Average Cruise to Bermuda

Embarkation was amazing. Pulled up in our car to drop off luggage around 10:40. We were on the ship by 11:15. Smoothest embarkation ever.

It has been 6 years since our last cruise and 10 years since last sailing with Royal Caribbean. I was shocked at the decline in the food. Most meals in the MDR were incredibly bland, almost tasteless. If you’ve only sailed in the recent past you may not know what you are missing, but the food used to be special, very special. It appears to now have been intentionally left lacking. Seasoning food is not expensive, so the only reason I can come up with is that they are making the MDR experience less special so people will spend additional money on the specialty dining rooms if they want more than a below average meal. I know they still know how to make a dish tasty, because we ate in the specialty steak house one evening and ahhhh....there was the flavor I remember from days of old. So it appears you now have to pay additional if you want to eat anything better than Golden Corral style food. And as far as the buffets go....ugh! The warm dishes were mostly cool/cold, the choices were bland, lots and lots of rice. Lastly, the coffee brought to the room through breakfast room service was some of the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted, and so weak as to be undrinkable. They also seem to no longer have real half & half to bring with the morning coffee but instead coffee “creamer” cups...even after I specified real half and half on the second morning I was brought this same “creamer crap”. One shining star was the chopped salad station in the MDR when it was open for lunch. Delicious and fresh!

The cruise director kept referring to “150 onboard activities” yet there seemed to be almost none. At one point the crew walked around the Lido deck taking down people's guesses as to how long one of them could stand on one leg. Seriously. My husband and I joked that this was one on the “150 onboard activities”, and I think it was! I imagine most of the other “150 onboard activities” are pay bingo games, trivia contests in the Schooner Bar that was inhabitable during the entire cruise because of an overpoweringly foul sour smell. Luckily, we are not “activity” seekers, so were able to find quiet places to enjoy the water, scenery, and each other with no difficulty.

We enjoyed evening cocktails every night in the Atrium while listening to the 4 piece band Locomotion. This was our favorite part of each day. Stage shows were average, at best. Comedian on the first evening was a fun time. I have enjoyed the piano bar in the Schooner Bar in the past but on this sailing there was a overwhelmingly four sour odor in that space that kept me from entering it.

Excellent service, from our room steward to the main dining room servers to the bartenders. They saved this cruise from itself.

Ours was an aft facing Junior Suite and we enjoyed the space to move around. The large balcony was a great place to watch the world go by.

The self disembarkation went very smoothly. There is a system in place where they direct you to put your suitcases in line and then you can go elsewhere and sit, or stand next to your luggage. This worked well.