Spain Cruise Review

[wineasmusic]

Just got back from an April 15-26 Lisbon to Barcelona Cruise.  First, who are we?  Long time Seabourn cruisers.  I identify as a foodie with lots of really good wine experience.  TL:DR The Ritz has done a good job of creating a differentiated product.  This means some will like it better and some less so.  We loved it and it is now our first choice if there is an itinerary that interests us.

 

The Ship, er sorry, yacht.  A really lovely space.  They have done a lot to make it look less like a ship and more like a resort.   The observation lounge is huge and provides a space for nightly dancing and higher energy partying.  An unfortunate design compromise does not allow a view straight forward however.  The living room has lots of couches and chairs allowing you to park close to the musicians to just listen or completely across the room to hear them but still be able to converse comfortably with folks.  We had 5 great musicians on board who rotated around the venues (even in the main dining room one night).   3 areas on rear decks and 2 in front allow sunning on loungers.  Not much shaded lounging though.

 

At 300 people it is intimate, yet still has 4 restaurants, and sometimes 5. 3 of the restaurants have outdoor seating.  The main dining room menu changes every 3 days, so make sure you rotate around the different restaurants to prevent menu fatigue.   Food is definitely a standout.  I spoke to a lot of repeat cruisers who said the food did not used to be this good.  Ritz seems to have improved a lot over time.  With so few passengers they run food service like land-based restaurants.  The food is made "a la minute" and reservations are required for dinner.  Your cabin steward can make reservations, but I found it easier to do it myself on the app.  You can only use the app when on the ships WIFI though.  WIFI was great!  There was a huge selection of included wines listed on the menu.  They would offer a different white and red each night, but occasionally what I was eating needed a different choice to properly pair and they were always willing to open my request.  They had a great Som and assistant who were very knowledgeable and helpful.

 

The crew seem really happy working on the ship.  They had enough time to visit and they and the passengers seemed to really enjoy that.  We had only 170 on this cruise, can't tell what it would be like on a full cruise.  

 

Our room was a standard room, very nicely appointed and looking less like a ship room with cool indirect lighting around an attractive ceiling.  The balcony was large with good furniture.  One comfy high back chair in the room.  Why only one?  The bathroom had 2 sinks and the largest shower I've ever seen on a cruise ship.  The toilet was in a roomy privacy stall.  Included hair dryer.

 

A new 400 pax yacht launches in Sep and another in 2025.  I hope they then start covering more of the world than just Caribbean and the Med so we can cruise them more.  We really enjoyed it!

[Gourmet Gal]

Thanks for the feedback.  Just wondering, is there a sofa in the standard staterooms?

 

Can you order meals from the restaurants to be delivered by the course to your stateroom?

 

Did you take any of the ships excursions and how did you find the value, pricing?

Edited May 6 by Gourmet Gal

[wineasmusic]

1 hour ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Thanks for the feedback.  Just wondering, is there a sofa in the standard staterooms?

 

Can you order meals from the restaurants to be delivered by the course to your stateroom?

 

Did you take any of the ships excursions and how did you find the value, pricing?

No sofa in the rooms.  Room service was like in the hotel, all at once.  Not sure if everything can be ordered as we never used it.  Ship excursions were good, but similar to Seabourn and Silversea.  Not sure they were any more pricey.  One tour was divided into 2 groups of 16, but we each had a full size bus.

[Gourmet Gal]

So if there is only one chair in the stateroom then how does a meal for 2 work?

[wineasmusic]

17 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

So if there is only one chair in the stateroom then how does a meal for 2 work?

There is a nice padded bench for use when working at the desk.  If the weather is good, it would be great on the balcony.  They need 2 chairs though, plain and simple.  It would fit.

[Gourmet Gal]

32 minutes ago, wineasmusic said:

There is a nice padded bench for use when working at the desk.  If the weather is good, it would be great on the balcony.  They need 2 chairs though, plain and simple.  It would fit.

Sounds like they’re discouraging having meals in the stateroom.  They really expect you to sit on a bench for dinner?  What could be the reasoning?

[wineasmusic]

1 hour ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Sounds like they’re discouraging having meals in the stateroom.  They really expect you to sit on a bench for dinner?  What could be the reasoning?

I think they just chose 1 chair to make the room feel bigger without realizing all the implications.

[stan01]

Any children on board?  The shorter duration cruises R-C offers will tend to attract more families although yours was longer than a week.  If one family is using the pool area and staff as their day care provider everyone else gets disrupted.

[wineasmusic]

On 5/12/2024 at 9:46 AM, stan01 said:

Any children on board?  The shorter duration cruises R-C offers will tend to attract more families although yours was longer than a week.  If one family is using the pool area and staff as their day care provider everyone else gets disrupted.

Saw two young kids but only once.  Probably at Ritz Kids all day, never seen at dinner.  I'm guessing could be more when school is out.

[jmalux]

We got off Evrima two days ago in Valletta following a 10 day cruise in Italy, and I think Wineasmusic's review is spot-on. The RCY food is truly outstanding, much better than we have ever had on Regent, SilverSea, Seabourn and Ponant.

 

It was also the best service we have ever experienced on a cruise ship, the service is really genuine and personal. RCY seems to treat their staff very well, and everyone appears to be happy to be onboard. 

 

We were +/- 250 passengers (no kids) on our cruise, but it never felt crowded as the yacht is so spacious. The marina was open twice during our cruise, and it was great being able to swim in the sea. 

 

We also really liked the entertainment onboard, and we certainly didn't miss the usual cruise ship shows. The musicians onboard Evrima were great, so were the guest stars such as an Italian swing band and an opera singer. 

 

We were also very impressed by the embarkation/disembarkation procedure, which included a personal assistant helping us through the process. So well organised and totally stress-free. I don't if this service is offered for all RCY cruises, but we really liked it.