Traveling with a big group, this is the shortest cruise I've ever taken. This was my 8th with RCL, and I'd always enjoyed the quality of the overall experience. Some differences this time, though. The quality of the food was slipping -- tater tots served with prime rib, 2 shrimp in the shrimp cocktail, a very bready French onion soup -- but I still appreciated the menu on a cruise that was a very good price. I also noticed that RCL had invested in all new barware, smaller glasses/smaller portions, higher prices - ah well, I could bear the change. There were some very good experiences: the ice show was knock-your-socks-off, cruise director and staff were attentive and entertaining, activities offered were varied and numerous. The quality of the shops was disappointing though, I usually spend very freely there, but not this time. But hey, we are all still rebounding from Covid, so I was glad to see a ship filled with happy people and thrilled to be back at sea.

Until my one shore excursion in Ensenada. It was called Salsa and Salsa and involved a lesson in making several types of salsa and learning to dance salsa style. It was pleasant, cute, nothing fancy. We were bused to the location a mile away, then at the end of our class the instructor told us we could go shopping on the main street about a block away and take a cab back to the pier when we were ready to return. There were a few people in our group who wanted to go back to the ship, so we went out to the parking lot with the instructor to board the bus for a return trip. But there was no bus; the instructor told us we had to take a cab or walk back. So they LEFT US THERE. (Of note: we had people in this tour group who had medical issues, and a couple with ambulation challenges.) Not being able to find a cab, our small group walked back to the ship. We visited the purser's desk when we returned and explained what had happened. Less than an hour later each of us received a phone call from the tour director. To me he stated that this tour was intended for us to walk back to the ship although that was never mentioned to any of us and the ticket merely stated "tour involves walking". He said this tour is given a couple of times a week and "no one else has ever complained", he said if we had gone shopping like we "were supposed to", we would have found taxis to take us back. I pointed out the liability of abandoning a group of people without adequate notification and he said the tour director should have told us, she was new he said, they'll make sure she tells people in the future he said, someone should have told us he repeated. Then he said we would be credited with a 10% refund for the tour. That's $4.90. For being abandoned in a strange city in Mexico.

I'm already booking my next cruise, happy to return to this mode of travel. Not with RCL, though.