We went on this cruise with a group of about 40 people. This was our first time on RCCL, not our first time cruising as we have over 200 cruise days with other lines. Anyway, we chose an inside cabin, mostly because of the price. RCCL is significantly more expensive than the other cruise lines.

Embarkation was an absolute mess. We got to the terminal at about 11:30 am. The lines were not bad at all and we were quickly through that process. When the check in person handed us our keycards, she also handed us a ticket that said "Group 8". We had no idea what this meant, but headed the direction that we needed to in order to board the ship. We were placed in a very large room, with a woman on a megaphone yelling to raise your hand if there is an empty seat near you. We found seats easily, then listened to that woman for the next hour and a half, yelling about every 2-3 minutes. There were no refreshments while we waited, no water, just a vending machine that looked like it wasn't working based on the crowd around it. So, after 1 1/2 hours of listening to that, she finally started to let people board. Keep in mind, we have a ticket that says "Group 8". We saw a lot of other tickets coming into the room that were higher than hour number. She called the elite groups in, which I fully expected. Then, they went by status all of the way down to Gold, which took about a half an hour. Finally, she started calling just the "Group" tickets. I guess these are the first time customers that they are hoping will come back. Another 15 minutes goes by, there are only about 50 of us left in the room, she announces that now everyone can go ahead and board. Not exactly a great first impression. It's now just before 2:00.

I am hungry, thirsty and generally not in a great mood. We try to get into the buffet, but the line is so long, we decide to head to our stateroom to drop our stuff first since the announcements came on saying that staterooms would be ready at 2:00. Try to get to our stateroom and the halls are packed with mattresses and plastic. We get yelled at by a room steward that the rooms aren't ready yet. So, we go back to the buffet to try again. We can get into the buffet, but can't find anywhere to sit. Okay...it will get better, right? Read more