Brilliance Alaska Inside Passage Vancouver - 1st timer to RC and Alaska

[platamama]

This will be a cruise for DH and I, and is only our 2nd cruise ever, our first was DCL back in 2009. There's been a learning curve with Royal Caribbean, and what their policies are. Overall, my experience has been good and we haven't even started the cruise yet. I'm documenting my process here for any other newcomers to RC, since I couldn't find some of this information online anywhere.

I went through CruiseCritic and got bids from different TAs. I went with the one that gave us the most OBC.

Cancelation policy
Originally booked for 3 px so that our college student could accompany us. She had an unexpected summer research opportunity pop up, and made the decision that it would be better for her to take that position. While I'm sad since it would have been fun to go on this trip with her, it is a good opportunity for her so I'm happy for her in that regard. RC has been easy to work with on the cancelation of her portion (Day T-24). All the dining/excursion/The Key bookings I made online in my RC account for all three of us had her portion automatically refunded to the original form of payment. My TA also requested a letter of cancelation from RC that I could submit to my trip insurance company (I purchased the cancel for any reason addendum), and I need to start the process on that. RC will also refund the port taxes/fees associated with the 3rd px fare, but I lose the cruise cost of the 3rd px fare which is the part that I'll be making a claim for. If it all works the way I expect, it will end up being close to a wash on purchasing the cancel for any reason policy.

Cruise Planner for Dining/Excursions/Drinks etc.
Very easy to make reservations and very easy to cancel reservations. Prices on everything changes daily, so book and cancel at your heart's content. However you cannot double book yourself for any time slot, like if you were hoping to decide on one or the other later on. Nope, you can only have one thing booked. Most of my bookings had the option of modifying (adding or deleting guests on the booking) but not all.

Traditional Dining vs My Time Dining
We're signed up for early dining for now. We can change to My Time Dining but it's not what I expected. I thought MTD would mean we could show up whenever we felt like, but no, that's not it. With MTD, you need to make reservations on a space available basis for each night of the cruise. This can be done before sailing, and it can be done on the boat. But it is based on space availability is what I was told by RC. If anyone has had experience with this, I'd love to hear how it worked for you.

That's all I have for now. I'll come back and update with our experience later.

 

[CynBeth]

Hi! We will hopefully be going on our cruise this summer on Enchantment. It was supposed to be the summer that Covid hit that was cancelled twice and then did not feel comfortable traveling too far last summer. This will be our 4th cruise on Royal but it has been a while since our last one and things have changed so it will feel like a first one. I go on the Cruise Critic message boards and am so glad as I find out things I would not have known such as ours is a Mediterranean cruise and for the check-in day at 45 days out you do it as midnight time of the country you are departing from so even though it says my day is 5/18 I actually have to do it on 5/17 at 6 pm and luckily if you go on the app and not the website you only have to select your wellness check time and can come back and do the rest that is needed later. Alaska was actually our first cruise with RCL on Radiance and it was amazing, When is your trip?

 

[platamama]

I'm back from Brilliance of the Seas to Alaska, and overall I'd say it was a fair/good trip although it wasn't all I'd hoped for due to cold weather (the preceding week had a heat wave and temps were in the 70’s and sunny so you just can’t accurately predict these things) and rain in all the ports and me catching covid on the ship. More on that later. I'll break things down into topics.

