danielwje1

To be fair, boarding today was better and the destination is stunning.

Maybe the lesson is to avoid school holidays 

12 minutes ago, kernow said:

I'm on a Virtuosa forum on another site and I know that there have been a lot of complaints about crowds on the last few cruises (also others saying they are enjoying themselves). I think the problem is that it is UK summer school holidays, every year we see the same sort of thing on all the cruise ships sailing from Southampton in August. Not saying that it is not an issue, just that you will see similar posts about Anthem and the P and O ships also, not just an MSC problem.

They just issued £50 onboard credit per room for the issues at the port yesterday. 

7 hours ago, 77red96 said:

Such a shame, sorry to hear that, how is the rest of the cruise going? That's a lot of guests on one ship.

The ship appears really badly designed to handle such crowds of people (5,500+ guests). I’ve been on Oasis class before and they seem way better designed. 
 

The crew are trying their best appear overworked and stressed. 
 

Had to send cold food back twice in the dining room, so far. 
 

Yesterday they disembarked by deck number the the cruise Director forgot to announce deck 14. 
 

The theatre seems tiny considering there’s 5,500 guests onboard. 
 

But, we’re on holiday and got to enjoy it. Probably wouldn’t choose MSC again based on this. 

I understand, it would have been nice if there was some communication or warning about this. There was nothing. If it’s a frequent occurrence then MSC must have known it would happen.
 

 If we had known, we could have planned to get onboard sooner. 
 

Currently onboard Virtuosa and it’s absolute chaos. First time MSC cruisers but went with an open mind having previously cruised with RCL, Celebrity and Princess.

We are really very disappointed. The ship is rammed full. the buffet seems to be a war zone daily. 
 

Today, this was the line to board. Took 90 minutes. 

I sent some feedback to guest relations about  this Christmas cruise and got the following back: 

Covid-19 has presented some unique challenges for the cruise industry, and it requires a continuous effort by all parties to adhere to all requirements. We apologize for any frustration you may feel regarding your experiences on the Symphony of the Seas. Our teams strive for diligence in addressing lapses and we appreciate you bringing it to our attention.  I can assure you that your concerns and feedback have been shared with the correct departments.

I understand how important dining and entertainment are to a quality vacation, and personal space is invaluable even when we're not combating a pandemic. Your feedback and photographs will be very useful in reviewing the sailing and identifying ways to improve our responses and methods onboard.

I thank you again for sharing the details of your cruise, and I hope you'll let me know if you decide to sail with us in the future. I would love the opportunity to arrange some amenities to welcome you back onboard.

Has anyone contacted RC yet and if I wanted to complain, how would I go about it ? 
 

i assume they have a guest relations department ? 

Thank you for cruising with Royal Caribbean. We hope to see you soon. 
 

1 hour ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

The font of this post is spot on.

12 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Tonight was the last straw. Cruise Director should be fired! Announced all day a Beatles tribute in Agua Theater at 8. Auqa Theater started filling up early and people on balconies ready to watch.

8 came, no show! No announcements. People were excited to finally see some entertainment but just disappointed again.

PS. This is for informational information only for upcoming guests. Comments about font size, how stupid I am for booking  holiday, etc are not required.

In my opinion the cruise Director, “Brian” should have been out leading the way. Making the most of what they have to deliver some entertainment.
Leading from the front. Being visible with guests. Example: they had the Symphony orchestra available all cruise but only used them rarely in really small venues. They were Superb. They Could have put something together with the orchestra if they really wanted. 
 

I remember Celebrity Reflection used to have a very enthusiastic CD, Alexander, who organised a full music festival on the grass “grasstonbery” and it was a blast. 

It seems like the CD on Symphony was just hiding in his office the whole cruise. Probably way too embarrassed by the state of affairs to venture out. 

For anyone onboard, we just noticed this afternoon that all movies are now free on the TV. This wasn’t the case when we boarded.

seems like a missed opportunity not to promote this to guests (unless I missed the memo?) 

Captain sounds like he’s reading from a PR statement at the 12:00 announcements. 
 

To “Keep us all safe and well informed” but yet proceeds to provide no information all week on what is going on. 

Just a suggestion, it would be nice to keep this thread on topic around the Symphony and experiences of people. 
 

i don’t think it’s the place to be debating Covid, vaccines or politics. 

Yet another day at sea with nothing to do all day 

15 hours ago, jasongoldberg said:

This is directly across from where the passengers are boarding. Genius. 

I guess this is all we’re going to receive! A gesture of some OBC would go a long way right now I feel. 
 

With the high markups it would also be relatively low cost for RCCL. 

51 minutes ago, MommaBear55 said:

He actually posted over there too!

With the upmost respect to you, we have all had a rather terrible holiday and Christmas. There’s been numerous posts from independent people including myself about the experiences onboard. 
 

I think it’s hard if you’re at home to visualise the experience onboard. I also think it’s important people’s experiences are shared so people can make an informed decision if they want to step on these ships or not. 

1 hour ago, fredmdcruisers said:

1st cruise back since cancelation of last Christmas because of Covid. 40th cruise with Royal, but this is not what we called cruising in the past. Paid extra for a Christmas cruise never being told that most everything could or would be canceled!

Embarkation day: went to Chops to make reservations (nothing was available Pre-cruise) only to find out that Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and probably New Years Eve ALL specialalty restaurants priced at $120 -- just cause they could! Okay, so Christmas in the Windjammer was fine! Then all this..

- booked a central park balcony to watch Aqua Theater shows from balcony avoiding close contact BUT ALL aqua theater shows were canceled. Guest services said that those crew members signed out of their contracts last cruise. (No one knew and planned for replacements?) No, all you get are really old movies or doggie youtube stuff all day long.

