Seas…
Dinner at Izumi Spectrum of the Seas
A meal at Izumi costs $39.99 and includes 1 small plate, 2 large plates and 1 dessert. This time, we chose
Small Plates
– Pork Gyoza Dumpling
– Crispy Rice Spicy Tuna
Large Plates
– Izumi Spider Roll
– Izumi Ryu Futomaki Roll
– Truffled Creamy Lobster Tempura Roll
Desserts
– Crispy Sesame Ball
– Assorted Mochi Ice Cream
For small plates, you won’t go wrong with the Pork Gyoza Dumplings as they’re always so juicy and well-marinated with a hint of ginger in the fillings. As for the crispy spicy rice tuna, it was indeed crisp on the outer side of the rice sushi – very interesting and palatable texture.
For large plates, all three were excellent. The lobster was fragrant with the truffle while the soft shell crab was distinctly and delish. Futomaki had the deep-fried crisp out texture that we liked and the ingredients within was crisp as well. An excellent meal that were complemented with the rice-fragrant sake and She’s a Geisha cocktail. Japanese Strawberry on the other hand was well…a little medicinal. 😅 All in all, another wonderful meal at Izumi!
Final Dinner at Main Dining Room (MDR) Spectrum of the Seas
For our last meal at Main Dining Room, we finally ordered the Adventurous Whites and Adventurous Reds which turned out to be ok only. Stick with 343 Sauvignon Blanc and 877 Cabernet Sauvignon for great wines to go with the MDR dinners. To wind down the evening, we listened to piano music in Schooner (had Anejo Margarita) and then to Music Hall for the last party of the evening.
We also found that alcoholic drinks were served all the way till 2am onboard the ship which was a welcomed improvement as compared to 1030pm during the COVID era. We also headed up to Deck 16 to take a look at the see-through deck – a relatively new “attraction”. If you’re sailing onboard of the Spectrum of the Seas and not scared of heights – definitely check it out.
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As we were heading to Malaysia after disembarking from Spectrum of the Seas on our last day, we wanted to leave the ship as soon as possible to reduce the time spent waiting on the Causeway. However, even though the information mentioned Two70 to be serving breakfast from 630am onwards this morning, it was not so and only drinks were served. Hence, we circled back to La Pattiserie for a ham and cheese sandwich before packing up our bags to leave the ship at 7am.
All in all, we had an amazing 4D3N cruise onboard Spectrum of the Seas (Royal Caribbean Cruise). Special shout out to Exther and Jessica for the VIP Package that enhanced our experience during this cruise. To the staff and crew of Spectrum of the Seas, thank you for the impeccable service that always sets the Royal Caribbean Cruise experience apart from the competition.
Book with Klook Here: Royal Caribbean Cruises
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