The Royal is a beautiful ship and now that it is going out of LA, I am hoping to be able to go more often.

First of all, there were 2 ships in port that day which made the traffic difficult. It took over 45 minutes to park. I thought Medallion would make check in easier, but really, it didn't make any difference. After we checked in we waited another half hour to board the ship. All in all, embarkation was just VERY busy and chaotic. I was glad that I had printed my boarding pass because the Medallion App kicked me out, erased my boarding pass then wouldn't let me back in for the rest of the cruise.

This ship is large, and I think that the service in a couple of areas was lacking because of the amount of people. It seemed that if we had an issue, it always took at least two tries to get it right. We had everything from a toilet that didn't work to waiting over an hour for starter in the main dining room. We used the buffet a lot. The food there is fine, not great, but the good news is that we always found a table due to the good set up of the buffet. Tip: the desserts for the buffet are only available at the front buffet closest to the pool, not the back portion. Read more