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If you hit the casino, Carnival Mardi Gras is the best at sea. Almost all non-smoking including the casino bar, and the smoking side has fantastic ventilation so it doesn't permeate the whole place. On Royal, the smoke is thick and they do not enforce people smoking at the non-smoking machines. Your clothes will reek of smoke for the remainder of the cruise. Drink service is outstanding. Not unusual to be approached by 3 or 4 waiters every 10 minutes. Just got off Royal's Brillance and on the 4 day cruise was approached only once by a waiter.

I filed for our TA's but like you, I am very surprised that we got no notification from Royal Caribbean. Glad I read Cruise Critic. It does have the notice in the pages of legalize in your travel documents.

Just left the Mariner of the Seas. Great ship and crew. Drew was an excellent Cruise Director, the best we have ever seen. Ship was very clean and numerous workers kept it that way constantly with the exception of the public men's rooms. These needed cleaning more often and fumes came up through all the urinals, probably due to low water use design. Really only two shows, a Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons tribute which was excellent and an Argentian comedy/performance one-man show, On the final day is a variety show which has a not to miss ending. Also sat in the Love and Marriage show which was very entertaining. Any smaller shows in the Star Lounge required you to be there 30 minutes ahead as it is a small venue. We were on a casino cruise so spent a lot of time there. No, we did not win; just lots of ups and more downs. Only problem was the smoke. Constant and everywhere including some cigars. Some machines had a small no smoking sign on them but that disappeared as soon as the money went in. No staff member enforced the no smoking machines. Specialty Dining: My suggestion is don't. I saw that the price had gone to 50% off for this 8 day cruise and signed up as we had loved it on the Allure. Should have researched it first. There were only 3 specialty restaurants available. Chops Grill, the Hibachi and Jamie"s Italian which replaced Giovanni's, our favorite. Went to Jamie's to sign up for the week and found there was an extra $10 charge per person for the Hibachi. So we signed up for alternating nights at Chops and Jamie's. Chops was nice though their ribeye was average at best. The next night was Jamie's Italian. Giovanni's it is not. Designed to be an Italian kitchen with waiters in jeans, no table clothes, and wooden chairs. Service was slow as only 3 servers and instead of being in sections, they waited on tables from the front to the back. Interestingly there were 4 managers and a hostess. Not a great balance. The food: Terrible! The lasagna was ground beef between lasagna noodles with some cheeses on top that was broiled leaving grease. No ricotta cheese, no tomato sauce of any kind. Just a dry stack. I had 3 bites and couldn't stomach any more. My wife's bolegnese was not better. We left to cancel the specialty package for the balance of the cruise. Took 2 times to guest services to get it to go away though was charged full price for each dinner which came to half of what we paid for the whole 8 days. Dining room was excellent the rest of the week. Lobster night was crowded but really good plus the waiter kept asking my wife if she wanted more. I had the tenderloin and it was the best I've ever had on a cruise ship. Room steward was also excellent. Entire crew was so friendly. Really liked the piano that moved around to different elevators.