In this episode of Luxury Cruising, Dr. Krystal Sodaitis welcomes Leigh Stevens to discuss her family's experience aboard Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas. Leigh shares what made this Japan cruise unique, from its Chinese cultural influences and spacious Sky Class suite to personalized service, specialty dining, and exploring Japan through private tours.
What happens when a familiar Royal Caribbean experience meets a completely different culture? Dr. Krystal Sodaitis welcomes Leigh Stevens to share her family's eight-day Japan cruise aboard Spectrum of the Seas, departing from Shanghai. Leigh explains how the ship's Chinese cultural influences, Asian-inspired cuisine, and Mandarin-language entertainment created a distinctive cruising experience for her family.
Leigh also discusses her spacious Sky Class suite, VIP boarding, exclusive suite areas, and favorite dining experiences, including sushi, hibachi, and hot pot. She shares why private shore excursions made exploring Japan more enjoyable and explains how reduced crowds, personal space, and attentive service shaped her definition of luxury.
Listeners will discover Spectrum's unique cultural atmosphere, Sky Class benefits, private-tour advantages, and practical considerations for cruising from China to Japan.
Episode Highlights:
About the Guest:
Leigh Stevens is an interventional pain physician and anesthesiologist based in North Carolina. She enjoys traveling with her husband and two children, exploring different destinations through cruising. Her experience aboard Spectrum of the Seas offered a distinctive opportunity to revisit China with her adopted son while discovering parts of Japan as a family.
About the Host:
Dr. Krystal Sodaitis is a pediatrician, executive, and life coach for neurodiverse physicians—and the passionate host behind Luxury Cruising. She brings expert insight and honest excitement to every interview, helping curious travelers elevate their adventures at sea.
📍 Website: luxurycruising.net
📧 Email: luxurycruisingpodcast@gmail.com
🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/krystalsodaitis
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to Luxury Cruising. I'm your host, krystal Sodaitis, and today we have Leigh with us, and Leigh is gonna tell us about the most amazing experience. You all know my favorite class of ship, Quantum Class. She was on Spectrum of the Seas, which is the first Quantum Ultra class, and,
I think it's Quantum Plus class, that sails only out of China, and she and her family traveled all that way, so can't wait to hear about it. Lee, please tell the audience anything you would like them to know about you.
Uh, hi. I am Leigh Stevens. I am a interventional pain and anesthesiologist, and I'm in the North Carolina community, and I have two children that went on this trip with me and my husband, and so we can get going if you want.
Amazing. So take us back. What made you decide [00:01:00] to fly all the way to China to take this cruise?
we wanted to go to Japan. that was kinda like, Japan was on our list. And I was thinking, "Do I fly into Japan and do, like, foot tour and tour guides?" Honestly, I got a little overwhelmed with it. I was like, I don't wanna plan this big trip.
I just want the luxury of going and having everything taken care of for you." So I decided I'm gonna book a cruise. That's just the easiest way. It's our first time going to Japan to see parts of Japan, have a game plan when we wanna go back and do more on-foot land tours and stuff. So when I looked at the trips going out of Japan, I looked in September 'cause our anniversary's in September.
It wasn't for an anniversary trip, We always like to travel in September because the crowds, the cost, you know, the weather, it all just kinda works together. [00:02:00] Plus it's a, you know, time that we come around and have an anniversary, so I like September. And so it just worked. It worked for our work schedule.
It was an eight-day Japan cruise. It's really hard to leave practice longer than, you know, that timeframe. So trying to find cruises overseas like that, a lot of them were 14 days and then you need a couple days there and back, so you're talking about three weeks off of work. So I had to find something that worked in, like, a two and a half week window, and not so long.
So it worked. And then the main thing is one of my sons, he was adopted from China. And so, in 2020 we were gonna go back to China with him 'cause he was a little bit older, end of high school. But as we all know, COVID hit, and so we've kind of been putting off that China trip. So I was kinda like, "Oh, I'm gonna kill two birds with one stone."
We get to go to China for just a little bit in Shanghai for you know, a couple days pre-cruise and post-cruise, so we get to, you know, get back into China like we had been wanting to do. [00:03:00] And then we got to go and do the Japan cruise, which is what all of us wanted to do, to go to Japan.
That sounds fantastic. So before I ask you to tell us about the ship, had you ever been on a cruise before, a Royal Caribbean ship?
