I was in a group of 21 people (relatives and friends) that sailed Alaska on August 2, 2013 from Seattle. Many were first time cruisers who tremendously enjoyed the experience. RCL had reinstated the online luggage tag printout. This allowed us to have a porter quickly load our many tagged luggage on cart upon arrival at the pier. Although allowed, we never want to self carry luggage on board. We want to explore the ship easily before staterooms are ready. Before registration, we went through security. A recent rule change allows bringing two bottles of wine per stateroom. Group members informed me that the bottles in carry on were hand inspected. At registration, the SeaPass (passenger ID and credit card) was issued. Upon entry into ship the SeaPass was hand scanned instead of box insertion. This was the first indication of upgrades.
After recent refurbishment, the ship has gone high tech. Each deck near the elevator has a touch screen that shows the layout for that deck. If requested, a path was shown to desired location. Missing is a button that shows the entire ship layout on one screen. The Photo Department has several screens to view your photos in lieu of hardcopies. This was a nice tool previously seen on the Voyager. The day of the week on the elevator floor is gone though.
The stateroom phone was permanently hung over the desk. This is a very poor location. It should be next to the beds. I also miss the curtain that separates the beds from rest of stateroom. The curtain was useful for anyone using a bathroom late at night or watch TV without disturbing
Cabin (quiet location, ample storage space, no curtain, flimsy shower curtain, low sink water flow, nice flat screen TV, bad phone location)