Very unpleasant experience on EXPLORER OF THE SEAS

[sgttami]

And to those that remember several years ago....the tenders filled with people that went to Coco Cay and a storm came and the passengers were stranded there overnight since it was unsafe to sail back to the ship!!!

 

Pam

[LetsGetWet!]

And to those that remember several years ago....the tenders filled with people that went to Coco Cay and a storm came and the passengers were stranded there overnight since it was unsafe to sail back to the ship!!!

 

Pam

Honestly hadn't known that. If that has happened, then I imagine Coco Cay gets missed more often now than before that - because being stranded there overnight without proper facilities, sufficient food, bedding, etc etc - has to be a very unpleasant experience for passengers that RCI does NOT want to see repeated!

[kitt82078]

But it wasn't OP birthday. They were strangers sitting at the same table. Not part if thier family.

[Trainman-2]

As a retired Army Officer, I have a different perspective on things as I think about the conditions that our troops live in around the world these days. Some of them are lucky to get a hot meal and a shower every week or so.

 

We all want all of our cruises to be perfect!

 

In our experience, RCI consistently provides a great product at a reasonable price.

 

The world is full of rude people and we all know it. RCI has some and so do McDonald's and just about every other restaurant and business that we frequent.

 

But RCI has a process to resolve issues on a cruise and it starts at Guest Relations. I have had problems from time to time on RCI cruises and Guest relations has either resolved them or apologized when it was something that could not be fixed during our cruise.

 

From the OP's comments, it seems like 90% or more of her cruise went well.

 

Maybe she needs to re-examine her perspective!

[yj2cute]

I, too, expected something MUCH worse than these minor complaints. None of these things would turn me off to any sort of vacation.

[mo&fran]

And to those that remember several years ago....the tenders filled with people that went to Coco Cay and a storm came and the passengers were stranded there overnight since it was unsafe to sail back to the ship!!!

 

Pam

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1356836

[marci22]

My DW always has the DJ roll his eyes at her song request. Sometimes they still play the song. sometimes they don't. Most DJ's are full of themselves anyway.

 

lol this is so true.

 

I think the OP's list of slights is relatively minor.

 

If you put dirty cups near clean ones, I think I would reprimand you, too. I don't do that at home, either. That was pretty dumb.

[awhcruiser]

Maybe cruising isn't for you. Seems like you were looking for negatives from the beginning.

Hi everyone, I just went on my third cruise, 2nd time with RC and had a horrible experience. I was shocked and would love to see if someone here in the community was on the same trip and had a similar experience. I am pretty confident that this is going to be my last time working with Royal Caribbean

 

Explorer of the Seas // Embarkation Date: 02/23/14 // Port of Calls: Port Canaveral, Nassau, Cococay

 

Here are just some of the incidents:

 

1. On our first night, Sun, Feb 23 sometime between 10p and 2a in THE CHAMBER, my friend requested a Michael Jackson song from the DJ. The DJ looked at her and said, “Where the **** did you come from,” as she walked away, I watched as the DJ had a disgusted look on his face. Immediately, I try to bring this to more than one bartenders’ attention and none of them could help and were ill-prepared on how to help a guest in a situation like this.

 

2. On the morning of Fri, Feb 28th around 8:30a EST in THE WINDJAMMER at the beverage station located on the port side of the ship towards the front side of the ship a staff member was very rude to me. The person working the station that fills the cups with orange juice, apple juice, water, etc snapped at me. I had a few empty cups and rather than just leave them anywhere, I thought I was doing him a favor by politely putting my used cups in his area so he could easily dispose of them. He snapped at me and said, “DON’T PUT THOSE THERE! THOSE ARE DIRTY!” His delivery was terrible.

 

3. Another day in THE WINDJAMMER I was using the ice machine in order to fill up my gym water bottle, a staff member snapped at me and said to stop what I was doing and pointed at a sign that said I wasn’t allowed to refill water bottles. I was completely in the wrong here as I didn’t see the sign but her delivery was terrible and very rude.