Yes. so years ago, I would say in the '90s, our first cruise that me and my husband ever did was a Carnival cruise.
just out of like Fort Lauderdale, around the typical, Bahamas, Mexico trips and stuff like that. Then when we got married, we did Celebrity cruises, for our honeymoon where we did a, I think it was a Western Mediterranean. Of course, that was during 9/11, literally the week of 9/11.
We got married on September 16th, 2001. So that was kind of a unique trip, on Celebrity. back in the day, nobody was on that ship. It was a pretty bare ship. A lot of people had canceled. we got upgraded to a suite from our travel agent because of [00:04:00] all the, you know, world situation there.
Kids home. Yeah. And then when we came back, for a few years we did Norwegian. You know, we cruised Hawaii, Alaska, and Norwegian. And then we had a time period where we didn't do a lot of cruises, just did some other things with school and training and all that stuff, The travel kind of settled down for a few years, and parenthood and all that stuff.
So, we started doing some Disney cruises and two or three Disney cruise 'cause it fit better for smaller kids at the time when we did pick back up some cruising. And then in July of 2022, we went, on the sister ship of Spectrum, on the Odyssey, out of Rome to do, Greece and that whole tour stuff.
And on that ship we were in the junior suite, which is Sea Class. and we could do, like Coastal Kitchen and all that.
And then this cruise we upped the class. We went to Sky Class [00:05:00] instead of Sea Class this time.
Yeah. And what a difference it makes, I'm sure. Because I do wanna hear about... I was just curious, like was this a new cruise experience for you or had you cruised before? yeah, being on Odyssey, which is the other, Quantum Plus class ship, I'm sure sort of set you up for the expectation of what it must be like, but then also because this ship, I'm so curious how different is like the interior like layout and spaces because it was built specifically for China.
Yeah. So I have to be honest with you, I didn't realize that ship was built just for China and, you know, Chinese community and, you know, that market. When we got on the ship I realized real quick, I was like, "Oh wait, this is more geared to the Asian community and Chinese community," you know. a lot of the ship stuff we would recognize from our trip.
but there were some things missing. They didn't have Coastal [00:06:00] Kitchen. they had a Sea, Sky, and Star restaurant and then they had a Sky and Star, restaurant that's a little bit smaller and, a little bit more intimate and where like you could go for lounge for drinks and snacks, you know, for happy hour and stuff.
but the cuisine even in the like Italian restaurant, even in all the sub-specialty restaurant was very catered to the Asian market. it was not westernized at all. And so a lot of that I think was a little shocking to us, 'cause it was different but it was great in another sense because we were on this cruise ship and I guess in my mind I thought, "Oh, this is just gonna be western ship just like all the other ships," you know.
And it wasn't. It was a very nice change to have a little bit of a different culture on the ship and they really, Just drove that home. And so my son, who's Chinese and speaks [00:07:00] Mandarin and, you know, was, came from that community, it was like a floating little China you know, in a sense that we still got to have a little bit of that Chinese experience, without having to be in mainland China, you know?
There was a lot of, Asian people there, heavy Chinese presence, and a lot of Mandarin speaking. But, I mean, if you don't speak Mandarin or anything like that, you're fine. Like the trivia games and stuff were in Mandarin, and some of the activities were in Mandarin, so they definitely were catering to the Chinese, community and stuff, and that was fun for my son to kinda be there
And that really, I think for me, made it great because I wasn't expecting that.
It sounds like a truly sort of Asian immersion experience. Yes. Unlike probably when you did Odyssey, even though you're in the we- even in-- that's the Western Med, Eastern Med.
Mm-hmm.
We'll say Greece. Yeah. Even though [00:08:00] you're in Greece, while there may have been some Greek-themed food or Italian-themed food, it's still the same basic recipes that I'm sure...
Like, the spaghetti bolognese was the spaghetti bolognese that you get whether you're in the Caribbean or you're in Rome
Yeah, and that, you know, like how, the Asian ice cream is a lot different than American. And all of that correlated on the ship and on, you know, of course the stops 'cause you're in the countries and stuff.
But I guess it was just the really, the first time that I've been on a boat. To, like I said, I've gone on many cruises and we've went to different areas and stuff, overseas and, you know, locally, and the boat felt very Westernized, whereas this boat did not. It still was very nice and, everything, but it definitely had an Asian feel and Chinese feel.
