Background: Our "extended" family cruises together a lot. It consists of my parents (upper 70's but active), my mother in law, wife, daughter and a couple around 60 who are good friends of my parents. We have all cruised before, but for all of us except my parents, it was our first time on Royal Caribbean. (RCI) My parents cruised RCI on the Radiance of the Seas in the early 2000's. For the rest of us, our cruise experience has been limited to NCL on which we have loved every cruise. We chose RCI because we wanted to go to Canada and New England and can only travel in the summer due to school and NCL does not offer summer cruises like that. It was also an opportunity to find out if what everyone said about RCI is true. Prior to our leaving, everyone told me that, since my experience had been limited to NCL, I would be blown away by RCI. The "wow" and "awe" factors would win me over. Well, I am still waiting for the wow and awe to hit. Let me say that the cruise wasn't bad, no cruise can be bad. It just wasn't equal to what I had experienced on NCL. So here it goes: Departure: We arranged air through RCI and on the morning of our cruise, we received a very early phone call from Northwest Airlines informing us that our flight to Detroit for our connection had been canceled. Northwest however had transferred our tickets to Continental and we were put on a direct flight to Newark instead of a layover flight. (very nice.) Northwest also notified RCI so that our airport to pier transfer would be taken care of. Great job NW!! As a result of the flight change, we got to Newark nearly 2 hours early. But the RCI people were waiting in the terminal to meet us. (and others.) The transfer from the airport to the pier was quick. It was at the pier that the waiting began. Our bus was in a long line of traffic, but eventually we were moved to a separate lane. Due to a shortage of porters that day due to the Holiday, they could only allow one bus in to unload at a time. So we waited on the bus about 45 minutes until it was our turn. (this was not RCI's fault....) Embarkation: Once we got off the bus, we were directed into the check in facility. I don't know if the people doing the security screenings worked for RCI or not, but they were extremely rude. If you didn't move fast enough to get your belongings off the conveyer after screening, you got yelled at. (my parents are somewhat slow at 79....) We were then directed to the check in area which is separated by suites, Crown & Anchor and everyone else. Since our friends were not in a suite, they were sent down the main lines. The main lines are divided by the deck on which your cabin is on. They said that the check in process was a breeze for them. Since we had a Royal Family suite, we were directed into the Suite line. This line also serves the upper level Crown and Anchor people and it was quite long. Once we got to the counter, the check in agent was great and it didn't take long. BUT, we then had to cross back over the main line to get into another line that led to the picture taking for the ship boarding pass. Not an effective set-up. Once we had our boarding pass picture taken, we went toward the bus loading area. (at Cape Liberty, you take shuttles from the terminal to the ship.) Our friends, who had gone through the non suite line were waiting on us. (they had been done for about 10 minutes.) I'm sorry, but I thought suite passengers were supposed to have a shorter wait.... There are plenty of shuttle buses to the ship and there was no wait. In no time at all, we were at the ship and walking up the gangway. This is where the first difference between NCL & RCI popped up. Once we were on the ship, we found ourselves alone. No one to even direct us which way to go. (On NCL, they escort you to your cabin.) We took the elevators to the 9th Deck and once again, no one was there to direct you. (on NCL, there were people on every elevator landing.) We followed the corridors until we found our cabins. Staterooms - we had a Royal Family Suite for 6 of us and it was huge. The Balcony alone is bigger than any cabin that we had been in. The balcony is great with a table & 4 chairs and 4 loungers. The bedrooms are very nice and there is plenty of closet space. The main bedroom has a closet with plenty of hangers and two other closets with shelves (not for hanging clothes). In addition there is a cupboard above and below the TV in the main bedroom. The main bathroom had a very nice bathtub/shower and plenty of shelf space. The second bathroom was a standard ship bathroom with a very small shower. (smaller than NCL's) The second bedroom had lots of shelf room but no closet in the room. Those in that room get to use the huge walk in closet across the hall. The Living room has a fold out couch for two as well as two nice chairs, a table with chairs for 4 and an entertainment system consisting of TV, DVD, VCR and stereo. (as well as more storage cupboards!) The bed in the main bedroom is a king bed and the bed in the second bedroom can be put together for a queen or separated to be two twins. There are also two pullman beds that hang from the ceiling but completely disappear during the day. Our friends in the balcony stateroom, compared their room as being very similar to the balcony staterooms on the NCL ships. They said that the bathroom (especially the shower) was smaller than