This was our 5th Cruise and only 2nd Cruise on RCL and left from Baltimore on 08-Feb-2014. Only other RCL was on sister ship, Enchantment of the Seas. We booked this cruise at the last minute in hopes of getting away from the snow, so many options were not available. For instance, our only dining choice was second seating in the Great Gatsby dining room. We were originally provided with 8:30 pm dining but when we got on board, they changed the dining times for both 1st and 2nd seating in the Great Gatsby by 1/2 hour and we heard it was due to the age of the cruisers being senior citizens. The average age of the cruisers on this sailing was 65 and over.

The food in the Great Gatsby was just average and nothing great. There were not very many healthy options and thank goodness our wait staff steered us away from any less than optimal choices that we made for entrees. The lobster tails looked very small than what we were used to but we did not order them. Our wait staff was very good and did whatever they could to please us. They mingled with us and seemed genuinely interested in our day. The musical performances were less than average for what we have seen. There were 3 comedians and 2 were good. One advantage of second seating dinner was that the early shows were not filled to capacity. The acrobatic shows in the Centrum were nice but the performances were very short. A big problem with a senior population on board was the saving of seats in the theaters, reserving of pool chairs with towels both on the main deck and in the solarium. Although there is a sign that says towels on chairs will be removed after 30 minutes of non-use we never saw any staff removing towels. Chairs would be reserved with towels around 9am in the morning and remain all day. I even took a photo and checked back hours later and found the same chairs unoccupied. On the cooler days the seniors would hog chairs in the solarium while they sat at tables to eat the Park Café food. The drink of the day was usually provided in a take home Glass and not plastic which was a nice souvenir and some days there were even plastic light up glasses to take home. I didn't feel like the bar staff was as pushy for me to get drinks like some other cruise company ships were. On day 4 of the cruise we did receive a letter from the Master letting us know that Norovirus was on the ship and they were starting enhanced cleaning procedures. We did see railings and door knobs being washed frequently in addition to frequent changing of the tongs in the Wind jammer during meals. They also didn't allow you in the dining rooms without a squirt of antibacterial spray.