Worst trip ever

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 2

Review summary

Without any doubt, this was the worst vacation of my life leaving me needing a vacation from my vacation. Where to begin…perhaps it’s best to address the main man on board. Captain Gus is the most rude, incompetent, and unprofessional person I have ever had the displeasure of speaking to. I unfortunately had several dealings with this man, none of which were of any help. Our ship had major itinerary changes that were largely at his discretion. I do not begrudge him that a Hurricane Nicole was blocking our path to the Bahamas, but in that case cancel the sailing or plan to send us south to another country like the other 5 Royal Caribbean ships did. We floated around for days doing nothing. He was asked about requesting corporate to return our port taxes as our sailing turned to all sea days, but we were rerouted to Nassau for 5 hours only to be met with rain, a dirty beach, and closed businesses all because they had just received a direct hit from Nicole. It is now my belief that we were only sent there so Royal Caribbean did not have to return our Port fees/taxes. At the Captain’s Q&A, Captain Gus was incredibly condensing with his responses to my questions and borderline racist to another passenger. He also informed us that we would be stuck at sea for an extra day because they failed to plan for the port being closed due to the Hurricane. Though it should be noted Carnival and Disney were able to return on the same day that we were originally scheduled for. On top of this we faced frequent and significantly delayed notifications of itinerary changes which prevented us from making a fully informed decision before boarding the ship. Because Royal Caribbean did not cancel the trip, travel insurance would not cover any additional changes to my itinerary which means, either I had to board the ship or incur significant financial burdens. We were not told of the first itinerary change until we arrived at port (the other Royal ships were notified the night before), we received the second itinerary change 2 hours after boarding, and the third change after we returned to the ship from the Bahamas. I am not exaggerating when I say I felt like I was being held captive. Royal Caribbean also ignored and downplayed the severity of Hurricane Nicole to passengers. On night one we faced horribly rough seas resulting in shows being cancelled because it was too dangerous for the performers. I heard numerous people complain of seasickness and it’s something that the Captain even addressed in an announcement. Several passengers had their luggage lost. The pools were horribly crowded because that is all that’s available to do when your stuck on board, they even shut down one of the pools on the last day for cleaning. The food was mediocre at best. Not up to the standards I’ve had on other ships. We also had a terrible experience with disembarking the ship as only one gangway was open and the facial recognition software for immigration was malfunctioning which resulted in significant delays with getting off the ship. I also got sick after the trip because they changed their covid policy after I booked with no option to cancel. By day 5 people were coughing all over the place. Nothing like a side of Covid, the flu, and RSV with your bland burger at the Windjammer. But the worst of it has been dealing with their horrid customer services. I have never experienced anything so frustrating. Once Royal Caribbean takes your money, they do not care what kind of experience that you have always referring to their iron clad contracts that are made to screw over the customers. I will NEVER sail with them again and will warn everyone to avoid this company like the plague. I have had to get the BBB involved to get Royal Caribbean to respond to me. I made multiple complaints while as a passenger that were largely ignored. The Cruise Director took my stateroom number and nothing happened, the customer services desk gave me misleading information twice, and I was completely ignored a third time. They also cancelled my post cruise excursion to the Kennedy Space Center which included airport transfer. When asked if they were going to assist with getting a shuttle they originally said yes and then said they would not and for me to get an Uber. Ubers were $130 plus. This trip was horrid, and the customer service is a joke. Do yourself a favor and NEVER sail with them. This is your warning.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

Nassau, Bahamas

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

Disembarkation

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