My husband and I chose this cruise because we wanted to go up north and see the fall foliage (too early this year) and we wanted to leave from NY, NJ area (short driving distance). We have never cruised on Royal Caribbean before and had read a lot of good reviews about RCI and Anthem of the Seas so we were excited to get on board.

Embarkation and disembarkation in Bayonne was fast and easy. Disembarking and embarking in ports of call was easy unless you had an excursion. There was no organization (we only did one through RCi but I heard the same thing from others on board that had several excursions). They herd you into an area depending on your excursion and that was where the organization ends. No information is given as to when or how to get to your destination (if it wasn't for frequent RCi travelers giving us info we would still be sitting in the Royal Theater). Also, every port had a different deck level for disembarking...if you missed the Captain or Cruise Director's message over the loud speaker (which cannot be heard in your stateroom) then you have to ask because there are no signs on the stairs or elevators.

The ship itself was very nice and quite clean. On any given day there were at least 3 elevators not in service (and that is just the set on our side of the ship) When you did get an elevator it was very slow and very crowded (we were standing between the sets of elevators and you can see the caked up dust on the mechanisms and we were wondering if that is why so many elevators were not working everyday). As much as possible we chose the stairs but we were on deck 11 so if we were going to the dining room on deck 3 (me with heals on) we waited for the elevator. A good tip is...if you are waiting for the down elevator (or vice versa) and the elevator is going up (or vice versa)...get on it. Chances are if you don't it will be too crowded when it does open in the direction you want to go. Read more