Maybe our last Royal caribbean cruise! Freedom 4th April 2010

[Snoofer]

Some people will defend RC no matter what they do or how horrible it becomes. It's a bit of denial. RC has DEFINITELY made a significant decline in attitude, service, quality, etc. and will continue to decline. No amount of complaining or letter writing makes a difference. I know, I tried and then after several years of trying gave up on RC altogether. It falls on deaf ears. The food continues to get worse and worse. Just read the reviews. For those who have cruised before the decline, will understand what I'm talking about. The new cruisers won't. To each his own - if that is how you wish to spend your vacation dollars in exchange for bad service and poor quality of food, then so be it.

[krisko]

You still don't get my point, either. Do you really know for sure it was blood and not something else?

 

You didn't infer that it could be wine or ketchup until your most recent post. And then you said that you have blood on your sheets at home and it doesn't bother you at all. You clearly don't have a problem with blood on your sheets, even if it's somebody else's which seems strange to me. I really don't like blood on my sheets and will discard them if the blood can't be removed...and I know which diseases the blood at home carries! Besides, if the stains were ketchup or wine, large stains or small, it's definitely unacceptable and a creepy first impression of your stateroom. As someone else said, if you see what you think is blood on your sheets then what else is going on in that room? And pee on sheets/pads/mattresses is unacceptable as well.

 

As far as how do I know if that's really blood on the sheets, I have to trust the 'man on the scene'. If ChrisUK says there was blood on the sheets then I have no reason not to believe him.

 

We are beating our heads against the wall here. You continue to shill for RCI while I take a more pragmatic view. I agree with the popular sentiment that RCI is declining in just about every area except ship amenities (freedom/oasis). It seems they are taking the approach that people won't notice the decline in service/value if they are distracted by the ship itself. This is working on me so far but I could see a point where I move on to Princess, HAL, etc.

[Paul65]

Some people will defend RC no matter what they do or how horrible it becomes. It's a bit of denial. RC has DEFINITELY made a significant decline in attitude, service, quality, etc. and will continue to decline. No amount of complaining or letter writing makes a difference. I know, I tried and then after several years of trying gave up on RC altogether. It falls on deaf ears. The food continues to get worse and worse. Just read the reviews. For those who have cruised before the decline, will understand what I'm talking about. The new cruisers won't. To each his own - if that is how you wish to spend your vacation dollars in exchange for bad service and poor quality of food, then so be it.

 

I have found the food to be about the same, on average, on six Royal Caribbean cruises taken over the last 17 or 18 years. I really think the drastic decline is oversold by some. The biggest difference I see is in the size of portions and collapsing of four or five courses into three. But the same things are there, for the most part, just not separated out into soups, salads and appetizers. They are just all lumped together as "starters." Maybe I'm in the minority, but I just don't see much difference in the quality of the food now compared to my first Royal Caribbean cruise. I thought it was very good, but not outstanding, back then. I feel like it was very good, but not outstanding, last week.

 

They've cut back on service staff, so no more sommellier, and I get a sense that the waiters are covering more passengers now than they were years ago. The service still seems very good most of the time, but the cutbacks probably mean a higher percentage of service issues.

 

Still, I think quantity has been cut more than quality. The current menus push you more toward three courses. There are no more midnight buffets. They have cut out some of the special desserts, like cherries jubilee or baked Alaska. That's a little fun thing that I miss, even though those desserts were not of any super quality. I guess I've seen almost two decades of claims of rapidly spiralling decline. People have been saying that as long as I've been cruising, and if it were true, they'd be down to serving gruel now. I just don't see it. A lot of the stuff looks and tastes the same: the soups haven't changed (still love the chilled fruit soups especially), the escargot hasn't changed (still a lovely little pile of butter and garlic), the lobster was never the best, but used to be a bit bigger, the filet is just as good as it used to be, but is now slices of a whole tenderloin, instead of a small steak. Less quantity; about the same quality and a slight reduction in service is how I see it over the last two decades.

[Paul65]

Sheets that have been properly laundered are not carrying diseases. I took the OP at his word, when he said it was a "stain" rather than fresh blood, but I could be wrong about that. And I have no doubt that he thought it was a blood stain, and it very well could be. One would not really know that for sure without some way of testing it, and I assumed he did not bring on his junior CSI kit. Sorry it creeps you out that I might still use sheets at home that have small stains on them. Besides, when I started down this road of talking about the stain, I wasn't even replying directly to the OP as much as to the people who were reacting as if this were some disgustingly obvious thing that the housekeeping staff deliberately overlooked. I just felt like, without some clarification from the OP (which he has declined to give), we can't really know if it was that bad or not.

