I've cruised on Carnival and Celebrity in the past and thought RC's Serenade of the Seas was a couple of steps down from my other cruise experiences. The food was bland and usually overcooked, the port stops were way too short and we missed our private island stop entirely. According to the staff, they had been missing the stop for weeks on end. I wish I had done better research because I would have chosen another destination had I known that CocoKay had about a 50% track record.

We had a ninth deck stateroom with a balcony, which was lovely. Our steward was great, the staff was very accommodating and the dining service was excellent -- far better than the food. In the dining room you could order a dried out, overcooked, thin strip steak (I ordered rare and got well done) or you could pay an extra $13 for a "good" steak. The add-on sales tactics were insulting.

Because we missed our private island stop, we were at sea (a very rough sea) for more than 72 hours. The first at sea day was freezing, and despite the policy written on Royal Caribbean's website stating that they would let the kids use the solarium pool in inclement weather, the staff refused to let the kids in. We had to shiver on deck while droves of kids crowded into the two hot tubs. Meanwhile, the solarium pool was warm and completely empty. Apparently high winds, rain and cold temps aren't inclement enough to execute a written policy. Read more