And when you would go down to where the Windjammer buffets are, you can [00:09:00] tell what they're offering for food and stuff is catered to more of those, tastes and, you know, culture things. Like in the morning, The noodles and beef that a lot of Chinese people- ... eat in the morning for breakfast, you know.
Yeah. That was there. little bit different. I mean, you can definitely get pancakes and eggs, especially in the fine dining restaurants and stuff like that. and even in, I'm sure they had them down in Windjammer and stuff, but it just wasn't like the main attraction and main food that you typically see.
And, you know, it was great for my oldest son who's Chinese, he loved it. he was able to, you know, get back a little bit of his culture of how they, eat certain foods and fruits and desserts that are more Asian-specific versus Westernized.
I absolutely love that.
Yeah.
So,
bring us into the room. Yeah. What kind of suite did you get? [00:10:00] and tell us about that.
Yeah, so we were in the one-bedroom suite. It was huge. we were on the 16th floor, and it was really nice 'cause we were right by the elevators and, you know, it's private and you go in. the suite, when you walk in, it had a table.
I wanna say there was, like, six chairs at that table and a little, bar area. And then to the left was just a half bath. And then there was this, huge built-in where the TV is, and in those built-ins are s- tons of storage. And so that's really where the kids put their closet and stuff. And, they had an L-shaped couch that pulled out to a bed, and one of my childs slept on the L shape and the other child slept on the one that pulled out.
It was a very big space. huge space. The balcony was huge. Very big. you know, it was exciting. I have to tell you, I was on that balcony going, "I wish we were in the [00:11:00] Caribbean with this balcony," 'cause ... I would've been out there every day. But it was a little bit different vibe in, you know, September Japan cruise.
But it was a gorgeous balcony. Big, huge, space. Like, you had two loungers, two regular sitting chairs, and a table. Like, it was big out there. and then the bedroom that you go into, it-- You could have a curtain that separated it. And believe it or not, from time zone and stuff, I passed out early, probably, like, 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon.
And my kids and my husband just pulled that curtain, and they went on the ship and did their stuff. And I guess I just slept all night or whatever. 'Cause the cleaning people, you know how they come in and turn down your room and stuff? I never even heard them come in. I kind of woke up the next day and I was like, "That's so crazy that soundproof and lightproof and stuff for them to be in the room and me not know the..."
But, it was nice. And then the master bedroom had, [00:12:00] you know, two separate beds that you could spread out or put together for a king. And then it also had those built-ins that you could put, Clothes in two different closet things, and tons of space for storage and room. I know on other cruises and online you read people, "Oh, bring a hook, bring this, bring that
I didn't bring any of that stuff. I'm like, I am paying Sky Class. I'm not bringing a bunch of extra stuff to make hanging bathing suits and clothes and stuff in the room great. You don't need it. You have everything you could possibly need in there. And then the bathroom's huge. The only thing that was funny, and we're not very tall people or anything, but, the shower was a little small.
But it's an Asian boat, and I think the population in the community that they're serving are a smaller, people and stuff, just like my son, he's smaller and stuff. But if someone was 6'5", that would've been a hard shower for them to take, [00:13:00] I have one son who's really tall and big, and he was struggling in there a little bit in that shower.
it was tight. But it was fine, we made it work, but I could see how somebody really tall, would have some, you know, it was a little tight than whatever. And then they had like a jacuzzi tub in there. And then like I said, big space, big vanity, a space in the toilet area. it was very nice.
it was big. I felt, those four of us, two boys, and me and my husband, and I felt like we had tons of space. one thing that drives me crazy about cruises is just clutter and, suitcases and clothes everywhere and, no space to sit and enjoy. And it was so nice. You just had space to, you know, if you needed to have some, go in the room and wanna take a nap while they're watching TV or eating or going in and out, you could do that and really not feel like you're being disturbed, by that.
There was a lot of space there. and you also were able to put your [00:14:00] stuff away and not trip over suitcases the whole time and, have everybody's clothes and shoes everywhere. So it was really nice. I liked the room. it was worth it
I think for four adults, that are sharing one room, it really makes a difference.
if you're four people sharing even a balcony, like the couch, it's just sort of like you're on top of each other. if you all wanna be in the same room, yeah, having a suite is definitely
the way to go. For sure. Well, and then, you know, even after this cruise, I mean, we did the junior suite a couple years ago, which the kids were a little bit smaller, but the junior suite's nice and is bigger than a regular room, but it still was tight.
