So many negatives just made this a trip to forget...
Written: Feb 29 '04 (Updated Mar 04 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great cabin steward; attentive room service staff; great room (suite)
Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE! My suitcase had a better vacation!
The Bottom Line: Just not a positive experience for me.
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| briandalsmom's Full Review: Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas |
Now I wanted to love this cruise. I tried really hard. I kept reminding myself that it was less expensive than going on Disney again because of the cross-country airfare and the extra day of travel each way (read how great it was http://www.epinions.com/content_88126164612). This was a special trip—just my mom and I, and we’d splurged to get a cabin with a veranda. I searched Epinions and several other sites to check out the Cruise Line, the ship, and the trip. All of them came back with somewhat mixed results, but I figured that the bad reviews were when the ship first re-launched so surely they have fixed the problems…boy, was I wrong!
We picked the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas because we wanted to reserve four weeks before our trip, which is difficult to do with cruise lines when you need airfare. We also wanted to cruise from the west coast of the US to save us time and airfare as we live in Washington State.
We went with Royal Caribbean and booked through Yahoo Travel for a 5 day, 4-night cruise originating from San Pedro, California and traveling to San Diego, Catalina, and Ensenada, Mexico. We arrived via the air transportation arranged by the cruise line and found the cruise line representative (actually Greyhound) near the baggage claim area. Two rather chatty retirees working for Greyhound for the cruise benefits told us their life stories while we waited for the bus that was to take us to the port. For some reason, the women expected the bus “any minute” and kept rounding up us guests only to be told, “it’s not here, have a seat.” Still, sitting with them for almost an hour (it was supposed to be less than a 30-minute wait) I learned a lot about the cruise line, Greyhound, the airport, the surrounding area, and more than I ever really wanted to know about the people they see every day.
Finally, a large, older, Greyhound bus shows up and we’re ushered on. Unfortunately, we’re the last pickup and the bus is full. We find two seats but not together. The driver was friendly and the drive uneventful. We arrived at the port and were told not to leave the bus until a Cruise Line Representative boarded. A fellow did and started asking for vouchers—if you didn’t have a voucher he wanted money. He was a bit abrupt and I thought unprofessional. This took a full 20 minutes, which seemed unreasonable since it all could have been done during that 45-minute wait at the airport. Besides, what if someone thought it was free? As it was, most of the time was spent explaining why some passengers didn’t have their vouchers—the representative made these people charge their ride to their cabin and told them to work it out once on board.
Ok so far, I’m not impressed with the quality of the employees, but I’m still hopeful. We head upstairs to the check in counter and run smack dab into a huge line. I expected it so it wasn’t a big thing for me, but my mom notices a “special” line for people staying in the suites so we head on over. Still not sure if we’re going in the right place we try to ask someone who rudely says, “Ya, that’s your line over there.” I’m not sure why the person was so rude as the crowd was quiet and patient and I thought the signs were confusing and I didn’t want to anger anyone by stepping out of bounds. Oh well, we headed over and were checked right in.
We went through security and got our onboard pass (also your charge card and ID on board) and headed to the spa to book an appointment. The ship isn’t large, but there are only maps and schematics in the main elevator areas and if you find yourself lost before you get all the way there you have to back track back for another look. You’re not given a map when you enter the ship and you’re on your own to find your way. After asking about 5 different people we finally found the spa all the way at the back of the ship. Now having sailed Disney I expected the hefty prices, what I didn’t expect was the spotty service and the pushing of products (more of that later). I was sold a mini spa taster at $99 and only got the posted $89 rate when I pointed out the sign on the counter. I thought that was a bit deceitful on their part. My mom decided to get a haircut after asking what the cost was. “Around $35” she was told. Each of us was warned several times that if we didn’t show up for our spa visit we would be charged 50%--no excuses.
Once done with our reservations we decided to head to the buffet for lunch. Again, we traversed our way back and inadvertently we stumbled into the cabin area. This was especially bad because as we got down the hallway my mom realized that our cabin was somewhere in that very hallway. Just my luck, not only were we in the right hallway, but the Cabin Attendant was in our room. Bad for me because this was my mom’s birthday cruise and I had paid $29 to have the cabin decorated and a cake delivered. Mom walked right in on the decorations being hung. Oh well, so much for surprises!
