"Secret" cat. 2F cabins on Spectrum of the Seas?

[jegoodman]

Marc,

 

Thanks so much for the detailed review.  I really appreciate it and it has made me less apprehensive.

 

I'm not surprised about immigration.  Having cruised in Asia before, I've seen terrible set ups and long delays to clear.

 

Your cabin looks amazing and the amenities great.  I am Diamond Plus and was told I've have access to the Silver Lounge and solarium but might or might not have access to the dining depending on crowds.

 

Yep, Kit Kats are on my list for Japan.  Someone I know wants green tea kit kats and I think Japan is the only place that sells them.

 

I just got back from Australia and the most exotic Kit Kat was green mint.

 

Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[Brandis]

Japanese immigration actually wasn't that bad. Getting off the ship back in Shanghai was the real nightmare.

 

Yes, the Silver Lounge next to Silver Dining doubles as the Diamond Lounge in the evening. Funny thing is, suite guests that were not Diamond yet sometimes were denied drinks from the bar, waiters said that it was for Diamond and higher only. However, that wasn't always enforced.

 

Another funny thing, our friends brought their blue wristbands from the previous cruise and asked Guest Services to load their cabin keys onto them. Guest Services complied, but told them that since they didn't sell the wristbands on board and only gave the yellow bands to Gold Suite guests, they only had a Gold Suite profile they could upload to their bands and that they were not allowed to use their bands to enter the Gold Suite areas 🙂

 

Matcha Kit Kat you can get in pretty much any convenience store. If you have time, go to a Don Quichote store, they have tons of different Kit Kat Flavours. The ones I got were: Sake, Black Tea, Apple Pie, Sweet Potato, Cherry Blossom.

[jegoodman]

Wow on Kit Kat flavors.  Must be very popular in Japan.

 

Chinese immigration is notorious for not having enough officers.  When I ended a cruise in Tianjin I got lucky and was off the ship quickly due to an RCL transfer.  That time immigration was a breeze.

 

This time in Shanghai I will stay an extra day so not in a huge hurry, though truthfully I prefer to carry my bags off the ship.  Early disembarkation is probably not allowed, I presume?

 

[Brandis]

Actually, "troubles" with Chinese immigration already started before our trip. We planned on using the 144h visa waiver entry, as we were in Shanghai for less than 144 hours both before and after our cruise.

 

Two weeks before the cruise, there was a huge article in the newspaper that many passengers flying into Beijing and wanting to board Spectrum to Singapore were not allowed to enter the country and had to fly home. Apparently, it was mostly people with stamps from Turkey or arabian countries which were denied entry. So we scambled and went to get visas. Luckily, there is a Chinese visa center in our city and their turnaround time was only 4 days. Our friends had to fly last minute to Madrid, get express visas at additional costs which took 2 days.

 

With that, we felt a bit more confident getting into China. 🙂 Immigration at the airport still took around 90 min., but that wasn't too bad. Formalities getting on the ship wasn't too bad either, took maybe an hour.

 

But then the crazyness started when we got back to Shanghai at the end of the cruise. Our planned disembarkation time, according to the luggage tags was 9AM, and I heard that the ship was supposed to be empty and ready for the new passengers by 10AM. However, we still sat in Jamies waiting to get out by 11AM and the line to get off the ship didn't move at all. We were among the last passengers getting of the ship at around 1PM... I was told by ship staff that the problem apparently was the International Trade Import Expo which was held in Shanghai at that time and the chinese president was visiting Shanghai as well so they ramped up security and immigration procedures.

 

When we got out of the port building, the line waiting to get onboard was huge. Oh well, they inconvenienced mostly their own people as it was a 3-day cruise only and apparently no or almost no foreigners were booked on that cruise, according to our annoyed barkeeper at the Solarium bar. He said, for him it meant sitting around in the bar all day doing nothing. He also told us when the captain announced the numbers for european, american and australian passengers for the previous 2 7-day cruises, all the bar staff cheered since they knew they would be busier for those trips 🙂 They were really happy when we kept them busy.

