This is my wife's 13th cruise on Royal Caribbean (my 12th). We are obviously diamond members and considering these were all taken since 2001 we are very loyal. We booked this cruise earlier in the year, but after my father was widowed over the summer we re-arranged our accommodations and invited him to come along. It was him who instilled my love of traveling.
We arrived at the port at around 12:15 to find a very long line checking in. Since the ship had just returned from a transatlantic crossing I guess they needed extra time to ready the ship. We dropped my dad and son off with the bags and told them to get in line. The first ominous sign was that the garage across from the Navigator's bay was full and we were directed to part about 1 mile away, where we were to take a shuttle back to the ship. After that debacle, we got in the security line. I have never seen the security line so bad, but we waited about 20 minutes in that line.
Because we are diamond, checking in was pretty easy. We went to the Windjammer to eat what was a late lunch. Of course, the place was absolutely packed with people. We purchased our soda cards on the way in, but the second ominous sign was when we tried to get a soda at the bar in front of the Windjammer. We waited, and waited and waited some more. Finally we walked away in disgust. Filling up at the Cafe Promenade was about the same - waiting while everyone else was getting waited on. We went to our staterooms which were next door but not adjoining. The staterooms were nice and clean and the mattresses and linens were in good shape. We met our stateroom attendant who was very nice and did a great job. After the exciting muster drill we were off to the Concierge Club before heading to early dinner. We got there about 5:35 (it opens at 5:30) and there were no seats. So we grabbed a drink and stood. Fortunately we were able to find seats the rest of the week.