The Key
Basically a waste for a Vancouver sailing on a Radiance class ship if you’re looking for extra special treatment. There is no priority line if you have The Key in Vancouver, you stand in the same ~ 2 hr line as the other 6000 people embarking on their cruise ships (we were in port with two other ships that day). We missed the embarkation lunch due to how long it took to board the ship. We told the RC person when we boarded that we had The Key and wanted to make the lunch and were told we had to complete muster first and that the lunch would still be available. He was wrong. After checking in for muster, we went to MDR - it was almost 2pm - and were told lunch was no longer being served (it ended at 1:30) and for us to go to Chops Grille. We went to Chops and they told us that we couldn’t have lunch there but to go to Guest Services to request a substitute Chops lunch the next day. We went to Guest Services, and they seem to have almost no idea what The Key program is. They contacted Dining Services, and were told that we could have lunch on Day 2 at Chops…but I already had prepaid for lunch at Izumi for Day 2 and there was no flexibility on having lunch at Chops any other day. Dining Services was able to change our Izumi lunch from Day 2 to dinner on Day 3 instead in order to accommodate lunch at Chops on Day 2, and we were told it was a “conversion” so the ship account would show a refund to the original form of payment and then a charge for Izumi dinner and they would adjust the dinner price to be the same as what I originally paid for lunch. [This whole “refund to original form of payment” wording was stressful for me because I had used an Amex offer to book this lunch and essentially what the outcome would’ve been for me is that I’d lose out on $220 due to the $70 refund. Ignore this comment if you have no idea what an Amex offer is. As it turns out I didn’t lose out on the $220 after all but didn’t find that out until after the cruise.] Special seating for shows was unimportant on this Brilliance sailing since the theater wasn’t filled and the special seating area was farther and higher up away from the stage. Special time for activities was only two 30 minute time slots to climb the rock wall during the whole 7 day cruise. Well, since it was cold and rained every day, the rock wall wasn’t appealing in the slightest anyway. I was looking forward to the crab cakes benedict for disembarkation breakfast…but I caught covid and was isolated in my cabin and room service did not bring me the crab cakes benedict as I requested. Now there are special circumstances in my case that made The Key a FAIL for me, but if things hadn’t gone wrong for me I think it would’ve been a breakeven proposition since I was planning on paying for Wi-Fi anyway. Ultimately it cost $77 more than just getting WiFi for two devices, and I was satisfied with the idea of paying that for the special embarkation lunch and debarkation breakfast for two people. Lesson here: get to the cruise terminal by 11:00am at the latest…and don’t catch covid.

 

[platamama]

Ports - Sitka
Sitka dock was a crowded mess. And although I thought I’d prepared by printing out a map of downtown Sitka and the cruise ship dock, what I didn’t know was that our ship would dock 6 miles away at the Old Sitka dock. The queue for the free shuttle from our dock to downtown was 45-60 min long (from what we heard from other people), and it was 45-60 min long for the returning free shuttle for the times that we would’ve wanted a seat. This would be a port I’d recommend a pre-arranged excursion, or hurry up to get off the ship first thing so that you could get into the line for the free shuttle as early as possible. There was a lady who was offering hop-on-hop-off shuttle services for $25/pp (see info below) and seeing the massive line for the free shuttle, we impulsively hopped on and were the last two that made it onto her vehicle. Laura was terrific and so full of information (a former high school principal in Sitka) and very receptive to requests. We were able to visit the Alaska Raptor Center $15/pp and watch a cultural performance at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi Tribal Community House $30/pp, and make it back for our 6:00p dinner at Izumi. All told, we spent $140 for the two of us for the transportation and activities.

 

[platamama]

Ports - Juneau
We docked about a mile away from the main part of town. We had prepaid for a Jeep rental from 2pm-6pm through the online Cruise Planner, and were escorted off the ship to where the tour operator (Alaska Unplugged) met us with the Jeep. The Jeep came preprogrammed with four locations to visit, and when we expressed that Mendenhall Glacier was our priority, the person was able to modify the Jeep’s iPad that had the four locations preprogrammed into it to make Mendenhall the first point of interest. That day was cloudy and drizzly, so we also said we didn’t have interest in the Douglas Island part of the itinerary so he deleted that too. It was nice to have narration about Alaska playing as we drove around. Leaving Juneau downtown we saw bald eagles flying overhead. At Mendenhall Glacier, we visited the Visitor Center, walked the Nugget Falls path and the Scenic Photo spot path (both paths were mostly paved and flat). It’s a beautiful spot. Having the Jeep allowed us to show up in between the large tour group buses so that it wasn’t as crowded when we arrived, so that’s the small advantage to doing it this way. Then the Jeep tour took us to a place called Eagle Beach Recreation Area (really not worth it IMO) where we got out, looked at the bay and mountains and said ok, I don’t get why this was worth a stop. Didn’t spend more than 5 minutes there, and it took 20 minutes to get there from Mendenhall which doesn’t sound too far but when you only have a car for 4 hours that extra 40 minutes was a big portion of it and the drive wasn’t anything special. On the way back, we stopped at the third stop of St. Therese’s Chapel. I didn’t expect much and I'm not religious, but it is a quaint, well-kept, and picturesque spot that was much more appealing to me than Eagle Beach. Plus we got to see the resident hoary marmot that lives there. I booked it through the online Cruise Planner when it was “15% off” its normal price and came to $360.

