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If you came to this site before dropping a few thousand on a cruise it will pay you to review this whole site. At the
bottom of this page are pictures we took on our cruise. Other pages on this site have lessons we learned
about cruising.
We were extremely unhappy about our Royal Caribbean experience. Getting you to the ship is a disaster, the ships
smell like smoke and there is a serious hygeine issue. Despite its name, it is definitely on the low end of cruise lines.
Don't make the mistake we made but spend some time really researching the different cruise lines.
They have had many cases of Norwalk virus (a stomach disorder that ends up with you being confined to your cabin), a
serious issue with bed bugs in some of the cabins, a number of passengers that have gone overboard, pre teens are completely
out of control (we witnessed poor security on our cruise) and if you have an issue they have a "too bad so sad" attitude
about customer service.
The employees do seem to try hard but they are very underpowered to solve problems. The Norwalk virus impacts many
aspects of ship life but inexpilicably seemly obvious sources of the problem aren't addressed. As parents of preteens
the security issues were especially troubling. The kids "nightclub" is extremely inadequate and just increases the security
issues.
Consider yourself warned. I absolutely would do more research and find another cruise line.
LATEST ROYAL CARIBBEAN NEWS
December 31, 2007
This is my last update but I will leave this site up as a warning to others. Be
sure to do your research before sending these guys a penny.
December 13, 2007
Emperess of the Seas (not)
A passenger reports there was an outbreak of gastrointstinal illness on the second day of sailing that ended
today. Per the Captain, there were 140+ effected. Very high level of cleaning and passing out of hand wipes. I have no idea
what % of the pax or crew was really involved. I was in lockdown for 2 days as 2 of 3 in my cabin had it. The ship was
on a 12 day cruise of the Southern Caribbean.
From Cruise Junkie
August 2, 2006
More bed bugs!! This from the cruise junkie website
A passenger returning from the four day cruise ending today posted a message at Cruise Critic detailing their experience with bed bugs on the ship (Stateroom 7094), and the less-than-attentive response
on the part of onboard staff. They report that when they left the ship, the room had been made up for the next passengers
and it had not been fumigated.
If you don't know what bed bugs are read more and you will see a link to pictrures of a passenger's back with bed bug
bites. Once again the Royal Caribbean hygeine issue surfaces.
July 29, 2006
Second time this year for the dreaded Norovirus on Mariner of the Seas. From the Cruise Junkie Website
For the second time this year the ship has experienced an outbreak of what appears to be norovirus.
328 of 3671 passengers (8.96%) and 6 of 1206 crew members (0.5%) reported illness. The ship returns to Port Canaveral
on Sunday from a seven day cruise in the Caribbean
July 24, 2006
Sounds like RC lost another one over the side. \
RCI issued a statement that a 22 year old woman was missing from the Voyager of the Seas, sailing in the
Mediterranean. The woman was last seen at approximately 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, when she joined her parents to sleep in
their stateroom. At that time, the ship was sailing from Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy, to Naples, Italy. She was reported
missing by her sister at approximately 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. A variety of onboard announcements and searches were immediately
carried out,without success.
May 23, 2006
Now Royal Caribbean has Typhoid!! This on the May 23 Empress of the Seas cruise. Sounds worse
than Norovirus.
CBS3 in Philadelphia reported on a case of a crew member diagnosed with typhoid fever and that "thousands of passengers may have
been exposed to the life-threatening illness." The bartender joined the ship April 29th, arriving from India, and was
taken off duty May 11th "with flu-like symptoms."
May 16, 2006
Rats, lost another passenger. Daniel Dipiero disappeared Monday from the Mariner of the Seas. At least
RC seems to be getting better at letting people know. According to CNN it only took them 8 hours to let the Coast Guard
know (long time for a passenger to have to swim). RC got a chance to demonstrate their technology since, according to
the Coast Guard, they informed the Coast Guard by email!! Good thing the Coast Guard didn't have their spam blocker turned
on.
April 16, 2006
Now Norovirus strikes Radiance of the Seas. This from Cruisejunkie.com
Passengers returning from the April 9-16 cruise report there was a norovirus outbreak during the cruise.
A letter was received midweek from the captain saying there was an outbreak and there would be increased cleaning procedures. The
ship’s crew kicked into high gear. We were served buffet items by crew members instead of self serve. I
overheard a crew member being told by his supervisor to not shake hands with anyone. Cleaning procedures
were very obvious and frequent, even to the point that use of hand sanitizers were required before and after using the rock
climbing wall.
March 8, 2006
More Royal Caribbean Norwalk virus! It's too bad so many people cruise on this line without checking
this serious issue out first. Hygeine is obviously an issue with Royal Caribbean. This time it was Grandeur of
the Seas.
