This was our 6th cruise, the first with Royal Caribbean and we were keen to see how it compared. On all other cruises, fellow travellers have RAVED about RCI, so I read all the reviews from those who'd sailed just ahead of us with interest.
A common theme from recent reviews is that that check in was difficult. The thing you need to understand with cruising, is that everyone races to get on in the first hour so they can hit the buffet. Of course it's going to be chaos! Understanding that the buffet is not going anywhere, we always arrive 60-90 minutes towards the end of the checkin time and have always had a civilised welcome of no longer than 30 minutes. This one was no exception.
Our interior stateroom was fine, same as all the other boats we've been on. Housekeeping staff were charming and addressed us by name and did a great job throughout the whole cruise with the towel animals.
Standard interior cabin, nice and quiet. Well located in the centre of the ship so easy to get to main atrium/dining and not much boat movement.