Once again we had a fabulous time cruising with Royal Caribbean. We will definitely be back!
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Royal Caribbean has this process down to a science. Our only problem occured, when my son's birthday in the reservation did not match his passport. Our agent typed it in wrong. It was corrected in 5 minutes at the port.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Overall the food was great! There were a few entrées in the dining room that were not good. We basically, ordered 2 entrées when we didn't like something. The burritos and quesadillas were dry at El Loco the taco place. But the make your own tacos and nachos were delicious! The buffets were great. My only suggestion is that bacon needs 2 stations. The lines for it were crazy! We mostly went to the mdr for breakfast. Everything seemed a little fresher. The over easy eggs took longer, but weren't overcooked.
El Loco Fresh℠
4 out of 5
Just skip the burritos. The quesadillas need more filling and are too dry. Find a way to keep the sour cream firm. Other than these things, it was one of our favorite places to eat almost every day!
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We honestly didn't do nearly as many activities as we should have, but knowing they were available was great. We went to the gym daily and took the free stretch and ab classes. Walked on the track daily. We loved the activities in the Schooner Bar. However, so did everyone else. It was a bummer to have to get to some of the activities 30-45 minutes early, because the rooms were not vig enough to accommodate all that were interested. We were never able to get a seat in the karaoke bar. Which was disappointing. The pools and hot tubs are over-crowded. Getting lounge chairs is challenging if yiu don't save them by 8am. We went to get ice cream and a lady literally removed our stuff from a large lounger. I wouldn't dream of doing that. Yet, some people save extra chairs they never used.
Vitality at Sea Spa
4 out of 5
The venue is small which made the lines long and a challenge to get a table. But it was worth it!
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The Aqua 80 is the BEST show ever, hands down. It is long overdo to stip showing Cats!!! It was on during our last sailing 6 years ago and we weren't interested then. We tried to watch this time. The singing and dancing are great, but the storyline is boring and hard to follow. Aeromyth was not good! The lead singer is terrible and the sound wasn't that great. So many people were leaving and so did we. The Juggler show was fantastic. He is a great performer who captured the attention of all ages. The traveling pianist in the elevatoand outside the elevators was so much fun! The singalong pianist in the Schooner Bar was not nearly as fun or as good of a singer. He switched up the melodies which made it hard to sing along. The woman on our last sailing was much more fun and talented.
Children's Programs
Our youngest is 17 1/2. She was too old.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our service in the dining room was excellent. Our waiter Ronald was top notch, so sweet and always quick to get us anything we needed. We wanted to take him home with us, because we loved him that much! Our assistant waiter Spiwe did an excellent job. She too was always there to get us our drinks, refills and clean dirty dishes regularly. Maxi the head waiter is a gem! I swear he found us and said hello everytime we were in the dining room. Even when we were sat all over the dining room for breakfast. He offered to bring us anything we may need, cleaned dirty dishes in the morning, and was a wonderful conversationalist. He was always in a good mood and had a smile on his face. The wait service was hit or miss in the mornings. For the most part it was great. We did wait 45 minutes for any of our food to come 1 morning. While we watched as people whi came un at the same time or after us ate and left. One day, we were late to dinner due to our show running late. We missed out on our regular table with Ronald. However, we did have amazing service from our waiter, Ruth. She was so excellent and we enjoyed our time with her.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship is amazing, which is why we came back a second time! We also wanted our kids to see the diving show, since they were divers for years. Some of the furniture is starting to look a little worn and tired. For example the top back of the chairs in the Windjammer. The material is worn looking where people grab the chairs. However, the cleaning and wait staff are doing a great job to keep it clean and tidy. Whule we were walking in the morning, there was crew cleaning and painting the ship. While smelling paint was not a joy in the open air track, I was still happy to see that the ship is getting maintained. Great job!
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had 3 cabins, being that we were a family of 6. All 3 were clean and nicely decorated. The couches and carpeting are starting to look worn compared to 6 years ago. But that is ti be expected. Our cabin steward, Karina did a fabulous job keeping it clean and getting us anything we needed.
Ship tip
Reserve the shows in advance, however don't fret if they sell out. If you get in line early, you can usually get in without a reservation. If you want to do activities such as Karaoke, trivia, or even sunning yourself on the pool deck, get there early!
We did not pay for an excursion. We walked just past Junanoo Beach to a quiet beach. It was a great suggestion from our wonderful cabin steward, Karina.
No excursions. We just enjoyed the sun, water and food at Chill Island. The buffet was really great with lots of fresh options. The fries were delicious and hot like we like them!
We opted to take our luggage off the ship with us. We went to the Winjammer at 7:30. Afterwards, we went back to our cabins and got our luggage and left. We found doing it this way, we avoided the lines for the elevators going down in the morning and the long lines to leave the ship.
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