Unfortunately, we had sailed with Oceania a year ago, and couldn't help but compare our experiences - and there is no comparison! Our 'large' oceanview cabin on the Legend was small, with outdated decor, stained and generally badly maintained furnishings, and an exceptionally hard bed. The mentality of the organizing staff on board was akin to cowboys herding cattle, and occasionally very rude - at one point, when my husband neglected to smile and say good morning in response to an activities director at the gangway, the young man loudly announced to the next guest who did respond, "Well, thank you! I thought I might be invisible." There was NO printed information offered about the ports we were visiting - I was so glad I had downloaded port information from this Cruise Critic site. The 'complimentary' food offerings were very often not good quality or well prepared (steaks were tough and stringy, even when rare; fish was overcooked; sauces were bland or tasteless; scrambled eggs were so dry and grainy they were inedible; some foods were past their prime (i.e. 'gamey' tasting sausages); desserts were often overly sweet and not as described; there was no cream for coffee!!!, etc.) Both the movie screens were malfunctioning the entire cruise - the one in the That's Entertainment theater was blurred, with extremely poor viewing quality, and the one on the pool deck had squares blacked out and large spots of bright color. When we asked the IT officer about the problems, he advised he had tried multiple times to get Miami (Head Office) to give the go-ahead for repairs, but they had so far refused. We encountered long line-ups and wait times to re-board the ship in ports - we were told it was because they only had access to one scanning machine (our dining room server warned us before we arrived at our first port and made jokes about it, so it's evidently a constant problem. But really, the most annoying aspect to this cruise was the constant nickle-and-diming that went on! If you wanted a cup of cappuccino at breakfast you faced a $4.50 charge; there were several 'premium' dinner items listed on the main dining room menu that were for charge: i.e. $29.95 for a (frozen) lobster dinner (remember, we were cruising in the Maritimes, where fresh lobster is readily available and surely less costly than this); they charged $30 for a bag of laundry; the least expensive wines by the glass were offered at $9 in the lounges; etc. Frankly, we were appalled.

On the plus side, the entertainment offered, both by the on-board staff and the guest entertainers, was exceptional - the best we've seen cruising. Our room steward was exceptionally discreet, was always helpful and he kept our cabin spotlessly clean. All the Romeo and Juliet dining staff were also very accommodating, but not as discreet - by the end of the cruise I knew more about our head waiter's personal life, opinions, duties on board, and how overworked he was, than I cared to. When the husband of the couple we were traveling with had a minor accident, he was very well cared for, both by the guest services and the medical staff on board. A huge plus were the number of very friendly people we encountered during the cruise - our four dining table-mates were so nice, and the large number of people we sat with at breakfasts and lunches in the main dining room were always a delight (we ate there whenever we could as it was almost impossible to find a table in the buffet-style Windjammer cafe - another thing that appeared to be a common joke amongst the staff). All in all, I really love to cruise - the ports are often so interesting and varied, and encountering like-minded travelers is so much fun, but I will never choose Royal Caribbean again - and will actively discourage friends and family from doing so. One thing to note, with only one exception - a couple who had cruised with Royal Caribbean 9 times and described themselves as loyal to the cruise line - every person we talked to was disappointed with many or all of the complaints mentioned above. We assured them that there was still wonderful cruising available, just not with Royal Caribbean.