Saw this ship all over the news last year, being the largest cruise ship to ever visit Australia and thought it would be something new and exciting to try.

We booked through a local travel agent which made things easier, but there are caveats first time cruisers need to be aware of (and they don't let you know up front)

Firstly, we discovered the cruise was split in half by the agent, this caused many issues we weren't aware of. When we logged into the RCI website to book shows and drinks/internet packages, it showed us travelling for the entire duration of the cruise. This was wrong and prevented us from booking internet/drinks packages in AUD, so we had to pay more once on board as everything is charge in USD. This cost us quite a bit more ultimately. Also shows advertised were booked out quickly as it took forever to get our login, or they weren't showing until after we departed the cruise. All very confusing and not a great start. Read more