We chose this ship because were traveling with family and thought the Christmas cruise would suit all of us. We were willing to pay the extra for what we thought was a special holiday cruise. It did not feel that special.

Let me say to begin with that we have been on many cruises with many lines of all classes and 5 on RC. This was the worst. The staff were very good although pressed because of reduced numbers which was so noticeable that my husband checked the statistics comparing them with some old ones. That clearly told the story of that cut back. The food was very good other than a couple of meals which were indelible. We only ate breakfast in the dining room once and that was Christmas morning. They shuffled us to the far back where it was empty. I don't think our waiter had ever waited on before. I didn't care for the ambience in that room. One day we had lunch in there but did not find the experience worth going back for. We ate all our dinners in the main dining room in Anytime dining.I rarely send back but do not get the crepes in cheese sauce. They were in a ramekin and the crepes had absorbed all the sauce so were just a glutinous, dry mass. Similarly the scallops au gratin which were two of the tiniest bay scallops in what I decided was left over garlic liquid from the escargots in the escargot dish. No sign of cheeses sauce which would be the way to serve. New Year's Eve in the dining room was a disaster-short staffed. Maybe I can't blame them on that as people who had signed up for My Time dining and never been before decided to come that night. They handed out hats and streamers but there were none left for us at 7:30pm and two hours into a cold meal where we had to ask for bread/butter and water they told us there were no more soufflé which we ordered with our main course.. We walked out without dessert-but--the next night, New Year's Day, which was my birthday, they brought me a cake and souffles for the table. By the time they came we had already ordered and eaten a dessert. Severely understaffed. Anytime dining is a joke because they want you on the same table every night at the same time which we did and had wonderful service from Antonio and Fang. Unfortunately the MD gave away our table NY's Eve.

We ate breakfasts and lunches in the Windjammer. They were generally good but the same every day. Disappointing that there was not sushi which you now can only get in their restaurant. They need to improve on the eggs Benedict-cold Hollandaise and not freshly prepared eggs. So easy to precook and heat up as the do on HAL. Read more