Overall, I still love Royal Caribbean but I'm disappointed in some of the cut backs and changes. It didn't stop us from booking our next cruise, although like most other things post pandemic, price is up and quality is down.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very easy, onboard quickly
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Service in the main dining room was the worst we've experienced on Royal. Food was also inconsistent, with portion sizes varying greatly amongst our group. Had an amazing dinner at Hooked with excellent food and service. Also enjoyed the Solarium Bistro for dinner twice. El Loco Fresh was a nice snack or lunch spot. We love the beef sandwiches at Park Cafe and the breakfast sandwiches are excellent too!
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Lots of activities. We wish that the venue for karaoke was larger as it gets very crowed and is standing room only.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Aqua show and ice show were awesome. Enjoyed the band in Dazzles.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Our room steward, Roel, was wonderful. I will say we noticed cut backs. I had to ask for hand soap and kleenex. I was used to the room getting a refresh pretty often and now it's once per day but he was very responsive with extra towels or whatever else we needed. I believe both of our waiters were new. We sometimes didn't get our drinks at all, food came out at different times for everyone at the table, service was slow and we weren't able to order everything we wanted to. We did have a group of 10 at our table so maybe that was too much for them. The rest of our family was also at a table for 10 next to us and their service was excellent.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Cabin is spacious enough for us, plenty of storage. We had 4 cabins in a row and opened all the balconies, so that worked out well.
Ship tip
My advice would be to switch tables early on if you aren't happy with the service. We had done that on our last cruise and I wish we had done it this time.
The younger folks did the party bus excursion and had a great time. We rented a Jeep, did some shopping and had a nice lunch at a restaurant on the beach.
The beach is nice. If I hadn't been to Coco Cay I would think it was amazing but there seem to be less food options here and less to do. The locals are so aggressive I'm not sure how they make any money. The good news is they can't come out of the designated area to harass you on the beach. But I would think they would make more money if they weren't so horribly aggressive. If I never go back to this island I would be fine.
Appreciate your review. It's almost common now to deal with less products that cost you more and port merchants basically begging for money. It's the signs of the time unfortunately. I see the same thing at high end hotels too.
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