NCL's, but shelf space throughout was equal. They did not like the balcony as well as NCL's. The Explorer's balcony is enclosed, while the NCL balconies that they are used to are more open. (and they love to sit on their balconies..) One complaint that we all had was about ship board announcements. On NCL, you can turn your TV to the ship information (location, temp, etc.) channel and be able to hear ship announcements. On the Explorer, when you heard the chimes for the PA, you had to run to the door and open it to hear it, missing much of it. Also, the information channel was never really updated except for ships position... it was 55 degrees according to the TV for most of the cruise!! (which we knew wasn't right.) Ship Layout: We didn't like the fact that to get many places on the ship you had to either go up or down a deck. For example, to get from the Main Dining Room on Deck 3 Aft to the theater on Deck 3 forward, you had to go up to Deck 4 and through the casino or up to Deck 5 and through the Promenade and then down again to Deck 3. On the NCL ships, you could walk from one thing to another on the same deck on most of the decks. There are also less elevator banks than on the NCL ships. Since much of the popular public areas (buffet, dining rooms, photo gallery, purser's desk, ice rink, rock wall, kids club) are aft, the aft elevators were always extremely crowded. One night for dinner, my parents had to wait 20 minutes for an open elevator to take them from Deck 9 to Deck 3. People soon learned that many times you would have to get in an empty elevator going the opposite direction and ride it to the top or bottom and then to where you wanted to go in order to get on one. (my parents finally got in an up elevator, rode it from deck 9 to deck 12 and then down to 3 for dinner. Stopping at most floors with more people wanting on.) The Promenade is a nice thought and a great place... but the ship stores constantly puts displays of items that they are selling out there. People look and they then they buy right there. This really makes it tough to get through the Promenade in the evening. Our friends had to slip behind a tree to get through that area of the Promenade one night due to the people at the counter. Aren't the display areas in the shops enough?? The several shops on the ship simply do not have the selection that the one shop on the NCL ships have. I was especially disappointed in the Logo merchandise store. They had a great selection of t-shirts and photo albums... that said: "Caribbean cruise" (hello, we are going to Canada...) They did have a selection of two Canada/New England shirts, but those were gone in about two days and they had no more. (one was really nice..had a map of our itinerary...oh well.) The Promenade has a very nice Cafe that serves free pizza and little sandwiches. It was a great place to stop coming back from a shore excursion for a quick snack. (they also have free coffee and tea....) You can purchase Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream as well on the Promenade. On Board Activities: The Explorer offers a myriad of activities all day long. Some are permanent like the rock climbing wall, miniature golf, inline skating and ice skating. (our use of the outdoor activities like the rock wall and inline track was limited by the poor, wet weather and fog. But we were finally able to use those areas the last two days. Again, not RCI's fault..they have to err on the side of caution!) The free ice skating was never crowded... I think that many people may overlook that on board. The main pool was nice and never seemed very crowded. There always seemed to be an ample supply of deck chairs. (that was true on the few days when people could lay out on deck.) The Solarium just seemed stuffy so I didn't go there. My daughter was not impressed by the Kids Pool at all. She said that there was no supervision and kids ran wild. (of course, she is used to the much larger kids pools on the Dawn & Star.) As far as non athletic activities, there seemed to be plenty to choose from in the Daily. Many trivia contests and other activities. The timing of some of the activities were questionable however. Several of the things that I wanted to do were at 6:00 p.m.... my assigned dining time, and so I couldn't do them. Bingo: my parents and their friends are big bingo enthusiasts, but after the second session, I think they went to Bingo once. They felt that the prize amounts were extremely low, especially for the number of participants. (they thought NCL's payouts were low, but as our friend put it, "NCL's payouts looked like winning the lottery compared to the Explorer's.") They felt that bingo took twice as long as it should have because the crew was trying to put on "a show" instead of an activity. They ranked the Explorer's bingo sessions, the worst of any cruise that they have been on. Entertainment: The production shows were similar to the ones that I have seen on NCL but the other variety of entertainment (comedians, juggler, ice show, game shows) surpassed NCL. If you cruise on the Explorer (or her sister ships), make sure to make time to see the Ice Show. It really is fantastic and since the venue is small, you are very close to the action. We went to the early show on the last day of the cruise (second day of performances) and the theater was only about 3/4 full. Well