 

Actually, by the time we got out of the terminal, the shuttle bus going to the metro station had stopped running. So we had to take Taxis, they were really cheap though, only 20 RMB max.

 

Apparently, there is only one kind of taxi that is allowed to take foreigners, but they were all too small, taking 2 passengers max and only room for 1 bag. So the police commandeered some bigger taxis for us which could hold up to 3 passengers and all our luggage and made sure we understood that we shouldn't pay more than 20 RMB.

 

After that, getting to Shanghai Disney Resort, where we stayed for the last 4 days of our trip, was a breeze.

 

[jegoodman]

Sorry for your troubles.  I hate queues that don't move.  

 

At least it sounds like you enjoyed Disney.

[jegoodman]

cityguy300, did you return from your cruise yet?

[RosieCanberra]

Thanks for the info and photos Brandis, we have a Silver Junior Suite too. Sailing on Sunday from Hong Kong. 

[cityguy300]

14 hours ago, jegoodman said:

cityguy300, did you return from your cruise yet?

 

I don't start it until this Sunday -- I'm actually writing this from the Silver Spirit, which I disembark on Saturday.

 

The timing of your post is uncanny, as I was only scanning the RCCL board to see if anyone had posted anything relevant to my upcoming cruise (and I have the unlimited internet here to leisurely check and post back).

 

However my "solo" cabin turns out, I know it won't be as big as my suite here!  But I have no reason to think (yet) that it won't be the full-sized aft balcony it appears to be on the deck plan.  Not sure about the two, connecting side cabins that my parents are in -- on paper, they do look to be between a solo and regular balcony in size.

 

Unfortunately, I won't have any free internet to update you again until I'm home. 🙂

[jegoodman]

2 hours ago, cityguy300 said:

 

I don't start it until this Sunday -- I'm actually writing this from the Silver Spirit, which I disembark on Saturday.

 

The timing of your post is uncanny, as I was only scanning the RCCL board to see if anyone had posted anything relevant to my upcoming cruise (and I have the unlimited internet here to leisurely check and post back).

 

However my "solo" cabin turns out, I know it won't be as big as my suite here!  But I have no reason to think (yet) that it won't be the full-sized aft balcony it appears to be on the deck plan.  Not sure about the two, connecting side cabins that my parents are in -- on paper, they do look to be between a solo and regular balcony in size.

 

Unfortunately, I won't have any free internet to update you again until I'm home. 🙂

Enjoy your 2 cruises.  I'm not sailing until March 27 so I can certainly wait.  Even if I don't know about the cabin, I'm still going.  I have sailed in an actual solo cabin (on Ovation) and it was just fine.

[cityguy300]

On 12/17/2019 at 8:14 AM, jegoodman said:

Enjoy your 2 cruises.  I'm not sailing until March 27 so I can certainly wait.  Even if I don't know about the cabin, I'm still going.  I have sailed in an actual solo cabin (on Ovation) and it was just fine.

 

The aft-facing solo balcony I had on deck 11 -- which, going from memory, is the same type/size as yours will be, per the deck plan -- looked and felt like a regular balcony to me.  I only know it was slightly shorter from having seen regular balcony staterooms being cleaned as I walked past.  Those rooms had two twins side-by-side (the equivalent of a king bed, I guess) wedged within the bed wall unit, whereas the three solos I experienced only had a double bed (not even a queen).

 

My cabin interior was slightly longer than the mid-ship ones, because with the same layout and furniture, mine had 1-2 extra feet of space between the full-size sofa (three seats with an extension on the end) and the balcony door.  I believe my balcony was deeper, too (as aft ones tend to be).

 

One thing is wrong on the deck plan for 7242, though: it has an additional connecting door to 7240.  That's why it only has a chair (between the balcony and unmarked connecting door) instead of a sofa.  I don't know if this carries through to 7642 on the other side, or the equivalent cabins above and below.  No problem with neighbour noise, though, that I noticed or heard about.

 

Anyway, enjoy your trip -- you should find this much roomier than the traditional solo cabin you experienced before. 