From a Cruise website:
On March 8, 2006, RCI reported to the CDC that an elevated number of passengers and crew were experiencing
symptoms that were consistent with acute gastroenteritis. The predominant symptom is diarrhea amd vomiting. On March
11, the St. Petersburg Times reported that 10 crew and 106 of 2,263 (4.68%) passengers were ill. The ship was on a 5-day
cruise from Tampa to Costa Maya and Cozumel. More than 100 passengers were confined in their rooms when the ship was
in Cozumel because Mexican officials were afraid the virus would spread on land.
March 2, 2006
Another Norwalk breakout on the ship we went on, lots of sick passengers on Explorer of the Seas.
If you are planning on going on Royal Caribbean you really should be sure to find out up front what happens to you if
you get this nasty bug. Last January, both Mariner of the Seas and Enchantment of the Seas had the Norwalk virus.
With this latest hit, it looks like Royal Caribbean still has a big issue with the Norovirus. On the plus
side, Royal Caribbean has a lot of balcony cabins so if you are forced to stay in your cabin at least you can see the sea.
Thanks to Cruise Junkie for the following information:
On February 28, 2006, RCI reported to the CDC that an elevated number of Explorer of the Seas passengers
and crew were experiencing symptoms consistent with acute gastroenteritis. On March 4, the ship reported that 19 of
1184 (1.60%) crew were and 243 of 3252 (7.47%) passengers were ill. The predominant symptoms are diarrhea and vomiting.
The cruise began February 26 and ends March 5 in Miami.
From a passenger: I just got off of that cruise. About 25 out of the 60 in our group was sick. There were also a
lot more people sick than they stated. I was recovering waiting in the nurses station on Tuesday when they declared it an
epidemic and that the ship was on red alert. The last bit I had heard was that there were close to 400 cabins listed
as under a 24 hour quarantine by Wednesday. People we talked to had stopped reporting to the infirmary for fear of not
being able to disembark on any of the islands when they were feeling better.
February 19, 2006
Another few thousand unhappy RC customers likely created on Vision of the Seas today.
The cruise beginning February 19th will be delayed a day and Mazatlan is dropped as a port of call.
This is in order to repair a short circuit in the starboard propulsion motor. The problem causes the ship to travel
at slower speeds and first occurred on February 9 when the ship was maneuvering to dock in Puerto Vallarta. The ship
returned to LA from that cruise several hours late; the following cruise skipped Puerto Vallarta. Passengers on the
cruise missing Puerto Vallarta were given a $100 onboard credit; those on the shortened cruise were given a $200 onboard credit.
In both cases, passengers were given the option to cancel the cruise at the last minute and receive a full credit (not refund)
toward a future sailing.
February 6, 2006
After 8 months of emails and calls finally someone at Royal Caribbean agreed to reimburse me for all the
direct costs (about $380) we incurred during the two days we were stranded by Royal Caribbean. I remain ever hopeful
that one day someone from RC will call, admit it was their fault on the flight reservations rather than Jet Blue and offer
a reasonable settlement for our wrecked vacation.
February 2, 2006
In the leisure sector, Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the world's second-largest cruise line
behind Carnival PLC, reported a much smaller loss for the quarter thanks to a surge of bookings and lower costs (editorial
comment: Those who have traveled on RC recently probably have a good idea how they accomplished the "lower costs")
February 1, 2006
Monarch of the Seas
On Friday, 27 January, at least 10 suites on deck 10 were flooded from a broken pool pipe -- carpet had
to be replaced in rooms and in hallway; passengers given $150 each onboard credit. According to a passenger: "Huge mess!
... Loud air movers blowing all weekend. Some very pissed off passengers."
On Monday, 30 January, Captain Joern Rene Klausen (38 years old) was found dead in his cabin at 4:15 AM
before arriving in Los Angeles. Police boarded the vessel in LA and disembarkation was delayed until removal of the
body. The death appeared to be from natural cases (editorial comment: one wonders if being beaten up by an irate passenger
qualifies as natural causes on RC) ; authorities in LA will conduct an autopsy. (Source:cruisejunkie.com)
January 29, 2006
A 34 year old Colombian crew member was arrested when the ship (Legend of the Seas)arrived in Tampa for
an attempted rape of a 22 year old passenger. The incident began around 3:30 AM in the bar area where the crew member
worked -- he offered to take the passenger on a tour and led her to a dark room and pulled her in. She was able to escape.
He was held in ship's brig until the ship's return to Tampa. (Source: Cruisejunkie.com)
January 26, 2006
Today on ABC News Primetime there was a special on Marianne Carver, another passenger from a Royal Caribbean
cruise ship that disappeared. According to the story Royal Caribbean never reported the missing passenger to any authority
and just put her luggage in storage. Even more troubling, apparently, according to ABC News Primetime, the employee
responsible for her cabin was fired for talking to the family. I will be happy to post any rebuttal RC wants to make
since I know that representatives from RC do visit this website on a regular basis (last visit January 25th 8:34 for 19 minutes
34 seconds).
January 18, 2006
Today on Oprah Winfrey, Adam Goldstein, Royal Caribbean's President and Jennifer Hagen, widow of passenger
George Smith went head to head. A post on Oprah's message board sums up my view.
