Here's our cruise bio.  We are dinks, working professionals with high stress jobs.  We took our first cruise for our honeymoon and haven't stopped.  This was our 14th cruise.  We cruise Celebrity and Royal Caribbean exclusively and are Elite and Diamond level on them. We have certain expectations of service and amenities based on past experience but are not going to whine or complain on disappointments.  We either go with the flow, find alternate solutions or work for a positive resolution. (Can you tell I negotiate for a living? ) We stayed in a Junior Suite on Voyager.Embarkation: Question: How long does it take to get over 1200 non US citizens off a cruise ship? Answer: About 4 extra hours. A friend onboard the previous sailing (4/5/09) kindly called me about 11 am to tell me not to rush - they and most other passengers were still onboard. Customs and immigration was taking extra long due to over 1200 Mexican citizens onboard. We were staying at the Galvez and the shuttle was leaving at 11 am. If we opted to stay and miss the shuttle, there were no guarantees when we would be "shuttled." Sitting at the Galvez, sitting at the terminal. Other than comfort and a potty, not much difference. Off we went. The lines were still relatively short but looks can be deceiving. We are Diamond and opted for that Priority Line. Joke's on us - our line was moving at the rate of 40 "regular" passengers to 1 "priority" passenger. Took the specialness right out of that moment. It didn't help that the pier person running the priority line kept looking around, anywhere but the line to tell us to go so the "regular" line took advantage. Can't fault them! But we got back at them - once we were finally through the line after about 45 minutes - we got to drink free champagne for 2 hours. OK, so it was pig swill. It was free and it was alcohol. Since we got onboard shortly after 1 pm, the bright side is that we could go immediately to our cabin and drop our carryons. We (read that I) then did the usual boarding ritual. Rush to the spa to make an appt then check the table in the dining room. We had hooked up with our cruise buddies in the terminal so already knew that RCCL had fouled up our dinner request by not seating us together even though we had provided all the information to be linked together. Because of their mistake, we lost a prime location in the dining room in order to sit together. I went to the Spa where I was ignored by the girls in the salon styling each other's hair. When I finally asked them if they were taking reservations they glared at me and said "2 o'clock." I can't tell you how much their gracious and welcoming attitude made me eager to come back and tip them generously. Off to the dining room where we harassed the maitre'd to fix our table. We were seated together - moved from prime real estate on Deck 3 to subpar real estate on Deck 5. Fine, we're on a cruise. We're happy (play ominous music now)

SAILAWAY ETC: Usually the band and cruise staff are at the pool to get everyone in the party mood. The band made a brief appearance - if you think playing for 20 minutes and leaving before the ship leaves port counts. Yes, we left late due to late embarkation. No cruise staff appeared to frolic and welcome passengers. We created our own dance group. We had great weather and foo foo drinks.

DINNER: Ok, so we go to dinner, meet our tablemates. They are older, very quiet but rapidly loosen up once our wild friends arrive. They are all Italian/American so they know how to keep him in line. Or as close to inline as can be. Our waitress appears, orders are taken. And we wait. And we wait. And we wait. To call the entree pork medallions is an insult to pigs everywhere. I'm not a big portion eater so I was able to pretty much deal with it since I had eaten heartily at Windjammer earlier. After 14 cruises, I am however concerned about the delay in getting our meal. No biggie - we have an evening of frivolity and laughter. Read more