Was it just this one ship / worth another try?

[Coconut8473]

Just got back from a 3 night on the Independence out of PC, our first cruise with RCCL. We are 2 adults and 2 DC (8 and 12), along with another family with kids (9 and 15). While my only other cruise experiences have been with DCL, I went in having read tons of reviews, and tempered my expectations accordingly (and knew not to compare to Disney!) I'll start off with the positive so this doesn't come off as a total rant - we really did have a good time overall as a family and with our friends, and the kids all had a blast! There were several things that I was a bit put off by, and keeping me from rebooking on RCCL, but was curious if it was something specific to an older ship like Independence or maybe the fact that we were on a 3 night over a holiday weekend. Or maybe things below are just a reflection of the bigger issues post-pandemic (supply chain, labor shortages, etc.)? Would love input!

1. Main Dining. I knew from copious reviews going it that the main dining food was nothing to write home about, but it was exceptionally bad, and the staff was also so rushed and frankly short/unpleasant to us, it made the whole dining experience 10x worse. Much of the food we recognized from Windjammer, just awkwardly plated, and ironically not as fresh as the stuff in the buffet.

2. Overall cleanliness/maintenance. Our stateroom attendant rocked, and our cabin was perfectly cleaned, so no complaints there. But the rest of the ship was often littered with tons of empty glasses, beer cans and trash... fingerprints on glass doors, etc... just felt sort of grimy.

3. Activities. The big selling features for my kids like the rock wall, water slide, flowrider, archery, etc. were rarely open anytime convenient (and we stayed on board in Nassau). Our 12yo and 15yo friend did try the Escape Room one afternoon, but were put in a group with some obnoxiously drunk adults who cut jokes the whole time and took over the experience.

4. Fitness classes. The gym was fantastic, tons of great equipment, and can't beat the treadmills overlooking the water! But when I'm on vacation, I'm usually really excited when resorts offer group fitness classes (yoga, pilates, etc.) - there was only one instructor for all of the classes, and while I'm not a licensed trainer myself, I do attend a lot of classes... and it was clear to me that this person was in no way trained or certified in group fitness. Yoga wasn't actual yoga (there was zero breathing or actual poses/asanas) - just some random wonky stretches, some of which he encouraged us to use dangerous improper form, like hyperextending our knees. It was... weird. On top of that, the mats were FILTHY and tattered. Holes in them and stank like dirty feet. NO WAY worth $20 (or any money at all, frankly)

5. Spa upsell. I always get massages on trips and cruises and know there is ALWAYS an upsell at the end for the products, that it's par for the course. But my masseuse was a total ****** about it... after I politely declined two times, she asked me repeatedly and roughly "WHY NOT?!?!" It was really uncomfortable after spending $200+ (and tipping her).

Anyway, if you read this far, in spite of the above I didn't post this to be just a rant for the sake of a rant... we honestly did have a good time overall in spite of these flaws. But before we think about rebooking, wanted to see if maybe the other ships have better experiences for the above?

 

[sam_gordon]

I'll answer what I can. Just so you know my experience, I've been on Oasis, Freedom (2x), and now Mariner. So not an "expert" by any means.

Just got back from a 3 night on the Independence out of PC, our first cruise with RCCL. We are 2 adults and 2 DC (8 and 12), along with another family with kids (9 and 15). While my only other cruise experiences have been with DCL, I went in having read tons of reviews, and tempered my expectations accordingly (and knew not to compare to Disney!) I'll start off with the positive so this doesn't come off as a total rant - we really did have a good time overall as a family and with our friends, and the kids all had a blast! There were several things that I was a bit put off by, and keeping me from rebooking on RCCL, but was curious if it was something specific to an older ship like Independence or maybe the fact that we were on a 3 night over a holiday weekend. Or maybe things below are just a reflection of the bigger issues post-pandemic (supply chain, labor shortages, etc.)? Would love input!

1. Main Dining. I knew from copious reviews going it that the main dining food was nothing to write home about, but it was exceptionally bad, and the staff was also so rushed and frankly short/unpleasant to us, it made the whole dining experience 10x worse. Much of the food we recognized from Windjammer, just awkwardly plated, and ironically not as fresh as the stuff in the buffet.