Our very nice Cabin Attendant told us that our cabin wasn’t ready yet but let us leave our bags. As we exited out the main area to the elevators we noticed that the door was partially closed and there was a sign—something missing from the other end of the hallway. Perhaps they don’t think it’s possible for a 65-year old woman and her daughter being able to make it to the back of the boat and back before the cabins are ready. Again, a small thing, but in this case it ruined the surprise.
So, off to the buffet (think really bad Denny's) for the first of many meals here. BLECH. This is a meat lovers paradise but if you’re a vegetarian like me, there’s so little to choose from and finding out what does and doesn’t have meat products in it is impossible. The few foods that were labeled had names but no ingredients and time after time no one serving knew what they were preparing. The tables were dirty and sticky, the food and drinks were serve-yourself, and the few attendants on duty were not in a hurry to end their personal conversations between themselves and help us. Thinking that this would be our only meal here I did my best to figure out if the mashed potatoes were made with milk or chicken broth (never did find out) or if the potato salad had bacon in it. Ok, I know they don’t get a lot of vegetarians, but what about people with food allergies? A simple label with ingredients would be great.
Meal finished, we headed to our room to check it out. This was the one thing I loved about the ship. Our room was GREAT! The bed was set up as two singles—a nice touch that they figure out we didn’t want to sleep together. The only bad thing about it was that pulled apart, the “headboard” of the bed became the wall where the lamp was mounted. Ample extra pillows in the cupboard as well as an extra blanket (thank goodness) made it comfortable. Towels were another issue—we could have used 3-4. There were two small bedside tables (placed side-by-side between the two beds), a small coffee table (which we used for our room service meals—it’s knee height), two small padded chairs, and a loveseat. An average size TV was placed opposite the beds and there was ample clothing storage in the closet and built-in dresser. Complimentary bathrobes hung in the lighted closet, and full-size toiletries were in the bathroom. The bathtub was small—probably about 4’, but the shower was just fine (even though it was raised off the floor and the height of it plus my 5' 10" frame meant I had to duck in the shower). The veranda was amazing. Probably 3’ deep and 10’ it held two webbed chairs and a small table. I LOVED the veranda.
We inspected the room and all its amenities (room service menu, boat map, etc.) and it was time for the emergency drill. Mom donned her bright orange vest and headed down. Me, I was a very bad girl and stayed in my cabin for a nap. Now on the Disney ship they would have tracked me down. Here, they put a pin in the door that said, “Evacuated”. I really should have gone, I know, but I just needed to sleep as I thought part of my grumpiness was caused by the flight and not the people I was encountering (wrong!). Mom remarked later that those of us in the suites had nicer life jackets that the other areas (there are only a few suites on this ship) which is sad if you think about it. We usually don’t pay for a suite but this time I guess our lives were worth more…sad commentary on the worth of people.
Anyway, mom went to her hair appointment and was ok with the style, even though the stylist didn’t do what she’d asked. The stylist did push products though—to the point of being annoying, and then presented my mom with a bill for $65 and ask—yes ASKED—for a tip. Needless to say, my mom was in shock and embarrassed as she had been told it would be $35. She signed, gave a tip, and refused the products. When she came back to the room I could tell she’d had something done to her hair but really nothing along the lines of a cut.
I left for my treatment still expecting the best. I had a mini-facial and mini back massage. I was taken into a very small, non-descript room, with no decoration of any kind. The table was covered with well-worn bedding (which frankly made me nervous as it was wrinkled in a way that only happens when someone has been laying on it—I thought to myself that surely they would change between people…wouldn’t they?). A very nice young girl asked me a million questions about my health and my face care (even though I’d filled out all of their forms asking for all that information in the waiting room—note to RC, use the time when people are changing to read what you’ve already asked for instead of wasting minutes out of the allotted hour to ask for the information you have in your hands). Afterwards she left the room and I prepared for the back massage.
The massage was unremarkable and she talked to herself throughout. I found this really disturbing. She almost seemed to be reciting what she was doing…it was very low and mumbled, but very strange. I couldn’t relax as I was wondering what in the world she was saying. After the back massage, I was instructed to roll over for the facial. This was my first so I can’t compare it with any other. It seemed fine—cool, nice smelling, and relaxing…except for the constant murmuring. I almost forgot, the other reason I couldn’t relax was all the horseplay going on outside of the room by the other attendants. There was some music in the room—so low I couldn’t even tell you what kind, but the noise from the hallway was loud and clear. I’m glad they were having a good time, but I wish they’d do when I’m not paying for the time.
