The May 11Th Symphony Cruise to the Western Caribbean was simply AMAZING! The ship was clean and breathtakingly huge. My biggest compliment goes out to the staff. Not only was all the staff kind, considerate and helpful they truly gave me the impression they loved working there. I studied all the blogs prior to sailing and was a little worrisome due to some of the critiques. Based on the size and complexity of this ship some details will always arise but when looking at the big picture any negatives were most certainly outweighed by the overall amazing experience.

Pick and pay for what you want.

Many have said RCCL is nickel and diming for everything. True, they do have many things which they charge for additional fees. My wife and I looked at this as a positive. With the proper up-front planning we were able to customize the perfect cruise for what we wanted. For us we are not big drinkers, but we do love fancy food and activities. So we researched and purchased the appropriate options for our cruise. We purchased the KEY, waterpark admission and the Unlimited Dining Packages. These packages worked perfectly for us but for other people the choices can and should be completely different based on your preferences. Unfortunately, having all these options available these days does create the burden of doing some homework prior to the cruise. Decide what is important to you and choose those options. Most importantly and sometimes very confusing, decipher what these packages truly offer. Make sure you are aware of limitations but most importantly learn what all the features enable you to do. I talked to so many people on the ship and they only knew half the features. For an example if you have the Key you do not have to charge your SeaPass card and then show it again upon return. Not a big deal but knowing all the features can make your cruise that much more enjoyable. Read more