Overall, our vacation was fun because we were together as a family, but there is definitely room for improvement on this ship (we sailed on the Navigator of the Seas out of Galveston). I want to be objective and not only focus on the negative so here are some positives to start with:

Pros - our room steward was exceptional. Erick took very good care of us, was very willing to help, and always took time to talk/joke with us when we met up with him. The kids enjoyed the "towel art" that he left each evening when we got back from dinner. Speaking of dinner, they did a pretty nice job given that they had to feed over 3000 people each night. Anything that we asked for on the menu was delivered with a smile and we immensely enjoyed our evening family dinners. We also had a lot of fun on our shore excursions and looked forward to the evening shows which were very entertaining.

Cons - As I write this our cruise has been over for nearly a week. We bought some pictures and we were promised a link would be waiting for us via email when we got home so we could immediately download all of our pictures. No link was waiting for us and when we contacted the company contracted by RC to take care of pictures we were told there was no record of our order. The company is telling us they "need more time to contact the ship". The frustrating part is RC certainly didn't waste any time charging our credit card for the pictures and I now have the added "pleasure" of trying to fix this. Our next con was somewhat of a bait and switch by RC (in my opinion). When we booked our cruise (we booked directly with RC), the sales person promised us adjoining rooms and stated they both would have virtual balconies. Fortunately, we did get the adjoining rooms (since we were traveling with our kids), but they did not have the virtual balconies we were promised. I contacted the ship's guest services desk and did not receive any help at all. In fact, they were fairly dismissive and made us feel like we were bothering them with a petty request (this was a feature we were really looking forward to based on our conversation with the sales rep). Guest services continued to disappoint as we asked for assistance with our stateroom (it was incredibly warm the entire cruise and we asked for help). We were told twice they would have maintenance take care of it, but nothing was ever done. Not much fun waking up uncovered at 4am in a sweat because you can't get comfortable. We received no feedback at all on these requests and I have to wonder if they ever actually contacted maintenance. Finally, I totally understand cruise companies are in the business to make money. I get that. However, please don't try to nickel and dime me every time I walk through the ship with sales pitches for specialty restaurants, shops, and extras. It was like an army of telemarketers were let loose on the ship (I'm only half-joking here). Read more