It is 9 years since we were last on a RC cruise and fair to say there was a very noticeable difference in the overall quality of the offering - and unfortunately not all was for the better.

The ship itself is very impressive but a number of areas were simply too small to cope with the demands of the 3,700 passengers - most notably the Schooner bar and the coffee shop on the Royal Promenade where waiting times were unacceptable. My other main complaint is the smoking policy adopted by RCI. They allow smoking inside the casino. Whilst in theory this is supposed to be limited to a specific section of the casino there was no evidence of this being policed and, in any event, the smoke drifts - not only to all parts of the casino but to the adjoining areas of the deck and, due to the layout of this ship, to the deck above via the stairs that link the casino to the Royal Promenade.

Our cabin was very good - just a standard balcony grade but well laid out and plenty of room for clothes. The staff were very hardworking and obsessive about the cleanliness no doubt in part due to the fact that the cruise prior to ours, and according to the internet, the previous one, had seen some issues with Norovirus. We experienced no such problems and from reports we heard the problem has now been contained. Read more