 

4. Despite Royal Caribbean’s campaign to “Save the Waves,” I noticed that the ships’ decks were littered with empty cups and beer bottles. Items that I had put down nearly 2 hours earlier were still sitting there. I can remember once incident where I took it upon myself to clean up multiple items and put them on the bar, the bartender simply looked at me and had no acknowledgment whatsoever. This was on Thursday, February 27th at THE SKYBAR.

 

5. The people sitting at our dinner table were celebrating a birthday one night and the wait staff failed to bring out a birthday cake that was pre-arranged by her mother, instead, it came out 2-days later with her name misspelled.

 

6. After taking advantage of the ship’s WIFI service for just 5-short minutes I was shocked to see that I was billed more than $20, thankfully, an individual in guest services helped me by reversing the overages.

 

To top it off, we were never able to go to Cococay because the weather made tendering to the island unsafe. I understand that this is out of everyone's control but how come they don't have some sort of make-good for these situations? Perhaps go to another island? Comp people's drinks that day? Maybe some cute little apology note in your stateroom with a $10 credit for the gift shop or something?

[AmberCascades]

To me a bad cruise = Costa Concordia. Other than that, the things you are complaining about are the result of your own ill-conceived actions. The DJ being rude was unacceptable for sure, but you should have taken your complaint to guest services, not to a bartender (just out of curiosity, what did you think he would do?). Other than that, you annoyed the crew by breaking a rule on one occasion and causing extra work on two other occasions. It is hard to resist trying to be helpful, for sure, but presenting the already busy staff with a boatload of dirty dishes that they now have to deal with immediately (and god forbid a supervisor should come by and they get in trouble for dirty dishes being where they aren't supposed to be) is not fair. You are there to relax, not to tell the crew when and how to do their jobs. So you inconvenienced them, they corrected you, and you took offence. You can try another line, but I don't think you'd get away with any of that stuff on another line either. I've never sailed RCCL but this seems to be common knowledge.

[cruiserider444]

Hi everyone, I just went on my third cruise, 2nd time with RC and had a horrible experience. I was shocked and would love to see if someone here in the community was on the same trip and had a similar experience. I am pretty confident that this is going to be my last time working with Royal Caribbean

 

Explorer of the Seas // Embarkation Date: 02/23/14 // Port of Calls: Port Canaveral, Nassau, Cococay

 

Here are just some of the incidents:

 

1. On our first night, Sun, Feb 23 sometime between 10p and 2a in THE CHAMBER, my friend requested a Michael Jackson song from the DJ. The DJ looked at her and said, “Where the **** did you come from,” as she walked away, I watched as the DJ had a disgusted look on his face. Immediately, I try to bring this to more than one bartenders’ attention and none of them could help and were ill-prepared on how to help a guest in a situation like this.

 

2. On the morning of Fri, Feb 28th around 8:30a EST in THE WINDJAMMER at the beverage station located on the port side of the ship towards the front side of the ship a staff member was very rude to me. The person working the station that fills the cups with orange juice, apple juice, water, etc snapped at me. I had a few empty cups and rather than just leave them anywhere, I thought I was doing him a favor by politely putting my used cups in his area so he could easily dispose of them. He snapped at me and said, “DON’T PUT THOSE THERE! THOSE ARE DIRTY!” His delivery was terrible.

 

3. Another day in THE WINDJAMMER I was using the ice machine in order to fill up my gym water bottle, a staff member snapped at me and said to stop what I was doing and pointed at a sign that said I wasn’t allowed to refill water bottles. I was completely in the wrong here as I didn’t see the sign but her delivery was terrible and very rude.

 

4. Despite Royal Caribbean’s campaign to “Save the Waves,” I noticed that the ships’ decks were littered with empty cups and beer bottles. Items that I had put down nearly 2 hours earlier were still sitting there. I can remember once incident where I took it upon myself to clean up multiple items and put them on the bar, the bartender simply looked at me and had no acknowledgment whatsoever. This was on Thursday, February 27th at THE SKYBAR.

