This was our first time sailing on Royal Caribbean and certainly our first time on a ship this big! First of all - there were over 6,000 passengers plus crew on this ship, and the only time we stood in line for anything was at guest services! The way the ship is designed is simply masterful for handling the large number of passengers.

My favorite aspect of our trip was our room and view - we had a Central Park balcony stateroom and it was amazing! I loved being able to stand on the balcony and just enjoy the sights and sounds. It was my favorite pre-dinner activity. A plus was that we had rooms next to family and we were able to make the balconies adjoining. That just made things SO easy!

My favorite restaurant was Chops Grille. I'm not sure whether it is standard procedure but waiters came around on our first day offering a 40% discount for that evening. While I had originally thought I would not be interested in paying for the specialty restaurants, this was too good to pass up. So glad we didn't!! The steaks were amazing and it was well worth the money we paid. Later in the cruise, I saw an advertisement offering 50% off in any of the specialty restaurants so we went back a second time. This was the only specialty restaurant that really interested all in my party. Again, well worth it! For the rest of the evenings, we ended up making reservations in the American Icon even though we were on the My Time Dining plan. We tried the buffet one night and it just didn't feel like the cruise experience we were used to. We very much enjoyed the dinner and service in the American Icon restaurant! A great option for breakfast and lunch was the Wipeout Cafe (although not open sometimes when we thought it should be). There was never a crowd there - awesome when people were lined up outside the Windjammer! Read more