worth the time! A highlight of the cruise. Cruise Director/Port Consultant/Cruise Consultant: The Cruise Consultant was what I like in one, low key and made announcements and put flyers out and that was it. She did not attempt to make contact with every guest and try to sell them on cruises. She did not appear at every major event and try to sell cruises. Great job. The Port Consultant was ok. He had one talk early in the cruise about our first 3 stops but the port talk for the other ports was broadcast on TV. He didn't seem to really know what he was talking about. He basically read from a script every time. (as a teacher of public speaking, I would have told him to better prepare and practice ahead of time. Appearing as if you are reading turns off many listeners.) The shopping options on this cruise were extremely limited, in fact on several of the port fact sheets, they just listed history and docking information... no map and no shops listed. Prior to the Port Talk early in the week, they put out a coupon with our daily sheet that said: "Bring this coupon to the Port Talk and receive a free tool kit." Since I was going to the port talk anyhow, I decided to take the coupon for the heck of it. When we got there and presented the coupon, we all got different answers. The person I was checking in with said: "hold that till the end." My mother-in-law was told: "oh that simply gets you an extra ticket for the raffle" (which they gave her, took the coupon and threw it away.) and our friend got: "I don't know anything about that, ask after the presentation." After the presentation, they were passing out more stuff at the door and I again presented my coupon. (as did another lady ahead of me in line.) The guy passing the stuff out said: "you already got your tool kit." We looked at each other with blank stares.... The guy continued: "it is all of the maps and port information that you got." WHAT??? I'm sorry, maps may be helpful and shop information may be nice, but they are not what most people think of when they hear "tool kit." Besides... everyone who attended got a "tool kit" then, so what was the purpose of the coupons other than to try and mislead people into attending to get free stuff?? It really irks me when people lie or mislead to lure people to something... Cruise Director: I may be spoiled because I have sailed with Kieron Buffery, the best CD on the seven seas, but I did not care for our Cruise Director Dave. His antics just seemed childish and stupid. There is funny and there is stupid... Dave's actions falls to the stupid side. His morning show on the ship channel was lame. He sat in his office, drank the drink of the day and READ the daily activities. It generally appeared as if he put no preparation into the show. Just read the sheet (which we can all do), drink the drink and be silly. On other cruises, the morning show is well prepared and is generally done from locations around the ship and goes into more depth than the written Dailies. Dining: Buffet: The Windjammer Buffet is huge. Plenty of seating. Never had to wait for a seat. (sometimes you do on NCL.) As soon as you sat down, the staff descended on you asking what you wanted to drink. Very attentive buffet staff at getting drinks and clearing tables. The food was ok. Nothing outstanding. The selection was not as good as on NCL (or on RCI previously according to my parents.) They have 6 lines for breakfast, but basically, they have the same stuff on each one, no real variety. The bread and pastry selection was the same each morning. They were ALWAYS out of ice in the mornings. I would get juice and it would be warm, I would ask for ice. "we are temporarily out of ice" was the reply almost every morning. Johnny Rockets: Loved this place. Ate here twice. We have a JR in our town and I have enjoyed eating there and the food at this one on the ship is just as good as on land. The entertainment is always fun at Johnny Rockets. When my daughter didn't have a nickel for the jukebox (and I don't carry coins on board...), the waiter gave her one. They automatically put down a plate of fries and rings when you sit down and keep it refilled the whole time. The food comes out quick. There is a $3.95 a person surcharge, but it is well worth it. One note: Shakes and Root Beer floats cost extra (in addition to the $3.95). Shakes were $4.50 plus the 15% service charge. Skip the shake, drink water and then get the FREE oreo sundae for dessert. It is much larger anyhow. Also: there is no 15% added to the $3.95, but there is a place on your bill to add an "additional tip." Make sure to do that since these waiters/waitresses are phenomenal. Main Dining Rooms: This was my first experience with traditional dining and, outside of the dress code, I have no problems with it. We were a group of 8 and so we had a table at first seating for just us. We had a great location next to the Captain's table in the lowest level of the dining room so we could see the whole thing. Our waiter and assistant waiter were fantastic and the interaction with them was great. Our waiter took a special interest in my mom's dietary problems and always made suggestions as to what she could eat and changes that could be made in the meals to meet her needs. When one meal came out wrong for her, he looked at it and looked at her and said: "I'll be back..." He never served the food to her