This was our first Royal Caribbean cruise so I had big hopes, since I heard it was a leg up from Carnival and Norwegian. In short our trip was good overall, service was good, food was ok, the ship was showing wear and tear, and the kids club was unsatisfactory.

Embarkation went smoothly, we arrived at port around 11:00 am and the waiting area was overflowing with people, but Royal called our boarding number 11 fairly quickly. To our dismay, once our number was called we were led to a separate long line to get a bracelet for our 10 year old son. The bracelet alerts staff of your child’s muster station, in the unlikely event of an emergency. It’s a good idea, but seems like there could be another way to do that.

We took the drink package so once onboard my husband quickly got a drink from the On Air Bar on the Royal Promenade deck. We found the drinks to be really good, and fresh, not pre made like Norwegian. Bar Service overall was friendly and good. This deck was really cool if you like the feel of a mall. There were shops, restsuraunts, bars and Starbucks. It was really neat and had lots of activies throughout the week. Read more