 

I said I was going to bow out of this discussion earlier, though, which was a good plan, I think, so bye-bye, and I mean it this time.

[ChrisUK]

Good, cos ure a pratt Paul! Just please let me know when ure next cruising with Royal so I can avoid that one!

[Rellyrooly]

Hey Chris-

I was just lurking on this thread. OH MY! You have some very valid points and some others that may not have mattered to me IMO. That being said, isn't this a place where we are supposed to be able to come not only to ask questions and gain information, but to also give info? You started a thread that I thought was valid. You should not have been massacred. Having taken only 1 RC cruise (and loving it BTW) I don't have anything negative to say. It doesn't mean, however, that in the future if I have a bad experience on RC or any other line, that I don't have the right to voice my experience/opinion. So voice on!

 

I do have a question, perhaps clarification needed. The balcony situation; was it the dividers that were locked or the actual doors from the room that were locked? If it was the doors, I would have been mad for sure. You are paying for a balcony, you should get the balcony. If it was a trash concern, they should have voiced it to you to give you the opportunity to correct it. Maybe I am off base. Please clarify. Thanks!

[ChrisUK]

Rellyrooly

 

It was the dividers. There was 8 of us, so had 3 dividers opened. Then they were locked. I guess if things had gone well on the cruise, we wouldnt have bothered mentoning it. But when things start adding up, it just becomes annoying. Not a major thing, just thought I would mention it. Maybe the reaction of the guest relatons manager to blame the phillipinos was more significant. Not really something she should be saying.

 

Hope that clarifies.....

[Rellyrooly]

Ok, thanks for the clarification. :)

[05mak05]

"Cruise Confidential" - A hit below the Waterline ... should be required reading for all cruisers. It was recommended on another thread. I haven't been able to put it down. Sorry you had a disappointing cruise.

[Wilda]

This thread has disintegrated to beyond ridiculous:eek:

[yogimax]

Is this thread still going on?

 

Why?

[marci22]

Is this thread still going on?

 

Why?

 

You could say that about any thread here.

[marci22]

Old blood or fresh ;), the point is, where is the line drawn?

 

Personally, if a sheet has blood stains on it, of any sort, it needs to be retired. Surely there must be some Room Steward Manual that gives advice on when to keep, when to toss?

 

As far as the pads go, and I know it is not easy to launder them: if you come within a foot of it, and it smells of urine, you need to clean it, or toss it.

 

So simple!

[GeneK]

Is this thread still going on?

 

Why?

Because none of the other threads are interesting today.;)

[Debde]

Aw-come on guys.

blood stained cover and someone pretty much says no biggie-call housekeeping

I'm glued to that thread like white on rice!!!:p

[blackshirtuk]

we were on the same ship a couple of weeks before you and the only "problem" we had was a room attendant with attitude. She just wasn't polite at all. First day my wife wasn't feeling well and went for a lie down. The attendant knocked on the door and wanted to come in i said no my wife was sleeping she said it would only take a minute and barged in. To tell me her name, her hours and where the mini bar was!

 

The next day we had a late breakfast and then back to the room, we saw the attendant and said don't worry about cleaning the room as we were going to relax and put the "Do Not disturb sign on the door". Our son came back before lunch bringing in the sign. A few minutes later a knock on the door, the attendant, do we want the room cleaned or not !!.

 

And finally a "wrong number" phone call at 6.30 am on departure day. I know they want to get you off as soon as possible but our depature time was 9.30 am

[bajathree]

I saw people leave their empty glasses on the stairway of the Voyager, and those got picked up, too. But that doesn't mean it's OK to leave your empty glasses on the stairway. I do think the room steward should have picked the stuff up, but it should never have been left on the balcony (yours or the OP's).

 

Always leave dishes on the balcony....have no idea why you say you shouldn't....your balcony is part of your room and it should and always has been cleaned....just like in a hotel....same thing.

 

Also seems like the OP wasn't the only unhappy customer http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=23984863&postcount=1

[uksimonusa]

Always leave dishes on the balcony....have no idea why you say you shouldn't....your balcony is part of your room and it should and always has been cleaned....just like in a hotel....same thing.

