Let me start off by saying that if I was only rating the ship, crew and staff, 5 stars wouldn’t be enough. Dwight our cabin steward was amazing, he greeted us warmly every time he saw us, asking how our day was, did we see this, did we try that or did we need anything and if we did need something he would do everything possible to get it. Dwight was a pleasure to meet. The same goes for our MDR waiter Kuljit and the assistant waiter Filip. They took care of us like we were family. It was an honor to have met both of them. The one time I needed to use guest services with help getting boarding passes and getting the luggage transferred to the airport, Nelia (I think that was her name) went above and beyond to make sure everything was taken care of. On the last day aboard they had t-shirts for sale and my wife picked out a few, since there was a large line at all kiosks so I thought okay here’s my chance to get a little attitude from one of the staff, so I went into one of the fancy perfume shops that was empty to see if they would check out the t-shirts for me not only did I NOT get attitude I had a most pleasant conversation with the salesperson as she checked out my t-shirts and that’s how it was with every interaction with the staff and crew.

Now the reason for the 4 stars and honestly, I’m being kind of generous. There was a group of over 2000 onboard that were absolutely the rudest people we have ever encountered. There was not one individual in the group that was not extremely rude. Their children were totally undisciplined, numerous times I saw a child from their group kicking their parents, screaming at them, and laying on the floor throwing tantrums, this group was disgusting, disrespectful, and disturbing. More than once my wife who has mobility issues was nearly knocked down by members of the groups children or parents chasing their children and of course not one apology. Sorry Royal Caribbean but I have to warn others about cruising with you in January because I understand that this is an annual thing. Seriously if you have booked a cruise with Royal Caribbean in January find out if this group is on board and cancel it if you can and chose a different ship. Not only are they disgusting and rude people but Royal gave them exclusive use of the Solarium Bistro so we were not allowed to eat there which was a bummer because I was really looking forward to trying it.

This was our first ever cruise and even though these disgusting people were onboard the staff, entertainment people and crew made sure we had a great time.