We were not impressed with our first Royal Caribbean cruise. We expected it to be higher quality than the Princess and Norwegian cruises we usually take. It wasn’t. In fact, it was of lesser quality and just above Carnival, in our view. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Dining: The meals were uninspired. Most menu selections were typical restaurant fare—nothing special—and repeated night after night. We were annoyed by breakfast in the dining room when they tried to steer us towards a buffet set up in the dining room. My wife ordered waffles with a carmel sauce from the menu and was told to get it herself from the buffet! If we wanted the buffet, we would not have gone to the dining room! Service at all meals was mediocre. The staff was friendly and helpful, but they simply had too many tables assigned to them to provide good service. Another negative was that the buffet and soft ice cream machines shut down at 9 pm! We couldn’t believe it. Also, they ran out of grapefruit halfway through the cruise.

Teen Club: Our daughter was in the 12-14 year olds. This club was terrible! Worst of any cruise we have been on. The staff was lazy and didn’t bother coordinating many of the activities that were planned. In addition, they had few supplies. For example, for a bandana-decorating activity, they had exactly 4 bandanas. For 20 kids. Pitiful and inexcusable. Read more