Our cruise disappointment....

We (4 couples) excitedly boarded at Port Canaveral around noon for a 4 pm sailing - entire staff, check in procedure etc. were all seamless, organized and wonderfully executed. NO problems with this part of the cruise whatsoever. At 5 pm Captain Mateas (spelling?) came on the speaker from the bridge and alerted us that the Coast Guard had performed an inspection and we would be detained at port due to 'some technical issues' and he would advise when he had more information......at 6:30 pm we were advised the ship would not sail until Tuesday....We did not let this bump in the road ruin our excitement. We had a superb dinner with two great waiters (Presad & Cooper). The nightly entertainment was excellent......On Tuesday we were suppose to be on the private island and the weather was beautiful! However, we were sitting in port staring at a parking lot......Pool deck area was so full of people that there were not enough chairs much less room in the pool for the number of people. The ship was at full capacity and the casino and shops were NOT open. Needless to say, by 4 pm our excitement and enthusiasm had waned. We began to walk around talking with other guests from other decks. We were told that the ship was being detained because of life jackets with frayed belts and we did see workers on the ship throwing life jackets in a dumpster and unloading new life jackets; however, we were given no other information about reasons for our detainment?  and our excitement was really at an all time low. Just did not feel we were getting true story from the Captain as to our detainment?  Many guests were having plumbing problems and there was a distinct odor on some floors. We also saw trucks pumping something out of ship?  Tuesday evening we were given the OK to sail. Arrived in Nassau a little after noon on Wednesday......By the time the entire ship unloaded (everyone had cabin fever !) We were only able to visit Nassau for a few hours before sailing out......Suppose to be on the  private island on Thursday, but the weather did not permit.   SO - all in all,  we were on a ship 4 days to visit Nassau for 4 hours....

Royal Caribbean discounted our cruise by 25% and we were told we would be mailed a 25% off discount to use within a year on another cruise.....mmmm?

I will say that the food, entertainment and staff on this ship was superb.

I knew this was an older and smaller ship when we booked the cruise, but I was told that it had been completely refurbished in 2016. I do not want to dispute this claim, but I doubt seriously if this ship was completely refurbished based upon my observations.(broken windows, leaking green faucets, chairs broken, sewage smell).  This was a very sad incident and I feel it could have been avoided by Royal Caribbean. I do not fault RCCL about the bad weather, as we know this can not be controlled, BUT, had we sailed on time, we would have been able to go to the private island as the weather was very nice on that date..

I feel that while RCCL can not control the weather, they can control the routine maintenance (life jackets with frayed belts/sewage???) Plus,  they have a responsibility and obligation to their guests to make sure that their ships are in tip top shape for every sailing. RCCL is a World Class Cruise Lines and sadly, they let us down. Not only did they let us down, but they let their employees down. Personally, I feel that RCCL owes me a full credit for this unfortunate and PREVENTABLE incident and the parent corporation should be ashamed of themselves for subjecting us to such a fiasco.