Obviously this is VERY subjective. Aside from three meals on Oasis (we did the dining plan, it was our first cruise), and one on Mariner (we were off the ship), we've eaten all dinners in MDR. While I've had food that was nothing special, I've never had cold food or poor service, and had some that was VERY good (but I'm not picky either). Our waiter on Mariner gave me the impression he was new to the role, but he really did nothing wrong. Just seemed nervous and "forced".

2. Overall cleanliness/maintenance. Our stateroom attendant rocked, and our cabin was perfectly cleaned, so no complaints there. But the rest of the ship was often littered with tons of empty glasses, beer cans and trash... fingerprints on glass doors, etc... just felt sort of grimy.

Never had that problem. While I would occasionally see a glass or two sitting out, for the most part the crew was right on top of things. It's possible (maybe not likely, but possible) the trash and mess you saw happened shortly after you came upon it and a crew member just hadn't gone by yet. I wonder if they were short crew members (could also explain the staff issues you had in the MDR.

3. Activities. The big selling features for my kids like the rock wall, water slide, flowrider, archery, etc. were rarely open anytime convenient (and we stayed on board in Nassau). Our 12yo and 15yo friend did try the Escape Room one afternoon, but were put in a group with some obnoxiously drunk adults who cut jokes the whole time and took over the experience.

We couldn't get in the Escape Room on Mariner because it was halfway through the cruise before we figured out how to sign up for it and of course it was completely booked. I don't think they had enough times for the Escape Room, but there could be other reasons for that. We didn't do the rock wall this time, but one of our Freedom cruises, DD spent a LOT of time on it. There were some activities the kids wanted to do that were scheduled for the same time as our dinner, so we couldn't participate, but IMO, that's the luck of the draw.

4. Fitness classes. The gym was fantastic, tons of great equipment, and can't beat the treadmills overlooking the water! But when I'm on vacation, I'm usually really excited when resorts offer group fitness classes (yoga, pilates, etc.) - there was only one instructor for all of the classes, and while I'm not a licensed trainer myself, I do attend a lot of classes... and it was clear to me that this person was in no way trained or certified in group fitness. Yoga wasn't actual yoga (there was zero breathing or actual poses/asanas) - just some random wonky stretches, some of which he encouraged us to use dangerous improper form, like hyperextending our knees. It was... weird. On top of that, the mats were FILTHY and tattered. Holes in them and stank like dirty feet. NO WAY worth $20 (or any money at all, frankly)

5. Spa upsell. I always get massages on trips and cruises and know there is ALWAYS an upsell at the end for the products, that it's par for the course. But my masseuse was a total ****** about it... after I politely declined two times, she asked me repeatedly and roughly "WHY NOT?!?!" It was really uncomfortable after spending $200+ (and tipping her).

Can't help you much on either of those. DW & I did do a spa treatment on our Oasis trip (in 2013), but I don't remember a huge upsell. I hope you pointed out the issues (both with the fitness class and the hard upsell) to someone before you got off the ship.

Anyway, if you read this far, in spite of the above I didn't post this to be just a rant for the sake of a rant... we honestly did have a good time overall in spite of these flaws. But before we think about rebooking, wanted to see if maybe the other ships have better experiences for the above?

It's also possible with a three day cruise, the guests were more in a "party" mood and not as considerate to the staff and other guests. That's not an excuse for staff being rude to you, just wanted to point it out.

Personally, based on your description, I would give RCI another chance IF I found an itinerary I liked at a price I liked. But there are plenty of other cruise lines also.

 

[Hunnybee]

We were on our first RC cruise in June on Allure of the Seas. We LOVED it! (And have 2 more booked already!!!) While we always did DCL as the kids were growing up, we just couldn't justify paying 3 times the price for a DCL cruise for my daughter's high school graduation trip. We were worried too about how it would compare. And, we were SO pleased! We had a great experience in the MD. We thought the food was EXCELLENT and LOVED our waiter and assistant waiter. We did the 5:15 time. We were absolutely shocked at the people in line for the My Time Dining when we'd leave. We would not do My Time looking at those lines. We also were impressed with the cleanliness of everything ... no complaints (loved our stateroom attendant!)! We didn't do any of the kids' activities or fitness classes so I can't speak to those. But, overall, I would say we were very pleasantly surprised with our experience on Royal Caribbean.

