This was our 4th RCCL cruise out of 13 on Holland America, Costa, Celebrity and Princess. We went last year on the Radiance of the Seas with the same couple and had a superb cruise. This time, things started going wrong from the beginning. Our cruise documents said the ship was docked in pier 2 and it was actually in pier 3. Luckily, I was savvy enough to recognize the ship docked in pier 2 was a Carnival ship and made our taxi driver drive around looking for our ship at a cost of another $5. We arrived around 1:30 and waited upstairs to check-in around 30 minutes. Since we had already printed our SeaPass, check-in was relatively easy although our traveling companions SeaPass had not taken and they had to do all their paperwork again and make a special visit to the Purser's Desk to re-register their supposedly already registered credit card.
We were not allowed to go to the cabins yet but the Windjammer was open for lunch and we happily gorged while fighting the crowds. We were allowed into our balcony cabins located mid-deck on deck 7 around 2:30 but the Cabin Steward apologetically explained he was not quite finished cleaning but we could come in and freshen up. He turned out to be the best thing about the cruise. His service was outstanding- he remembered our request for 2 daily activity sheets instead of the standard 1 and ran after my husband one morning to give him something my husband had mistakenly thrown out and had been looking for. Our luggage arrived within the hour but our friends in the cabin next door did not get their luggage until after dinner!!.
The cabins were a little smaller than on the Radiance of the Seas but had more closet space. In fact, there was probably more storage space than we've had on any other ship. The beds were lower so we couldn't stow the suitcases under the beds as usual but we stored them in a corner by the sliding glass doors so they were out of the way. There were more than enough drawers and shelves and a nice makeup area for the women. The bathroom would frankly be a tight squeeze for very large guests but was well arranged and the shower was fantastic. There was a comfortable couch for sitting. The balcony was smaller than usual and there were only 2 small mesh chairs and little table-no reclining chairs as usual.