Santo Travel Guide

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Embarkation: Lines were long but moved rather quickly and we were on board, in our cabin within 30 minutes.

Cabin: We booked a guaranteed cabin w/balcony and obstructed view but were very pleased to be upgraded to a non-obstructed view cabin on the 8th deck. Our cabin was nice but was beginning to show some wear. It was clean and well kept during our entire cruise. Plenty of storage area. The bath was average, amenities minimal. The balcony was average cruise ship size.

Dining: Our assigned table in the Main Dining room did not work well for us, service was very slow and after the 2nd night we changed to freestyle dining which we were pleased with. The food and presentation was very good to excellent. The service was excellent and our waiters were very friendly. The buffet style food on the Lido deck was one of the best we have experienced on any cruise. The buffet dining room was very nice, rather opulent for a cruise ship as they are usually rather gaudy.

Entertainment: Most all of the evening shows were very good to excellent. The exception was the comedy routines. They were fair to not so fair.

Spa/Gym: The gym was excellent. We used the steam rooms and saunas and both enjoyed them.

Minuses: Elevator layout, no elevators at rear of ship, most unusual. The library is so small as to be almost non-existent, very few books and seating area very very small. Plus it is located in the atrium on the 9th or 10th deck, a very, very noise location. Jazz music was constantly piped into every nook and cranny of the ship and even at 4AM the halls were buzzing with it. This plus the rather high volume of it often made it difficult to find a truly quiet place other than in your cabin. We are not jazz fans. The rear deck open air seating area behind the buffet was almost always closed for some unknown reason. This area is canopied and is usually a very nice place to sit out of the wind and direct sun on most ships but for some unknown reason we were only occasionally allowed to use it. Also very odd. No laundromat on board, a bit problematic for a 16 day cruise.

Pluses: The crew. One of the best we have ever experienced. Period. Friendly, cheerful, helpful, just cant say enough about them.

Ports: Please see our sections on Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chili

We recommend RCL and would cruise on it again.