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience!! We are on the Ovation of the Seas in May for an Alaskan cruise and Adventure of the Seas for Eastern Caribbean in 2024. I'm hoping we don't regret going on those!

 

[DizneyNutz]

Just got back from a 3 night on the Independence out of PC, our first cruise with RCCL. We are 2 adults and 2 DC (8 and 12), along with another family with kids (9 and 15). While my only other cruise experiences have been with DCL, I went in having read tons of reviews, and tempered my expectations accordingly (and knew not to compare to Disney!) I'll start off with the positive so this doesn't come off as a total rant - we really did have a good time overall as a family and with our friends, and the kids all had a blast! There were several things that I was a bit put off by, and keeping me from rebooking on RCCL, but was curious if it was something specific to an older ship like Independence or maybe the fact that we were on a 3 night over a holiday weekend. Or maybe things below are just a reflection of the bigger issues post-pandemic (supply chain, labor shortages, etc.)? Would love input!

1. Main Dining. I knew from copious reviews going it that the main dining food was nothing to write home about, but it was exceptionally bad, and the staff was also so rushed and frankly short/unpleasant to us, it made the whole dining experience 10x worse. Much of the food we recognized from Windjammer, just awkwardly plated, and ironically not as fresh as the stuff in the buffet.

2. Overall cleanliness/maintenance. Our stateroom attendant rocked, and our cabin was perfectly cleaned, so no complaints there. But the rest of the ship was often littered with tons of empty glasses, beer cans and trash... fingerprints on glass doors, etc... just felt sort of grimy.

3. Activities. The big selling features for my kids like the rock wall, water slide, flowrider, archery, etc. were rarely open anytime convenient (and we stayed on board in Nassau). Our 12yo and 15yo friend did try the Escape Room one afternoon, but were put in a group with some obnoxiously drunk adults who cut jokes the whole time and took over the experience.

4. Fitness classes. The gym was fantastic, tons of great equipment, and can't beat the treadmills overlooking the water! But when I'm on vacation, I'm usually really excited when resorts offer group fitness classes (yoga, pilates, etc.) - there was only one instructor for all of the classes, and while I'm not a licensed trainer myself, I do attend a lot of classes... and it was clear to me that this person was in no way trained or certified in group fitness. Yoga wasn't actual yoga (there was zero breathing or actual poses/asanas) - just some random wonky stretches, some of which he encouraged us to use dangerous improper form, like hyperextending our knees. It was... weird. On top of that, the mats were FILTHY and tattered. Holes in them and stank like dirty feet. NO WAY worth $20 (or any money at all, frankly)

5. Spa upsell. I always get massages on trips and cruises and know there is ALWAYS an upsell at the end for the products, that it's par for the course. But my masseuse was a total ****** about it... after I politely declined two times, she asked me repeatedly and roughly "WHY NOT?!?!" It was really uncomfortable after spending $200+ (and tipping her).

Anyway, if you read this far, in spite of the above I didn't post this to be just a rant for the sake of a rant... we honestly did have a good time overall in spite of these flaws. But before we think about rebooking, wanted to see if maybe the other ships have better experiences for the above?

Like you, we cruised DCL prior to trying RCL. we cruised 8 with Disney then decided to give one of the RCL Oasis Class (large) ships a try. We now have 130 Crown and Anchor points. 1 point per night cruising or 2 points in a suite. We prefer the large ships but have cruised on many of the others also. We have been on the INDY twice. This past May and July. As of late we have been doing the Unlimited Dining Plan just because we enjoy the different venues, so I can't speak to the MDR issues you experienced. But little factors do lead me to believe they are currently under staffed after the return from Covid. We are going back on the INDY on Halloween Day with some friends, but again doing the Unlimited Dining. I believe your teens would love one of the Oasis class ships. Happy Cruising

 

[Frozen2014]

I love Royal so am a bit biased but can give some comments. Your experience may be part of that it was a shorter cruise. I've been on Independence as well as the Oasis and Voyager class.

