First of all, let me say that this was our first and last experience with Royal Caribbean. The way they handle their "my time" dining situation alone was enough to make us never return, but there were many other little things that we take for granted with other cruise lines where R/C fell short.

We are fairly frequent cruisers and have cruised on several other lines including Carnival, Princess, Norwegian, Holland America, and Wind Star. Typically we choose Carnival for our winter Caribbean cruise. However, after hearing a friend rave about Royal Caribbean for years, we decided to give them a try. Come to find out later, the friend (who went with us) hasn't cruised with R/C in quite a while, and she was the first to admit that a LOT has changed, and not in a good way.

On the positive side, embarkation was a breeze. The ship was spotless, and the crew, for the most part, were friendly and helpful. The cabin had plenty of storage. There was rarely a problem finding a deck lounge, although they were all roped together and were wedged right against each other, so you had to kind of climb in and out from the end, which was quite awkward. Read more