We had a delicious dinner at Tracy’s Crab Shack where they call your first name and where you’re from to come pick up your order. It was interesting to hear where everybody was traveling from. And after that we walked a little into downtown Juneau. There is a strange abundance of luxury jewelry and watch stores right there. For a town that is inaccessible by land roads, it seemed odd to me to devote so much prime real estate to that, it’s not like the townspeople are buying diamonds and Tag Heuers (though that’s presumptuous of me). So, for anyone looking to buy such things, Juneau is your place. If however, you are a Canadian resident you will have to declare any purchase over $800 total (it depends on how long you were out of Canada) when you re-enter Canada.

 

[platamama]

Ports - Icy Strait Point
This was our favorite port (and for me, the last time I was off the ship). Our ship docked at the distant dock, so we rode the gondola to get to the Icy Strait Point dock. The gondola is in fantastic shape, and goes through a forest so it’s quite beautiful. As you approach Icy Strait Point, you can see the ropes course (obstacle course) in the forest and it looked like a very fun course and one of the best I’ve ever seen. If we didn’t have an excursion waiting for us and if the weather had been nice, I would’ve enjoyed giving it a try (also I’d want rubber gloves for a better grip).

I booked a non-RC whale watching tour with Glacier Wind Charters. It was fantastic. I’ve previously done whale watching in Southern California, Boston, and Hawaii, and this experience topped them all. First, it was a small group; the boat (Apogee) fits 13 customers. There is a covered indoor area enclosed with windows, and with 2x2 seating in stadium type seats, the type that flip up when you’re not sitting on them. It was quite comfortable. You could also stand outside all around the boat. We saw quite a number of flukes, some pectoral splashing, sea lions, dolphins, bald eagles, sea otter (most of these were visible with binoculars only). The best was when we watched a group of five humpbacks who were surfacing and diving in near synchrony. The outfit is a family affair, run by mom and dad and sons and it was so interesting to learn about their life in Alaska growing up. There were chips and hot chocolate onboard for refreshments, and there is a restroom if needed. I would highly recommend this excursion. $190/pp plus tax.

Afterwards, we walked around Hoonah and had lunch at The Fisherman’s Daughter (which was amongst the best food we ate on this trip) and then walked back to Icy Point Strait which took about 45 minutes. We got to the gondola and there was quite a line at this point. Luckily for us, they called out to see if anyone was trying to get back to the Brilliance and we were rushed to the front of the line to get onboard in time.

 

[platamama]

Formal Nights
On cruises of 7+ nights there are two formal nights, the second one is “dress your best”. On this cruise it was on Day 2 and Day 5. There are multiple photo stations set up near the Centrum and the professional photographers will pose you and take your photos with the various backdrops. There are also photo opportunities at the specialty restaurants and on the deck on glacier day, and in MDR on formal nights. On Day 1 and Day 2 there was a 20% off photo package offer. The smallest was 10 photos and that came to $128. We were told that if we decided to get a bigger package the 20% off would still be honored as long as we bought even the smallest package on Day 1 or Day 2. You can get the digital photos of your package for $30 extra. They display prints daily, and you can start to collect them and they will hold them for you until the end when you can decide which photos you actually want.

People dressed in varying degrees of formality on formal nights, and I felt a little underdressed in a nice top and black pants and black flats, but I didn’t stand out like a sore thumb like I worried about. I even saw some people wearing t-shirts, and they were allowed into MDR so I don’t think it has to be super stressful. DH wore a blazer and trousers and he fit in fine (tie only for the first formal night). I really didn’t want to hassle with a dress and heels - especially the heels - and it was all fine. I saw one family with two young kids who were all color-coordinated for their photos and thought that was a perfect way to get a nice family photo for display at home or on holiday cards.

 

[platamama]

Covid
I started feeling a slightly scratchy throat on the evening of Day 5. DH had the same issue and had started clearing his throat that day and I thought I just might have gotten what he had. The next morning I still had a scratchy throat and started clearing my throat like DH had been doing, and I decided to take a covid test that I’d brought with me. I was surprised to see it turn positive (I was feeling otherwise normal). So I took another test from another manufacturer (we picked up free covid tests at a local drugstore while we were in Vancouver the morning of Day 1) and that too was positive. DH’s test was negative. We called the medical center, and were told to make an appointment and that one was available at 10 that morning and to come in wearing a mask. I took photos of my test results to show the doctor. When we arrived in medical, I was checked in, had my vitals taken, and told that I would have to isolate for the rest of the cruise. At that point, DH went to Guest Services to cancel our excursion for that day and all the other reservations we had made for the next day. I was seen by a doctor, showed her my photos, she looked at my throat and listened to my chest. I was sent away with a thermometer and pulse-ox and a bottle of NyQuil Cold and Flu and a couple N95 masks which I was to wear for the rest of the cruise. I would be getting free room service and free WiFi for the rest of the cruise. And medical would call me to ask me for my temperature and pulse ox readings the next day. Since DH was negative he was allowed to come and go freely from our room. I’m so glad I booked a balcony cabin! It was nice to have the door open to the balcony for fresh air and ventilation.

