We took a Christmas cruise from Christmas Eve to New Years Eve. This is an older ship in the RC fleet but it was clean and the decor was nice. There are signs of rust on the port hole windows and other signs of age. The entertainment was very good as was our cabin stuart. A very friendly and attentive Brazilian young man. Our ports of call were Roatan Honduras, Cozumel, Costa Maya and Belize. Not much to do in Roatan unless you take a tour. Cozumel was a pleasant surprise for how modern. We went to Chankanaabe Park for the day. Highly recommended. On Belize there are tour groups waiting when you get off the tenders. We did a day on a private island, very nice for snorkeling and relaxing. In Costa Maya we rented a golf cart and drove into town and spent the day on the beach. The golf car rental people will hook you up with a restaurant in town to park the cart and use their section of the beach.

The ship itself was not decorated as much as we thought it would be for Xmas. However, this is one of the liveliest and fun crowds we have seen on a ship. The atrium has something going on every night. Very similar to Carnival and certainly more lively than the older Princess crowd.

The downside of the cruise was the cuisine. We have sailed on Disney, Princess, Carnival and Royal, and this was by far the worst dining of them all. The buffet food was very bland and not at all appetizing. The pastries were like out of vending machines. We had anytime dining and the waits to be seated were excruciating. Our first night it took 2 1/2 hours once seated to finally escape. The food in the dining rooms was just as bad if not worse. I had chicken cordon blue one night and it was so dry and tasteless I couldn't eat it. Read more