Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
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Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Reviews
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My family and I went on a 4-night cruise in Nassau, Bahamas on Navigator of the Seas during the week of Thanksgiving this year. I have been on about five cruises, four of which have been on Royal Caribbean and I am always very happy with my experience. This was a great trip as well however, the dining experience was not as great as I remembered from my past cruises. However, aside from the food, the entertainment on the ship was as great as usual. My family regularly went to the bars on the promenade in the evening for drinks and good music. Every night, there was plenty to go to including comedy shows, karaoke, parties on the pool deck and plenty of activities for small children.
On our days off the ship, we went to the Royal Caribbean owned island in Nassau, Coco Cay and had an amazing experience. There were water parks, wave pools, different beach areas, pool bars, and great service from the staff. This is a great site for families as there is plenty to do for people of all ages. On our other day off the ship, we took one of the Royal Caribbean excursions and enjoyed a nice boat tour around the island and an evening sunset cruise that had free rum punch and great tour guides!
On our day at sea, we also got massages and facials at the spa onboard. We received stellar service during our treatments and it was such a relaxing experience. On the cruise, photographers are all around and capture great moments of you and your family. So, in the end we were able to select our favorite photos and compile a photo book that was just sent to our house. The price was a good deal at about $150 to capture our experience in a high-quality book. My family and I overall had a great trip and will continue to cruise with Royal Caribbean in the future.
When my mother turned 60 I struggled with the perfect gift to give her. We decided that she would very much enjoy a family cruise to western Caribbean so I booked it with insurance and paid for it in full in January 2019. Fast forward to September 2019 and she received the devastating news that she had stage 4 lung cancer. She had a lung drain placed and has chemo and immunology every week. Doctors were worried about her ability to fight infections on such a large ship with many people from all over the world so they suggested she not go.
Now the second devastation in less then 2 months. We call the insurance and had detailed explanation of the process and submitted our paperwork. In less than 3 weeks we got back every dime we spent except the cost of insurance (which I totally understand). If I can offer anyone a piece if advice get the trip insurance for it because you never know. Thank you Royal Caribbean for making this transition a bit easier. We will definitely be back once she is well enough to travel!!!
They will usually offer all sorts of upgrades for rooms and you can bid on these which I did. Depending on your budget and level of activities you plan to participate in on the cruise a regular balcony will be sufficient but the suites are also very nice, roomy and the grand suites are excellent, with a separate partition for the bedroom and living room area and a small dining area. The bathroom for this suite was very comfortable and roomy as compared to the regular rooms as the showers in those are cramped but workable. All of the closet space has ample room for cruising unless you pack for several weeks and even then you'll still have enough room.
The one big complaint is the drink packages that we had and the availability of the soda machines were not very convenient nor were the ice cream machines. There were the main dining hall and the atrium for the ship, but this was for Mariner of the Seas. The staff on the ship was nice but do be careful if you go to the salon because they will try to sell you all sorts of overpriced products which are unnecessary. I would also be wary of the gem shops if you go to Nassau Bahamas because their "bargain price " is no bargain!

Went on 2 cruises with Royal Caribbean. Was pleasantly surprised when on our second trip, the cruise line evicted a group of 20 drunk college kids in Key West. They were making the trip unbearable for the rest of the customers. The first cruise, our ship had been recently remodeled which was nice. I had difficulty figuring out how to turn on the hot water for my shower, and it was the quickest shower ever. But we had great fun in the Bahamas and got some great souvenirs.
The 2nd trip was to Mexico. We had a good time there too. Just wish the cruise lines were more honest with the "atmosphere" in Belize outside of the port. (Very sketchy) The water was beautiful and we had a great time. Very good memories. I would recommend Royal Caribbean for the older crowd because if there is an issue, they make no qualms about putting unruly passengers off the ship. Generally speaking, Carnival cruises cater to the younger crowds, which is why we didn't choose them.

My family and I specifically chose the Empress of the Seas for its itinerary - Cozumel, Havana (overnight), and Nassau. After reading some of the reviews on Cruise Critic, I was a bit worried about sailing on this specific ship. No worries! My family and I were presently surprised at the service and how well maintained the ship was. The ship is the smallest in the NCI fleet, which was fine by us! Mega ships are overrated; being on a smaller ship makes it much easier & quicker to learn the layout of the ship and you can walk from one end to the other in 5 minutes!
Excellent dining experience in both the dining room and the Windjammer cafe! Huge selection of foods available...and quality of the food was very good to excellent. Desserts at the buffet were much better than I remember from my past experiences on NCL and Carnival. There were options for beverages at the Windjammer for those who chose not to purchase the pricey drink packages-lemonade, iced tea, fruit punch, water, and coffee. The coffee was much too strong for my taste, but it was decent. Staff on the ship couldn’t have been more helpful-from Deny (our room attendant), to our waiters in the dining room-Valento and Viny, and who can forget the hilarious activities staff who made playing trivia every day a hoot!
Our accommodation was an oceanview stateroom. Yes, the rooms are small, but how much time do you actually spend in your room!?! I don’t know about anyone else, but I go on cruises to spend time in the ports of call, on the sun decks, and at activities, not wasting away in my room!!! Past posts indicate the ship is in poor repair and musty/dirty. I can tell you that I found none of this on the Empress of the Seas. I am a neat freak so I would have definitely noticed these things! No areas of the ship were closed off due to maintenance when we sailed (as I had read in previous posts). The pool and hot tubs were well maintained and were never shut down.
Embarkation and debarkation when stopped at ports of call was quick and painless. I was a tad worried about getting sick on a cruise, given what is publicized in the media so often. The staff went above and beyond to encourage passengers to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before meals to help with the spread of germs. I can tell you as a nurse I sincerely appreciated this! Shout out to Neilbert for greeting us at the Windjammer Café multiple times a day and encouraging us to “washy washy”!!! I would definitely consider traveling on the Empress of the Seas in the future!