because it wasn't right and he was back quickly with a new order. Our Assistant waiter always kept our drinks refilled and kept us supplied with bread. So, I will say that service in the dining room was excellent. Food: I was extremely disappointed with the food choices and taste. Going into this cruise, that was probably the number one comment that I had heard from previous RCI cruisers (including my parents). The food is fantastic. So many choices and such flavor. Well, I can't say that. The food was mostly bland. For example: I love Hollandaise sauce, but the sauce that I had didn't have any flavor. My mother can not normally eat Cesar Salad due to the kick of the dressing... guess what, she could eat RCI's bland Cesar dressing. The selections were the same things over and over each night, just prepared differently. No Beef Wellington (my favorite cruise meal), no Creme` Brulee (my daughters favorite), no Ma hi, ma hi, (my wife's favorite). One night, they said that tomorrow would be the great "Italian dinner." Our friends and myself love Italian... so our mouths were watering all day long. The Italian was basically an Italian salad and pasta with Marinara sauce. No Chicken or veal parmesan, no lasagna, not even spaghetti! Just poor selections all week long. The food was probably the most disappointing thing of the cruise. Dress Code: What dress code? As a crew member told me, the Dress code is now just a suggested dress code. There were people in shorts in the main dining room all week and on formal nights, there were people in polo shirts and open collared, button down shirts. (of course, there were also those who looked funny because they were overdressed trying to impress who knows who...) Also, why would you put a formal night on a late port? Our second formal night was the night that we were in Boston. Our tour got back at 5:30 p.m.... we had to rush to our room and rush to get dressed to go to dinner that night and I feel that that also led to the lower dress level on that night. Let us not forget to mention the "running of the bulls" as we began to jokingly call it. That time at 6:00 p.m. when they open the doors and people were literally running and pushing people out of the way to get in the dining room and get to their tables! It was like their assigned seat would be gone or they might not get waited on. I always thought that traditional dining meant a more formal experience... those fools running and pushing certainly destroyed that idea.... Dining Times: It seems that everything is geared to those on the second dining seating. Many activities were scheduled during the 6:00 p.m. time. This included many of the sailaways. Since your dining time was limited, we missed many of these traditional activities due to assigned dining times. The Captain also chose to dine BOTH formal nights at the later dining time. (which was a disappointment to my daughter who wanted to see him at his table.) With two formal nights, why not dine one night at each time slot? The Captain was pretty much invisible the entire week. He didn't show up for any of the traditional appearances that the Captain has made on other cruises that I have been on. (Returning Guests reception, Suite Guests reception, Farewell from Crew show, etc.) Even when he did appear for the obligatory pictures with the Captain, he seemed aloof and like it pained him to be there. Disembarkation: After having been on NCL where you can stay in your cabin until called to disembark, this part worried me. I thought we would probably have to be out of our cabins by 9:00 a.m., so you can imagine the shock at having to be out by 8:00 a.m.! On NCL you can have a nice breakfast and then go back to your cabin and relax. (you can even sleep in). So at 8:00 a.m., we trudged down to the elevator banks to wait with everyone else for an elevator. We had planned to go to Deck 4 and wait in the balcony of the Theater. So that is where we ended up. After setting up our camp, I decided to do some more exploring. As I walked the Promenade and the lounges, it looked more like the Homeless section of my town than a cruise ship! People sitting everywhere (including stairwells) with their belongings. Some laying down, others with a glassy look in their eyes. (and don't try to go down to Deck 3 near Studio B.... wall to wall people. Disembarkation was to start at 9:00 a.m., it was 9:45 before the first people were called to get off. Sitting in the theater is a good place, because the Cruise Director gets advanced calls as to who can leave and you get a head start. Since we had a later flight, we decided to trade our first off tickets (suite) for a later color so that we could sit on the air conditioned ship instead of the hot terminal or the airport. So we were near the end. It was 11:15 when we were called to get off the ship. Our plan had been to leave the balcony and walk the outside walkway on Deck 4 to the aft elevators and go down to deck 1 to get off. Well, we leave the theater and find that they have closed the outside walkways! WHY???? who knows. So we and all of our carry on luggage, had to go up to Deck 5, cross the Promenade and go down the elevator to Deck 1 to get off. (of course knowing that no deck below 4 goes all the way across the ship.) By the time we left, the line was short. Now for the good part: we got off the ship and got right on a shuttle bus