First cruise on Royal Caribbean, 39th cruise overall...the ship was beautiful and very very clean for a nine year old...the service was good, the food was mostly good and the Portofino Restaurant was excellent. First glitch was that the room steward does not get the info from the RCI reservation for Beds Apart or Together...why do they ask if they don't transmit the information to the room steward so that he/she doesn't have to guess and make and remake the beds...maybe some IT can explain it...the cabin was nice as were all of them that we saw. The food was better then CARNIVAL...not quite as good as HOLLAND, but the glitch was the My Time Dining which is really THEIR TIME DINING or go to the Windjammer...no room at the inn before 8 PM which was fine on all but two nights when other activities required an earlier dinner. Windjammer coffee was very bitter (tastes like mud) as I have seen in other posts on CC...a good acid cleaning is needed for their coffee makers. Coffee in Cascades Dining was much better. My biggest complaint is that they use those stupid little Heinz Ketchup Packets in Windjammer and I needed eight to ten of them for my breakfast eggs and potatoes...they are tough to open and squirted on my shirt and pants which I saw several passengers doing...makes you feel like you are at McDonald's or Burger King for Breakfast instead of on a luxury cruise ship, yet in the Cascades Dining Room they bring a bottle of Ketchup to the table...the Food & Beverage Manager said that they went to the packets to cut down the waste...and no he doesn't pop for the laundry bill!!!! We had a great Cruise Director (Kirk D.) and staff that really mad the cruise experience fun!!! He is off on vacation now, but said that he'll be back!!! I can't stress too much that he is the hardest working CD that I have ever seen on a cruise...he works from early morning to late at night nonstop. The embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly and the Mexican ports were all good (been there many times). Thanks Captain Claus Andersen for a good cruise!!
What's not to like about a JS (#1044)...big walk in closet, big bathroom with a big tub, big balcony and lots of space to walk around since it's 50% larger than a regulat balcony cabin.