Edited January 10, 2020 by cityguy300

[jegoodman]

Thanks so much for the information.  So the aft solo has a small bed but does have a sofa?  Sounds great.

[cityguy300]

9 hours ago, jegoodman said:

Thanks so much for the information.  So the aft solo has a small bed but does have a sofa?  Sounds great.

 

Yes, you're losing maybe two feet of total bed width versus a pair of side-by-side twins (but at least it's a single mattress), but otherwise I think the room is identical to a standard balcony.  The beds were identical in all three solo balconies my group had.

 

My aft balcony was probably a foot or two shorter than a standard -- as I don't think they could have fit two twins in there, definitely not separated -- but the room width was the same, and I think the rest of the furniture was identical, down to the full-size sofa.  The only other thing that might have been smaller was the washroom, but if so, the shower was plenty big.

Edited January 11, 2020 by cityguy300

[jegoodman]

8 hours ago, cityguy300 said:

 

Yes, you're losing maybe two feet of total bed width versus a pair of side-by-side twins (but at least it's a single mattress), but otherwise I think the room is identical to a standard balcony.  The beds were identical in all three solo balconies my group had.

 

My aft balcony was probably a foot or two shorter than a standard -- as I don't think they could have fit two twins in there, definitely not separated -- but the room width was the same, and I think the rest of the furniture was identical, down to the full-size sofa.  The only other thing that might have been smaller was the washroom, but if so, the shower was plenty big.

Thanks again Cityguy.   Sounds perfect to me!  Definitely sounds bigger than the traditional studio cabin.  Hope you actually enjoyed Spectrum itself.

[cityguy300]

9 minutes ago, jegoodman said:

Thanks again Cityguy.   Sounds perfect to me!  Definitely sounds bigger than the traditional studio cabin.  Hope you actually enjoyed Spectrum itself.

 

It was an interesting contrast to the Silver Spirit I was on immediately prior.  I wish I could have two done the two ships & itineraries in reverse, because the Silversea experience was better overall, and I didn't care for the crowds & throngs of children on Spectrum (inevitable with it being Christmas week).

 

Yet the Spectrum did do some things better -- the advantages of a big, new ship -- and I liked the Asian-focused (but far from Asian exclusive) buffet.  I didn't feel they needed the "cultural enrichment cruise" disclaimer, either; announcements were in English first, Cantonese second (when repeated at all), and the crew favoured English.  It might have been because it was a Hong Kong roundtrip sailing and the vast majority of the passengers were HK residents.

[jegoodman]

5 hours ago, cityguy300 said:

 

It was an interesting contrast to the Silver Spirit I was on immediately prior.  I wish I could have two done the two ships & itineraries in reverse, because the Silversea experience was better overall, and I didn't care for the crowds & throngs of children on Spectrum (inevitable with it being Christmas week).

 

Yet the Spectrum did do some things better -- the advantages of a big, new ship -- and I liked the Asian-focused (but far from Asian exclusive) buffet.  I didn't feel they needed the "cultural enrichment cruise" disclaimer, either; announcements were in English first, Cantonese second (when repeated at all), and the crew favoured English.  It might have been because it was a Hong Kong roundtrip sailing and the vast majority of the passengers were HK residents.

Yes, I think it is different going out of Hong Kong.  I believe that going out of Shanghai will be "culturally immersed" but I knew that before I booked.  It should be interesting to say the least.  Different but still fun of course.  After all, it's a cruise!

[SkaterJasp]

I just got off Spectrum of the Seas and was in one of the aft studio... I can confirm that it is a Studio in terms of the bed size and storage space.. it's a smaller bed... but you get a full couch and some extra space. I was in 9322. It have the same amount of storage space as the regular studio balcony room... there is also no dresser that you see in regular balcony rooms. 

[nattsyster]

10 minutes ago, SkaterJasp said:

I just got off Spectrum of the Seas and was in one of the aft studio... I can confirm that it is a Studio in terms of the bed size and storage space.. it's a smaller bed... but you get a full couch and some extra space. I was in 9322. It have the same amount of storage space as the regular studio balcony room... there is also no dresser that you see in regular balcony rooms. 

