Trying MSC (Seashore) for the first time this coming September. (Tried Norwegian Escape just before Covid and loved it).
We had a great cruise on Mariner last April. Ship is gorgeous and the staff were all terrific, MDR and WJ food mostly all good ,even .. but we all found it a bit tough to swallow that the fares and things like the bar package, specialty dining prices and even the shore excursions are SO much higher than just a few years ago. RC (and, to be fair, probably others too) are gouging people now because they can. So many people still on the covid rebound and will pay whatever prices they have to ... esp the ones that "must" get on the brand new ships.
That .. and the sameness was another factor for us too. This felt like nearly every other RC ship we've been on. Same look, same venue names, same cabin decor, same Promenade, same Windjammer, same, same, same .. everywhere. We've been on Monarch, Jewel, Liberty, Independence, Explorer, Enchantment .. and they all just feel the same now. I have zero interest in the hideous floating family monstrosities out now with their slides and rollercoasters and 6,000+ pax .. so all this, adding to the pricing has us straying away now.
May be back to RC, maybe not .. but paying so much more for the same ole same ole .. that's just not working for us anymore.