What's RCCL like?

[Anna]

Just booked a Caribbean cruise on RCCL departing SJU.

The booking process has been atrocious, so I'm now quite worried how the cruise will be.

What can people tell me about RCCL? I have done cruises before but not with this line.

 

[Pushka]

We sailed on Liberty of the Seas a couple of years ago in the Med and really enjoyed it. As long as it isn't during Spring Break it should be fine. Very relaxed and fun. A bit more chilled than Celebrity but of the same ilk.

 

[Flying Fox]

Did Mariner of the Seas around the Caribbean starting from Orlando Florida. Everyone on board was awesome. Service & food was great.

I selected not to prepay the tips and simply tipped the staff that actually served us in person vs the people who came looking for a handout on the last day of the cruise.

Hopefully you will have as good a time as we did!

 

[Pushka]

Tipping is a hot topic. If you removed the auto tip then how did you tip the people who washed your dishes, handled your baggage and kept the toilets flushing? Sorry but it is a button for me.

 

[odysseus]

Regarding tipping, I wouldn't expect there would be anyone coming " looking for a handout on the last day of the cruise" if they haven't actually served you in person.

Doesn't make any sense, and I've never seen anything like that before. You don't get approached by random people you've never dealt with; even the regular people you deal with are unlikely to "look for a handout."

As to the original question, it's a family oriented cruise line so not sure what others you'd be comparing against, but lots of activities for across the family. In terms of onboard service vs shoreside they're not comparable or related. Onboard they'll usually do their best to give you the best experience, whereas the website and call centre are just admin - which have their deficiencies.

 

[fairbasa]

I really like RCCL, although I've only cruised with them and Celebrity (thrice on each). Yes, they both are known for having horrible websites and booking engines if that's what you mean? Don't let it put you off.

As other have mentioned, RCCL is more "fun" than Celebrity as it's more family orientated. Food quality good but not quite as good as Celebrity. I end up dining in the specialty restaurants most of the time anyway.

Which ship is it on? And how did you book? I only ask because I now only book through US travel agents who have access to better pricing/offers and often better cancellation terms.

 

[SydneySwan]

Got off Radiance of the Seas yesterday - 10 day cruise from Auckland to Sydney. Service and food were very good, much better than Rhapsody cruise 3 years ago. Entertainment was mixed - too many nights when the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers were the main attraction (they can dance but they are very average singers).

 

[Atleastonce]

We have done 3 cruises with RCCL and booked another 2. We can't fault them so far. Ovation of the seas was the best (I did a trip review on that cruise) and we will be on oasis of the seas in July 2017. You should have a great time.

 

[woodyren]

I really like RCCL, although I've only cruised with them and Celebrity (thrice on each). Yes, they both are known for having horrible websites and booking engines if that's what you mean? Don't let it put you off.

As other have mentioned, RCCL is more "fun" than Celebrity as it's more family orientated. Food quality good but not quite as good as Celebrity. I end up dining in the specialty restaurants most of the time anyway.

Which ship is it on? And how did you book? I only ask because I now only book through US travel agents who have access to better pricing/offers and often better cancellation terms.

I have cruised maybe 10 times on RCL. Quantum,Rhapsody,Oasis,Voyager and just returned on boxing day from 23 days on Radiance. I have also cruised on Celebrity, Norwegian and Carnival.
Considering all aspects RCL is just ahead of Celebrity and a fair bit better than the other 2 IMO.

I agree that one should check with travel agents in the USA as well as local prices but almost every cruise out of Australia has been far cheaper locally of late. Yes the conditions are less flexible but the price difference is substantial.

Also note that prices on Royal booked in Australia now all include the service charge(formally suggested gratuities or auto gratuities) and so these can't be removed. Great to see and everybody just now pays their equal share.

Never had a bad cruise. Some just better than others.

 

[Anna]

Which ship is it on? And how did you book?

Jewel of the Seas. Booked on the RCCL US website which was giving me better prices than the Aust website, although it did keep trying to make me book on the Aust website by defaulting to .au

I'm reluctant to use agents in general, because when something goes awry and needs fixing, I dislike being told "I can't fix it for you, you'll have to go through your agent" and then it's always the weekend or out of business hours or they're not at their desk etc etc, so I'm stuck with a problem. Would be interested to know if this does not happen with US cruise agents.

Thanks all for your comments.

 

[Anna]

Never had a bad cruise. Some just better than others.

The one where I spent 24 hours confined to my cabin (and many more hours feeling unwell) due to gastro from improperly thawed hamburger mince onboard springs to mind as one of my worse cruises! (Yes I am scrupulous about hand washing and sanitisation).

 

[woodyren]

I spent two days in our cabin with some sort of Gastro on Quantum of the Seas when we cruised from Barcelona to Shanghai last year. Just one of those things and of course very unpleasant. Took quite a few days to get back to full strength. The cruise was still great though.

A big plus for Royal was that they took care of all the medicals, gave us access to internet and pay movies AND gave us a future cruise credit for the value of the two days we spent in the cabin.

 

[Anna]

A big plus for Royal was that they took care of all the medicals, gave us access to internet and pay movies AND gave us a future cruise credit for the value of the two days we spent in the cabin.

