I have been on cruises with family in the past however my last cruise was at least 10 years ago on a ship that needed to be put to sleep. My boyfriend (an avid lover of the sea and boating) to my dismay had never been on a cruise; it was the week of his birthday and we needed to get away. I'm 32 and he is 34. I booked through Royal Caribbean directly and they were extremely accomodating, especially when I realized a few days after booked that the rates went down. We were upgraded to the class of ocean view that would put you on any floor at the last minute and even received another $60 credit onboard - this was the amount that was still over what the cost of the room would have been - when we received our final bill. HUGE brownie points for RCI since I was happy with just the upgrade.

The ship itself is well maintained and bigger than any ship I had been on in the past. The staff was always trying to make sure you had what you needed and went above and beyond. Yes, they did come around to see if you needed drinks at all times but it wasn't to the point that it was annoying. Our cabin attendant was Danilo (Danny) and he made the best towel animals and was so friendly and upbeat. Ports of call were to be expected. Key West was still Key West. We were there pretty early in the day so you really don't see the true colors of the people coming out that time of day. It would have been nice to be there a little later in the evening however I have a feeling there would be a lot more than one or two people that wouldn't make it back to the ship in time. We walked the entirety of Duval Street (if you're not from an area that is hot you might want to skip doing that in the summer - even for me living in So Fla it was getting uncomfortably hot) and had a GREAT lunch and cocktails at Louie's Backyard. A little off the beaten path but there is a beautiful deck with a bar on the ocean. I highly recommend it - and the shrimp salad sandwich is the best I have ever had. My boyfriend had never been to Nassau so we did get off the ship and went to Atlantis. He agreed, you go once and no need to get off the ship the next time. Nassau shuts down really early so if you're not going to play at Atlantis there isn't much to do. Cococay was amazing... nothing better than hammocks and swimming. You can literally see the fish swimming around you just standing in certain areas of the water. I rested while he did his own snorkeling - he said he saw some fish he has never seen in the ocean before and remember, he is like a fish himself so that was impressive.

Everyone wants to know about the food... I am not overly picky BUT my boyfriend was a chef and is still in the restaurant business and we both agreed there were hits and misses however never did we say that anything was terrible. The desserts could have been improved upon but there were always options and there were always a few items that stood out as being a lot better than I would have expected them to be. We didn't go to Johnny Rockets because they are all over the place. The sandwich cafe was great; they will make fresh crepes and the wraps, sandwiches and asparagus soup were all fantastic. Skip the pizza... you can find something better. At dinner you can order as much as you want and we would sometimes order two appetizers and two entrees each just to try a little bit of everything. The portions aren't huge (neither of us are big people) but there was always enough food, for sure. My recommendation is to go outside your comfort zone with the food. People went for the "safe" foods and wouldn't try the things like escargot or strawberry soup which always ended up being the best items on the menu. Read more