A nice cruise

First time on a Royal Caribbean ship. I liked it but wasn't blown away. Still, it was a small ship in their fleet. I'm more of a loyal NCL cruiser though (5 and counting so far). But the contrast between the 2 cruise lines is interesting. in the end, it's you the cruiser with personal tastes that will like one line over another. I HATED the pomp and fluf at the dining room with Royal so my wife and I never went there. who eats at 830 pm every night? it's dinner or a show--- choose, 'cause you can't do both. so we went to buffet each night. not as much food as NCL buffet but for me and the wife, who are simple people and not the average spoiled Americans, the choices were more than fine. heck, you can only eat so much no matter how big your eyes are.

One big plus this ship has over other cruise lines is the Solarium on the Brilliance of Seas---and indoor pool with a dome overhead . See, the boat isn't set up well so the wind on outer pool deck is terrible. some higher glass barriers on the sun deck would fix that though. On the NCL Dawn, winds will be over a 100 mph but the pool deck would be fine.

On this cruise we were going to Grand Cayman and it got cancelled 'cause of wind (i know, it was like..seriously?), the tender and stuff didn't want to deal with it i guess. I wasn't that upset 'cause frankly, i wont be picking Royal again unless I'm boxed into a corner with no other options. No compensation was offered by ship either for missing the 1 out of 2 ports of call, such as a 20 buck credit or something. NCL would have done something to apologize and has in the past if getting on later to a port cause of weather. I probably could have complained too and got a credit or something for a future cruise(maybe) but like I said, I won't go out of my way to use Royal again. but i would also recommend them to others if that particular boat is going where you want.

The crew was wonderful, food was fine, ship was clean and nice. the stateroom was great, as was the housekeeper. it was a nice cruise, but not the best. If this had been my first cruise i might not have liked it as much but with a few under my belt I know you gotta roll with whatever happens.

 If you get home with a full belly, healthy and safe, it was a good cruise considering some of the alternatives that can happened. (did anyone say Carnival?).

For anyone it's good to try different cruise lines to see which one fits you the best.

Royal wasn't my favorite but I can see why people like them and why they are successful.