It was our 5th cruise with Royal and I was prepared to be WOWed .. Unfortunately the wow factor wasn’t there. Before sailing I got an email from RCCL stating that the gratuities will go up. But I never got an email about prices of drinks going up significantly, the food choices getting much more limited (good example - Park Café – very poor). No, we didn’t go hungry, but it was painful to watch how things changed for worse… Even during return guest’s party, canapés were not served. Lobsters and steaks at additional charges, no lobster for the last formal night. No smoke salmon for breakfast, only in MDR they served Eggs Benedict with salmon that was turning bad, sent it back , was afraid of food poisoning Purchasing department should be paying more attention to the quality of food they purchase. I could list some more believe me.
Drinks although extremely expensive, were not up to par. Bartenders on the ship have to be calibrated as taste and quality of drinks vary from bar to bar. It was impossible to get cappuccino at 11:05 pm on the ship. Latitudes bartender was closing up and sent us upstairs to Park café for reg coffee.
Entertainment – average to say the least. Royal Caribbean dancers didn’t impress (except Argentinian couple), singers were good though. ABBA MAX – this was not a tribute, but disgrace to ABBA, we had to leave the show, very disappointing. The rest of the performers also don’t cut it, they behaved and performed like they didn’t care much.