My review is from perspective an American who has been on several other Royal Caribbean cruises. I was surprised that only about 5% of the passengers were from the US; my experience with the earlier cruises was that the majority of passengers were Americans even for cruises in Europe.

In any case, the time on the cruise ship a lot like being in Britain, which certainly was an interesting change of pace. I especially enjoyed the British tea (not Lipton) and Guinness on tap.

Embarkation: We took a National Express bus from Heathrow to Southampton after an overnight flight from the US and then spent a night at a B&B before the cruise. Boarding was smooth although we were surprised to receive an email with boarding times based on deck level. The lowest decks were not supposed to board until a little over an hour before the scheduled departure. Fortunately we cruised enough times that we were allowed to board earlier. Read more