I'm a Diamond Club Member and a veteran of many cruses on RCCL, Disney and NCL and over the years RCCL has seemed to be a good value. However the constant cutbacks at RCCL have brought me to the point that I won't be taking many RCCL cruises in the future. The elimination the mints from the pillows at night and the elimination of Lobster night was only the beginning of the cutbacks.

More cutbacks are evident as soon as we reached the pier. We fly in the night before the cruise and the hotel check out time is around 11:00 am so we usually get to the port early. RCCL has eliminated the Diamond lounge at the Miami terminal, so we are jammed into the large holding area with nothing but a priority tag. No much seating and not even a glass of water.

The cutbacks continued to emerge during dinner on the first night. The Dining Room accommodations and service leave a lot to be desired. They appear to have jammed everyone into fewer tables to reduce the number of waiters. I could barely move my elbows without hitting the person next to me, our table for 6 was better suited to 4 or 5. On the first night the waiter told my daughter that she could not have gravy on her chicken and the one of our table mates was told that he could not switch his baked potato for mashed potatoes. Fortunately, that waiter disappeared after the first night. One thing that really irritates me about RCCL larger ships is the use of the carts in the dining room. The waiters run through the dining room with these carts to move the meals and are constantly running into the back of the chairs. You don't see these carts in the restaurants and I wish RCCL would eliminate them. Another change in service is that the dining room is closed for lunch on port days. As far as the Windjammer is concerned, gone are the waiters that will get you a cup of coffee or a drink. Read more