So, let me start by saying that all was not bad, it was an OK cruise but this cruise costing upwards of $1300 more than my last cruise on Carnival, I was expecting more. Embarkation was OK, a little bit of a wait, a bit chaotic, but wasn't too bad. Now, starting with walking onto the ship, on Carnival we were welcomed with music, welcomes, etc, on Royal..nothing...ok no biggie, made our way to find our room, room was nice, nice size, couch was really big and the pull out bed was huge which was great for my son who is 6'2". Balcony bigger than carnival, so that I was pleased with. Moving on to my steward, he was much nicer than the experience I had on Carnival, yet wasn't extremely attentive. He didn't introduce himself to us, we happened to run into him and started talking and that's how we found out he was our steward.

This ships décor is fine, the promenade is pretty at night, the keep ship super clean, and it was nice to see multiple decent size pools, however entertainment was a big disappointment. Our kids, ranging from 13-19 were bored to death. Not because there wasn't kids on ship, there were but the teen activities only ran maybe 4 hours a day, on Carnival the teen "club" as open pretty much round the clock. Wasn't too keen on the curfew either, let the kids enjoy the cruise (although I do understand concern for safety). The general entertainment was a bit lack luster also. The cruise director Lee, I believe his name was, he was funny and entertaining but only when you saw him which was typically at a show, otherwise I don't recall seeing him on the deck etc. Now on Carnival, I saw and interacted with the cruise director the entire cruise.

Food- Windjammer food was really good to me, great variety daily, it was better than the dining room in my opinion. Dining room service was pretty good but one thing I can never understand is why they tend to get upset if you ask for another dish? Read more