Concerns about Royal/Liberty

[Cuizer2]

I was in one of the first tenders into GC and I can assure you that NOTHING was mentioned about the excursion cancellations! It was not just my excursion either. As you may know, once you depart the tender, you go to a designated large tent for your respective excursion. Most tents even manage multiple excursions. The tent I was directed to for my excursion managed at least 10 different excursions because we were offered a few substitutions from a menu with several listed, BUT MOST HAD CANCELLED!

I watched the RCI officers and the tent personnel break the excursion cancellation bad news to wave after wave of tender passengers who arrived after we did. There were a lot of disappointed cruisers I assure you.

 

Read my review again. 99% was positive and I will cruise again on RCI. I just wanted to point out that RCI could have been more transparent with us in regards to cancelling excursions.

 

I do agree that Royal Caribbean has a communication problem, or more specifically, a lack of communication problem.

[brn2crz]

Just off this past Sunday and couldnt disagree more. Everyone was beyond friendly. From porters to check in, to crew and staff. Everyone we passed always greeted us. I cant count the number of maint type workers ,you know the ones in the blue or orange over alls, that went out of their way to smile and speak. Yea some of the sales people in the promonade may have been a bit stiff.

No issues with overbilling, All interaction at CS was seamless. We lost one of our bev package mugs the second day and they actually replaced it.

Without going into detail, we actually had a very intimate encounter with the security staff, and the concern and action they took was beyond impressive.

I have a few issues with RCI , but I can assure you it has nothing to do with this past sailing. Have already booked her again.

[baileymouse]

I'm not vegan (far from it) but I am gluten-free due to my intestinal bypass. I am also allergic to crustaceans. The staff bent over backwards to make sure I had great dining choices. My meals were beautifully prepared. I never lacked for fresh fruit or vegetables, I really loved my cruise.

 

People complain. There are some people who are never happy, and there are others who enjoy life as it comes along. If I had a customer service issue I'd be ticked, but I found my time on Liberty to be a great deal of fun.

[John&LaLa]

Never believe what you read I guess.

Edited June 16, 2016 by John&LaLa

[EAZYLIVING]

Hello everyone, let me begin by introducing myself. I've been lurking on this site for well over a year now, but just decided to register today so I can voice some recent concerns of mine. I've been wanting to take a cruise for a long time now, but convincing my wife has taken a bit of time. She's had several worries, including phobias about deep water and tight spaces, as well as some dietary concerns (she's vegan). It's taken me about two years, but she's now completely on board with taking a cruise and just as excited as I am.

 

Unfortunately we've had to put off our plans due to her work circumstances, but those have recently been cleared up and we're now good to go for planning a trip in March 2017. Given that we live in Houston, and she's fresh out of dry dock, Liberty of the Seas seems like a natural fit for our first cruise. As part of my planning, I started looking for trip reports here from folks who have sailed on Liberty since the renovations. Mostly this was to rekindle some excitement, but I wanted to also double check some of the vegan food options I had found earlier. That's when I started running across reviews like these:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2329603

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2357969

Specifically from the second review, this post: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=50031719&postcount=49

 

There are a couple of other similar reviews that I came across a couple of days ago, but can't seem to find now. Still, I noticed a disturbing trend among these reviews:

1: Extremely rude staff, who often reply to seemingly reasonable requests in curt, mocking tones.

2: Dishonest billing practices, doing whatever it takes, including blatant lies, to avoid giving refunds for situations that were clearly RC's fault.

3: Poor communication, leading to confused guests.

4: The apparent attitude that if something goes wrong, blame the guest first.

 

The reviews are bad enough that they've gotten me to reconsider whether Liberty, and RC as a whole are right for my wife and I. What's especially surprising is that I did not come across reviews that mentioned these concerns prior to Liberty's dry dock. At least, not nearly to the degree that I've seen in reviews written afterward. So what's going on here? Is it just that the Liberty has seen a lot of staff turn over because of the dry dock and it's taking time to smooth over the rough edges? Or is this the establishment of a trend?

 

Now let me be clear. I understand that on every cruise there are going to be some unhappy people, and I normally take negative reviews with a grain of salt. What's got me particularly concerned is the pattern of systematically lying to guests, especially if money is involved. In the first review I linked to literally hundreds of guests were told that their excursion was cancelled due to poor weather, when there wasn't even a cloud in the sky. This was obviously done so RC wouldn't have to give refunds for those excursions. I simply refuse to give my hard earned money to any company that believes this is an acceptable business practice. Thus my hesitation in booking. Am I overreacting here, or is this a case of "where there's smoke there's fire"?

 

I think that you're overacting. Just remember there are 3000+ cruisers on LOS. Do you really think that those three somewhat and negative reviews, which are less than .003% of LOS weekly cruisers, really represent the experience of the majority?

To avoid some of their problems, I've never used my credit card on any cruise and don't prepay for gratuities. Also always bring cash for the cruise.

Maybe I will post my LOS review after my cruise.

Edited June 16, 2016 by EAZYLIVING

[subtchr]

I was in one of the first tenders into GC and I can assure you that NOTHING was mentioned about the excursion cancellations! It was not just my excursion either. As you may know, once you depart the tender, you go to a designated large tent for your respective excursion. Most tents even manage multiple excursions. The tent I was directed to for my excursion managed at least 10 different excursions because we were offered a few substitutions from a menu with several listed, BUT MOST HAD CANCELLED!

