I gave my review a title of surprised but unfortunately it was surprised in a bad way. I've been on several RCI cruises so thought I knew what to expect but I was totally wrong. My recent cruising experiences have been with other cruise lines so perhaps that clouded my experience but in reading other reviews I find that's not the case.
Dining was not a good experience. We tried before going on the cruise to call RCI and set a My Time Dining time. Phone calls were not helpful so we arrive on the ship to find we had been allocated, thought it was MY TIME, find we were allocated a time of 9 pm. We were a party of 8 with two children aged 10 and 6. It was sorted out but took three days of being ready by 6 pm and waiting for a phone call from the dining staff to tell us if they had a table for us. From the third day on we had a regular table at 6:15 pm. Food too was disappointing, too many items the same every night. Gone were the days of lobster or any desserts being fixed at the table. The one good thing about the dining was our wait staff. Yasser, his assistant and head waiter went out of their way to bring the food hot and to look after the children's needs. The Windjammer was too crowded most of the time and the food only okay. Seemed the same choices everyday.
The cabin was all right but was surprised to find cutbacks. No pen, paper, no individual shampoo, conditioner, lotion and no chocolates on the pillow. We thought there was something wrong with the speakers as we couldn't hear announcements. Found out that they no longer have announcements in the cabin. The only way to hear them is to have your TV tuned to the right channel.