1. Main Dining Room - We've always had exceptional service so am surprised to hear the staff was unpleasant. They may be rushed as they are under a lot of pressure but the timing for us was fine. We also enjoy the food but everyone is different there. Maybe if you go again, you want to try one of the specialty places for a meal or two if it's in your budget.

2 - Cleanliness - Never had an issue here.

3. Activities - You may want to give Oasis class a try (anyone but Allure). They have additional things like zipline, dry slide (tons of fun). I'm surprised that you were placed with obnoxious adults for the escape room. They should do better with matching groups.

4/5 - Fitness/Spa - Can't talk much about the fitness room but I do agree with the upsell. I used to enjoy going to health seminars. Last time there was one about feet issues (as I have issues there) so thought it would be interesting. DH warned it was just a session to sell something and sure enough he was right. Same thing for some other healthy related seminars where they started to sell some vitamin. I just learn to ignore it and never pressured to buy.

If you do give Royal a chance again, I'd recommend Oasis or Quantum class. The shows are phenomenal, more food choices and just a great experience. Independence is a very good ship though so maybe you just had a bad experience.

 

[sam_gordon]

3. Activities - You may want to give Oasis class a try (anyone but Allure). They have additional things like zipline, dry slide (tons of fun). I'm surprised that you were placed with obnoxious adults for the escape room. They should do better with matching groups.

Since there are limited slots, how would they "do better"?

 

[Frozen2014]

Since there are limited slots, how would they "do better"?

Not sure. I don't work for Royal.
Was just sympathizing with OP and I would be upset too.

 

[Coconut8473]

Thank you all - I absolutely HATE posting rants (especially since all in all we really did enjoy our trip), but before investing $$ in another cruise, just wanted to make sure those gripes were anomalies. Going to def check out Oasis (and invest in Unlimited Dining!) based on the recos!

 

[peacefrogdog]

Just got back from a 3 night on the Independence out of PC, our first cruise with RCCL. We are 2 adults and 2 DC (8 and 12), along with another family with kids (9 and 15). While my only other cruise experiences have been with DCL, I went in having read tons of reviews, and tempered my expectations accordingly (and knew not to compare to Disney!) I'll start off with the positive so this doesn't come off as a total rant - we really did have a good time overall as a family and with our friends, and the kids all had a blast! There were several things that I was a bit put off by, and keeping me from rebooking on RCCL, but was curious if it was something specific to an older ship like Independence or maybe the fact that we were on a 3 night over a holiday weekend. Or maybe things below are just a reflection of the bigger issues post-pandemic (supply chain, labor shortages, etc.)? Would love input!

1. Main Dining. I knew from copious reviews going it that the main dining food was nothing to write home about, but it was exceptionally bad, and the staff was also so rushed and frankly short/unpleasant to us, it made the whole dining experience 10x worse. Much of the food we recognized from Windjammer, just awkwardly plated, and ironically not as fresh as the stuff in the buffet.

2. Overall cleanliness/maintenance. Our stateroom attendant rocked, and our cabin was perfectly cleaned, so no complaints there. But the rest of the ship was often littered with tons of empty glasses, beer cans and trash... fingerprints on glass doors, etc... just felt sort of grimy.

3. Activities. The big selling features for my kids like the rock wall, water slide, flowrider, archery, etc. were rarely open anytime convenient (and we stayed on board in Nassau). Our 12yo and 15yo friend did try the Escape Room one afternoon, but were put in a group with some obnoxiously drunk adults who cut jokes the whole time and took over the experience.

4. Fitness classes. The gym was fantastic, tons of great equipment, and can't beat the treadmills overlooking the water! But when I'm on vacation, I'm usually really excited when resorts offer group fitness classes (yoga, pilates, etc.) - there was only one instructor for all of the classes, and while I'm not a licensed trainer myself, I do attend a lot of classes... and it was clear to me that this person was in no way trained or certified in group fitness. Yoga wasn't actual yoga (there was zero breathing or actual poses/asanas) - just some random wonky stretches, some of which he encouraged us to use dangerous improper form, like hyperextending our knees. It was... weird. On top of that, the mats were FILTHY and tattered. Holes in them and stank like dirty feet. NO WAY worth $20 (or any money at all, frankly)

5. Spa upsell. I always get massages on trips and cruises and know there is ALWAYS an upsell at the end for the products, that it's par for the course. But my masseuse was a total ****** about it... after I politely declined two times, she asked me repeatedly and roughly "WHY NOT?!?!" It was really uncomfortable after spending $200+ (and tipping her).