After I had recovered and was allowed out again, Celebrity informed me that I 'should' have been given pay movies, free soft drinks and internet but that 'somehow' their system had slipped up and I hadn't been told about it. Not that I was feeling well enough to do anything but sleep anyway! I didn't have to pay for the medical treatment and I got a cruise credit too, although seeing the outbreak was Celebrity's fault due to poor kitchen practices I'm not sure that was appropriate. I couldn't be bothered taking them on for a partial refund though.

2 other bad cruises that spring to mind are Perth to Albany and back on Dawn Princess where the October weather in the Southern Ocean was so bad that one third of the pax got off at Albany and went back to Perth by land instead, and Brisbane to Cairns and back on Sun Princess where 2 of the 3 ports were missed due to rough seas making tendering impossible (Cairns and Port Douglas) - a cruise with 4 sea days turned into a cruise with 6 sea days and P&O had no idea how to deal with it or how to provide varied entertainment for the pax stuck on board involuntarily.

But somehow I still quite like cruising despite the worse ones

 

[Flying Fox]

Tipping is a hot topic. If you removed the auto tip then how did you tip the people who washed your dishes, handled your baggage and kept the toilets flushing? Sorry but it is a button for me.

Fair enough and your point is taken and I respect that.

However, my counter points would be -

1. How can I be sure that 100% of the surcharge gets passed along and that RCCL doesn't take a cut?

2. Why should someone who gives poor service get a tip at all; let alone someone who provides exceptional service have to share with a slacker?

3. When you go to a restaurant do you go into the kitchen and tip the chef & dish washer as well (because in the restaurants that I have worked in only the front of house shared the tips)?

4. Where is the motivation for staff to out-perform if the tip is guaranteed?

5. And if the tip is mandatory and expected, isn't it simply a surcharge? So why the heck not simply include it in the list price as mandatory when you buy the ticket? I would hate to fly QF and when I board have to pay an additional USD$15/family member/day in addition to what I have already paid for my flight.

6. I'm happy to tip directly to great staff for great service.

Anyway these are my opinions and I certainly don't want to start an argument about this with anyone as I can understand its a hot topic.

Regarding tipping, I wouldn't expect there would be anyone coming " looking for a handout on the last day of the cruise" if they haven't actually served you in person.

Yes this happened to me when cruising with RCCL out of Florida. The table captain or whoever he was said hello to us on day one and then came back on the last day and said hello and simply waited around till everyone around our table give him a little pay-packet. My opinion of him is very low.

Anyway, just got back from a RCCL Christmas cruise and the family and I had a great time. Very relaxing (which is what I wanted) and the staff were very good. Meals didn't seem as good as last time but I'm sure it didn't stop me putting on some kgs (too scared to weigh myself for a while).

 

[Atleastonce]

Fair enough and your point is taken and I respect that.

However, my counter points would be -

1. How can I be sure that 100% of the surcharge gets passed along and that RCCL doesn't take a cut?

2. Why should someone who gives poor service get a tip at all; let alone someone who provides exceptional service have to share with a slacker?

3. When you go to a restaurant do you go into the kitchen and tip the chef & dish washer as well (because in the restaurants that I have worked in only the front of house shared the tips)?

4. Where is the motivation for staff to out-perform if the tip is guaranteed?

5. And if the tip is mandatory and expected, isn't it simply a surcharge? So why the heck not simply include it in the list price as mandatory when you buy the ticket? I would hate to fly QF and when I board have to pay an additional USD$15/family member/day in addition to what I have already paid for my flight.

6. I'm happy to tip directly to great staff for great service.

Anyway these are my opinions and I certainly don't want to start an argument about this with anyone as I can understand its a hot topic.



Yes this happened to me when cruising with RCCL out of Florida. The table captain or whoever he was said hello to us on day one and then came back on the last day and said hello and simply waited around till everyone around our table give him a little pay-packet. My opinion of him is very low.

Anyway, just got back from a RCCL Christmas cruise and the family and I had a great time. Very relaxing (which is what I wanted) and the staff were very good. Meals didn't seem as good as last time but I'm sure it didn't stop me putting on some kgs (too scared to weigh myself for a while).

I just booked quantum of the seas for July 2017, there was no option to add tips, and it was included in the cabin n price. I didn't perceive it as a surcharge for tips, just an all in price. I did read some very negative press about tips/pay etc.. by RCCL earlier this year, it can't remember what newspaper it was in. This change might be in reaction to that article..

 

[odysseus]

Yes this happened to me when cruising with RCCL out of Florida. The table captain or whoever he was said hello to us on day one and then came back on the last day and said hello and simply waited around till everyone around our table give him a little pay-packet. My opinion of him is very low.

I'd agree with you on that in that case. On about 24 cruises to date for me, it fortunately hasn't happened so I'd say it's pretty uncommon. (I have sometimes only seen them on the last day, but they just ask how was everything, take the chance for feedback and move on without hanging around. I'm sure if I gave a tip at that point they'd happily accept though! )

 

[Anna]

To answer my own original question - a bit down market compared to Princess or Celebrity. But the towel animals produced by the cabin steward were the best I have ever seen, well done to Jose from Pearl Lagoon Nicaragua.

