This was my first cruise with RCL.....it was also my last! My wife's suitcase took six hours to be delivered to our stateroom. We were on a 10 night cruise to the Canaries, Madeira and Vigo in Spain. What we did not know was that the vast majority of the 10 days would be spent at sea with nowhere near enough time at each port. The ship was very full with 3000 plus. Thus caused big problems as the restaurants, buffet and bars cannot handle that number esp at key dining times when the ship is sailing. We could not find a seat in any bar for the first three nights as they are mostly small and if you are on the first sitting for meals you will have same problem.

The food is OK but nothing special. You will not get turf and surf unless you pay $40 extra. You will not find smoked salmon apart from tiny fragments in scrambled egg. Portions are not huge in the Sapphire restaurant and meals are made to look good with the presentation but everything is not all it seems. In particular many desserts are misrepresented. Try the tiramisu or key lime pie and you will get a tiny mousse and not the real thing. Baked Alaska? No sponge base and no meringue casing. It's just ice cream covered in a meringue mix which has had a blow torch passed over it! Some of the soups or consommes tasted like an oxo cube to me.

The entertainment was another disappointment with only two good acts in the Palace theatre in 10 nights. Vocalist Jacqui Scott and comedian Jon Evans were well worth watching, the other acts were novelties or fillers. The Ice skating show is good. One of the very worst aspects of this cruise was the ridiculously small amount of time in port. Just 4 hours in Lanzarote and 5 in Vigo. So everyone rushes on and off creating more problems. A relaxing day in a port? Not on this cruise matey! The charges for Internet use are frankly outrageous with the lowest charge being $59 for 24 hours...and don't think you will easily find free wifi in the Canaries as you will not. I drew blanks in Madeira and Tenerife but finally got online outside the Dino hypermarket in the El Muelle shopping centre in Gran Canaria. No time to even try in Lanzarote with a coach trip to Santiago getting back only 20 mins before all aboard time meaning we couldn't visit the shopping centre right next to the ship! The last night was flat with a juggler booked as the main act. Read more