Royal Caribbean has said this was the epitome of the new cruise ships and that they are going further along this vain. In my opinion, the new standard should be called "Minimalist" since that is what the regular passenger gets. One step above nothing. This new ship is purported to be paperless and that would be great if all the computer things worked all the time. All the server people are using them to order meals and 3 out of our 4 meals in the "Free" dining rooms suffered interminable waits and when they finally arrived, the meals were either lukewarm or cold. The server would then offer to heat or reheat it up, however, one would have to wait again or go on to something else. This would great if one had all night but other things have been already scheduled giving one, one of two choices, leave with your meal unfinished or miss the next scheduled event.

This only day 5 out of 11 and the hope for things to brighten dims with each passing day. For the most part, the crew on this ship have a dour demeanor and an exceptional few are up to the previous standard of the line. One is introduced to RF wrist bands that are supposed to work all the computer stuff but they don't and one should know that they should carry their "Sea Pass Card" just in case. They only seems to work consistently with the cabin door and the photographs.

The ship however, does have some good new ideas in entertainments ride type events. The North Star, the Bumper Cars, and the Para-sailing in a cage thing. RCCL has, in my opinion, shot themselves in the foot with this one and I am really sad to hear that they are scheduling more ships with this sort of offering. We have over 100 days with RCCL and this is, by far, the worse cruise that we have had with them. It also seems that no amount of complaining produces results. They all say that they will investigate whatever and get back to you but never will. We will give them one more chance on an "Oasis" class ship and then switch to another another line. I could write pages but what's the use. We will just vote with our pocketbooks. We sure do not want to sail on another "Nightmare of the Seas" with RCCL.