I will start with the positives, it is an visually incredible ship. Jaw dropping in design and detail! Also we were amazed at the ease in which we boarded the ship and how quickly our room was ready. Very easy to navigate and seemed easy to get to. Plenty of staff around to direct you. With that said my list of dissappointments is much longer. We were suprised at the staff and the lack of friendly and "colorful" characters you usually see on cruises. As a matter of fact, on three or four occasions, they were borderline rude. Carnival has to it all over RC when it comes to that!! Our stateroom stewart most days barely spoke to us, even though we greeted him every time we saw him. Sometimes he would mumble something ending in "ok". It wasn't like he didn't speak english, he was from Jamaica! It became an on going joke actually. The "complimentary" food was sub par at best. The "complimentary" thing was sooooo ridiculous, but I will get to that in a minute. The Windjammer seemed to have a variety of food but it was pretty much all terrible. Even the salad dressing selections were limited(and watery). No Italian dressing? I found that wierd, it is usually a staple on buffets. We ate in the main dining room only 4 times and each time was worse than the last. We had steak on two different occasions and both times it was such a bad cut of meat, we could not eat it. The most suprising to me was the desserts! I never got one good one!! (Ok, I lied, I did get a really good cupcake at the "Cupcake Cupboard", however that was not "complimentary" It was so strange. Cruises are known for there decedant desserts, and great and abundant food!! Even in the Park Cafe, they have Beef on Weck, but there was so little beef on it, I ran out and was left with half a roll!! So the "complimentary" thing was very irritating. Historically cruising is all inclusive, with the exception of alchohol. With that said, I can appreciate the ones that have a restaurant where if you would like a different dining experience, you can pay a NOMINAL fee! Going on a cruise where every other restaurant you come to is no "complimentary" is distateful in my opinion. I kid you not there were no less than 8 or 9 places that you had to pay to eat. Some fees were not so bad, so were ridiculous! What we started to realize is, the "complimentary" food sucked so that you would buy food! It was glaringly obvious when at 930 at night, I was not able to get a "complimentary" beverage such as, lemonade, iced tea, fruit punch, without paying. I could have coffee, or water. Once the free restaurants were closed, your SOL! The pizza place was open till 3, same thing there only water! It wasn't the 2 bucks I had to pay for the soda in my mini fridge, it was the pricipal behind it. On Carnival, even after the restaurant's were closed the juice stations were open 24/7. Also on Carnival, you can bring 12 bottles of water and soda on, as well as one bottle of wine or champagne if you wish. Not on RC! You have to purchase a "water package" which is outragegous, plus gratuity!! Gratuaity on bottled water! WTF?? It just seems that RC is taking huge advantage of their captive audience, and moving away from the customer service!! I left alot of this on a comment card and was never contacted!!