And so when my husband, when we did this trip, he was like, "Oh yeah, if we ever do this again, we'll never. we'll always be at least here and more" just because the space and, everybody can move around and stuff, and it was a lot better, you know, space-wise. We enjoyed it.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
I know what the Sky Class amenities are. Because it is geared towards the [00:15:00] Asian market, did it come with the typical Sky Class amenities or were they different?
you may have to just do a checklist. Did you get this and this? For me to really know, but I can just kind of walk you through it really quick.
So, you know, we landed in China, did our whole China thing, and we had a guy in China, which I'll leave his recommendation. He's amazing. but got us to the port there in Shanghai. And so you have VIP access lounge the minute that you pull up. And You know, I was a little worried about that because when he's pulling us up to the port and the line, and the, people and their suitcases, like, "Oh no, I hope we don't have to stand in this long, snaky line."
But oh no, 'cause you get that VIP lounge thing. It literally, the van pulled up to the door, opened the door, put our suitcases on the sidewalk. They grabbed them immediately, tagged them, and walked us right into the lounge, which was so nice. [00:16:00] Now, the lounge, was it, great, wonderful? Not really.
... They had refreshments, but nothing sp- you know, like coffee, water, tea, just the typical basic, maybe like a cookie or something like that. But nothing like too overwhelming. But it was very easy check-in. one of the cruise, onboarding people came up to us and grabbed our passports and said, "Enjoy your you know, treats and snacks.
We'll be back." And they came back with our boarding pass and said, "You may board now." You know, so it was really easy. and a lot of times you worry because of the language barrier. you're in a foreign country and then, a lot of the people that are checking you in and stuff are Mandarin speaking.
And so there's one little cue about this 'cause you could be like, "Well, so what? What if you go to Barcelona? Those people are French and They know English very well, and one thing about China is the government tries to limit their ability to understand and learn English. And that's because [00:17:00] they wanna keep, you know, some of their knowledge of what's going on in the outside world down.
And so some of these people, they do know English or they wouldn't be in the job, but it's not very strong, for them. so I didn't notice any language barriers, but when there were some struggles or confusion, my son was able to like help a little bit. But I didn't notice that was a big deal and it wouldn't be something that would concern me on this trip.
But I guess it just goes back to show you that, it was very nice to have these services in a community or in a country where English is not a strong language there, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Because I can't imagine being out on that street in the line, you know, snaking line and trying to ask just the workers on the that are helping people into the terminal and different lines.
I think the language barrier would've been an issue there. So the VIP lounge was really nice that we didn't [00:18:00] have to, struggle with that. and then when you get on this ship, you have to turn over your passports to them. They keep your passports, and you have to have a copy of your passport, which you can do it there in the terminal.
But You turn in all your passports and then in Japan, You have a visa that goes on the back of your copy of your passport, and that's what you use when you're going in and out of different ports. , This is my husband one, so you just did a copy like that.
And then on the night when you're putting your suitcases out for, The end of the cruise, they will call you down to get your passports. But because we were Sky, concierge handled all that. And so that's another nice things about the suite, especially, you know, going through customs and all these passport things.
They quickly get you off the ship. You don't [00:19:00] have to take your bags through all the, elev- elevators and crowds and customs. it becomes a wonderful perk that they're able to get you in and off really quick, on the ship, and you're not having to worry about your bags and all of that, and carrying your bags.
If you wanna carry your bags off, you can, but if you wanna check 'em out, they have that area just like everybody else. but when you're doing excursions, you get your own little area just like, everybody else does. But it still, it just still felt not as crowded. a little bit more easier to get out than maybe where they were taking other people that were not in the Sky or Star suites.
Now, I will tell you, there was a difference between Sea, Star, and Sky. Like Sea, I think got some perks, I felt like there was a huge distinction, and Star and Sky were getting more of the perks, Like the [00:20:00] Sea was able to come and eat in one of the restaurants, but they couldn't go in the other restaurants, and I felt like when they were given Star and Sky areas on the ship to get on and off for different excursion, I don't think Sea was there as frequently, or I didn't hear, or maybe you didn't pay attention to it.
