This was our 14th cruise overall and 5th cruise with RCI. It was unfortunately the worst cruise we have been on. The ironic part is that one of our best cruises was on the same ship one year ago. We still had an ok time, but we had so many negative experiences that they outweighed the positive ones. It's extremely obvious that RCI is cutting corners in so many places. I have to start looking for cruise lines that consistently keep up the quality.

First I will state the positive experiences. Our room attendant was great, as was a few waiters in the Windjammer and Olive and Twist lounge. Embarkation was quick and easy. Disembarkation was ok, but there were only 2 Customs agents for one heck of a lot of people. The ports were great and we loved the itinerary. I also enjoyed breakfast in the Windjammer. The omelets were great! I also love the Freedom class of ships. It's our favorite.

The most disappointing part of our cruise was in the main dining room. It was nothing like any cruise we had been on before. We arrived every evening at 6:00pm sharp (a table for two), but a couple tables in our area always came late. One was always 30 minutes late. However, even though we were first or close to first to our table, we received our food the same time as the late tables. Most evenings we did not get out of the dining room until close to 8pm. The problem may have been our waiter and his assistant had too many tables. I believe they waited for the last table to show before they submitted the orders. Our area was always the last group of tables to leave the dining room (or close to the last). Having to wait so long for every course of our dinner really took all the pleasure out of the dining room experience. In the past we always had prompt service and they made sure our particular tendencies were taken care of, like having tea or bread waiting for us. This time there was no special attention made to our normal simple requests. The bread was always cold, which wasn't that big a deal, but on other ships it was at least warm. The waiters rarely cleaned crumbs from our table, and quite often it took 15 or more minutes before our dishes were cleared so the next course could be delivered. RCI also removed a common staple from the menu. Shrimp Cocktails are no longer on the menu. I did get a few sporadically throughout the cruise, but sometimes the waiter forgot to bring us one. The steak was absolutely horrible. It was like a brick with no taste, plus is was cold. It was so disappointing. The desserts were still good though. My wife and I did notice that the main course portions were considerably smaller than last year. I finished my salad in 5 -6 bites every night. My wife and I don't need or want large portions, but what we got was really surprising. Lastly, we rarely saw the head waiter, and we never saw a drink waiter. We wanted to order a bottle of wine or some bar drinks but we were too afraid we would get them after our dinner was delivered. I think the assistant waiter had that responsibility too, which was too much for one person. He was good though, and probably better than our waiter, but he just too much work to do. Read more