First recommendation is to avoid mega ships - they are all about having a shopping mall taking up the majority of the non room space on the ship.
Next don't expect a cruise to be as good as your last one. I expected the cruise to cost more, but thought it would be the same experience. The food is lacking and the internet and drink prices are insane. Cruises used to be the cheapest vacation out there, but no more.
When the food is lacking, everything is packed, and you can't get into the shows, you can do better getting a big room somewhere and doing the food and entertainment on your own. Unless you need 21 buffet meals of lackluster food. One great meal a day is enough for me. And if you are a moderate drinker, plan on at least $60/day for 3 drinks. And $30/day for internet, which costs the cruise line zero.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Two of our bags were lost and did not make it to the ship until day 5, even after tipping the guy $5. Free laundry service was given, but all three of us had were the clothes on our back. A $600 credit was given a after a fight which did not come close to the clothes three people needed for 5 days. We booked 4 rooms and had 8 people.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Food was not as good as prior cruises with Royal or others. Very few expensive cuts of beef or fish. No shell fish, except one night of small garlic shrimp. Chocolate deserts lacked chocolate ingredients. Drink prices excessive.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
The deck was so packed could not find a lawn chair to sit in. The pools were close to standing room only.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
Only two main shows, and they were totally booked before the ship left port.
Children's Programs
Did not use.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Great.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
Too many shops on these mega ships. Entertainment venues need to be bigger, or more shows, or both. Pools and chairs not adequate to handle the number of passengers.
Everything was clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Best part of the cruise, but did not to to hang in the room. TV options very good
Ship tip
BYOB or you will go broke. Shop reviews of all the ships/lines. This is my second mega ship cruise. Avoid mega ships. Takes a long time to get around, and basically the size is increased to add a shopping mall down the center. Space was wasted here where more pool and show venue space should have been. The expensive shops did not have that much business to justify them - they were empty and the pools were packed.
Basically a tourist trap and a hood. Did airplane beach and it was very small and crowded, but was a novelty so kin of cool to do once. If you do an excursion. remember you don't have time for anything else on the island.
Basically a tourist trap and a hood. Did a snorkel and it was ok, but mostly grass and sand. You can do a lot better from Key largo to Key West - much more shallow, colorful coral and fish. If you do an excursion. remember you don't have time for anything else on the island.
Took one large roll on per person, and rolled it off ourselves. Never did this before. You get to keep all your stuff until the day you leave, which is nice. And you can get off at 7AM vs 10AM. Nice because you have to vacate your room by 8AM, so you wind up sitting somewhere on the ship for hours waiting to get off.
My wife and I are retired and we travel a lot - land and sea. We have been on many cruises, all size boats. Never had a problem getting into shows before on a dozen other cruises. We plan and research a lot based on reviews, prior experiences, and research. If you like the packed mega ships, change in food quality, and $30/day internet price, this Royal vacation cruise is for you. Next time we will try Princess again. I gave detailed reasons for my opinions, like most reviews and comments posted here, and sorry Bertfish sees fault in that. Hope Royal considers some of my suggestions, as a majority of the other complaint reviews here mention the food also.
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