This was our first time cruising with Royal Caribbean, and our fifth cruise, the other four being with Carnival. The ship was very nice, definitely more posh than the Carnival ships we have been on. Our balcony was small and very sheltered with little sun shining on it due to its design, a small opening cut into the steal hull of the ship, nowhere near as nice as the Carnival ship which has a ceiling to floor view.

The one problem we did encounter was that they painted our deck one day while in port. We were given notice that the painting was scheduled. Upon returning to our room after our excursion, they had all the deck furniture in the room, as they were still painting. The smell of marine enamel was over powering and we had to be moved for the evening to the only available suite witch was the cheapest on the boat with no window at all. I do understand that mantiance must be done but it should not be at the expense of the guest that paid extra for an upgraded suite that they were not able to use at all for that day. The guest services manager did a good job at attempting to rectify our concern. We were still disappointed that we encountered this issue.

The staff, food and over all experience was very much on par with Carnival. The stage shows were about the same quality but the music they picked lacked in getting the audience revved up. I'm guessing because very few of the songs were main stream tunes. The Beatles musical was exceptionally good. The only other major difference was the over pricing of the drinks, and the 18% gratuity compared to Carnivals 15%. $48 for two beer ($7