Our family chose a cruise for a reunion based on the ease of gathering, dining together and the ability to have time together as well as time spent alone or with smaller groups. The duration of the cruise was chosen due to the affordability/time available for everyone.

The Royal Caribbean has the embarkation and disembarkation process down to a science. No complaints there. The older ships are used for shorter cruises. We understood that. While the ship is dated, especially the staterooms, ours was very clean. We had a corner balcony room on Deck 7, so I cannot speak of the other rooms. I am confident, that as in most things, you get what you pay for. Some family members had smaller rooms, but all stated they were clean. Our cabin attendant was outstanding!!

We did not go to the buffet for any meal, except one morning for breakfast (made to order omelets only). Buffets are not how we like to dine for many reasons. The amount of people milling around was extremely unappetizing. People were piling on the food like it was going to be their last meal. The staff did a great job trying to keep things clean and replenishing the food. It's a buffet: expect a buffet environment. We chose to use the dining room for all meals, and used room service for breakfast one morning. We did My Time Dining and it worked well. Our party of 23 dined together each night and our server was excellent. She handled us like a pro, though I think she deserved another server to help. The main dining room food was very average. We have cruised before (10 years ago) and found the quality has gone down quite a bit. We did have some great meals, though the best were those with an upcharge. Read more