The dining service and crew redeemed the disasterous embarkation. Royal Caribbean really needs to reevaluate their extra cleaning protocol and embarkation process. No one was happy dragging their luggage for 2 hours in the sun waiting in line to get on the ship to embark.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Terrible. There was a norovirus outbreak on the cruiseship prior to our embarkation. Royal Caribbean had to completely sanitize the whole ship pushing back everyone's entry time. We took the Royal Caribbean shuttle from the airport to the Port. We arrived to complete chaos at the port and a mountain of luggage at the bus drop off. A Royal Caribbean official boarded the shuttle and told us that we were on our own with our luggage, good luck and there's no porters available. They made my mom (an elderly woman in a wheelchair) and I wait 2 hours in the front of the line until got to the entry where we were located. The line snaked around for many blocks.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We had My Time dining and service was exceptional. My husband has a food allergy. We always sat in the same area because our waiter, Sixto and head waiter, Maurice coordinated together to ensure that my husband did not have any food issues during dining. Maurice would give my husband his phone to preorder the next night's meal and worked with the chef to make sure that everything was correct. Maurice even went the extra step to try to anticipate what my husband would like to eat on the nights that we were there to order. Sixto serenaded my mom on her birthday with an Elvis song and wait staff sang her happy birthday. They really went out of their way to make us have an exceptional experience.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We enjoyed the gym, rock climbing, zipping, the flow rider, the carousel, the pools and the solarium for some adult eating and lounging. There was so much to do that we did not have enough time to do everything.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We loved the ice show and aqua show. The comedy show was booked well in advance and we could not get in.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
The waiters and room stewards were excellent. Be prepared to wait in line for Vroom to get your internet package working. Guest services is inept. Had to wait in line for multiple times to fix their errors wasting a lot of time.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was very clean everywhere that we went. We like the hand washing stations and hand sanitizing upon entry to eating areas and throughout the ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our room was very clean as was the whole ship. Our steward regularly greeted us when we saw him, gave us additional towels when needed. He gave us additional baggage tags right away when guest services failed to deliver them.
Ship tip
Do not heed the de-embarkation time if you have a Royal Caribbean transfer shuttle bus. Go down asap.
We hired Go Tours to take us around the island and see San Gervasio Mayan Ruins. Our guide, Ian, was very knowledgeable about San Gervasio and the Mayan history/culture. He spoke fluent English and went out of his way to ensure that my mom got to see everything in a wheelchair.
We were on same sailing. We had The Key program and my resourceful hubby went to the door of entrance to ship boarding and was told to come right up there and we would be granted entry and luggage would be checked in. I sympathize with all who were stuck in that terrible line!
Thanks for sharing your cruise experience. Sorry that your embarkation was a tough one. It’s understandable to be frustrated. We had that happen on a cruise after the restart. Due to thoroughly having to do extra sanitizing, our embarkation was later and we didn’t find out until we were getting ready to get on the shuttle to port. We just rolled with it as we’d rather have to wait because they are doing extra sanitizing to keep us safe.
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