I received many calls from guest services, room service, and the medical center to see how I was doing and if I needed anything (and partly I think it was to make sure I was staying in the room). I took it easy in our cabin for the rest of the cruise and DH tried to enjoy what was left to do on his own. He canceled all of our planned activities except for the All-Access Ship Tour that he still wanted to do. A silver lining to this was that the last excursion we had planned (for Ketchikan, a fishing and dining one) was one that he was dreading because the weather was so bad. So we got to cancel it without any penalty. All the cancellations were treated as Refundable Onboard Credit (these were prepaid activities planned and paid through our online Cruise Planner; I suspect that if we had gone with a non-RC provider there would’ve been no refund) and were credited to the credit card on file on the day we left the ship.

For debarkation we were treated differently due to covid. A ship officer came to our cabin to collect our passports and declaration card the night before. We were to keep our luggage with us and on the morning of debarkation, two RC crew came to collect us and our bags and we were escorted to the part of the ship we would be getting off from, and our passports and declaration card were returned to us. I was surprised that we gathered at the Pacifica Theater along with regular passengers who were waiting their turn to leave the ship; I thought we would be more separated. After all the other passengers were gone, our group (there were 14 of us, and apparently not everyone was there because of covid) were escorted off the boat and handed off to a ground transportation employee who then escorted us through the cruise terminal. There were three ships embarking that day as well as other ship debarking so the cruise terminal was a complete cluster. She helped us secure a “C+” taxi which charges an extra sanitation fee and that’s what we took to the airport. It ended up being $51 USD and fortunately this particular cab accepted credit cards as well as cash.

DH has continued to test negative throughout; I was the last in our fully vaccinated family to catch covid. I feel fortunate that I’m recovering fine so far; I think the most worrisome thing about covid is how people’s outcomes can be completely unpredictable. We were told someone on our ship died of covid while onboard.

Oh, backtracking somewhat, while I was being checked into the medical center, the receptionist answered a call from someone onboard asking if they could just stop by to pick up a covid test. The answer was no, if someone wanted to test for covid then they had to make an appointment. Just makes me wonder how many people onboard might actually have covid but don’t know it and don’t test because they didn’t bring tests with them.

ETA: There was no cost to me for visiting the medical center, my guess is because it was covid-related.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Thanks for the review! So sorry to hear you caught covid. We got it right at the end of our HAL cruise last year! I think there’s a decent chance it happened during embarkation at the Vancouver port which was so crowded.

 

[platamama]

Thank you. I totally think that embarkation at Vancouver could be the source too, like you say it was so crowded! But really, there is nothing covid-safe (or any infectious disease-safe) aspect to cruising. A sailing Petri dish as they say.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Sorry you caught COVID. The only time DH and I have had it was also on an RCL Alaskan cruise! We did their first sailing out of Vancouver last May. It was an 8 night cruise. I started feeling like I had a scratchy throat on the evening of Day 6 but I suffer from acid reflux and when I'm not at home using my wedge pillow (it elevates me enough to keep the reflux in check) I tend to get scratchy throats from the acid hitting my throat when I sleep. But about 36 hrs later on debarkation morning I started feeling worse, like I was fatigued. Went to a pharmacy to buy a test in Seattle and sure enough, it was COVID! DH tested positive the next morning, too.

We were the only ones to catch it from our group of 12, it was my MIL's 70th birthday celebration. This was odd to me because we were the most careful, the only ones wearing masks (N95s) all the time, except at dinner. But I think everyone else had had it previously so that might have made us particularly susceptible.

 

[newski_mom]

Nice review - sorry you got covid, but it sounds like you made the best of it!

