Hello all,
This is our first cruise on Royal Caribbean in 10+ years, opting for NCL recently. The Galveston terminal was old but simple to get through. Arrived at 11:45 and on the ship in an hour. We are just "gold" level so we got directed to the "gold" line at the check in desk and people that were behind us that had no status was on board before us. Seems odd that a returning cruiser takes longer than someone without a status level.
Overall we thought the ship was in good shape for being 10+ years old, lots of minor scuffs but no major significant damage. The worst part of the ship was the casino, it is way too smokey. We didn't spend any time in the casino, which is unusual. This was worse than the old downtown LV casinos in regards to smoke. We even avoided it as a walk through as much as possible.
Our balcony cabin was an upgrade at $400 total, saved $800 from booking a balcony directly. Went from gty ocean view to a balcony. Our particular room (may not be a category 2D), had an angle balcony so it provided a little more room in the cabin and on the balcony.
The BEST thing the Royal Caribbean did than NCL does pertaining to the cabins IMO is to NOT fill the refrigerator. The mini-bar is on request, you can have the stateroom attendant fill the refrigerator if you wish. On NCL we always had to ask the attendant to remove the mini-bar items from the refrigerator.