Anyway, if you read this far, in spite of the above I didn't post this to be just a rant for the sake of a rant... we honestly did have a good time overall in spite of these flaws. But before we think about rebooking, wanted to see if maybe the other ships have better experiences for the above?

I'm also a RC cruiser (Explorer, Freedom, Allure, Oasis, Harmony, Anthem and most recently Mariner). Have done two on DCL for comparison.

1. MDR - I've noticed a drop off in quality from my first first cruise 20 years ago to current (although some may be that I was a poor student 20 years ago, so all food that I didn't have to cook tasted good). Having said that, we are now in our mid 40s and recently did a Mariner cruise. We found the MDR food to be excellent, meaning that we would have been happy paying for something of that quality at a restaurant at home. One night was the exception in which the beef stroganoff food was akin to what I would cook using HelloFresh, the warm seafood tart appetizer was lukewarm. Later we saw that the exact same food was being served in Windjammer. I can't rationalize that.

2. Cleanliness : didn't notice any concerns on our recent cruise. However I did not notice it when we did Harmony and it was brand new. Rumor was they didn't have enough staff and/or they weren't trained well so everything seemed a bit off for that larger ship. But my experiences on Oasis and Allure were fine in this regard.

3. Activiities: When cruising with our kids, we never perceived issues with timing, although we based our schedule on when we saw those venues were open. I'm curious by what you consider to be convenient times as I wonder (based on your report) whether they have changed or restricted the open times for those activities. Sorry to hear about the Escape room - that sucks. The one and only time we did the Escape room our group was around 12-15 - was hard to work as one large group but there was so much to solve that it ended up being smaller groups doing different parts of the room. But I can see how the drunk people would ruin it for others.

4. Fitness classes: haven't looked to do classes, but in all honesty based on what I saw being held, I can see how what they offer would not be to the degree of quality as one would expect at home especially for someone who does classes . Sounds like they cater the yoga to people who don't normally do it like me. I probably wouldn't know what is and is not real yoga.

5. Spa: haven't done anything there for a while, but last time in 2014 I didn't have that pressure. I would not be surprised if the workers there, who get commissions I assume for selling products, have felt financial pressure. I recall ticking off a box to indicate I didn't want to discuss products on one cruise - can't recall however if it was RC or DCL.

You may want to try something like Celebrity - I haven't done it myself but from what I hear it may offer higher end experiences (although less of the activities your kids seemed to enjoy)

 

[peacefrogdog]

Since there are limited slots, how would they "do better"?

Agree . No way to group people. They just accept the first whatever-the-cap is.

However, like for all other places on the ship, if the drunk people were CLEARLY so when entering, it would have been nice if the person checking them in could have the right to refuse entry. Or at least there should be something when you register indicate this. I'm sure they don't want intoxicated people breaking anything in the room, or misplacing objects or puking anywhere.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wonder if the ship could offer private and shared escape room experiences? This is common with the business. Private depending on the room may have either a minimum number of people or age requirement or both.

 

[peacefrogdog]

I love Royal so am a bit biased but can give some comments. Your experience may be part of that it was a shorter cruise. I've been on Independence as well as the Oasis and Voyager class.

1. Main Dining Room - We've always had exceptional service so am surprised to hear the staff was unpleasant. They may be rushed as they are under a lot of pressure but the timing for us was fine. We also enjoy the food but everyone is different there. Maybe if you go again, you want to try one of the specialty places for a meal or two if it's in your budget.

2 - Cleanliness - Never had an issue here.

3. Activities - You may want to give Oasis class a try (anyone but Allure). They have additional things like zipline, dry slide (tons of fun). I'm surprised that you were placed with obnoxious adults for the escape room. They should do better with matching groups.

