I want to start off by saying that we were avid RCCL cruisers. We went on the Mariner of the Seas in 2008 and had the time of our lives. Last year we went on the Explorer of the Seas, and even though there were some issues, we still walked off the ship saying what a great time we had. This time however finished us off RCCL. We believed RCCL was the "Cadillac" of cruise lines- well now they are the clown car at the circus without the "fun".

The boarding was abysmal. Our day started at 7am with Yankee Trails Bus tours. With the boat delay, (which we never received a call about) the bus company was nice enough to drop us at a mall to kill time. We arrived at the pier at about 1:30pm, checked in and there we waited, and waited and waited (they didn't have the sea passes printed so you had to wait to check in a second time). When another part of our group who traveled separate from us walked through the herding area at about 6pm saying they had to wait an hour in line and were now boarding the ship, well you can imagine our surprise. At 8:30 pm we were finally on the ship.

We walked in to an absolutely filthy room, fingerprints over all the mirrors, dirt on the bed, the safe was locked (which took 3 hours to unlock a couple of days later when they had the time to fix it). The refrigerator is actually a "chiller", well it was room temperature at best. The balcony was covered in brown muck, the paint was peeling and the railing desperately needed varnish. So those of you who thought that these things were fixed in dry dock- no such luck. Read more