That viewer said "Our deepest sympathy, sadly our family as well lost a family member on a cruise and cataloged
as an accident. What was not done is nothing short of criminal. I fear we go aboard cruiseships thinking we will be safe,
we can not assume"
January 13, 2006
On our cruise the shore excursions wre, for the most part, major ripoffs but at least we didn't kill
the environment as this passenger reported.
From a passenger (in letter to Cayman Islands officials):
I visited
Grand Cayman on the Explorer of the Seas and was transported to shore via a locally operated tender. I write because
of the huge environmental disregard shown by the tender I was on (“Carib Hawk”). I stood at the back of
the boat during the trip and noticed an excessive amount of what looked to be oil being dumped into the ocean from the boat’s
motor.
January 9, 2006
Tonight on Rita Crosby Live and Direct on MSNBC Richard Fain Ceo of Royal Caribbean and his lawyer, Lanny
Davis tried to explain how they had handled the death of George Smith, a passenger who went overboard leaving his new wife
on board. I found it amazing that a publicly traded company would choose to respond in this manner, especially
since, at best, they were unconvincing. How Royal Caribbean can possibly feel having a passenger's blood shown
on national TV helps them is beyond me. Since I personally witnessed security issues on our cruise, I feel Mr. Fain would
be better served fixing the issues with security rather than attacking a widow.
December 10, 2005
Coast Guard spokesman Dana Warr said the search for Jill Begora, who disappeared as the Royal Caribbean
ship Jewel of the Sea pulled into Nassau Saturday morning December 10th from the island of Antigua, ended Sunday night.
November 26, 2005
The CDC has reported that 135 of 1592 passengers (8.48%) and 12 of 729 crew (1.65%) from the Ship
Splendour of the Seas have reported ill with symptoms consistent with norovirus. The 14 day cruise began in Barcelona
and ended November 26 in Galveston.
In care you don't know about Norovirus here is a quote from passenger Jerry Attle (cruisecritic message
board)
"This will be my last cruise on Royal.. this ship has a past history of the Norovirus(Norwalk)... I got
very ill on Monday and so did many many passengers.. Royal claims only 266 got sick,, not so try 600 plus.. and once you get
sick your confined to your room for 72 hrs and your partner or spouse will be confined for 24hrs.. there were so many people
getting sick that they had to bring another doctor on board to handle the amount of people getting sick. They tried to tell
us that a guest brought this on ship but not so.. it was already on the ship prior to boarding on sunday,, by Monday morning
the infirmery was pack out the door to the elevators.. does that sound like one person to you... I took several pictures of
the food court with the employess touching the utensiles and glasses with bare hands,, and this was on day five of the outbreak...
they didn't start cleaning the common areas until day 6, I lost out on 80% of my vacation so Royal said all who were confined
will get a lousy 42% off the NEXT cruise..after what we saw and the way they treated us I will never step foot on another
Royal in my life, My partner who has been in the food service for over 30 years was appauled at what he saw, and even confronted
the supervisor in the Windjammer and not one action was taken..I feel Royal has fail to provide a safe vacation.... read your
cruise contract very carefully... Royal is not responsibe if the food is bad.. also if anyone else who was infected there
is a legal web site,, just search Norovirus.."
A Cruise My Ten and Eleven Year Old Had Been Excited About For Months Became, In Their Words, "The Vacation From
Hell". As We Look Back, However, The 36 Hours We Spent In Airports Was Minor Compared To Others' Experiences.
Read The Page On Security If You Plan On Letting Your Kids Roam Free (Don't). A Cruise Ship is Like the Wild
West. This is an Excellent Heads Up Article, Wish We Had Seen It.
If You Like Pets, Search On Bedbugs, Cruise Ships on Google (46,100 references on November 30, 2005) or
Read About Cruise Ship Passenger Kathy's Experiences on Her Recent November, 2005 Cruise. Bring a Couple of Cans of Raid.
This Guy Wishes He Had.
In Our Case We Had Signed Up For A Combination Fly Cruise Package Only To Find That Royal Caribbean Had Never Finalized
The Flight Reservations. We Spent A Couple of Miserable Days In Transit and Still Did Not End Up On The Right Cruise.
Our Letter To Royal Caribbean's President, Adam Goldstein, Is On This Website.
If You Would Like Some Helpful Hints That May Save You From Some Of The Mistakes We Made Click On The Page "Cruise Line
Lessons Learned"
To summarize, a Royal Caribbean Cruise is a mass market product that tends to the low end. We weren't expecting
The Ritz or even Hilton but I had hoped for more than Motel 6.
If, despite our warning, you do decide to go on a Royal Caribbean cruise and have a similarly bad experience you can
write to their President, Adam Goldstein at his home address of 4321 Santa Maria St, Coral Gables FL 33176. Doing this
did get us a token $194 refund which was better than the too bad, so sad, response we got from writing to the Corporate Office.
SOME PICTURES FROM OUR CRUISE
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