Review: Utopia of the Seas
Written on September 27, 2024
Cruise dates: August 26-30, 2024
By: William Spencer
Royal Caribbean, my favorite cruise line on earth. Yes, no cruise line is perfect, so call me biased if you will. Royal is very autistic friendly, a statement I confidently stand behind after sailing with them six times. And I will keep sailing with them until the day I leave this earth. With that said, my experience onboard their newest Oasis-class ship on my first (and last) four-night cruise was...interesting at best.
Let me get this out of the way first: short cruises are not for me. Not enough time to enjoy the ship, the ocean, and everything else regarding ship life. No, I do not and have not worked on a ship before. So, I am only speaking from a passenger perspective of ship life away from full-time land life. Second, Utopia of the Seas is a stunning, elegant, and probably the best Oasis-class ship in my opinion. Unfortunately, she is being wasted with these short sailings and worst of all, being used as a "party" cruise ship. Royal does not need to be another Carnival or Virgin.
Being autistic, Royal Caribbean ships I have sailed on provided the correct amount of stimulation for my brain. Not feeling overwhelmed with sound, sight, smell, even overcrowded areas. But alas, Utopia was a ship where I was a bit overstimulated, particularly with the sound of the all-day pool parties. For the first time on a Royal cruise, I found myself in my Central Park balcony cabin a lot of times, recharging from being overstimulated by napping. The good part was, the pool parties stopped around dinner time, so sleeping at night was not difficult. I was also on deck 12, which also helped with the reduced pool deck noise.
Since I'm not a party person, I was able to avoid practically all the parties, by simply following the cruise compass schedule of ALL the activities around the ship. As always, the food onboard, from the complimentary to specialty dining, was superb from Royal. The ship was very clean, the crew was friendly, and my balcony cabin is the best cabin in the Oasis-class. I have sailed on her sisters, and did notice a change in the design of the cabin layout (a good change).
All in all, Utopia is a great addition to her class and the fleet...it's only a shame she is providing the short cruises. Utopia deserves the seven-night sailings and should steer away from the party ship scene.