After having cruised 6 times within the past year, I feel like somewhat of a professional at the cruise experience. I had sailed this Western Mediterranean itinerary before with another cruise line, and booked this cruise for my husband, myself, and my 9 year old. Unfortunately, she was the only one of us to truly enjoy her cruise experience. Since there is so little good to say about my cruise with RCI, I will list the few positive things I have to say here.

The embarkation/disembarkation is extremely well organized. The selection of tours provided through RCI, is both extensive and well organized. The price of the cruise, when done through an internet agency, was fairly reasonable. My child was thoroughly entertained by the animation staff in the kids' club. They did an excellent job, and I thought they really offered a lot of different activities for kids.

Unfortunately, this is the extent of my positive commentary on this "cruise experience." I wish I could say more positive things about this trip. I will say NEVER AGAIN on RCI for me. The food was horrific. When others have said, "Denny's is better" I must concur. My husband notes that the soups were either "bouillon cube" or of the canned variety, depending on the night. The gala dinners were a joke, with salmon being a "gala" option. Every night the waiter directed us toward the one dinner option that he believed to be the best of the worst. He even went so far as to ask us not to take the bad quality of the food out on his evaluation (and "tip"), and he seemed genuinely embarrassed when presenting us with each evening's menu. Several members of the wait staff spoke to us candidly about how every week, with the falling valuation of the dollar against the Euro, the food suppliers were being changed, and therefore, the quality of the food was deteriorating as the price of the dollar went down. One staff member even said, and I quote, "If your food is bad, imagine what we are eating." This is a disgrace, and if the dollar is so low, perhaps they should think about increasing the price to reflect the cost so that their customers may enjoy the cruise. I would gladly have paid more to avoid the feeling of being nickeled and dimed to death at every juncture. Read more