She ended the facial but saying, “I’m going to give you the products we used on you today.” She then started pulling out products and telling me all their benefit. I actually wasn’t sure what her intention was and had to ask her if there was a charge. She looked at me and said, “Of course.” Well, to me “give you” means, give you in my book! I thanked her and said I was fine without the products. She was insistent that I needed them. I told her I’d think about it…that quieted her and she left so I could dress. She returned with the bill, and an itemized list of items and a request that if I purchase I make sure they know I was her client—I hate commissioned sales! She also ASKED for a tip—another mistake in my book but she did an ok job so I did tip her. I checked the prices on the products she tried to sell me and discovered it would have cost $300 for the skin card products—geez!
Ok, so we weren’t fans of the spa, but we had high hopes for dinner. Wrong again. We went to dinner at the prescribed time (late seating) and were shown to our seat by an arrogant headwaiter. There we met one other couple (out of a table for 12). Dinner was dismal. The wait staff took forever to bring our drinks (I had purchased a $30 soft drink card which I had to show everywhere, and the waiter seemed offended that he had to get drinks for me). The food was cold and nothing spectacular and we felt odd with just 4 people at a table for 12. At Disney you have the option of dinning alone—my preference.
This could go on forever…I’ll just do highlights for awhile:
• Room Service—good, dependable, and worked really hard to make things I would eat. Went out of their way and received HUGE tips from me! We rarely made the hours for the meals as they were extremely limited. Breakfast in the dining room was over at 9:30am—excessively early! We got so tired of the buffet and its limited menu. The other specialty restaurants had limited hours too and we never got to the pizza joint before it closed. Disney had so many choices, at all hours; I never searched for food like I did on this boat. Trying to figure which restaurant was open (they rotate with no set pattern), almost became a game—only this one wasn’t any fun.
• Cabin Attendant—Amazing. He was friendly, caring, and took great care of us. We left him our entire tip, as we never ate in the dining room again on the trip.
• Activities—what activities! There was NOTHING to do and the shows were amateurish. I love live entertainment and usually enjoy even marginal talent but this was embarrassing. They seemed to think if the sang REALLY LOUD no one would notice how bad they were. You really don’t even have to leave your room to see the bad entertainment—they broadcast it into your room. I did play BINGO one day out of complete boredom and was SHOCKED to look at my receipt to see it cost me $35 for five games. I would never have played had I known and the person charging my card was busy chatting with the new cruise director, so I didn’t know until I was well into the second game. I would have blown it in the casino!
• Shopping Personnel—I don’t remember his name, but I’ll call him “Ken”. He was the shopping and shore expert who gave talks on the ports of calls and what to find there. He spent most of his time telling us how to bring back more booze than is legal and where to buy knockoff designer bags. This was replayed in our rooms, 24-hours a day. I found it very distasteful to have an employee telling people how to bypass the laws and encouraging them to buy knockoffs.
• TV—I wouldn’t complain about the TV expect that they advertise it as being the best at sea. Sorry, that just isn’t true. If you’re in your room a lot, which we were because there was nothing to do, the few channels there are just repeat themselves…over, and over, and over. Most are channels that offer shows 20 years old or so (guess they don’t have to play re-play rights for them). There were three movie channels, and each day the movies changed, at least that was nice.
• Casino—Small, smoky, and you pay for drinks and Cokes here as well.
• Safety? – After watching the lifeboat drill while in Ensenada I’m glad we didn’t have an emergency. Watching them stumble through the drill—being yelled at in every language but unfortunately not one they understood, I realized that it was going to be every man/woman for themselves should something go wrong. Oh well, I had that snazzy life vest if I needed it.
• Elevators—forget it. Take the stairs and leave the elevators for those who need them. You’ll spend hours of your time standing here.
• Pool—one was closed, the other so small it was hardly worth mentioning.
• Shopping—it looked good upon entry but really had so little. More of a bargain basement feel as things were literally thrown out onto tables. Very strange.
• Onboard Art Auction—Another dud. A smarmy guy trying to sell a painter who later in the room I read the guy’s auction house has discovered. I doubted that this hot, new painter’s works were going to be worth millions as he promised after seeing he has a monetary interest in promoting him.
