This was a 50th anniversary celebration cruise for my entire family of 13 people. We chose this ship because of the sail date, departure and return port. That was the the first mistake. My wife and I have attained platinum status on Royal Caribbean. However the last time we were on a RCCL ship was in January of 2004. On that cruise the food was not so good, after this cruise, I don't think we will ever go on another Royal Caribbean ship.
Let me tell you why. This last cruise was very disappointing. The food was mediocre at best, dining room service was extremely slow. Many of the niceties that we have come to expect on RCCL were missing. Such as days of the week on the carpet in the elevators, chocolate on the pillows, amenities in the bathroom, peppermill service in the dining room. The ship was in desperate need of maintenance. There was rust everywhere including the pool. My adult son was walking on the edge of the pool when he slipped and fell into the water. He cut his foot on one of the rust spots in the pool and required 5 stitches (RCCL provided the medial attention at No Charge). Because his foot was bleeding in the pool, the staff quickly closed and drained the pool. The artificial plants all over the ship were laden with dirt. The frame around the window in our cabin had missing screws and screws that were not seated properly, the door check on the
cabin door had 6 screw holes but only 2 had screws in them (I have photos of the missing screws). The live music on the ship was painfully loud. When I questioned some of the senior people about these things, I got apologies. However things did not change.
The cabin steward did a fine job. My wife loved the towel animals.