 

Also seems like the OP wasn't the only unhappy customer http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=23984863&postcount=1

 

Well said Steve, we were on the same cruise and had a lot of the same issues, whould have done liberty with you instead, how was it??

[bajathree]

Well said Steve, we were on the same cruise and had a lot of the same issues, whould have done liberty with you instead, how was it??

 

Simon...we had a great time on Liberty....staff was excellent!

[marazad16]

The OP has some valid points and everyone tries to trivialize them. Just because some of the complaints don't relate to you(smoking, mini bar, early bar closing) does not mean that they are not important. And someone saying "at least you don't have to cook or clean" is the worst reply when you spend thousands of dollars for the cruise.

As for the dishes on the balcony, glasses & bottles don't blow away and the steward should go out there every day. It's his job.

Also, how does anyone know if they were doing work on the balconies? Maybe it was the phillipinos....

I would write a letter to RCCL. Give names & dates.

 

This is exactly what I was going to say. You nailed the issues perfectly.

 

 

 

As an aside it is always disappointing when something we are acquainted with changes for the worse. We get used to a certain level of service, that they provided and then something suffers. They created our expectation in the first place. We know what to expect and look forward to it and then it doesn't happen. Its a huge let down. Could be an off cruise. I guess time will tell and reviews will also. Still a good opportunity to let the line know how you feel. Feedback, both positive and negative is always helpful. Sorry your vacation wasnt all you had hoped it would be!

[Paul65]

Rellyrooly

 

It was the dividers. There was 8 of us, so had 3 dividers opened. Then they were locked. I guess if things had gone well on the cruise, we wouldnt have bothered mentoning it. But when things start adding up, it just becomes annoying. Not a major thing, just thought I would mention it. Maybe the reaction of the guest relatons manager to blame the phillipinos was more significant. Not really something she should be saying.

 

Hope that clarifies.....

 

Ah, so it was the dividers. Earlier in the thread you said it was the doors. Just hard to figure out what you're really saying some times.

[Paul65]

Always leave dishes on the balcony....have no idea why you say you shouldn't....your balcony is part of your room and it should and always has been cleaned....just like in a hotel....same thing.

 

Actually, no, it is different from the rest of your room, and it is not just like in a hotel. In our room there were specific instruction not to leave items out on the balcony. The main concern is things flying overboard. I suppose if you're careful to pick up any napkins or straws or any other light things that could easily fly away, and only leave behind the heavier stuff, you wouldn't have much likelihood of stuff going overboard. But it's easier to just say don't leave stuff out there than try to have lists of what can stay and what can't, and if you're going to pick up all the light stuff, why not just bring it all in?

 

So, to recap, there is a reason not to leave things out on the balcony, the balcony is an outdoor area and not the same as the rest of your room and a cruise ship moving through the ocean is not the same as a hotel. Otherwise, the rest of the points in your post are accurate.

[critterchick]

No. I said I DON'T throw them out at home because of a small stain.

 

But they're your stains, not the stains from somebody you've never met. I got the willies just typing that!:eek: And bleach will take out just about any stain, so the fact that it was still there tells me that (1) they don't use bleach anymore or (2 it was a dirty sheet. Bleah.

 

Rellyrooly

 

It was the dividers. There was 8 of us, so had 3 dividers opened. Then they were locked. I guess if things had gone well on the cruise, we wouldnt have bothered mentoning it. But when things start adding up, it just becomes annoying. Not a major thing, just thought I would mention it. Maybe the reaction of the guest relatons manager to blame the phillipinos was more significant. Not really something she should be saying.

 

Hope that clarifies.....

 

I'm surprised that you were allowed to open the dividers in the first place. Most ships won't even let you do that "for safety reasons" (not sure what the safety issue is). I agree that the Guest Services officer shouldn't have made a remark about "the Filipinos," since anyone who is ethnically sensitive might be offended by thtat.

[Jerseyboy1]

Great thread everybody....lots of drama, some conflict, and a little comedy as well.....thanks for the entertainment.:)

[kew852000]

I wonder why people can't just let the poor guy have his opinions? If he didn't like the cruise, he didn't like it, and it sounds to me that he has valid points that make sense to him. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether you like it or not. I just don't understand why people need to tear apart his every point. He paid a lot of money for his cruise and didn't enjoy it.. so be it!