We boarded the ship in Auckland which was completely hassle free.

We were on the 8th deck cabin size was fine. The balcony was very small and the 2 seater sofa in the cabin somewhat tired looking. The lower deck seemed to have a larger balconies.

Soon as we got on board we were confronted with the upsell of buying into the specialty restaurants - something we did not want to do as we felt we had already paid for fine dining in the cost of our cruise. It wasn't cheap. Whilst the service in the main dining area was excellent the food left a great deal to be desired. We would liken it to what is available at our local RSA - certainly no where near the standard of previous Royal Caribbean Cruises we have done. Apple Strudel - a flat piece of white looking chewy pastry with small apple pieces pressed into the pastry and a blob of icream on top the size of a small saucer. I needed a knife and fork to be able to cut this so I could actually eat it. A quiche served as a main - the quiche being waifer thin - an extremely small triangle served with a little coleslaw. Someone else ordered Lobster that was not cooked through. We were warned not to drink the water however when we went to buy bottled water were asked "don't you have a drinks package". We often had to queue to get water. There were many complaints. Third night in my husband felt he got food poisoning and a crew member told us that several people had got sick that night and they thought it was food poisoning but they had been asked not to tell anyone. Read more