to the terminal. There was another bus waiting behind us, so no waits to get to the terminal. We got to the terminal and went in and found our luggage right away. We got a porter. I STONGLY RECOMMEND THIS. The porter was great at leading us to where we had to go and getting us through quickly. The porter loaded all of our stuff and said: "stay with me." He then took us through customs, extremely quickly and then asked what our transportation was and I told him "RCI" to the airport. He again said: "follow me" and away we went around all kinds of people looking lost in the terminal. We were soon outside of the terminal and talking to the RCI rep who pointed us toward our bus. The porter took the luggage to the bus, helped load it and left, but not before we gave him a LARGE tip. Without that porter, we would have been wandering around that terminal for a long time! The RCI bus took us right to the airport and in fact, dropped us off right in front of our terminal. He had the luggage sorted by airline, so in spite of the fact that there was several airlines being served by that bus, each stop was short because he knew which luggage to pull. RCI's airport to port and port to airport transfers are great! We were checking in for our flight over 2 hours before it was scheduled to leave. Ports & Shore Excursions: Much of our cruise was spent in the fog....again, not the fault of RCI, but it did limit the outside activities. We also were not sure that we were going to get into St. John due to the fog. The Captain made the decision about an hour before docking time to do ahead and go in. New London, Connecticut: The people of New London are really great. Those who went into town on the free shuttle were greeted by the mayor and everyone went out of their way to welcome them. The town, according to the report from our friends, has great little shops. For the rest of us, we went to the Submarine Museum, Aquarium and Mystic Village. The Sub museum was not as exciting as I thought it might be. Climbing through the U.S. Nautilus's tight corridors is interesting however.... I have been to a lot of great Aquariums in my life, but the Mystic one is one of the best. They had a wider variety of sea life than I have seen before AND you can actually get closer to them. Great place. I also liked Olde Mystic Village. There are some great shops there. We had about 90 minutes to look around and I wish we had had more! Halifax, Nova Scotia: My favorite port. We went to Peggy's Cove and the Double Decker Bus Trip. Peggy's Cove is really neat, long drive, but well worth the time. Once back, we could get on the Double Decker Bus. This is another great tour idea. This is more like a tourist bus service. Each bus has a guide that tells you about what you are seeing and the stops. At each of the 14 stops, you have the option to get off the bus and stay there. You then simply hop on the next bus when you are ready to continue. The busses run every 15-20 minutes and it is a great way to create a do it yourself tour. Back at the ship, don't miss Pier 22... which is basically an indoor market with booths selling everything from t-shirts and souvenirs to crystal figurines. There is also the Harbor Walk nearby which is a walkway along the waterfront with shops. My wife, daughter, and mother in law went sea kayaking. My daughter is only 10 and this was the only sea kayak adventure that took kids that young. They all had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. St John, New Brunswick: One of my least favorite ports and the one we almost missed due to fog. Since we were late getting in, getting off the ship was a mess as they tried to sort those on RCI sponsored tours from everyone else... didn't work. We took the Best of St. John's Tour. Another excellent tour with a great guide. There is a great Community Market in the Center of town. Again, we only had 15 minutes there and it wasn't nearly enough time. But the rest of the tour was very nice. (even seeing the ship from the fort tower shrouded in fog...lol) We sailed at 5:00 p.m. (only a 6 hour stay) and by the time we sailed, the fog had rolled back in and the town was obscured! Bar Harbor, Maine: This is the only tender port on this itinerary. RCI does a much better job of the actual tendering procedure than NCL. NCL uses their own lifeboats as tenders while RCI contracts with the local tourism boats to provide larger and faster tenders. Of course getting to the tenders was another screw up by the unorganized RCI Ship and Shore Excursion department. I heard one person in St. John remark that after the messed up way of getting off the ship in St. John, they were worried about how much RCI would screw up the tendering... he was not disappointed. Since Bar Harbor was our first stop back in the US, we had to go through Immigration. Since the US Immigration service organized this part, it went great. We went down about 8:15 and found a long line wrapping through the Columbus dining room and halfway down the Promenade. But this line moved incredibly fast and was very efficient. Quick and easy. BUT, since they won't clear the ship to allow people back on until ALL passengers have reported to immigration, those who were cleared and then went ashore were not allowed back on the ship until after 1:00 p.m. My parents and their friends concluded their tour about 11:30 a.m. and then had to