Eastern Caribbean, 22nd September 2012

I don't think that anything I can write can do this ship justice - we had wanted a holiday of a lifetime, and we got so much more than we'd even hoped for. The ship is amazing — it's huge, with everything you could ask for — but at the same time, it is very easy to navigate and you feel as though you know your way around by the second day. We had a balcony stateroom and couldn't fault the facilities. Our children, 10 and 8, had a fantastic time - they loved the children's club (excellent security measures, friendly staff, great activities), the Promenade where they could get pizza and cookies at any time, the parades, the pools etc. A particular highlight was the ice-skating rink — the ice show itself was fabulous, and we found that when the rink was open for public skating sessions, the stars of the show were there to issue your skates (some familiar faces from Dancing on Ice!). The food choice was excellent, although we did find the drinks to be quite expensive. We took out a soft drinks package for the children on board, although it would have been cheaper if we had booked it before we went — the same goes for the trips, so plan ahead if you want to get the best deals. What really made our holiday, apart from the amazing destinations that we visited, was the courtesy, friendliness and helpfulness of the ship's staff — the dining staff knew our names within the first day and nothing was too much trouble — special mention for Agostino and Maricar who were two of the nicest people I had the pleasure of meeting. They definitely earned their tips, although I would again recommend pre-paying this as we saved quite a lot of money by doing it this way. We are already looking forward to our next cruise holiday, and will definitely be travelling with Royal Caribbean. It did work out to be quite expensive, and our sea pass account ended up being more than we had planned, but it was definitely worth every penny.