We booked this trip because the price was right and it was my son's 8th birthday. It also fell during a holiday week so I didn't feel too guilty for taking my son out of school as he only missed three days. We used the check in process online and it was hassle free. We were on the ship very quickly with very little wait. Things went downhill from there though. The lunch in the buffet was subpar. We live in New York and are accustomed to good food. I have sailed with RCI in the past and have always said how superior their food was to other cruise lines, that was not the case this time however. The windjammer was gross food wise and confusing to navigate. A lot of the serving staff was standing around and was not helpful in helping us out. They have those new coke machines but you are only able to use them if you have your special cup. Who the heck wants to carry around a cup everywhere??? The other issue is the seabands that are supposed to help replace the seapass card. Great in theory but you still need the seapass card to leave the ship. Not every area is equipped to handle the seaband (casino, etc.). It was a waste of money. Next issue was that I prepaid for a $50 arcade card for my son as a birthday present. However, what they do not say is that it is not an actual card and once the $50 is used it does not deactivate. So left unchecked my son could have spent an additional $50 each day of the cruise (there is a $50 limit per day). There is also no way to track how much is left of the credit (other than going 10 floors to guest services) so I had to do math and count every time the card was used. Also the arcade only has a handful of games several of which didn't work. We were disappointed with the pool deck. There is a main pool, an in door pool and the solarium which is adult only. Only the indoor pool is open after 7pm (until 11) but the hot tubs are closed. There are no slides. We barely used the pool. So, back to the food. The food in the dining room was not good. I ordered a NY Strip med rare. I specifically told them that I did not want it if it wasn't med rare. It came out medium well. My waiter insisted on trying to make it right and getting me a new steak. He brought it to me and it was raw. The garnishes were so salty that they were inedible. We were talked into purchasing a dining package (3 night) however with the exception of the Japanese restaurant, the other specialty restaurants were already booked (must have been booked online before the cruise left). So technically they were selling packages under false pretenses. We saw three shows (The Gift, Spectra's Cabaret, and We Will Rock You). While the story line was bizarre and vague, the performances in The Gift were outstanding. I could have done without seeing Spectra (other than the visual effects which were amazing). We Will Rock You was excellent (not exactly child friendly though)! We prepaid our gratuities and I cannot help but wonder if that is why we didn't get the over the top attention of our cabin attendant. Guess they feel if they got their tip already they do not need to work any harder. My son was disappointed that he only got a towel animal on the second night. His bed wasn't even made up for him on our last night. He did the bare minimum of what was required. Also, our bathroom always had the faint but distinct smell of urine. There were moments of greatness though. Our son has ADHD and we were concerned how he would do on a cruise. On the second day I brought him to Adventure Ocean (the kids program) and I'm only half kidding when I say we barely saw him the rest of the cruise. You are able to drop them off at 9am with pick up at noon and then drop off again at 2pm and then they can stay until 10pm without an additional charge. They even take them to dinner. Our son BEGGED to go there everyday. One night we decided to do a late show and left him from 2pm to midnight for $14 ($7/hr after 10pm). He didn't even want to leave. This was a great win for us. We got to enjoy our vacation and he enjoyed his. I spent a lot of time in the casino and had enough tables (I play blackjack) that I never had to wait for a seat. I played bingo and thought it was absurdly expensive...$40 for a six face and only 3 games are played. Our three outstanding meals were at the Japanese restaurant. We both had the Poke Bowl all three times, with different rolls each night (less memorable). But the Poke Bowls...they were AMAZING!!!! Other areas that fell short was the air-conditioning of the ship (it always seemed a little too warm), the wait at the bars and dedicating a lot of resources to the selling of watches. Another issue we had with the food was the lack of places to eat at certain times (after dinner hours and the time between 3 and 5ish). Overall we had a good time...none of the above taken singularly ruined our trip and while I am over critical in hindsight we certainly enjoyed our vacation, however, in the future we might explore another cruise line or ship