This was our first time sailing with RCCL having sailed several times previously with HAL and Princess. We caught a great deal for Christmas week with Royal, so decided it was worth it to give it a try, especially when travelling as a family of 4. We really have no complaints, other than wishing we had booked a larger room. Large insides on this ship offer less space than on the other cruise lines of similar age ships...layout of the rooms could have been the real culprit though they were less footage too. Since we expected it might be tight, this wasn't a huge issue for us, especially with four port days awaiting us, but worth noting that it did feel different than same category on other ships. No issues with beds - we were all quite comfortable. Room attendant was great - room was always ready when we were and we rarely saw him. In fact, we enjoyed all the staff during our cruise...always efficient, helpful, friendly and fun. Only met one less than friendly staff person (just on the first day at the customer service desk)...definitely not a warm and friendly type but she was the exception, for sure.

We had "my Time" dining and had booked reservations for each night , weeks in advance. This worked out great - never had to wait in line and always had great service. We enjoyed our wait staff each time. One night - mid week - service was slower and we waited quite a bit for our meal to begin, but we were in no hurray that night and enjoyed our time as a family chatting about the day over yummy bread rolls, so it was ok with us. We all enjoyed the food - always had a good selection to choose from so even the kids were happy with the menus. We ate breakfasts and lunches in the windjammer or Park café, and ended up at the WJ once for dinner - all was good. Lots of healthy choices available and I was able to try something new every day, which I liked, while hubby and kids could count on their "usual" favourites each day, which they liked. Enjoyed the available beverages...and coffee station by the pool each morning.

We enjoyed the ports...stayed on ship most of the day for Roatan as we had visited this port before. Main pool area was nice, we never had to fight for a lounger, staff were removing towels from saved chairs after a certain amount of time, and despite higher volume of kids on this holiday cruise, there were no real issues observed or experienced. Booked cavetubing tour (not thru RCCL) for our day in Belize, which was great! We all enjoyed it, learned a lot, enjoyed our Belizean lunch, felt well taken care of and had a really fun day ($50 pp) . We booked chairs at a restaurant in Costa Maya for Christmas day (tropicante)...what a great day! Just wish the ship was leaving later that day instead of needing to be all aboard by 330pm. We followed the provided instructions, took a taxi ourselves to and from the restaurant and all was good. Coronas and Margaritas started by 10am and we each had great massages on the beach. A very relaxing and enjoyable day - including a free call home from the restaurant to Canada to wish family back home Feliz Navidad! Read more