The ships are massive and you never have time to see all of it. The customer service is beyond description. The food is incredible. They freshen up your cabin every single time you leave it, for example.
A little more pricy than budget lines like Carnival, but well worth it.
Post scamdemic Royal is cheaper than Carnival. They have less debt than Carnival. Service is not what it was but still very good
“Always a first rate experience with this outfit.”
I had just the opposite experience. RCL was stodgy, with a tired and overworked crew. One crew woman was put on the rock wall with a freshly broken arm in a cast. Paid extra for a balcony room. Had room service breakfast delivered to the balcony. Which was then flooded from above by outside window spray-down. All over the breakfast. No prior warning. Food was horrible. Greasy floors for days in the buffet with fake, tasteless “chocolate cake” for my kid. I could go on and on. Two cruises and they were the worst of my life. Even got assaulted. It’s one of those places where perps are assured you’re not armed. They can act out because they don’t bring a passport so they know they won’t get booted at port. Drink and drug usage was clearly not monitored or enforced on my 2x RCL cruises. Walmart-of-the-seas. Totally destroying the cruising industry with their “bigger is better” cattle boats. I was scolded by RCL regulars about expecting walk in access to shows and events as we always do on Carnival. Supposedly you have to book months in advance to “access” shows and events. Silly me, travelling with kids I wanted to do the no schedule laisse faire thing.
Oh, and the best part is they monitor message boards for negative comments and try to ID negative posters. So “Hi RCL” I”m already banned for life from your horrible Walmarts-of-the-Seas cattle scows. “Hey we’ll just give them some bright lights and shiny things to look at and the Prols will be happy or at least impressed”. (I’ll probably get a Cease-and-Desist order in the mail now). @@$#^$%@#S
I can smell commies at distance. RCL is commie all the way. You can tell by how “guests” are treated.
So, yeah, my RCL experiences are a bit different from yours.
Carnival though - never had a bad cruise. Been on a dozen. Great crew, super-well trained but meh ships. I like the older ships tho. They have more elbow room and are unique. Family isn’t treated like inmates because of other passengers’ behavior. Lots of polite and cultured foreign crew members. They make the cruise Fun for all. Really exceptional crews.