NO Broadway shows

NO music whatsoever in Boleros

NO music in Prmenade

NO parades or  events in Promenade

NO On Air activities 

NO Sailaway party 

NO belly flop contests or game shows - cruise director is MIA

Everytime I went to guest services to speak to a manager, they were all "in meetings." 

Finally tonight, day 6, I said that I would wait and refused to move from the counter. Finally a manager arrived, listened to my complaints and repeated what must be rehearsed as the company line: "We apologize but it is our practice not to offer compensation for things beyond our control." I said, so no one knew all the aqua theater staff's were ending or all the Royal singers and dancers? "No sir."

I call ****! He seemed amazed when I said that I would never want his job. "Why, I love my job" he replied. I said how can you tell a repeat customer that you owe them nothing more than riding around at sea and food to eat? Do you not understand why people cruise?

IMHO, Royal saw a chance to increase profits by cutting out entertainment and hoping no one would complain.

 

 

I’m planning to do a chargeback on my credit card for services not delivered as described for a few hundred dollars. I suggest you consider the same 

19 minutes ago, jasongoldberg said:

I sat at one of the lounges after I came onboard today and the server just opened up about how frustrated he is about the situation. He said they knew for 2 sailings that things were going downhill. Apparently hundreds of crew have been offloaded in Miami, CocoCay and St Martin and only a fraction replaced. He said he’s working > 12 hour shifts covering his venue. 
 

I’m presently on my balcony watching *another* 27 crew transferring over to Rhapsody. So— over 125 since last night. Not a good situation. 
 

The server said that they plan on taking on a few crew back in Miami, but he said many crew hope they they cancel the 12/31 sailing ‘to reset and get back to where we need to be’. Smart guy. 

I need a PCR test before departure due to flying to BGI that requires PCR. I requested this when boarded to be told it was booked. Chased up this morning to be told they would call me back. No call back so visited the front desk who still can’t confirm if they’ve booked a PCR for me or not.

Either extremely disorganised or making it very hard to get tested onboard. 

14 minutes ago, jasongoldberg said:

This is directly across from where the passengers are boarding. Genius. 

Crew member told me they’re Covid positive! Very close to us when we were getting on. 

26 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Not just "underestimated," but made a conscious decision to maximize profits over the holiday period by packing passengers into their ships, especially Oasis class ships.  Forget health and safety protocols.  

I think the issue is that the health and safety protocols just don’t work with so many people on the ship. 
 

Take last night as an example (forgetting the fact 1977 was swapped out for iSkate at the last minute with no communication due to some of the cast having to isolate). 
 

Attached we have the line which we had to wait in for 30 minutes to get into Studio B due to capacity issues. 
 

we then enter Studio B to find half of the seats are blocked off to allow “physical distancing” with families having to sit in a non-vax area. But, we were standing in the packed line with the same families with kids for over 30 minutes. 
 

if we were going to catch Covid, we would have done so waiting in line. If they removed the blocked seats then we wouldn’t have been waiting in line and arguably more safe than the current protocols and much better customer experience. Alternatively, knowing there’s virtually no other entertainment and if they need to work with the current protocols, the cruise staff could have scheduled more ice shows to give everyone a chance to see and stay safer by avoiding the crowds. 
 

i think the current protocols work well if the ship is at low capacity, but clearly it just doesn’t work with so many people onboard. This is further compounded by lack of staff and because there’s no entertainment, when something is happening there is a massive crowd looking to be (rightfully so) entertained. 

4 minutes ago, tcneal said:

I'll try to respond because we are getting the same type of response from people who are not here saying we should be grateful with whatever provides.   At this point, no complaint is going to get things open.  I think we should be compensated for this partial cruise.   It doesn't matter who is responsible.  It's not all Royals fault although there have been some very questionable decisions.  If I pay for any service during Covid, if they can't provide a lot of the product I shouldn't have to pay full price.  It doesn't matter the reason.   I don't think any error in judgement was made.  If crew went down during the previous cruise get more crew or let people before the next cruise starts and offer refunds.  I don't understand why that is so hard.

Just to add to this… here is the only bit of communication received before the cruise. It wouldn’t have been so hard to add a “what to expect” section, ideally stating most entertainment would be unavailable. From some further research the entertainment crews are in isolation for 10 days until 31st, Meaning RC knew 2 days before our cruise that most would be unavailable 

Basically we are sitting in the sun at a very overcrowded pool. Using very overpriced WiFi to complain about it. 
 

Should have just stayed in Miami! At least on land you are not stuck in the same place. 

Headliner showtime cancelled due to the performer getting on in PR. Only thing we were looking forward to.

entertainment non-existent today. 

Captain announced Due to a change in entry requirements, turned away from Puerto Rico this morning. Now sailing towards St Martin. 
 

I wonder if it was a change of requirements or we were turned away due to positive cases onboard. 
 

What do you think the chances of us being turned away from St Martin are? 
 

3 hours ago, jasongoldberg said:

Well— just left my stateroom for dinner. As we emerged men were in the hallway and asked us to go back inside for twenty minutes because they were spraying. Uy. It was bound to happen. Twenty minutes later we emerged and went down the hallway to come upon two housekeepers arguing loudly with a manager (in a suit) saying that they didn’t want to go into the stateroom that they were standing in front of. The manager was saying ‘I know I know’. We kept moving along but I was surprised that they were arguing in the hallway in front of guests. 

Listening to the “earth wind and fire” band in jazz on 4. Super surprised they put it on in such a small room when the main theatre etc are empty. Very packed. Ironic they seem happy to do this yet still have signs saying 6 to an elevator