 Hello!

Was is sold as a studio or a balconyroom? What about the point as a solo cruiser, one or two points/ night? 

[SkaterJasp]

2 hours ago, nattsyster said:

 Hello!

Was is sold as a studio or a balconyroom? What about the point as a solo cruiser, one or two points/ night? 

It was sold as a Studio Balcony. All Quantum class and Spectrum have Interior Studio and Studio Balconies. Spectrum have more Studio Balconies. Only 1 point per night for the studio. 
 

As a solo cruiser you earn 

1 point if booked in a studio

2 points if booked in an Non-studio interior, ocean view, or balcony
3 points if booked in any types of suites. 

Edited January 13, 2020 by SkaterJasp

[jegoodman]

4 hours ago, SkaterJasp said:

I just got off Spectrum of the Seas and was in one of the aft studio... I can confirm that it is a Studio in terms of the bed size and storage space.. it's a smaller bed... but you get a full couch and some extra space. I was in 9322. It have the same amount of storage space as the regular studio balcony room... there is also no dresser that you see in regular balcony rooms. 

Thanks for the information.  The full couch will be great.

[Tall-Cruiser]

On November 25, 2019 at 7:05 PM, Brandis said:

Our aft Silver Junior Suite was amazing! The layout wasn't anything like what is shown on the RCL website. It was a lot bigger, probably 8 m long over 3m wide. Opening the door, we looked at the back wall of the toilet compartment, then on the left was the shower / bathroom, between that and the door,  there was a unused area we put our shoes in. Then came the bed, the couch with 2 additional chairs and a small work desk next to the balcony.

 

 

 

@Brandis I just ran into your post from a few months ago regarding your Silver Junior Suite J4 on Spectrum OTS. I have been trying to find more info and photos of these specific aft JS as the layout is diffent from the other JS on the Port or Starboard sides. We are considering the aft J1s or J4s for Odyssey which are similar to Spectrum. I would appreciate any additional info and photos you could share of your J4 Cabin and Balcony and if you were able to see and comment on the layout of the J1 next to your cabin. Thanks very much.  

[Brandis]

I have some more photos of the cabin, mostly the bathroom and toilet. Unfortunately, it seems I forgot to take any photos of the balcony, as we didn't spend much time out there. Also, I didn't see the J1, assuming that is the suite towards the middle of the ship next to us?

 

From the outside, this is where our cabin was located (red circle on the right, the one on the left was the identical cabin layout on the other side of the ship our friends stayed in:

 

 

These are the additional photos from our cabin:

 

 

 

 

 

We had friends staying also in an aft J4, just one floor up and one cabin further out, their layout was a bit different from ours as well. Not as long as ours, but more wide, as the bathroom and toilet were positioned differently.

 

This is the J4 on the outside:

 

 

 

 

[Tall-Cruiser]

17 hours ago, Brandis said:

 

I have some more photos of the cabin, mostly the bathroom and toilet. Unfortunately, it seems I forgot to take any photos of the balcony, as we didn't spend much time out there. Also, I didn't see the J1, assuming that is the suite towards the middle of the ship next to us?

 

From the outside, this is where our cabin was located (red circle on the right, the one on the left was the identical cabin layout on the other side of the ship our friends stayed in:

 

Brandis - I appreciate you taking the time to provide some feedback and share more of your photos. Those are very helpful. As you noted earlier, RCI hasn't provided much correct details about these Aft Juinior Suites. You have provided more detailed than I have seen anywhere. So thanks for that. Yeah, the J1 would be the cabin on the edge/corner next to yours,  like 9724. May be one of these days someone will have photos of those. 

Once gain, many thanks.

 

Edit - Looks like one of the photos you provided 9724 is actually a J1  per the deck plans. So for Odyssey, I would guess the Aft J1s on decks 10, 11 and 12 will be similar layout. I take it that 9724 also had a seperate Bathroom and Toilet? 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Tall-Cruiser