This was our 40th cruise, 21st with Royal Caribbean and was disappointing in some areas. Clientele seems to be going downhill. Children running all over the ship (except in the Solarium). It didn't seem like anyone was using Adventure Ocean for the children. People were dressing like slobs on Formal Nights. Which begs the question, why have them? Some people didn't bother washing their hands, nor did they cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing, children touching the food and plates and then putting them back. This was a failure on both the parents and Royal Caribbean personnel. In the back of the Windjammer there was one person serving the food where no one was able to touch any food or plates. We thought given what we saw this was the safest place to get food in the Windjammer and there wasn't a line. By the way if you intend to go on the Ripcord and Northstar, be prepared to pay for them. They are not free anymore. If Royal continues to attract the same type of crowd we may decide to go to another line with a better class of people and pay more money. Now for some other comments

Embarkation: We were assigned a Boarding Pass with a 12:00 time and was informed not to show up before that time. We arrived at 11:45 and an announcement was made that ALL passengers can now board the ship. So what was the purpose of the boarding pass. The check in process was much better if you did it prior to arriving at the port and went smooth until the backup on the gangway started. No longer do you have to attend the Safety drill. You can view it on your TV in your cabin and then go to the Muster Station just to check in. It took less than a minute.

Cabin Stewart, waiter an assistant waiter were all excellent. The ship was very clean and well kept. However, the cabin we had which had a balcony was small. There was very little room between the foot of the bed and the wall. Read more