Royal Caribbean built a party cruise ship — awesome or awful?

There are more parties than ever on Utopia of the Seas, but how much different is the experience?

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[rmeyer]

I was on the inaugural voyage July 19th for Utopia of the Seas, and also only 30 years old. The Utopia can definitely be a party ship depending on which venues and events you attend, but it’s also very classy as well. Most Carnival ships doing cheap, short cruises are definitely in the booze cruise category. They can be a bit ratchet. I’m a partier, but also like to chill out as well, so this ship will definitely appeal to everyone that likes bigger ships. Utopia is my favorite ship that I’ve sailed on, and have been on 26 cruises overall. I would highly recommend trying the Utopia.

[laughremixsquad]

This is targeting a younger demographic and going head-to-head with Carnival. Good for RC going after a different market! 👏

[SuiteLifeTravelGuide]

We did the inaugural sailing and would have to say we had a blast! There is so so so much to do that you definitely cannot do all of it in one weekend! And though Hubby and I are well past the partying life we still enjoyed some of the parties and the vibe of the ship! we will be going back again!

[Naomi-xuhq]

I love it as a 21 year old college student to have a ship with people my age a difference from being in that odd age of being too young for the adults and too old for the teens and kids. Love this! I also love that it’s split between cruises there’s still plenty of older ships and smaller ships for other customers

[vincentgiarratano]

Matt another great video you do a fantastic job it's great that there are different ships for different quests so there's a verity of things for different people

[FearBeyond]

currently on utopia. it is not, i repeat, not a party ship. the nightclub was weak for a 4 day cruise. not enough comedy for family. karaoke schedule is weird and should not be categorized. But the ease and availability of the elevators and the awesomeness of the windjammer along with all the included activities will get me to book another cruise on utopia.

[Realtravel]

I cannot wait to sail Utopia! I've been waiting for RC to offer this experience and target adults.

[Powerful_Female]

Matt you know I love a good party!!!! I’m excited about this

[KJM]

What’s interesting is that I was on the Utopia inaugural and didn’t even know half of these things were happening.

Yes — The pool deck was more lively and playing upbeat DJ music instead of the usual relaxing Caribbean tunes. Some of this spilled over more noticeably into Central Park throughout the day, for example.

Otherwise, my wife and I had a very “traditional” Oasis class cruise where we enjoyed the food, shows, and pub/Mason Jar and the “party” elements were virtually undetectable to us because we literally did not go to them.

You do NOT need to avoid Utopia if you’re not into the party scene.

[HowWeCruise]

Great overview (as always)! You said it well.

[stevezellers]

I loved Utopia and was on the naming ceremony cruise with you Matt. You can be as active or not on Utopia and there are lots of quiet places if that’s what you are looking for.

[GREight]

Not interested in shorter cruises but if Utopia starts going on 7+ cruises I would give it go.

[GangGreen]

We always cruise on Royal Caribbean for both stateside and overseas cruises and enjoyed them so much. For us RC is our only cruise line but we have no desire to go on Utopia.

[cruisinwithmom]

Great video! One of my favorites. I was wondering about all the parties

[NCFamilyof]

We just did the same weekend cruise on Allure in June and all of the info I’ve seen on Utopia so far looks like essentially the same cruise except on a shiny new ship with more features. We loved our cruise on Allure and already had that FOMO you described on that cruise, not sure it will be that much different on this one.

I feel like RC is also doing this with the intent that cruisers will want to quickly book their next cruise to try to do more of the things they missed on their weekend cruise.

[wcl]

It won’t be for everyone but I do like that they are offering this type of experience on a ship now. I think it’s smart of them too

[LetsAllCruise]

Great video, thanks Matt! I really appreciate that you know the difference between tiki (Polynesian) and Atlantic/Caribbean. This point is completely lost on most people.

[soremekun]

@2:28 is the absolute best picture of Matt!!!

[FelixTorres-wlvt]

Going B2B got a great price but I reserved the cruise September 2023. My wife and I enjoy the party atmosphere in RCL.

[caleigh]

I probably won’t ever do Utopia just because a short cruise is not worth the flight to Florida.