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I am a diamond Royal Caribbean cruiser so it pains me to do this, but beware! Their Black Friday - Cyber Monday BOGO 50% off deal was no better than the Wednesday following. They were just using marketing to create a false sense of urgency. It is the exact same thing they do with the count down ticker at the top of their website. Moral of the story looks like their prices are their prices, don't read in to any special promotions they are running. They are essentially fake. I would advise getting your drink package early rather than later as they will jack up the prices the closer it gets.
RCCL is using a deceptive email to get you to bid of an upgraded stateroom. Even though the email states "Per Guest" they will charge you the double occupancy rate (X2). This is very confusing as to why they would show pricing as "per guest." Loyalty (22 cruises) doesn't mean anything either when I tried to get my money back and my original stateroom reinstated nor did they offer me a partial refund.

I went on my first cruise with RC in July to the British Isles. Although I’m fairly sure they changed the itinerary from what it was when I first booked, I let it go. I have spent my career in the service industry and found their aspects of their customer service deplorable. We decided to explore ports on our own and had expected to be able to get information on ports from the port information desk. No help at all. If you don’t purchase one of their overpriced excursions, then they feel no obligation to help. I was also asked if I purchased the WiFi, I had not, the gentleman wouldn’t even turn the computer screen towards me, so I could see for myself. Seriously! How stingy can you be? This company charges a big price for their cruises and they continue to nickel and dime you for everything!
Our servers at dinner were fabulous but the quality of food and variety was sub par. I live in an area where the restaurants are some of the best in the world, so I tend to not go on vacation looking for a superb culinary experience. My parents are older, and I tend to indulge their wants, probably more than I should. They talked me into another cruise on RC and I’m already regretting it. When I booked the cruise, the representative told me that although they wouldn’t price match other cruise lines, they would lower our price if our cruise had a discount. Our cruise has been discounted twice and the last representative told me that they raise the prices to offer the discount, so the price I paid would be the same as the sale price!
I also got an email for a buy one get one free on drink packages. Again, although it is widely publicized that the deluxe package is $51.00 per person, they said that really they can charge on board as much as $69.00. So, the price buy one get one free, doesn’t change from what it was before the sale! Hmmm! False advertising and very shady! I can’t get out of this cruise now, since it’s already paid for. I will make the most of it, but this is the last time I will give that corrupt company a dime!

Hello. My name is Zahraa **. I would like to share my first cruise story with Royal Caribbean with you and I wish if you can share it pls. 11/18 for 4 days on Navigator of the Sea.... This is my first cruise family vacation, I paid 2000$. I had such an awful, bad Terrifying experience because when I wake up on day 4 I found bed bugs on my bed as you can see on the attached pictures. I spoke with the team on the cruise and I gave them the bugs. Same time I showed them the bug and I took pictures as Documentation. They noted everything they saw and they called the manger to see the bugs.
Also, I told them that I cant leave home without Steaming my clothes because I don’t wants to take home with my bugs or their eggs. They took our clothes to steam it. Once I received the clothes it was missing some item from our clothes. I took our Luggages and I put it in the trash because all the luggage was under the bed.... That was my first experience with Royal Caribbean #1 cruise in US. When I called the customer service, I was trying to fight with them to get my money back. They denied everything. I'm so sad because I had this bad experience with them.

I just took my very first cruise and I was a little nervous. I did the 8-day Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Empress of the Seas, one of their older and smallest ships. My experience was stellar. The cruise director and his staff were outstanding and made sure a good time was had by all. The food was delicious and the service impeccable. I was worried that I might get sick, be bored or not get any sleep. I did not get sick, I definitely wasn't bored. In fact, there were so many onboard and shore excursions, it was hard to choose. The evening entertainment was fantastic. I don't know how they interview their staff but they are all so very talented. Even the restaurant staff can sing and dance. I had an interior stateroom by choice and it was quiet and pitch black so I slept really well. My steward was very attentive and made sure I had everything I needed. I am hooked on cruising and ready to plan my next cruise.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines expert review by ConsumerAffairs
The Royal Caribbean Cruise Line was founded in 1968 and has since developed two unique destinations, Labadee and CocoCay; it also sails to numerous popular worldwide cruise destinations.
Adventure Ocean youth program: Adventure Ocean provides kid-friendly activities for babies, tweens and teens.
Flexible dining experience: Dining options range from casual dining venues to sophisticated meals in the dining hall.
Onboard casino: Gambling enthusiasts can take a seat at the Roulette table or slot machines while sailing to the next destination.
Performances: Movie fans can enjoy watching Tony award-winning performances.
Pre-sailing communication: Guests can take advantage of itinerary updates and online check-in; these updates let them know what is available to cut the wait time and when it's time to board the ship.
Best for: The Royal Caribbean liner is best for active adults and families.

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Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Company Information
- Company Name:
- Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
- Year Founded:
- 1968
- Address:
- 1080 Caribbean Way
- City:
- Miami
- State/Province:
- FL
- Postal Code:
- 33132
- Country:
- United States
- Phone:
- (866) 562-7625
- Website:
- www.royalcaribbean.com