New Cruise Review

April 27, 2005

Embarkation was handled quickly and efficiently as I had completed all forms online. We were not permitted to go to our cabin until 1:00 but went to the sail-a-way party at the pool. When we reached our cabin, it was clean and ready. There were only two problems: the toilet did not work and there was a hole at the bottom of the outside of the bathtub that was sort of fixed with two pieces of grating that did not completely fill the hole. We called and were informed that the toilet problem was WELL known and they were working on it. During the entire cruise the cabin stewardess was great! We got two towel critters a crab and a swan. The pull out sofa bed was lumpy and hard to sleep on. We would not have gotten much sleep in any event as we were on deck 10 and the pool band played loudly into the wee hours of the night. Also, the walls of the cabin were paper thin and if someone in the next cabin sneezed and you whipspered God bless you they heard it.

The colors everywhere were to say the least gaudy.

We purchased the soft drink card and got the souvenir coke container which was filled each time we requested, but you had to track someone down and they were not really happy about having to refill it. The only members of the staff that seemed at all happy to see us were the officers. The rest of the staff acted like we were a pain just by existing.

The food in the main dining room and the Windjammer was good but dont bother going to Johnny Rockets as the help there needed a lot of reminding as to what you ordered and its not worth the cover charge of $3.95 a piece.

I use a three wheeled scooter to get around. Most of the time I had to wait at least 20 minutes to get an elevator that had enough space to accomodate me. That was extremely inconvenient.

We did not get to go to Coco Cay as the weather was too bad so I cannot comment on that.

Debarkation was quick as we were on the 6 hour VIP Kennedy Space Center Tour and got off the ship first.

Would I go on Royal Carribean again? No, I don't think so. I prefer the quiet eloquence of Holland America and will be glad to get back to them.

GottaCruz · April 28, 2005

Joyce, I'm sorry to read that you had a pretty negative experience with RCL. Thanks for the honesty in your review. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. I hope your next cruise more than makes up for this one. Cheryl :kiss:

glojo · April 28, 2005

Thats too bad you felt that way, we just love RCI!

However we haven't been on a HAL cruise yet, and I hear nothing but rave reviews about them! At least it hasn't turned you off cruising altogether.

Shari2 · April 29, 2005

Thanks for sharing with us, Joyce! Sorry that things didn't go too well. I hope the next cruise will be a great one!!!

jtutak · May 2, 2005

Sorry you had a bad time, but this happens to all of us and has time passes it will not seem so bad. :rolleyes:

Mebert · May 3, 2005

Hi dogladyjw,

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience on your last cruise, but I am glad that you feel that HAL takes good care of you. I hope your next cruise is much better.

I've heard so many good things about RCI. I'll pay close attention to future reviews before I make a decision to sail on any particular RCI ship. So far I'm leaning towards positive, but things do change as time goes on.