My other cruises were on a more casual line and only had one port vs. having 4 ports in 7 days, so this was a change for me. I also wasn't sure what to expect as this cruise had formal assigned seating at dinner.... along with formal dress dinners 2 nights. I wasn't sure that I would like having to dress for dinner or like sitting with the same people every night. OMG...what if we didn't like them? Or they us?

Day one..

My cousin and I were at the pier at 12 and on the ship within 5 minutes. The check in was quick and easy. We arrived on board and were told to go to the Windjammer for lunch as our rooms were not ready yet. So off we went with our carry-on luggage. ( our other bags were not expected to be delivered until 8 pm!) We took turns holding our table and watching each other's luggage while the other got food and drinks at the buffet. I was glad not to be a single traveler or this would have been difficult with the luggage. The variety of food as well, the layout of the buffet tables was great. There were no bottlenecks, which was nice given most passengers were all trying to eat at the same time. We ate breakfast in the Windjammer each morning and our lunches there too. One morning we were greeted by a guitar playing singing dining room greeter. It was a very nice touch. There was a point when the buffet got a little tired toward the end of the cruise, and one day one of the heating tables was not working well so the food was a bit cold. However, overall we were not unhappy with the food. Dinner (or "Supper" as we say in N.E.) was wonderful. The menu was great. The food was good, there were many choices to chose from, the portions were good. I was never disappointed. The formal-ness of the dining was not as intimidating as I had expected. I actually enjoyed it. We noticed that RCL didn't enforce the dress code, which surprised me.Our table mates were great, no complaints. We had lobster tails and shrimp one evening,fillet Mignon another... Our waiters Percival and Carlos were wonderful. Read more