 

5. The people sitting at our dinner table were celebrating a birthday one night and the wait staff failed to bring out a birthday cake that was pre-arranged by her mother, instead, it came out 2-days later with her name misspelled.

 

6. After taking advantage of the ship’s WIFI service for just 5-short minutes I was shocked to see that I was billed more than $20, thankfully, an individual in guest services helped me by reversing the overages.

 

To top it off, we were never able to go to Cococay because the weather made tendering to the island unsafe. I understand that this is out of everyone's control but how come they don't have some sort of make-good for these situations? Perhaps go to another island? Comp people's drinks that day? Maybe some cute little apology note in your stateroom with a $10 credit for the gift shop or something?

 

how were the food and shows?

[PattyG12]

If you're not going to sail Royal again, what do you want them to do with your letter? Apologize? Not like you're going to get your money back.

[senrab]

Nope, it's there. I'm like 4 for 5.

 

To the OP please remember that English is a second (third, fourth or more) language for most of the staff, so their way of speaking may sound stiff or jerky, which could be interpreted as rude.

 

I'm batting 1000 on CocoCay (1 for 1). It does exist.

 

Maybe they share the lease with other cruise lines and each line only REALLY gets it once a month, and the others have to miss due to "weather" the other three weeks.

[Sherlock43031]

seems like you wasted a lot of time taking notes..

 

guess you shouldn't cruise RCI again.

 

Michael Jackson, really? was it disco night?

[AmberCascades]

Well, really. It doesn't matter if a guest requests Michael Jackson or Perry Como. The DJ doesn't have to be rude about it. But this shouldn't have ruined the OP's entire cruise. Take your complaint to the proper authorities and then let it go.

[rimmit]

I was on explorer in Feb. And must admit I was not too impressed. The service was the weakest of any cruise I have been on with royal and I have been on 10 rcl cruises and 20+ overall.

 

One time my wife went to a coke machine to refill her coke and she started to put it under the spout and the crew member standing next to the machine very rudely stopped her and said "thats what I'm here for". I realize that they were trying to prevent the apread of gi illness but the way that they said it was quite off putting. Also the waiter in the mdr by the sixth day still didnt remember that we had a small child in a high chair and everytime we had to ask for it. On any other rcl cruise after day one the rest of the cruise a high chair was waiting for us and the place setting was clear. On disney they had a high chair, cup with straw and my sons name on it even ready every day. I was not impressed. That being said, i still enjoy royal and am diamond now, just sad that the servixe has dipped so much. The bar service in the mdr was atrocious. Took 25-30 min. From the time we sat to get a coke or beer. Disnt even have my sea pass caed back bu the end of the meal to pay. Real disappointment.

[TahoeBob]

Hi everyone, I just went on my third cruise, 2nd time with RC and had a horrible experience. I was shocked and would love to see if someone here in the community was on the same trip and had a similar experience. I am pretty confident that this is going to be my last time working with Royal Caribbean

 

Explorer of the Seas // Embarkation Date: 02/23/14 // Port of Calls: Port Canaveral, Nassau, Cococay

 

Here are just some of the incidents:

 

1. On our first night, Sun, Feb 23 sometime between 10p and 2a in THE CHAMBER, my friend requested a Michael Jackson song from the DJ. The DJ looked at her and said, “Where the **** did you come from,” as she walked away, I watched as the DJ had a disgusted look on his face. Immediately, I try to bring this to more than one bartenders’ attention and none of them could help and were ill-prepared on how to help a guest in a situation like this.

 

2. On the morning of Fri, Feb 28th around 8:30a EST in THE WINDJAMMER at the beverage station located on the port side of the ship towards the front side of the ship a staff member was very rude to me. The person working the station that fills the cups with orange juice, apple juice, water, etc snapped at me. I had a few empty cups and rather than just leave them anywhere, I thought I was doing him a favor by politely putting my used cups in his area so he could easily dispose of them. He snapped at me and said, “DON’T PUT THOSE THERE! THOSE ARE DIRTY!” His delivery was terrible.