So there's definitely a difference in VIP treatment, I feel like, between Sea class and Star class when you're doing some of the junior suites or the larger rooms and stuff. I think there is a little bit of a difference there
talk more about like the suite area? Because my recollection is that Spectrum was really the first ship that had the true ship within a ship concept because it was built specifically for the Asian market. was there like a exclusive, almost like suite enclave, Yeah
for Sky [00:21:00] and/or Star Class? What was that like?
Yeah. So if I remember right, floor 13, 14, or maybe it was 14, 15, 16. We were on 16th, the highest floor. But yes, when you got off the elevators, there were glass doors that you had to swipe in. And so, one thing that they had this I think it was on the 14th where Sea, Sky, and Star class could use, and it was like an indoor lounge area with chairs, um, like a working station desk, and it was right beside that Sea, Sky, and Star restaurant that you could, you know, eat.
It's kind of like a higher end, Windjammer or something better than that. but anyway, when you went out that door, that was the adult private, balcony there.
But it was, just on that one side and then that had that kind of barricaded off, and then the rest of it was adult only. So, for kids and stuff, you know, how [00:22:00] you didn't really wanna take them out there 'cause it's really the adult thing. But technically that was part of the outdoor decking that was private for, the suites and stuff.
But the indoor part was nice, and that was, they had a little area there. And then I would say the other areas on each floor was just these glass doors, and that's where the rooms were. So people were not being able to go up and down your hall running around and doing stuff. you're truly secluded because you have to swipe in to get to the hallways where the suites and stuff were.
and then again, there on the 15th level, I think they had some like private, stores that you could... and they would have events in at different times. But I never went to them. I mean, it was on the main ship as, you know, down as well. But I think if you wanted some private shopping or some quiet time, you could book that and do that.
But I wasn't there to book, a [00:23:00] private jewelry show or, you know, to look that. But that was an option. and then again, up where the restaurant was just for Star and, Sky, the concierge sat right at the door and you walked in and had your restaurant that you... Most of the time we did breakfast there
In the evenings we would do, you know, specialty restaurants and a lot of times during the day we were out and eating, so that's kinda how, where we landed for f- meals and stuff. but in the concierge had their hours and stuff, so yeah. For suite-wise, is that what you're kinda asking? It was very quiet- Yeah
very, you know, secluded. People could not just walk up and down on your floor, down your cabins, unless they were able to access into that, um, and swipe in.
Yeah. nice. Talking about the food, we talked a little bit about it just in terms of the cultural differences, but any standouts of the specialty restaurants or any of the restaurants, [00:24:00] anything stand out as being, you know, exceptionally good or just different but okay?
always the favorite for me is the hibachi. it was really good. The chef was great. Great, entertainment. Now, hot pot was great. So hot pot, they had a hot pot. We liked that. We did that toward the end of the cruise, and I kinda wish we had stumbled upon that a little bit earlier because
that was great. so yeah, those were probably my two favorite. I would say the Italian restaurant, it was good, but it was kinda like, It's like when you go to Asia and you go to Pizza Hut or some of the other places, it's pizza, it's pasta, but it doesn't have that Western... It has their take on it, which I mean, it's edible and it was okay, but it just is you know, you don't go on a cruise to Japan and China on a Chinese ship hoping to get, fantastic Italian food, you [00:25:00] know?
I guess that's what I'm trying to... you know, it was good, it just was different than the Italian restaurant on the Odyssey. it looked the same, but I think the menu and the way they cooked their pizzas and stuff were a little bit different. And so, that was different.
Interesting. Yeah ... I love hot pot. My gosh, if I told my 12-year-old there was a cruise ship with hot pot, there would be-
Oh, it was wonderful ... no stopping him. Yeah. I think hot pot and the hibachi was our fa- Oh, no, no, no, I forgot the sushi bar. they have a sushi bar. Now, I have to say they probably were the best, and then the other two came under it.
But yes, those three were, Is it Izakaya? I can't remember what the name of the Japanese one was. Do they actually
call it Azumi?
Maybe it's the Azumi. Azumi? My kid was like, "Yeah, is it Azumi?" that was fantastic. We loved that. That was our favorite.
The sushi was fantastic. The chefs were great. yes.
Awesome. Well, I'm so glad that a cruise to Japan had good sushi.
Yeah, yeah, it was. it's kinda like [00:26:00] fresh fish is their thing, and Definitely for the sushi. I think they definitely make sure they have fresh fish and local fish, you know, through that cruise ship.
