My husband and I have been on many many cruises with most cruise lines. We had sailed with Royal Carribean at least twice before. Our adult children and grand children had never cruised and we wanted to take them to celebrate two daughters and my birthdays (milestones). I picked RC because it should have been an upgrade over Carnival and those were the only two out of Galveston in June. We chose to go out of this port as we all live in Texas and it was the most economical for our daughters and their families. There were a total of 11 of us in three cabins. Ages ranged from 63 down to 3 years.
Checking in was a disaster. I don't know why this port is so hard to get in and out. The port authorities would not let us wait inside until our entire party was present. My two son-in-laws were parking the cars and it was 100 degrees waiting outside. Very miserable. Once inside, we did not get to stay together after all the waiting outside. My husband and I were taken to the shorter line due to our RC status and our family was in the loooong line. We finally met up on the ship hours later.
Ship: The ship was beautiful. I have nothing negative to say about its appearance or cleanliness.
We drove in
We took a taxi to the restaurants and shops. WE went to Senor Frogs to eat and everyone there wanted a tip. Everyone!
I was pleasantly surprised to see the new port and all the shops and restaurants. We went to Margaritaville and had a great time. Two of the girls in our group had their hair braided at one of the shops.