 

3. Another day in THE WINDJAMMER I was using the ice machine in order to fill up my gym water bottle, a staff member snapped at me and said to stop what I was doing and pointed at a sign that said I wasn’t allowed to refill water bottles. I was completely in the wrong here as I didn’t see the sign but her delivery was terrible and very rude.

 

4. Despite Royal Caribbean’s campaign to “Save the Waves,” I noticed that the ships’ decks were littered with empty cups and beer bottles. Items that I had put down nearly 2 hours earlier were still sitting there. I can remember once incident where I took it upon myself to clean up multiple items and put them on the bar, the bartender simply looked at me and had no acknowledgment whatsoever. This was on Thursday, February 27th at THE SKYBAR.

 

5. The people sitting at our dinner table were celebrating a birthday one night and the wait staff failed to bring out a birthday cake that was pre-arranged by her mother, instead, it came out 2-days later with her name misspelled.

 

6. After taking advantage of the ship’s WIFI service for just 5-short minutes I was shocked to see that I was billed more than $20, thankfully, an individual in guest services helped me by reversing the overages.

 

To top it off, we were never able to go to Cococay because the weather made tendering to the island unsafe. I understand that this is out of everyone's control but how come they don't have some sort of make-good for these situations? Perhaps go to another island? Comp people's drinks that day? Maybe some cute little apology note in your stateroom with a $10 credit for the gift shop or something?

Could you please tell me the next cruise you are going on so I can make sure I am not on it. Thank you

[rimmit]

In regards to cococay, i would rather have had them cancel it then go through what we went through. We tendered there, but getting back we had to turn back around mid way back to the ship cuz the seas were so rough. The tender in front of us had there life jackets distrubuted cuz they thoight they were going to capsize. I felt lucky to be able to get back to the ship eventually. The gangway fell into the water it was so rough.

 

I think they learned their lesson as we were on in feb and decided to not risk it.

[AmberCascades]

It would be disappointing to miss a port, but I'd rather be safe. I would assume that the Captain makes these decisions based on safety and not because he just doesn't feel like stopping somewhere.

[mjldvlks]

Hmmm, maybe I am being unreasonable and my expectations were too high. Note, my itemized list above is an excerption from the note I am sending RC. This is why it is so detailed. Appreciate posters' kind replies (errr, some of them?).

 

I have no doubt that RC will continue to have amazing voyages including the Explorer of the Seas. I am not complaining just to complain, I am also acknowledging things that were excellent in my note to them, for example:

 

* crew being excellent about encouraging guests to use hand sanitizers.

* Stateroom attendant, Cornelius Da Souza was A++

* Our dinner server, Ning was also A+++++

* I liked that bartenders poured a generous amount of alcohol

* The check-in process was very smooth and easy

* Entertainers: Leigh Xuereb and Andre Miller were A++++

I am sorry but if I was willing to give you the benfit of the doubt, this post moved me to the "unreasonable" column. You list 6 things that were way above expectation and then let 5 trivial things cause you to never cruise a line again? Seriously? 5 times trivial still equals trivial.

 

On another point, I have forgotten, or at least wasn't thinking, that Explorer was the noro ship. I can well understand the low level crew members being concerned to the point of paranoia about rules that ahve anything to do with sanitation. Whether we think the rules are justified or not the crew is stuck with them and who is going to catch it if there is a breach of the rules? Then keep in mind that a quick and emphatic effort to enforce the rules may be interpreted as being "snapped" at by some and as nothing by others. Why make these folks jobs any harder than they already are? They work hard for not nearly enough. I say cut them some slack.

