OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

4 adults + 4 teenagers cruising during the UK school holiday peak. I am not a natural cruiser and I had a year of Cruise-Critic to get really anxious about what lay in store. Only cruised once before - 14 years ago on P&O and our friends had cruised more recently on Cunard. RCCL is a very different product.

Despite all that, I had a good holiday (great in parts). The few negatives that follow are not really a criticism of RCCL. It is really aimed at first-time cruisers, or people who have enjoyed more traditional cruises. Read the brochure carefully and use your imagination. And then add crowds to the picture. Also, the cruise was 90% Brits. So it lacked the "abroad" factor. Travel off-peak if you can to avoid this. Read more