4/5 - Fitness/Spa - Can't talk much about the fitness room but I do agree with the upsell. I used to enjoy going to health seminars. Last time there was one about feet issues (as I have issues there) so thought it would be interesting. DH warned it was just a session to sell something and sure enough he was right. Same thing for some other healthy related seminars where they started to sell some vitamin. I just learn to ignore it and never pressured to buy.

If you do give Royal a chance again, I'd recommend Oasis or Quantum class. The shows are phenomenal, more food choices and just a great experience. Independence is a very good ship though so maybe you just had a bad experience.

Can't argue against Oasis or Quantum.

I would suggest Mariner. It seems to be regularly mentioned as people's favorite (if you read RCblog dot com it gets mentioned a lot). I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it recently after having done the larger ships before. It has recently had its revamp, so it has new water slides, has one flowrider, the rockwall, Laser tag, ice skating and the virtual bungee/trampoline thing (although I don't think they do the virtual thing anymore, maybe for hygiene reasons?) .

It seems to be very well organized such that it is very clean and orderly. I wonder whether the smaller crowds (vs larger ships) helps. If you've done Oasis class before, you'll notice that is Promenade is smaller but not to any extent where it affected experiences. It has most of the specialty restaurants (Chops, Izumi, Jamie's).

 

[peacefrogdog]

Wonder if the ship could offer private and shared escape room experiences? This is common with the business. Private depending on the room may have either a minimum number of people or age requirement or both.

My guess is no, unless you're willing to buy up every slot. Or they would charge a bundle for a private session.
I suspect OP's escape room experience was a total anomaly. Unfortunately we can't eliminate jerkdom from the world, let alone on a cruise ship where alcohol fuels it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My guess is no, unless you're willing to buy up every slot. Or they would charge a bundle for a private session.
I suspect OP's escape room experience was a total anomaly. Unfortunately we can't eliminate jerkdom from the world, let alone on a cruise ship where alcohol fuels it.

Not all companies do it but there are ones where they offer either private ones or shared ones.

One of the main ones in our area the price is dependent on the number of people you book. You book a time slot and they don't add anyone else into that once booked.

The other big one that we've also done they don't offer private and just show you how many slots are available for a given time slot for a given room. But it's a flat rate regardless of how many people you do since it's not private.

Looking at those two companies a private room at the company that offers it is less than a shared room at the other company when you have 4 people for example. However if you go on the weekends you're saving a bit of money by doing a private room even if you only have 2 people because of minimum guest or charge for that other company due to in demand weekend times.

I agree about shared aspect and can't control who is in it. They don't pair you with anyone or at least none of the escape rooms I've ever been to or heard of do that but there may be ones out there that do.

However if the cruise offered a private time slots it can at least give passengers a choice. Minimum age may still be a requirement which is often about the difficulty of the escape room than anything same as minimum players.

TBH I wouldn't call their experience an anomaly with exception to the drunkenness part. We've done shared escape rooms where the people were pushy, controlling and ignored other players basically playing for themselves (ironically given the teamwork aspect) but then we've had escape room experiences with people who were great helping out. Just about all of the people we know who have done them have had great and not so great experiences. Sorta like how if you're on Smuggler's Run ride if you get a bad or good pilot your ride experience can be quite different. But I do think it's good to keep in mind for the OP or anyone else looking to book that this is sorta a normal part of the escape room experience when it's shared. Sometimes it's really good strangers other times not.

 

[peacefrogdog]

Not all companies do it but there are ones where they offer either private ones or shared ones.

One of the main ones in our area the price is dependent on the number of people you book. You book a time slot and they don't add anyone else into that once booked.

The other big one that we've also done they don't offer private and just show you how many slots are available for a given time slot for a given room. But it's a flat rate regardless of how many people you do since it's not private.

Looking at those two companies a private room at the company that offers it is less than a shared room at the other company when you have 4 people for example. However if you go on the weekends you're saving a bit of money by doing a private room even if you only have 2 people because of minimum guest or charge for that other company due to in demand weekend times.

I agree about shared aspect and can't control who is in it. They don't pair you with anyone or at least none of the escape rooms I've ever been to or heard of do that but there may be ones out there that do.

However if the cruise offered a private time slots it can at least give passengers a choice. Minimum age may still be a requirement which is often about the difficulty of the escape room than anything same as minimum players.