So it was great. Yeah.
Awesome. Anything else about the trip, the ship, the, suite experience that stood out that you would want the audience to know?
one of the funny things for me was, you know how like when you disembark for different destinations, I've never saw the photographer taking the disembark pictures, and I don't know if it was a culture thing or what it was, but they didn't have that.
But they had the photographer at all the specialty restaurants and in the ship like they normally do, where you do picture night. you can do all of that. they did still have the teen club and the gym that, you know, the boys and the kids really loved and enjoyed doing. I felt like they had a lot of activities.
We did the, iFly, [00:27:00] skydiving. We did that. That was fun. They have the rock climbing.
Did they have bumper cars?
Yes, bumper cars. They had laser tag. They had kinda like an escape room. It was more like a puzzle type thing where you joined with other people on the ship, a group of 10, and kinda solved an escape room puzzle type thing.
That was fun, that you could, you know, sign up for. So there was definitely a lot of activities on the ship to do, kinda like the other sh- But again, some of the entertainment, for that was fun because some of it was in Mandarin, Like the karaoke or, you know, Name That Tune or trivia, it was Mandarin or, you know, themes and stuff like that.
so that was kinda interesting. their shows were geared toward an Asian audience, and so they had a Chinese magician that came and, you know, a lot of cultural things on his show with- Chinese,[00:28:00] how they did magic back in the day and the culture of, Chinese magic. And, you know, it was great.
It was just stuff that you don't see on an everyday cruise, and again, it probably because it's catering to that market. and it was a very heavy Asian cruise as far as passengers. looking around, we were definitely in the minority, on the cruise ship. my kids met a family from Malta and kinda hung out and played with those kids.
and one of the things with the kids club that was hard that some of those kids did not speak English. You know, they were speaking Mandarin and wasn't, didn't have strong English. So some of the language barrier just in meeting people and playing and stuff could have been an issue or, you know, was, but they still had fun and met people and, you know, they met someone from the Netherlands and Malta, like I said before, and of course, China [00:29:00] and other areas.
So it's fun. It's they get to meet people from different cultures and on the cruise ship as well. So I think one thing that this is not really to do with the cruise, but something that I stressed about before going on the trip was the visa. it's very vague and people don't understand, like, what does this mean?
I spent hours on the phone with Delta trying to figure out did I have the right visa. So what happens is when you leave the US and you go into China, you need a visa. You don't need a visa for Japan, but because you're coming from China to Japan on the cruise ship, the cruise ship does your Japan visa.
But if you're going to leave out of Shanghai, you have to have a visa to get into China. there are visas that you apply for in China that are good for 10 years, but then there's transient visas. And so the problem is to get a transient [00:30:00] visa, you have to leave China and go to another country, and then you have to come back in from another country, start with a new visa, and go back.
You cannot do a round trip. So through Delta, I booked a flight into Shanghai and I'm flying out of Shanghai, so in the Delta system, it looked like I was doing a round trip, so it wouldn't clear my ticket as having a true correct visa. And so I had to bring my, paperwork documentation, and then the 240-hour China visa transient and showed them that I'm only staying 36 hours in Shanghai, then I'm getting on a cruise ship that's going to Japan.
So I am leaving the country, and it's not going right back to the US. It's going actually to another country. So that works for your visa. And then the night before you disembark, you can either go online really easy, or they give you a [00:31:00] form that you can just fill out to get a new China visa to come back into the country and tell them, "I'm gonna leave and go straight to America."
And so you don't need that, the major visa that's the 10-year that takes weeks for it to come in. It literally is so easy and so straightforward, and I wish someone would've just explained it. When you go to Royal Caribbean website, it is not clear. When you call Delta, they didn't know how to answer it, and it was a lot of stress and worry for nothing.
So you just fill out the visa online. you can do it on your phone. It immediately sends to your email, like immediately, so you have it. even when you land in China, if you don't have it, they have signs everywhere, "Stand here and put your vi- to create," you know, to get your visa and stuff. And so it's so easy as long as you're actually leaving China, going to a different [00:32:00] country.
You cannot roundtrip it. You know, you can't fly into China, stay 10 days, and go back home. You have to have a real visa for that. But for a transient visa, it works for this cruise ship. And so don't spend a lot of time stressing and worrying about that 'cause I think that was one thing that was like nobody could really answer that question for me.
