Customers Can No Longer Drink at The Pool

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 64

Review summary

First, I'm going to detail what the title of this review pertains to: On the first day of the cruise, that being the 15th of April 2023, within the first hour of the cruise, I ran into a problem with the staff of the cruise. It was about 1:00 PM and a dude in blue approached me and indicated that I could not have a drink in the pool, on the wood ridge surrounding the pool or even in the pool lounge chairs. I indicated that I had never heard of such a thing, and I asked to see someone higher up. So, he had a blonde girl come over and she indicated that having any type of drink at the pool, including on the ledge or in the seats at the pool was a public health issue, which I have never heard of such a thing. The Public Health Issue were her words. Following that, she had the ship's director come up and also he indicated that it was a Public Health Issue, so I asked whose Public Health Issue and they indicated the United States. Again, I have never heard of this, and I have been to many resorts and many cruises. I explained to the director that I had sailed on both the Edge and the Silhouette in the last few years and had never encountered such a problem, for which he had nothing. I asked about water, and he indicated that water was also not allowed at the pool. He did indicate that it was okay to have a drink if I were on the pool edge but facing away from the pool with my feet burning on the wood deck, which is beyond hot. I then asked the director about people peeing in the pool, as I know many of them do this, for which he made up some BS. While all of this was happening, servers were serving drinks to the people who were sitting on the deck, but they were not allowed to actually drink the drink. How beyond stupid is that? When that was all said and done, the director began to have the people working around the pool harass me, so he could obtain my room number. I saw this happening, so I avoided those people until it finally got to the point where he sent one of the servers over with free water only for that person to ask for my room card. I gave it to him as I had proved that the director had not the guts to just ask me for the room card on his own. He thought he was being sneaky, when in fact I saw the entire thing going down. Total harassment! Later I spoke to a customer who had recently sailed on the Equinox and she indicated that there was no such problem at the pool. The sign, with the rules of the pool doesn't say anything about having drinks at the pool as the wording is No Food or Glass, which is totally understandable, as glass can break. Everyone else at the pool were also shocked at such behavior by your staff and the stupid rule, if that's what it is in fact is. In closing the Ship Director, also known as the Hotel Director, totally ruined my cruise for the next seven days and the entire ordeal was totally uncalled for. Upon getting off the Apex, I immediately headed for the Royal Caribbean Odyssey of the Sea, and they had no such idiotic rule on that ship, and they are the parent of Celebrity. I filed a complaint with Celebrity but have heard nothing back from them and it's almost been a month. On a positive side, the officer who was in charge of the Buffet was on his game. He was always in the dining room making sure all was well, and he was very gracious about his job. I ended up liking the Buffet better than the Main Dining rooms as the variety was much better and the temperature of the food was always on par.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

Key West, Florida

Belize City, Belize

Cozumel, Mexico

George Town, Grand Cayman

Disembarkation

Other reviews of this sailing