[Ocean View]

If I may ... Slightly different experience I had a couple years back. Kinda a personal situation sorry if I offend anyone with the topic. Being about 49ish year old woman I had the monthly woman's issues. Never knew when or where I would need supplies so I packed many at all times. On the EOS i happened to need more supplies. Went to the promenade nothing to be bought on the ship. They didn't stock b4 leaving the port of Bayonne. Ok went to the medical facility nothing. Panic was setting in and I just kept getting sorry can't help you. I was actually stalking the ladies room asking passengers if I could buy some from them!!! I got no help in all the places I would have expected to. I went to the crown and anchor desk and pleaded case. Thank god the hostess was wonderful she helped me gather product from fellow workers. My cabin attendant also helped out. If not for them I would not have been able to leave my cabin. Returning home I contacted rccl upset about the lack of management skills for keeping such an important item properly stocked. With 3000. + people onboard large percentage of women and what about the possibility of all the young girls that might experience this for their first time?? I got no where with my complaints never acknowledged. I did not expect anything from them except an acknowledgement. The upper management on the ship really cared less. I still love rccl and really that was my only moment I felt livid. Because of a couple nice passengers and a couple wonderful workers my trip was saved. All is well that ends well I guess. Just bad timing.

 

 

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[PhoenixDawgCruising]

MOUNTAIN...MOLE HILL.

 

That is all.:D

[houstoncruisers2001]

If I may ... Slightly different experience I had a couple years back. Kinda a personal situation sorry if I offend anyone with the topic. Being about 49ish year old woman I had the monthly woman's issues. Never knew when or where I would need supplies so I packed many at all times. On the EOS i happened to need more supplies. Went to the promenade nothing to be bought on the ship. They didn't stock b4 leaving the port of Bayonne. Ok went to the medical facility nothing. Panic was setting in and I just kept getting sorry can't help you. I was actually stalking the ladies room asking passengers if I could buy some from them!!! I got no help in all the places I would have expected to. I went to the crown and anchor desk and pleaded case. Thank god the hostess was wonderful she helped me gather product from fellow workers. My cabin attendant also helped out. If not for them I would not have been able to leave my cabin. Returning home I contacted rccl upset about the lack of management skills for keeping such an important item properly stocked. With 3000. + people onboard large percentage of women and what about the possibility of all the young girls that might experience this for their first time?? I got no where with my complaints never acknowledged. I did not expect anything from them except an acknowledgement. The upper management on the ship really cared less. I still love rccl and really that was my only moment I felt livid. Because of a couple nice passengers and a couple wonderful workers my trip was saved. All is well that ends well I guess. Just bad timing.

 

 

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...and I just HAD to read one more post before i left the office.

[Ocean View]

Sorry

 

 

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[Trekker954]

It seems like you have very high expectations that would be better served on another line.

 

5 had nothing to do with you.

 

They fixed the wifi problem.

 

Cococay gets cancelled all the time and is mother nature's fault. Per the cruise contract they only owe you a refund of any port taxes.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

RCI pays a flat Bahamas tax for both ports, therefore you do not get a refund of taxes since Nassau is also on the itinerary.

[allie3490]

If I may ... Slightly different experience I had a couple years back. Kinda a personal situation sorry if I offend anyone with the topic. Being about 49ish year old woman I had the monthly woman's issues. Never knew when or where I would need supplies so I packed many at all times. On the EOS i happened to need more supplies. Went to the promenade nothing to be bought on the ship. They didn't stock b4 leaving the port of Bayonne. Ok went to the medical facility nothing. Panic was setting in and I just kept getting sorry can't help you. I was actually stalking the ladies room asking passengers if I could buy some from them!!! I got no help in all the places I would have expected to. I went to the crown and anchor desk and pleaded case. Thank god the hostess was wonderful she helped me gather product from fellow workers. My cabin attendant also helped out. If not for them I would not have been able to leave my cabin. Returning home I contacted rccl upset about the lack of management skills for keeping such an important item properly stocked. With 3000. + people onboard large percentage of women and what about the possibility of all the young girls that might experience this for their first time?? I got no where with my complaints never acknowledged. I did not expect anything from them except an acknowledgement. The upper management on the ship really cared less. I still love rccl and really that was my only moment I felt livid. Because of a couple nice passengers and a couple wonderful workers my trip was saved. All is well that ends well I guess. Just bad timing.

 

 

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This is hysterical. You actually complained to the cruise line citing their lack of tampons?! Omg...:p