After 64 cruises, on most of the mass market and luxury lines, I eagerly looked forward to cruising with RSSC to experience their "5-STAR PLUS" service. Sadly, that was not the case. The food was only mediocre, certainly not gourmet, as we were led to believe it would be. The service really lacking in all areas, especially with the dining staff, as they seemed indifferent in their attitude and it was reflected in the standard of service they provided. The casual dining venue was terrible and looked like a bad "all you can eat" buffet, with limited selection and very unappealing presentation. Several times, I bussed my own dishes, because the staff was not around and I didn't want to sit with dirty dishes in front of me. The two specialty restaurants, Prime 7 and Signatures did have somewhat better food than the dining room and did offer good, competent service, which helped make them an enjoyable experience.

Though the cruise was primarily port intensive and the reason we booked it, the sea days were long and lacking activities. Everything seemed to be scheduled before noon, with little or nothing to do in the afternoon. If you chose to relax and sleep in the morning, you basically missed the entire days planning and were left to make your own activities. Really boring!

Even the port excursions, which were included in the price of this very expensive cruise, were not really as good as others we have experienced. The guides provided, did not have a good command of the English language and were very difficult to understand at times. Also, many of the venues were of little or no importance to the city being visited, just basically being used to fill tour time. Read more