We have sailed on 5 cruise lines and once before on Royal. We chose this cruise specifically for the itinerary.
We flew in the day of the cruise and embarked right on the ship with no wait. It was nice to see Royal hires so many senior citizens to direct you through the terminal but that should have really been my 1st inclination.
We boarded with no issue and were herded to the open dinning for hamburgers and hotdogs. I guess that's ok for some but I usually do that on the weekends, in my bathing suit not on the Bon voyage day of the ship. If they wanted to put out the red carpet it wasn't here. My 1st other inclination after sitting down was that I was probably the youngest person in my area and I'm 53. I was approached by another 50's person and told, Good to see some young people on board.