Again, I hate to complain but after 5 days on ship, I was SO READY to leave. Leaving was even harder than getting on. Now I’ve been through this before so I knew about the customs forms, and waiting to be cleared, and waiting for my color to be called and all that. However, Royal Caribbean really sucks at this part. Here are THOUSANDS of people who just want off the ship and they don’t provide anything to occupy them. They stop serving meals, don’t serve even soft drinks, provide no music or entertainment, and kick you out of your room at 8:00am. We finally got off at 12 (food was done at 11) and we were the second group off. Later at the airport, we met some other people who had been on the cruise—they got off at 3pm! They weren’t served lunch and had no idea it’d take that long.
The worst part is that long-time cruisers know that ask for white tags so they get off early. It's supposed to be for people with early flights and members of their club, but like everything if you offer it, they'll abuse it. It was nice to see that the one "celebrity" on board also had blue like me and he didn't pull any strings to move up.
When we got off we went through customs and headed for the baggage area. As with all cruise lines, you’re instructed to put your bags out the night before (you don’t have a choice). We did and we expected to see them when we arrived at the pier. Mom’s was there, but mine wasn’t. Since there were only three bags left, and one had a name similar to mine (both started with “O” and only had 3 letters), I knew instantly what had happened. I asked a uniformed woman what I should do. She instructed me to ask someone else. I found a gentleman and asked again. Instead of saying something comforting, he said, “Did you check the other rooms?” Ok, now why would I do that? My tag said blue and I was in the blue room. Evidently, there are some colorblind people working on the cruise line. So, traipsing off I go to ALL the rooms and sure enough, no bag. By now the first guy is gone and now there’s no one there as all the rooms around me are empty and closed. I finally find another woman and start all over with her. She says the same as the first guy, “Did you check the other rooms? They get the colors mixed up.” By now I was starting to lose all faith in this company.
The first guy finally comes back and tells me I need to fill out a lost bag form, which I do on the spot. He handwrites a telephone number at the top and gives me a copy. At the top reads, “Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.” We head to the bus for the trip to the airport. This time we get another talkative woman who tells us all how rich her husband is, how Jewish she is and therefore she HAS to wear all the gold she has on, and how her husband is the best in bed. Most giggle along, some cringe, and others pretend to look out the window. The driver, another chatty one, finally boards and starts out for the airport. The first thing she tells the woman sitting in the front seat is, “It’s a good thing I don’t have a microphone, I be on it all the time.” Boy, was she not kidding! She talked the ENTIRE way to the airport and then once there kept telling us how she was trying to get people closer to their terminal by playing dumb and driving past the security (we were all praying she wouldn’t try it with us onboard!). She talked so much I was worried she wasn’t paying enough attention. Anyway, she new she had several people with an imminent flight. Instead of hustling, she parked the bus (after being waived off by security), locked us all inside, took her sweet time taking out the bags of the people in the first terminal, chatted up the guards, and then let the passengers for the first terminal off. Once off, she schmoozed for a tip and would not shut up. The entire time the people on the bus were panicking that they were not going to make their flight. She leisurely stepped aboard and said, ok, now who was it that had a flight leaving soon? The people jumped up and she assured them they were the next stop.
Now reading this you might think I don’t like chatty people. Quite the contrary, however, it should be done in a professional manner, not include their sex life or lack of it, and shouldn’t get in the way of providing service. Those people for terminal two had to run to catch their flight—I can imagine there were not happy.
We on the other hand had lots of time and only one bag to check so it wasn’t an issue. We got to the airport so early that they didn’t want to check our bag. I was ok with it but at the last minute the airport person took it. I found out later that they sent it on the earlier flight—what happened to bags being tracked to passengers? It also arrived so early at SeaTac that by the time we got there it was locked up. When my mom couldn’t find it I started looking around, found it locked, asked someone to release it, and took it without anyone even blinking. Turns out that someone else’s bag got taken and they thought we had it. Another long story….