wait in the heat on the dock for the ship to be cleared. This is not the fault of RCI or the US Immigration service, but instead due to a few lazy, inconsiderate slobs who did not get out of bed until noon and then had to be found and brought to immigration so that people could return. As far as the tendering for tours, all tours were to meet in Studio B. Great place to wait, btw. But then when it came time to call for tours, instead of calling one at a time, the crew member called 8 at one time. People jumped up and crammed the hallways and no one could move. She then changed her mind and decided to call less tours. ("oh good", someone next to me said, "one at a time is the smart way to do it.") Nope, this is unorganized chaos on RCI, she called 4 tours and the same melee ensued but people did file out and to the stairwell, where we again had to wait to go down the 2 flights of stairs. (with some more rude people pushing their way through the line to cut ahead of others.....) Once we got off the ship and on the tender, it was a great ride. The guide on the tender boat (a whale watching boat normally) was very informative and gave some great ideas of places to eat and shop in Bar Harbor. Quick trip to pier and up the ramp and on the bus for our "Best of Bar Harbor Tour." This is a great tour because not only do you get to see all of the sites in Arcadia National Park, but also other stops around Bar Harbor and a stop to meet a Lobsterman who gives a great interactive presentation on the lobster industry and how lobsters are caught and tagged. (kids even get to put the bands on Lobsters!) We had some time after our tour to walk around the town. Great town to look around and the prices in the shops were very reasonable. Again a quick tender ride back to the ship. (we were forced to float around near the ship for about 15 minutes because, as the tender Captain said: "the ship's crew can't figure out what to do." (they were waiting for a docked tender to fill up before sending it to shore... while our tender was waiting to dock... helloooo, another tender is here to take people to shore too) Portland, Maine: My second favorite port after Halifax. (a CLOSE second.) There is so much to walk to right from the pier, that you could probably make your own tour. We did the Portland Highlights and Kennebunkport tour. It was a great "quick" introduction to the city and we learned a lot on our way to Kennebunkport. Our guide was great. We saw the Bush estate and then had 2.5 hours in Kennebunkport and that wasn't nearly enough time! I will return to that area again soon. No major problems getting on or off the ship in this port and the tour organization was great. (probably because RCI wasn't running it.) One thing was curious to me, we had to go through metal detectors and have our bags checked TWICE in this port. First by Portland Security Officials in the terminal and then again as we boarded the ship. It didn't slow us down much, but was just interesting that Portland did that but no other port. Boston: As a teacher, I was anxiously looking forward to my first visit to one of the U.S's #1 historical cities. We did the Freedom Trail walk in the morning....that was great, although we didn't have much time to look at the gift shops. We were all over town and the time just flew...the 3 mile walk was easy for us (including by 10 year old daughter). It is a great way to get closer to history. In the afternoon, we did the Trail of Presidents which included visits to the Adams House and President Kennedy Library. We did the Adams house first and it was a great visit. (escorted by a National Parks Service Ranger) Since you are not right at the Adams Visitors Center (which is 3 blocks away from the house), there is not much opportunity for souvenirs or books. Then we went to the Kennedy Museum and Library. I have been to several Presidential Libraries and Museums and I have to rate the Kennedy one near the bottom. It seemed to be the same stuff over and over. It was more about the cultural aspects of "Camelot" and the Kennedy family than it was about President Kennedy's accomplishments as President. (this is not a fault of the tour operator or RCI, although it was still interesting, I was disappointed.) On our return to the ship, we got stuck in a terrible traffic jam going back into the city, but our driver knew a shortcut and very soon, we were back at the dock... 5 minutes before all aboard! I can't say enough about the tour operators in all of the ports. They did a great job at organizing the groups, getting you on the proper busses and the guides were all excellent. Overall, it was the best collection of guides that I have experienced on a cruise. If you eliminated RCI's on board organization, the shore excursions were the best that I have ever taken on a cruise. Conclusion: Although, you can't have a bad cruise, I must say that I was disappointed in Royal Caribbean. Everything that I had heard ahead of time, from my own family, friends and people on Cruise Critic, told me that I would be blown away by RCI and their service and their food. I would be "awed" and the "wow" factor would grab me. While it was a very nice cruise, it is not at the top of my list of completed cruises. I am also not writing RCI off for a future cruise. At some point in the future, I would like to give RCI another chance to "wow" and "awe" me.