That is so good to know. Thanks. Yeah. So I'm gonna take a step back from this particular cruise and ask you some questions that I ask everyone, and, the first is: how do you define luxury?
As you get older, I don't have the patience to tolerate, you know, stuff.
So I like, Luxury for me is less hassle. And what does that mean? less crowds, less having to worry about every little detail of my trip. Space. I don't have the patience to wait in line. I will tell you, I did this on the cruise. I need to go back to this.
So for the Japan eight-day cruise, they do [00:33:00] have tours, but I did notice they were very limited. And in a lot of the ports that we stopped at on this Japan cruise, it's kinda off the beaten path, the places that we stopped, which was great. but they're not the high mark areas in Japan that you hear people talking about when they go to Japan.
So it's actually kinda cool you get to go to some different places and truly see some rural different areas, in Japan. There's not a lot of excursions like when you go to the Caribbean and there's 70 excursions. There's like two or three, and they book up really quick.
And I just told my husband, it's like, "I don't have the patience to sit on a bus with, you know, 60 people and have to follow their plan, their rules, their place to eat." I'm just not at that point in my life anymore. I don't have to do that, and I'm not going to do that. You know, I'd rather stay on the ship than to do something like that.
But anyway, we ended up doing private tours. [00:34:00] So how did that work out? I went to shore excursions when we got on the boat because I had not booked any excursions because I just... Nothing, like, stood out to me that was a pre-booked... I didn't understand it. I'd never been to Japan. I wanted to make sure what I had in mind of what I wanted to do.
I wasn't like paying all this money to go sit on a I had one of those big travel buses with 80 people, and frustrated the whole day
went to the shore excursions and was able to get a private tour for two of the stops.
and then I had a friend that had just got back from Japan, not on a cruise, he did a land thing, but his tour guide, he had his number, and we called him when we were on the ship, and we're like, "We're gonna actually be at a port that's kinda close to you," and our friend, you know, did a, "You took care of him just a few weeks ago."
And he arranged a taxi [00:35:00] and everything, and came and got us, and got us back to the boat on time, and took us down. we were at a port that they were not offering, kyoto. . So that is a, like almost a two-hour one-way to Kyoto- Yeah
from one of the ports. So you have to do some of the other stuff. But he was able to get us to Kyoto, and we had a short trip, but we saw a bunch of stuff quick 'cause it was a private tour, and came back. And so I think that, when you ask me what's luxury, is knowing what you will tolerate and what you won't tolerate.
And I have found as I get older, the yapping and fighting and nipping between kids, and husband, and kids, and children, kids, is when you're just stressed, you're not having a good time in what you're doing and how you're doing it. And so it's worth the extra money just to be able to [00:36:00] manage your schedule with a tour guide saying, "This is who we are.
This is what our goal is to accomplish on this tour or on this, in this community. this is what we like and don't like to eat. You handle it. You know, you just get us back to the ship by such and such." And it worked out great doing that. And so when you ask me- Awesome ... you know, having that flexibility to do that, I think is luxury .
I think it's like you said, to go and be present in your trip and to truly enjoy it and not make concessions for a large group that's gonna make you kinda miserable or not truly enjoy the experience or miss out on things you were hoping. You spend a lot of money to go, and you miss out on things because that tour didn't do what you had hoped or wanted or needed or something.
... as far as the ship, it was quiet in the suite area. you didn't have that riffraff because you're in the suites and it's [00:37:00] private and it's closed off. the Asian culture was so warm and loving and just what can we do to make everything perfect for you? no matter where you were at, they were very friendly, saying hi.
it almost felt very personal. You know? Like people knew you and knew everything about your family, and they would see the kids and, "Hey, are y'all having a good time?" Or you would go out without the kids and they're like, "Oh, we just saw your kids. We said hi." You know, like you were meeting friends or family or something.
It was just really nice.
That's awesome. Sounds like this trip on Spectrum definitely met your definition of luxury.
Oh, absolutely. And I think that, again, I will say, and I don't know if I remember, I feel like the ship, it is a sister ship to the Odyssey, but it was very different, yet very the same, if that makes any sense.
Yeah. A lot of the same specialty [00:38:00] restaurants, but with their own Asian flair and twist. And there were, you know, certain things that were not there that are on the Odyssey, like the Coastal Kitchen and, some other little, things I'm sure that wasn't there that some of my kids and us, you know, recognized or picked up.
