We were blown away by the attentiveness, quality, staff.....everything. We have cruised RCL before and enjoyed those cruises, but it seems they have raised the bar even higher. We were quite happy with the entire cruise.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very smooth with minimal wait times. RCL has done a great job.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We ate in the main dining room most nights and had the buffet a few times as well. Overall quality was very good to excellent. Service was attentive and top notch. Their only goal was our happiness. We also liked how they had mini buffets around the ship ( Central Park, Solarium etc) where you could grab a quick bite, snack or breakfast.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We didn't do any rock climbing and such, we'll leave that to the younger folks, but we did enjoy watching them, especially the flowrider.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We saw Mamma Mia, Ice Games, Blue Planet and the diving show in the Aqua Theatre. All very good to excellent productions. Also saw both Royal Promenade parades which were fantastic.
Children's Programs
No children with us this trip.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our cabin steward was fantastic, friendly always with a smile. Her name is Hema and she made sure everything was perfect and went above and beyond. We do like our towel animals when we return to the cabin at night. That might not seem like much to some people but we look forward to them. Even on the last night of the cruise she left us a towel heart on the bed. Nicely done. Our waiters were super attentive seeing to our every need. Actually all the service staff on the ship seemed dedicated, caring and friendly. Again Kudos to RCL.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
This was the biggest ship we have ever taken and were concerned as it holds upwards of 6,000 passengers and was sold out to boot. Happy to report the ship is able to absorb that amount of people and we never felt overly crowded. Service staff keep the ship immaculate.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our cabin was very comfortable, especially the bed. The air conditioning provided all the cold air we needed. Plenty of room under the bed to slide our suitcases and enough closet/drawer space all our clothes. Our cabin steward, Hema, kept the room immaculate.
Ship tip
If you choose My Time dining, book your dinner reservations before the cruise as many of the more popular time slots fill up quickly. This wasn't a big issue for us as we just had to adjust our schedules a bit. Also, definitely pre book any shows as they also fill up quickly.
Very pretty and a nice place to hang out for a few hours. For the more adventurous and physically able plenty to do. We did like watching the people on the zip line. RCL puts out a very good lunch there as well.
We spent the day at Margaritaville which is right in the port complex. Actually we spent most of the day in the pool and swim up bar in Margaritaville. Really fun people, good drinks and food.
Once again we planned to spend time at the Margaritaville there (we are Parrotheads and try to sample as many Margaritavilles as we can). Very disappointing, at least for a Margaritville. It had the atmosphere of a Senor Frogs, which isn't really to our liking. We were there for about 1 1/2 hours and they never played any Jimmy Buffett music at which point we left. This is the new place, wish they still had the old Margaritaville as that had better music, ambiance and a water park. Oh well.
Quick and smooth. RCL had continental breakfast stations throughout the ship where you could wait comfortably until you disembarkation number is called. We were called about 45 minutes early. Again RCL is really firing on all cylinders.
Stateofmind: Nice review and details. Glad you had an excellent experience from start to finish. Fellow Cruisers with your state of mind make cruising more enjoyable for the rest of us too :-)
Janetb2000: Some things have changed throughout the cruise industry no matter which cruise line or which ship. Some of the perks and free items for example are gone forever from the mainstream cruise experience. However, we have found that RCCL service and entertainment are excellent and remind us of the good old days when ships were smaller, very elegant, and service was top-notch. The ships are larger today, but RCCL has delivered that great service and entertainment with modern elegance which is why five of our last six cruises have been on Royal Caribbean ships.
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