TBH I wouldn't call their experience an anomaly with exception to the drunkenness part. We've done shared escape rooms where the people were pushy, controlling and ignored other players basically playing for themselves (ironically given the teamwork aspect) but then we've had escape room experiences with people who were great helping out. Just about all of the people we know who have done them have had great and not so great experiences. Sorta like how if you're on Smuggler's Run ride if you get a bad or good pilot your ride experience can be quite different. But I do think it's good to keep in mind for the OP or anyone else looking to book that this is sorta a normal part of the escape room experience when it's shared. Sometimes it's really good strangers other times not.

In every escape room I've done, there's always at least one alpha per group. So I can totally see that if a bunch of groups are combined how it would be a problem. I guess I was lucky with ours - there were maybe 3 alpha-types there (I was one of them I think!) but I'd like to think we/they were willing to give up a bit or got more involved in certain aspects of the room knowing others would work on the other parts.

 

[ScooterScott44]

Thank you all - I absolutely HATE posting rants (especially since all in all we really did enjoy our trip), but before investing $$ in another cruise, just wanted to make sure those gripes were anomalies. Going to def check out Oasis (and invest in Unlimited Dining!) based on the recos!

@Coconut8473 glad to hear that you are open to another try. After reading your first post, it seems that the majority of the "issues" were probably around a few specific circumstances. The biggest impact was likely due to being a short, weekend (and holiday weekend?) cruise. The feeling/vibe was likely impacted by high demand and the guest mix you encountered specific to the weekend crowd. The other thing is Royal has hired 10,000 crew. Some of the new team are still in the learning curve for meeting the standards.

Not making excuses, just being realistic. We have been platinum with DCL for a number of years and are about to hit Diamond on Royal. Both lines are actually more similar than many on the boards will admit. There are positives and negatives to each and having some knowledge about what you like and which ships, itinerary, strategies, etc will benefit your planning and experience will go a lone.

Good luck with your next cruise!

 

[Coconut8473]

You may want to try something like Celebrity - I haven't done it myself but from what I hear it may offer higher end experiences (although less of the activities your kids seemed to enjoy)

Thank you! It's funny, because re-reading my original post now, I see how it might be construed as my seeking something more elite or high-end (and true, I'd LOVE to try Celebrity some day for the food, sans kids tho ), but ironically we actually really enjoyed things like the Windjammer food (and loved the buffet and food options at Coco Cay too!) I think it was more the disconnect of the whole white tablecloth/dress up formality of the MDR paired with food that was really lackluster for that environment (and our particular servers who were rushed/gruff) that turned me off. But definitely willing to give it another try on another sailing on some of the ships you mentioned having a good experience on.

And a great point you bring up about fitness classes onboard that I should clarify: the yoga classes I attend in daily life are typically open to all levels, ages and physical abilities (including free classes at a community center) - I assumed a mixed-level class on a cruise ship where there may be beginners would be something similar (like classes I've done on vacations at all-inclusives, resorts and even at Disney Yacht/Beach Club back pre-covid, which are many folks' first experience with yoga.) The big turn-off for me was this instructor encouraging some really dangerous physical movements and it not being an actual intro to the practice advertised - and charging a fee for it! The thought of a beginner trying out this class on vacation and being turned off from future yoga practice (or worse - injured due to the instructor's carelessness) was the real bummer to me.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Our RCCL cruises have never had any issue with cleanliness. We typically do specialty dining most nights and greatly enjoy it. Main dining has never been replayed anything in our experience tho. We had great service and
Food was fine.
I do think that holiday, shorter cruises tend to be more …
Busy/more rushed and less User friendly at times. We enjoy the Larger ships versus the older smaller ones. Someone mentioned negative on Allure. We had a group of 18 family with ages from toddler to grandparents and Everyone had a blast. It was not a short cruise tho so I do think that duration Is a factor.
Whatever u choose for ur next cruise, hope it’s a safe n Fun One!!

 

[Annabell]

Maybe you can try a longer cruise next time.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

We are likely going on this ship for a 4 night cruise in June with my daughters dance studio (she will get to dance on stage in the theater), but I am so nervous about it since we have only done Disney.