I can't remember exactly everything. but overall, you're walking around the ship and you recognize it 'cause you've been on the Odyssey.
Yeah.
But, it was great I wanna Go and do some of the newer ships. I need to go and see how all that is.
Do you have a dream cruise?
I think I do. but I think it's not with the kids. so-
Mine is not with my kids
Yeah. in a few years I would like to do a cruise that actually, Like a transatlantic, you know, something where you can do more than just two weeks. I could cruise for a long time and see multiple places.
I think, I'm not quite sure [00:39:00] exactly where, but multiple cities m- or countries, m- not so much cities, and multiple areas. A transatlantic, cruise where you're just, you're gone for quite a while. So I have a seventh grader, so it'll probably not be for five years or so.
He'll have to be off at college so I can be gone that long,
Yeah. Well, we did a transatlantic with a 16-year-old and a nine-year-old ... Well, no, she was 10. and they loved it. my 10-year-old liked it. My 15-year-old didn't have enough kids on it for her, but it was still a great experience,
I don't know if Royal Caribbean actually has this, but you know, we were just talking about how we've taken our kids to different continents and the two that are missing is Antarctica and South America. And I think my husband, it might be a celebrity maybe, I don't know what cruise line.
It might be a Princess cruise. I don't know. But they have an Argentina to Antarctica, and Ray's like, "We should do that." [00:40:00] So maybe that's the one, but I don't know which ship or which ships are available to do that, but.
Yep. Just put it on the wish list when the right cruise comes up, then you'll know to grab it.
that's how I think of it. Yeah. Well, awesome. ... Anything on the agenda? Anything luxury cruising or otherwise, luxury or otherwise?
No. I think I wanna try river cruises. Do you know much about river cruises?
I've got a whole back catalog about river cruises.
Absolutely.
Yeah. No, river cruises I think is, a way to go. Again, I like the bigger cruise lines with the kids. I just feel like there's just a little bit more less babysitting and entertaining for them. they find things to do. it's geared toward that. river cruise as they get older and maybe wanna bring their own spouses or something like that, maybe that's something we do, or when they're off in college or doing their thing, me and my husband can go do that.
But I like the river cruise because I think you're gonna be able to see a lot more [00:41:00] in some of these countries- Yeah ... and not the same ...I like tourist spots, I've gotten to this point in my travels where I just don't love to be at the hot tourist, uh, hotspots- Yeah
and stuff. I wanna go and see different things. I don't wanna just do the tourist trap, activities constantly. And so I'm hearing river cruise is a good way to kinda get out of that.
absolutely. and I've talked, I've, I have a lot of, episodes about, river cruises and, one of the things that consistently stands out is that it's not, you know, when you ocean cruise, the ship is a large part of the destination.
Yeah. and then sometimes, especially these newer, bigger ships, the ship is the destination.
But river cruising is more really like your luxury boutique hotel that is taking you from one land vacation to a spot to another. And often because you are on the rivers between major cities, [00:42:00] you get to see these really small off the beaten path, locations that you otherwise would have never traveled to purposely on land.
Yeah. And I think the older I get, that's more of the traveling that I want to do. And you know, like what you asked, what's your idea of luxury, like that. Just the calm, the rat race, the glitz, and the, you know, excitement. it's okay, but just having that peace and going and seeing and being part of that culture I think as I get older, that's more what I'm looking for.
But, you know, it's fun to go do these things with your kids on these bigger ships 'cause there's activities that you can do as families and, you see a whole mix of crowd, of people to meet and stuff like that, um, that are young and vibrant and wanna go do things, and have fun and stuff.
But I do like the smaller crowds. I do like the off the beaten path. I felt like even though we were on that Royal Caribbean, that [00:43:00] Japan cruise, the eight days Japan, had a little bit of that. it was not as crowded as some of the other, ships have been, like Disney and, you know, Odyssey out in when they, we did Greece during the summer.
It definitely, the crowd numbers were completely different, which makes cruising a lot more enjoyable, honestly. ... or it does for me, at where I'm at in life.
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, Lee, it's been so much fun. I'm so happy. , Thank you so much for coming and telling us about Spectrum of the Seas.
if you do hop on one of those river cruises, I hope you come back- ... and tell us about
your- Absolutely ...
experience there. And to the listeners, thank you again for being here as always. Until next time, I wish you safe and luxurious cruising.