Embarkation at San Juan was fairly painless. Not much standing around, and the lines were short and moved quickly. I arrived for boarding at about 1.45pm and was on the ship within half an hour. Had a look round for a while and then found my bag in the corridor with a whole line of other bags so just took it to my stateroom myself. So I was all set within a couple of hours.


My stateroom was good, a starboard balcony semiforward on deck 7, supposedly obstructed view which only meant that I couldn't look straight down to the waterline but instead looked down onto the roof over the lifeboats. But the view straight ahead was not obstructed at all. It was the usual stateroom size, ie tiny by hotel standards but normal by cruise ship standards.


The safety briefing was not too hideous. No compulsory wearing of life jackets (and consequent tripping over the trailing straps of other people's life jackets) and no standing around for ages while they find and corral every single last pax who is too ignorant/lazy/self-important to turn up on time. It only took about 20 minutes standing on deck before we were dismissed.


The food options were ok. Same 30 choices on the breakfast buffet every morning - other cruise lines vary it more. No poached eggs or eggs benedict for breakfast that I saw, but you could order an omelette at the buffet. I didn't try the dining room or room service for breakfast. Same desserts on the lunch buffet each day. I had 'My Time' dining for dinner and never had any trouble getting a seat whenever I chose to show up in the dining room. I never bothered to make a booking. I ate dinner in the buffet on a couple of nights, like when they had Indian night up there (ok, but not a lot of Indian food surprisingly) and the evening desserts on the buffet were good. Lots of great cakes. The food in the main dining room was pretty good and the staff were attentive to complaints. For example an American woman at the table one night complained there was no meat in her lobster bisque. So they brought her a dish of lobster meat. Which she then didn't eat because she didn't like the taste of the bisque. (Some people. Words just fail me). The best food I had was when I ordered the steak filet in the main dining room which came from the Grill restaurant and was supposed to cost US$16.95 extra (+18% service charge). It was a fantastic steak, really tender and delicious. And somehow the extra charge didn't find its way onto my folio even though they took my seapass card to charge for it. A better option I thought than paying US$35 (+18% gratuity) to eat the same steak in the Grill, unattractively named the Chops Grill which makes it sound like a barbie rather than the premium onboard eating place.


I soon learned not to look under the table in either the buffet or the dining room as I was sure to find something disgusting down there like congealed scrambled egg (at 4pm) or a food encrusted fork.


There was no midnight buffet or chocolate buffet or anything special like that. There were some times during the day when the buffet was actually closed! Like between 5pm - 6.30pm for example. Not that I want to eat 24 hours a day, but on the other hand if I'm on an expensive holiday I don't want to find out that I can't eat when I want. I could have gone to the dining room from 5.30pm with My Time, so maybe I'm being unreasonable, but the buffets are always open on Celebrity and Princess except between about 10pm and 6am so I'm used to dropping in at the buffet whenever I feel like it.


As on all cruise lines the staff who were working for tips were generally good and the staff who had no chance of a tip were generally a bit surly (with some exceptions).


The entertainment was woeful. One night I assumed there was karaoke in the Centrum (central atrium). I laughed when I found out it was a supposedly professional singer. I went to a show that literally had no plot, although it was supposed to be a 'love story through the ages'. What it really was, was an attempt to wear all the costumes on board and use all the ship's scenery within an hour regardless of the lack of any relevant connection between the scenes. There were a total of 10 singers and dancers including the 2 leads. It made crowd scenes look a little lame. There was no crew talent show or guest talent show or anything like that. The 'comedian' was racist and scatological from what I saw of him on the cabin TV. People said the magician was good but I didn't go.


Prices in the spa were so ridiculous I didn't bother, and were +18% gratuity. Wifi onboard cost as much for a day as I would pay for a month at home. The shops onboard had nothing out of the ordinary and the woman in the cosmetics shop was just plain rude which didn't encourage spending.


Disembarkation wasn't too bad. Not as relaxed as Princess but no compulsory sitting around in cramped lounges with everyone tripping over other people's luggage like I have previously experienced on NCL and Star Cruises. By 8.15am the announcements were getting insistent for everyone to get off the ship, which was earlier than the published list of disembarkation times from the night before. (That wasn't the only time the ship provided info that was wrong - some of the port info was wrong too even though the ship is visiting the same ports every second week so there's no real excuse for inaccuracies).


Overall it would have to be the perfect itinerary to make me choose RCL again over Princess or Celebrity. Just not enough special touches on board - I missed the varied Celebrity food and drink options and the Princess entertainment.

 

[Pushka]

That's a good assessment Anna. Itinerary always wins for us too but Celebrity is always in the mix. Must say the entertainment on recent Asian Princess Diamond was really poor. People watching was much more interesting. And I developed a cough which came in handy for an exit during one awful show.

 

[Major]

I must say that after reading this I'm glad all of our cruises have been with Holland America. Internet prices are also over the top and some of the entertainment is average but overall we have no complaints.