Went with a group of friends on an already planned trip to southeast Asia which included a 7 day cruise on Royal Carribean Mariner of the Seas. Having cruised on Carnival, Disney, Norwegian, Seabourn, Crystal and Oceania I feel I have experienced a breadth of ships. The staff was very friendly and the shows were good. This ship was incredibly dated, with lots of peeling paint on our deck, damaged furniture and a paucity of toiletries. The food was mediocre at best. The ship always felt incredibly crowded. I felt nickel and dimed as even fresh squeezed orange juice was extra. Towels had to be signed out and returned, or there was a 25$ fee per towel. Is there so much towel stealing that this was really necessary? We booked one shore excursion through the cruise and when we arrived, found that the cruise cancelled the trip on the day we chose and put us on that excursion the day before. They did not inform us of the change, and unless one of our group spotted it, we would have not been able to get a refund, as we already had something else booked for that date. I thought that was incredibly unprofessional of them not to inform us the minute they knew of the change. This was my first venture on Royal Carribean and truly I was expecting a classier experience.