I will not cruise again with RCL . Between 1980 and 1999 I had cruised with them exclusively for 23 sailings. Because RCL is not handicap friendly and the food was so subpar I will be looking to other CruiseDeals on other lines. Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas was not worth the money or time invested.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Embarkation was smooth but they didn’t have the wheelchair assist that I had requested
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
The food was exceptionally bad. I am no chef but the food on this cruise was so disgusting that I lost weight . The late seating has dried out heat light leftover vets from early seating and the food in the windjammer was more like yesterdays leftovers from last week. If you like convention food this may be palatable for some. I noticed after the first night that our table was empty for the exception of our party of two. The food was not seasoned at all and my friend ( her first time ever on a cruise) said everything seemed to be watered down. The vegetables were watery and limpy, the steak was so full of gristle we could not cut it despite it being so thin that my sheepskin insoles were thicker than the steak. The pasta white sauce was more like a rue without using butter meaning it was watery and no flavor . The consistency was that of soup instead of a sauce. The soups were definitely watered down to stretch the servings and the chicken was rubbery like banquet chicken at a really bad or cheap conference. Everything was reheated and reused instead of fresh. I thought a wedge of salad was safe but no, it was yellow all the way from core to the leafy part tasting bitter and chewy. Literally my friend and I would taste a bite then push the plate away. What in the world happen to RCL food? We went to the windjammer and tried a small portion of whatever we found which was the exact same menu for the whole 7 night cruise with definitely over cooked and over reheated nuggets of impossible to eat rocks. The soup in the windjammer was water added to stretch the only thing constantly decent was pasta bow ties with tomato sauce made with their pithy tomatoes. The potatoes mashed were gluey and the baked potatoes were getting drier and drier as the week progressed. It seemed that they must not have received a fresh shipment of food for our cruise that started on January 19 and thankfully ended January 26.
Main Dining Room
1 out of 5
Food was over cooked and lacking quality. Everything seemed to have set under heat lamps since first seating at 5:30 pm to 8 pm. The food was definitely inedible.
Windjammer Marketplace
3 out of 5
Lack of variety and difficult to find what one had hoped for.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Perfume Shop
2 out of 5
The perfume shop lacked variety. I had hoped to find more perfumes from France and the selection was the same as found in a Macys department store. Boring.
Casino Royale
1 out of 5
They only had 5 video poker machines and they were busy the whole time. The new type of slots are not geared for thoughtful play. They may as well have a wishing well that one could throw a hundred dollar bill into and get the same fun as their new slot machines. THEY NEED TO BRING BACK VIDEO POKER!
To Dry For
1 out of 5
One of the attendants was hitting on my male friend and it was really annoying. Why do men seem to be so aggressive with other men?
Entertainment
They did not have a disability friendly ship and i person found it very difficult to get from one place to the other.
Royal Theater
1 out of 5
Royal theater was not handicap friendly. I had a hard time getting to the venue and when I got there it was impossible to find an accessible area.
Children's Programs
I did not have children but those who did let them run around and trip us older passengers. The children were I’ll behaved and the parents were letting them act like Ferrel cats.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Ronaldo was our waiter in the main dining room. His service was impeccable even though we only went to the dining room twice due to the disgusting dishes he had the option of grabbing. Ronaldo offered to get us other food but we knew the choices were slim to nothing and wouldn’t want to take away from the next days buffet options.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was beautiful and very very clean. Our balcony room was larger than the balcony rooms on NCL and Celebrity and Holland America lines. I must admit that I spent 60% of my time in the balcony room because it was so glorious to sit on the balcony and watch the whales in Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. The glass on the railing was clean so we could see through it as we relaxed and the room was spotless. Our room Steward, Basile was amazing and we left him an extra sizable tip at the end along with our prepaid gratuity. It would have been nice to have a usb outlet near the two beds but we were prepared with cruise ship approved extra power strip and extra long charging cables. The ship was so beautiful and so clean. I still took my own rubber gloves to serve myself in the windjammer because everyone uses the same utensil to grab food and I have found it to be the safest way to not get sick from a ship is to not touch the same ladles as the thousand plus passengers.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The size of the cabin was at least 1/3 larger than competitors and the cleanliness was impeccable. We still never used the two glass water cups as we never saw clean ones on the cart so we did not know what was used to clean them and with what towels or dishwashing liquid. We assumed they were wiped out with our own dirty towels. We only used our own 40ounce tumblers and we brought our own dishwashing liquid pre dried on sponges brought from home. The beds were comfortable and the pillows were heavenly. I highly recommend the balcony suites .
Ship tip
Bring your own food and know in advance that disabled will wait in lines with everyone else and because of being disabled prepare to not being able to get on the lift until the people that are able bodied desire to be kind. Prepare to get passed over by ship personnel and they won’t bring a wheelchair assist for getting on or off the ship so be prepared to sit in line a lot and having everyone go past you and say nasty things. Prepare to handle your own luggage and do not ever expect help of any kind because the people that work on this cruise ship seem to be over their jobs. Prepare to have to defend your action of sitting down when leaving the ship as the crew will bark at you to get up and keep moving. Don’t allow them To bully you! No ship is worth a fall or worse a heart attack because of snapping crew members. .
Dirty little town with the taxi cab drivers masters at manipulation. I will go back on this itinerary with another cruise ship line and stay on board for this port.
Clean and beautiful. It was a very very long walk to get to the taxis with no where to sit so I sat on the ground between the ship and taxi area. The people in this port were nice and their products they sold were top notch but do be prepared to haggle a bit. My friend purchased a blanket for $50.00 but the original price started at $150.00 so look around and be prepared .
Something was wrong with one of the doors on floor 4 so the lines snaked around with very very very long lines. As a disabled bodied person I needed to sit down quite a few times and the crew kept telling me to move. I had requested a wheelchair assist on and off the ship as my injuries are neck and lower back that I had recently had surgery. After six surgeries to repair fractured lower spine and cervical spine in 2023 I am simply unable to walk easily for long periods of time. It took us two hours to get off the ship because of my inability to keep up with able bodied people my age and younger.
Sailed on this ship last month (Dec 11th) and didn’t experience any of this. Sounds like something along the way pissed you off and you let it ruin ur whole cruise.
I don't think food was reheated and reserved. That's a pretty bold statement. Were you upset with something else, maybe? I sure wish you could try another cruise on another cruiseline. Things might be different for you. Good luck.
I can’t comment on the state of handicap support offered or not on RC but your comments on the food are over exaggerated at best. You should switch to Holland America as they are the best for support for handicapped passengers and their food is top notch. Also if you stay away from school holidays and Christmas cruising you will not have your deal with unruly children.
I agree that you are entitled to feel some type of way based on experience, but when you wrote you were disappointed in the windjammer because they didn’t have what you hoped for, I think that is unfair. How would th
Try Norwegian cruise lines
I have notice you get more bang for your buck with them
On a 7 day cruise you always have 4 port stops but on RCL and carnival I see they only offer 3 port stops
Plus the food is rated much better on Norwegian and they always allow handicapped access to board the ship first and then priority and then by group numbers ALWAYS
I have always been treated with respect on all Norwegian cruises
Try it I think you will see a big difference in my opinion
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