This was our 21st cruise, and 6th with Royal Caribbean. The cruise exactly met our expectations. The ship, food, entertainment, and service were all standard fare. Royal Caribbean runs a good operation, and everything ran smooth and on-time. The ship is a bit old and worn without any bells and whistles, but that did not detract from the cruise. Cabins are a bit smaller and more sparse than usual. The food was consistently good, albeit uninspired. The food was "old fashioned" in the sense of your traditional American meat and potatoes, with little for the more modern plant-based, whole grain type eaters. Ethnic food was pretty much limited to Indian, which was generally prepared well. The entertainment staff did the usual trivia, contests, etc. and the production staff did their two mediocre shows. Again, standard cruise ship fare, with the comedian making stale jokes about how small the rooms are the the guy who juggled stuff and made (pretty funny) jokes. They did the disco party with YMCA, the love and marriage game show asking the strangest place the couples made whoopie, the belly flop contest, etc. All very predictable. The only real standout of the cruise was Simon James, the piano guy in Schooners, who had the bar rocking every evening. He obliged with Piano Man every night, and it made me think, man what is he doing here with his extraordinary talent and energy level. The service was consistently good, but certainly not with the attention to detail of Princess or Holland America. The fellow passengers were a diverse mix of ages, races, languages spoken, etc. and everyone got along very well on this fairly small ship. There were a lot of Floridians lured by low last-minute prices. I don't mean to leave a negative review. I think this experience would be great for a first-timer to see what a "regular" cruise looks like. We cruise a fair amount and so we like a "regular" cruise with a good price tag. This cruise certainly fit the bill, although I doubt there will be much of it that we will remember. I would certainly do it again for an inexpensive getaway to relax and recharge the batteries.
Small but good location (quiet and near the elevators but not too close).