Curious what the dining room dress is like on non-formal nights. We do a lot of Caribbean cruises and I just tend to wear capris and sandals. I assume there aren't a lot of capris on an Alaskan cruise? I don't have a lot of dress pants and don't really want to wear jeans to dinner. I may just need to get a few more pairs of pants to wear, but was just wondering what others tend to wear.

Thanks!

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

A sailing Petri dish as they say.

Yes, a sailing petri dish for sure! We did a 7 night DCL this past May in the Caribbean. Didn't catch COVID but did catch a long-lasting and annoying cold. Our head server had been coughing the entire time (we could hear her step away to cough in private) so I think she was the source. We were with two friends, one of them started feeling poorly halfway through the cruise. Several days after DH were feeling fine and thought we had escaped it, but I started with symptoms the night after debarkation when we were all at MK. Sigh...

But we're going on another cruise next May, this time DCL in the Mediterranean. I guess May cruises are tradition now, but hopefully getting sick isn't!

 

[platamama]

Nice review - sorry you got covid, but it sounds like you made the best of it!

Curious what the dining room dress is like on non-formal nights. We do a lot of Caribbean cruises and I just tend to wear capris and sandals. I assume there aren't a lot of capris on an Alaskan cruise? I don't have a lot of dress pants and don't really want to wear jeans to dinner. I may just need to get a few more pairs of pants to wear, but was just wondering what others tend to wear.

Thanks!

Thank you. It was too cold and rainy on our sailing for people to be wearing capris and sandals, but Alaska is known to be hot during summer so it might be different if you're sailing in July or August. We ate dinner in the MDR only 3 nights and 2 of those were formal nights (one night we ate in Izumi and one night in port and then I was in isolation). So on the one non-formal night I ate in MDR I'd say a lot of people dressed from casual (t-shirt & jeans) to work casual. The pants I wore the most were a pair of basic pull-on elastic waist polyester black pants that I picked up at Costco for $20. On our excursions I wore jeans, but with warmer weather I'd have gone for convertible nylon pants, the kind where you can zip off the legs to make them into shorts.

 

[newski_mom]

Thank you. It was too cold and rainy on our sailing for people to be wearing capris and sandals, but Alaska is known to be hot during summer so it might be different if you're sailing in July or August. We ate dinner in the MDR only 3 nights and 2 of those were formal nights (one night we ate in Izumi and one night in port and then I was in isolation). So on the one non-formal night I ate in MDR I'd say a lot of people dressed from casual (t-shirt & jeans) to work casual. The pants I wore the most were a pair of basic pull-on elastic waist polyester black pants that I picked up at Costco for $20. On our excursions I wore jeans, but with warmer weather I'd have gone for convertible nylon pants, the kind where you can zip off the legs to make them into shorts.

Thanks! We are going the last week of June, so will probably be getting warmer. We leave next Thursday, so I need to get my packing started. I'm not typically an early packer, but I feel like this trip is a little different than our usual locations.

 

[platamama]

Sorry you caught COVID. The only time DH and I have had it was also on an RCL Alaskan cruise! We did their first sailing out of Vancouver last May. It was an 8 night cruise. I started feeling like I had a scratchy throat on the evening of Day 6 but I suffer from acid reflux and when I'm not at home using my wedge pillow (it elevates me enough to keep the reflux in check) I tend to get scratchy throats from the acid hitting my throat when I sleep. But about 36 hrs later on debarkation morning I started feeling worse, like I was fatigued. Went to a pharmacy to buy a test in Seattle and sure enough, it was COVID! DH tested positive the next morning, too.

We were the only ones to catch it from our group of 12, it was my MIL's 70th birthday celebration. This was odd to me because we were the most careful, the only ones wearing masks (N95s) all the time, except at dinner. But I think everyone else had had it previously so that might have made us particularly susceptible.

DH had covid 7 months ago, and I think his hybrid immunity from previous infection and his vaccinations is why he didn't catch covid from me this time. He shared a cabin with me during my most contagious phase, and he's tested himself every 2-3 days since and turns up negative each time so that's a relief. I'm the one with more risk factors for severe disease and my symptoms were manageable and I'm recovering fine. I've tested negative since Day 11 so I feel I'm in the clear.

Yes, a sailing petri dish for sure! We did a 7 night DCL this past May in the Caribbean. Didn't catch COVID but did catch a long-lasting and annoying cold. Our head server had been coughing the entire time (we could hear her step away to cough in private) so I think she was the source. We were with two friends, one of them started feeling poorly halfway through the cruise. Several days after DH were feeling fine and thought we had escaped it, but I started with symptoms the night after debarkation when we were all at MK. Sigh...

