We selected this cruise primarily for its Western Caribbean itinerary. We had sailed on Royal Caribbean once before, but it had been a few years. Our most recent cruise prior to this one was on Norwegian.
Let me start with the good. The staff on this ship, for the most part, were outstanding. From servers to cabin stewards to officers, our experiences were that they went out of their way to provide the best possible service. The only exception to this was the spa, but more on that in a moment.
The deficits in this ship, in my opinion, far outweighed the advantages. We had signed up for flexible dining, but learned once onboard that since we didn't reserve dinner times prior to boarding, we really could not get reservations once on board. (Where is the "flexibility" in that?) We tried several times to make reservations while on board. We only managed to eat dinner in the main dining room once during the week, and that was because we showed up at 5:30 p.m. All of our efforts to make reservations for other nights failed, (unless we wanted to eat right at closing time) and we ended up eating in the Windjammer by default. The Windjammer was acceptable, but it was like being stuck permanantly in a cafeteria with food being ocassionally good but often boring.