Booked this cruise as the wife and I took our son, his wife and 3 grandchildren to Disney for the week of Thanksgiving and then drove down to Ft. Lauderdale to embark on our 8 night cruise. We have cruised exclusively with Royal Caribbean (this was our 21st cruise). We have been very fortunate with our previous cruises, both in enjoyment and beautiful weather. However, this cruise just really felt different. Embarkation was great, smooth and quick. Room was a 7th deck balcony room. Only issue with the room was on night 3, our entire section of the ship was hit by some type of plumbing issue where the toilets lost pressure and wouldn't flush. They repaired the fault and the outage only lasted about 4-6 hours. The food was not as good as previous cruises. Had My Time Dining - the meal was equivalent to going to Chilis, Applebees, etc. Not great by eatable. Ship seemed clean and in good repair. No problems getting chairs around the pool at any time.
Being a Diamond Plus Crown and Anchor Member as well as a Casino Royale Club Member, we feel that this ship showed more preference for its Suite guests than loyal C&A members. Labadee has a beach reserved for Suite guests but nothing reserved for loyal Diamond/Diamond Plus/Pinnacle members. Just doesn't seem right.
The shows were normal RCCL shows. Some good, some ok, some we left early from. One complaint was that we booked the excursion for the Airport boat ride at St Marteen but it was cancelled the night before due to what was explained as a tour company cancellation? However as we waited in line for the ferry boat to the beaches, we were passed by an tour lead holding a sign for RCCL passengers for the Airport boat ride. Never got an explanation from RCCL.
Standard balcony room. Room attendant Heri very efficient and polite.