But we're going on another cruise next May, this time DCL in the Mediterranean. I guess May cruises are tradition now, but hopefully getting sick isn't!

I think those of us planning travel knowing full well that we can get sick or injured must be eternal optimists at heart. lol

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Besides getting sick, it seems to be like you had a good experience with RCL, no? We had sailed with them back in 2015, our honeymoon cruise on the Oasis, and thought it was very good. But last May's cruise wasn't. Many of the crew had no idea where things were located, some of the entertainment features of the ship never worked, and our head server must have been very new as he was so overwhelmed, we felt bad for him.
And the food was generally not good and took a really long time. Most nights we were seated 30-45 minutes late. On the last night when our baked Alaskas were served and basically looked like soup, all twelve of us started laughing uncontrollably

Anyway, my impression was that RCL had really declined compared to my previous experience. But I also think it may have been that they hadn't sailed to Alaska in a while and were just restarting and so like half the crew was new and not fully trained.

 

[Baldy]

Thank you so much for your review (so sorry you caught COVID). I have my first ever cruise booked for next May. Even though my cruise is to the Greek islands, it was very helpful to read about your experiences with formal nights, photos and cruising in general.

 

[platamama]

Besides getting sick, it seems to be like you had a good experience with RCL, no? We had sailed with them back in 2015, our honeymoon cruise on the Oasis, and thought it was very good. But last May's cruise wasn't. Many of the crew had no idea where things were located, some of the entertainment features of the ship never worked, and our head server must have been very new as he was so overwhelmed, we felt bad for him.
And the food was generally not good and took a really long time. Most nights we were seated 30-45 minutes late. On the last night when our baked Alaskas were served and basically looked like soup, all twelve of us started laughing uncontrollably

Anyway, my impression was that RCL had really declined compared to my previous experience. But I also think it may have been that they hadn't sailed to Alaska in a while and were just restarting and so like half the crew was new and not fully trained.

Before this cruise, my last cruise was in 2009 on DCL (Wonder or Magic I don't recall which) so take my impressions with a grain of salt! Overall, I thought the staff was exceedingly courteous even if there didn't seem to be great communication/knowledge between the different services (like Guest Services didn't really know how things worked with Dining Services; while they would call DS on our behalf they didn't know what DS could do or not do) so the internal logistics/IT of RCL could be improved.

See my comment regarding the RC App and dining on my post here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/dining-issues-is-this-normal.3921122/post-64871098

I think May 2023 must be so different on RCL than May 2022. I thought the food overall was good; the specialty restaurants (I loved Izumi) were superior to MDR and MDR was superior to Windjammer. If MDR didn't take 90 minutes for each meal after being seated, I would've eaten there every meal because I thought Windjammer was thoroughly mediocre.

Entertainment on DCL was on a different level (higher!) than RCL entertainment. The shows on the Brilliance were, uh, meh. But maybe entertainment on the bigger RCL ships are more similar to DCL?

Overall, I did have a good experience with RCL (plus I had all those Amex offers! ) and I was left with a positive impression. I'm not sure that I like the several hours at port after port after port itinerary vs. staying in one location for a few nights. Just my personal travel preference, so I don't think we will be frequent cruisers in the future either... although I dream of a Galapagos cruise...

Circling back to the lack of communication/knowledge between departments, DH took the All-Access Ship Tour on the last at-sea day and learned a lot about how the ship runs and life on the ship for crew. One of the nuggets he learned was that an RCL employee typically only trains/learns about the one department they're in. They can advance and get raises in that department, but switching to another department means they have to start all over at the bottom of the ladder. So there's no incentive to cross train and gain breadth of knowledge, actually there's a disincentive to do that. That helps explain why the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. I don't know how other cruise lines compare in that regard.

 

[llachance]

I won't be doing RCL again for a variety of reasons! Too big mainly. We were on the Allure. The kids by the end of the week were ready to go back to Carnival. Me I have 3 Disney cruises and an upcoming Carnival cruise before we sail with the kids again The dining room was fine, our servers were very good. The food was ok (I didn't starve and my grandson got two grilled cheese sandwiches every night for dinner) Just too many people in a confined space for me. My husband took the ships tour as well and mentioned the same thing about the job structure. Since I knew that early on it made it easier for me to ask questions when I needed to