Anyway, but to Royal Caribbean. So trip over, we’re home, and no suitcase. I get a call very late that night from my sister who’s been getting calls all day from some woman in California who says she has her bag and she wants it back. My sister finally figures out it’s me who’s missing the bag and gives the woman my telephone number. Turns out Royal Caribbean gave this stranger my mom’s contact information (why, when it was mine that was missing and someone was home at my house that entire day). Anyway, this woman kept calling my sister and no me because that was the number RC gave her. By now my sister is frustrated for me and has found out that my bag was taken by someone else and that I didn’t bring one home. She tries to explain this to the woman but the woman keeps telling her the RC says she has her bag. My sister calls me again and gives me the ladies number because she’s had enough and is mad for me because this woman says she’s sending my bag COD.
I talk to the woman who says I’ve taken her friends bag and that when they got off the bus in CA they were missing a bag but had an extra one—mine. Ok, she can’t seem to understand that they TOOK my bag and their bag is still at RC. I call RC and tell them they have the bag, always have, and to please tell this woman I don’t have her bag. I also tell them that I’m not going to pay to have my bag sent to me as I didn’t give anyone permission to remove my bag and they fouled by not checking tags when people checked out. A simple check of the claim check would have prevented all of this.
Finally, I think it’s worked out. RC has told them they won’t get their bag until I get mine. I’m told by the person that has it that she’ll mail it (the whole time Sea Tac is calling me telling me I have someone else’s bag and that woman is here for a wedding and really needs her bag back—I have no bag so I can’t help them out either!). I expect the bag to be mailed on Tuesday as Monday is a holiday and they claim they have no FEDEX or UPS places that are open on Sat, Sun or Holidays. Ok, I’m patient and expect it by Wednesday. Thursday at the latest.
Nope. I wait until Saturday and call. RC says that I have my bag. I tell them I don’t. They say they’ll check on it and call me back. It doesn’t happen.
Tuesday I get a voicemail asking me to verify my address so RC can ship me my bag. Now I’m really confused, how’d they get it? I call and of course the ONE person who knows anything about it is out of the office. I ask why my account isn’t noted as I’d like to clear this up as soon as possible. In addition, they sure had my address when the sent the bill! Beside, the lovely blue tag they had me fill out with my information is attached—surely they could just look at it. So, delayed aging because I needed to verify the address I’ve already given the 5 times (remember that lost form too!). The whole time I try to tell the rep that this is inexcusable and he just starts in on how it isn’t their fault it’s no different than when baggage handlers at the airport loose something, the carrier isn’t responsible. I tell him that we weren’t given a choice on whether or not to leave our luggage so at that point they took over care and control and they were responsible. He kept repeating they weren’t at fault and I lost my temper—finally—and said, “You can keep repeating that you’re not at fault, but in reality, I am the one who’s been dealing with this for almost two weeks and I had NOTHING to do with it.” With that, I hung up. Very immature, I know, but I had had it.
Two days later, my bag arrived. The next day I was awakened way too early for a Saturday by someone who wanted to know if I’d gotten my bag. It wasn’t until later that day when I received a letter from the person who took my bag that I found out the rest of the story. They had such bad customer service from RC that they REFUSED to send my bag until they got theirs because they didn’t trust that they’d ever get theirs because of the unprofessional way their case was being handled. They finally believed a second customer rep that they would get theirs and finally mailed mine. RC never had it like the rep said—it was with the other couple along.
So, the boat sucked and customer service was even worse. To top it all off, when I go home I found out our truck had been stolen while I was gone and T-Mobile still hadn’t sent a packing slip to pick up the 5 phones they sent me in error. This just wasn’t my week and RC made it worse.
What could they have done? APOLOGIZE and work professionally to get my bag back. By antagonizing the people who had it they were holding it ransom.
Would I go again? Nope. I spent $1000 for 5 days (really 4-1/2 since much of it was waiting to get off) and 4 nights—I could stay somewhere really nice and eat what I want for that.
UPDATE 3/2: Those two calls on my voice mail from were too funny. One was from Geneva from RC Customer service asking to verifiy my address...the other was from Greyhound Shore Services asking me if I'd gotten my bag. There is a serious lack of communication between the two companies and within the company's themselves. I have already had a call from Greyhound (Saturday) and verified I had recieved my bag--this call on Monday said they were still holding the other party's bag waiting for my ok (I gave it to them!). The other was Gevena, again, verifying my address for a bag I'd already received. Good Grief!
Recommended:
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Best Suited For: Seniors
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Epinions.com ID:
briandalsmom
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Member: Mom
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