Departure: Quick and easy. The cabin (9542 balcony) was not ready yet, but no big problem. Went to the food place on deck 11. Everyone was friendly and your drinks were served at the table rather than self service, during the week at meal times this sometimes required a wait. Room: Deck 9 forward 9542. Standard balcony room with bed made into queen size. Seemed the balcony was smaller than Carnival, two regular chairs and a small round table. Bathroom seemed smaller but did have sliding doors rather than a curtain, liked that. According to internet they provide soap and shampoo. Unless the container marked Shampoo was a mixture of soap and shampoo then there was only one. No welcome basket with razor, etc. as on Carnival. Storage was adequate, tho I do like the Carnival arrangement better. Drill: went off as usual. Ship was huge and very well arranged. As one could expect on a ship this size you could not always get from point A to B in a straight line but minor problem. We had late dining (8:30): Over all this was a disaster. In my ten years of sailing this is the worst I have encountered. On the first two nights we had to ask several times to get tea served. The meals was the main topic tho. Just poor, poor and poor. The Lobster when we finally got it (next to last night) was two very small what I call "rock" lobsters or prime rib. I ended up getting both. We finally on the fifth night decided to do one of the pay for places "Chops". Excellent food and service, at a cost of $50.00. The food for breakfast and lunch were the same everyday with limited variety (compared to what we got on Carnival). Casino: Very tight in a word. You definitely know there is no competition around :) Cash back is very poor ($20 for 1,000 points) the points could only be earned on machines. Nothing for table play. Carnival much better. Our group was from Las Vegas (all gamblers) and everyone I talked to preferred the Carnival casinos. I did not need "T" shirts and hats. On Carnival I usually the get the max of $500 back. On the RCI I got "T" shirts and used 2,500 for the Chops rest. They had a great ice show one night and really enjoyed that. Shows and entertainment were good. Wine policy: Very sore point for me. One of our bags was not delivered because my wife had packed one bottle of wine for me in one of our bags. I had read they did not allow alcohol to be brought on board but I did not tell my wife. On Carnival I have always brought a bottle or two of wine on board and drank them in our cabin. Anyhow, there was not note or anything telling us our missing bag was in security because of the bottle. I had to go to the pursers desk to finally find it, then I had to go to deck one take it out of the bag, etc. Anyhow they said they would give it back to us on Saturday. We tried to get it early enough to have all our bags packed before we went to diner that night. This was to no avail - "we will deliver it between 7PM and 9PM and we do not make exceptions". We were not the only ones in shape and the person who schedules our trips and pays for them also had hers confiscated. So I am sure RCI did not make an impression on her - Hope we go back to Carnival next year. Disembarkment was very smooth and the baggage was the easiest ever to find. I was completely dumfounded at the lack of security at the port. I did not see one person be asked for their passport and for the first time ours were not scanned, they just collected the custom slips (did not look at them)and away you went. Ports: Cabo - Stayed on board. Watched the tender boats coming back and there was a long line for some reason and a lot of yelling and hollering going on. Mazatlan: Went on shore but stayed in the port area and used the internet $3.00 for 30 min. Puerto Vallarta: Went to the Wal-Mart and bought a new suitcase (one of ours got messed up-not by RCI) walked around a bit etc. Granted this was the first on RCI but I have been on Princess also (Yes, it is owned by Carnival) The people were friendly etc. but in the end I think I enjoyed Carnival more and will probably return to them. Given the change to cruise RCI, it would depend on the circumstances. One other big complaint - NO LAUNDRY FACILITIES NOR A PLACE TO TOUCH UP PRESSING OF CLOTHES. They will give you half off from their laundry.