Where to begin... This cruise was billed by RCCL as a Panama Canal Cruise (the name has since been changed to "10 Night Caribbean & Panama Cruise"). Cool right? But other than stopping in the less than attractive or safe city of Colon, Panama and offering very pricey excursions to experience the canal, the ship itself did not go through even one part of the canal. We ran into cruisers who did not learn of this misleading sales pitch until they went to the port information lecture on the ship. Bait and switch??? Makes you wonder.

As a returning guest to RCCL, I expected some perks for my loyalty. Let's see... a coupon book. Yes I got one. It had expired on March 15, 2010 and our cruise began on March 26, 2010. Most of the coupons were buy this and get this other thing at a reduced price. Of course none of the couponed items, except for a small percentage off on a photo, were even applicable to me, and I think I am a pretty typical cruiser. So this "perk" in essence was useless. RCCL did host a retuning cruiser gathering. Our invitation to this event arrived in our stateroom too late to attend the first seating event and just 45 minutes prior to the late seating event. We know the timing precisely, because we were in our cabin when the invitation was slipped under the door. Previously, as returning cruisers, my husband and I had received small RCCL logo-ed luggage pieces, smaller items such as document holders, and the standard chocolate on the pillow at turn-down. On this cruise...nada... nothing... zilch.

Now dining room: Meals were good. We enjoyed the company of the people we were seated among. We were greeted nightly by our wait-staff team and then the sitting began. We waited for water. We waited for bread. We waited for menus. On the second night (confirmed on the third night) we noticed that we were kept in sync with the other two tables being served by our wait-staff team. If we arrived before the other two tables, we waited longer. Once all three tables received beverages (our last since we are not sine drinkers and no one ordered wine), the three tables would then be offered bread. Then menus came one table at a time. Appetizers were brought to the three tables in this section one at a time (as is proper) but nothing was cleared (we sat one night with appetizer dishes on our table for 20 minutes...no kidding) as other tables in our section finished their appetizers. The same tedious procedure was offered through delivery of entrees and desserts. 2+ hours later, we left the table. Sometimes we actually used the dining room experience as a time waster as we also found the activities (especially on at sea days) to be uninteresting, cheesy, and poorly scheduled. Read more