I watched the RCI officers and the tent personnel break the excursion cancellation bad news to wave after wave of tender passengers who arrived after we did. There were a lot of disappointed cruisers I assure you.

 

Read my review again. 99% was positive and I will cruise again on RCI. I just wanted to point out that RCI could have been more transparent with us in regards to cancelling excursions.

 

Thanks for coming back with more details, I appreciate it. I am surprised about the lack of info before tendering, but not doubting it happened!

 

For the OP on this thread, though, could you confirm that your excursion cost was refunded? For some reason, he was under the impression that it was not.

 

(That is not to discount your displeasure over the fact that you had no reason to bring more cash ashore to purchase an alternate excursion -- one you had no idea you would need!)

[parsec0298]

I just want to thank everyone who replied thoughtfully and actually tried to provide some additional information. It sounds like I misunderstood the issue with the canceled excursion, and it is reassuring that the policy is not what I thought it was.

 

Also, thank you everyone who provided whatever experience they had with vegan eating. Trust me, I'm planning to contact the special needs folks about 5 minutes after we book, assuming we decide to go ahead with a cruise (we're still considering some other vacation options as well).

 

As for when we're going, we'll go on one of the Falmouth/Grand Cayman/Cozumel sailings. A friend of mine had a pretty negative impression of Belize, and I've heard some horrifying things about how the resorts in Roatan deal with stray dogs. That's not to say we'll never take that itinerary, but it just sounds less enjoyable for us than some of the others. We're also a bit dubious of Falmouth, and I really wish RC would go to Montego Bay instead. I know, I know, we can get there from Falmouth, but that's time spent sitting in a car that could have been used doing something else.

[iluvit!]

We live in Houston ,too, and the ease of just hopping on a ship in Galveston is great! Did a Liberty cruise in April, and though I haven't gotten around to posting a review yet, had a very nice trip. The staff was wonderful, the ship was beautiful and the food pretty good. Having worked in the hospitality field for many years I particularly notice service and had zero complaints. Take your wife on this cruise and you will be hooked. However, if she is claustrophobic you probably don't want to book an inside cabin. We have 3 more cruise booked on this ship and are grateful to have nice a fantastic ship in Texas.

 

 

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[tonyweir]

All I can say is to continue to use your grain of salt theory

 

For most of us, a vacation is what YOU make of it. Start with a positive attitude and it will generally be great. Expect problems and you get them. You decide.

 

Exactly!

[Merion_Mom]

I have a friend who "cruises vegan" and she only had serious problems on one ship, and it wasn't the Liberty.

 

:)

[jcc1025]

Just off Liberty On June 12. We had a great cruise and the staff was friendly, smiling & polite. Our room steward was amazing, The cruise director (Ricky Matthews) and activity Mgr (Tresha Robb) were a great team. Both visible around the ship. Our only "glitch" was room service...which was easily remedied by going to get the food ourselves. Traveling Liberty again January 2017 and June 2017. If I was you, I'd not have any qualms...and be sure to look for the ranger cookies!

 

We were on the same cruise and could not agree more. It was a great time and the crew and staff were amazing. The ship is beautiful. We have sailed on 17 cruises and also note that some people seem to get on with a idea of finding something wrong. I use to think it was so they could justify stiffing the crew on tips. Its a big ship, we share it with lots of people, need to take that into consideration.

[George C]

I cruised RCCL over a dozen times and have several more booked and did Liberty 2 months ago, do not ever recall any staff being rude, or rare occasions I have seen this on other lines.

[BLAMBKY]

Off of last week's cruise on Liberty. I did not have an issues with any staff bring anything other than friendly. Yes, there did seem to be hiccups with information. (Things listed as happening but we're not) No one in my family is vegan but my daughter ordered a vegan entree and enjoyed it. I hope you can start to get excited about cruising again, it is an awesome way to vacation!

 

 

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[BamaGuy44]

Internet reviews are pretty much why "grains of salt" were invented. ;)

 

Pick your favorite hotel or restaurant. The one you think is the best you've ever been to. I guarantee you will find reviews on the interwebz saying it's the worst thing they've ever seen, not worthy to feed to their dog, complete ripoff, etc.

[majarosh]

The only issue I EVER had on Liberty was a year ago March....OSCAR OSCAR OSCAR...not kidding

[Isaboo]

I don't know about the vegan dishes, but we just got off of Liberty this past Sunday and I didn't find any of the other things to be true. Most of the staff was very friendly and helpful. I do believe that some of the waitstaff and bar staff are very overworked, though.

 

I had $300 OBC left over and had no trouble getting that refunded in cash.

 

The food was good in the main dining room and everywhere else (except for Sorrentos pizza...IMO store brand frozen pizza is better). I don't care for the Windjammer due to the pushing, grabbing and waiting in lines for food, but what they serve is good.

 

I only book private excursions.

 

We had such a nice time we booked another cruise for next summer on Liberty! We'll do the other itinerary this time.:D

[forecruiser]

We too, live in Houston and just got off the Liberty on Sunday (6/20) and had a fantastic time!! The ship was beautiful and the staff was very friendly. Our 16 year old son has a soy allergy and each night in the dining room, the chef would prepare him a separate dinner so he could eat with no adverse reactions. The staff went above and beyond our expectations. The same is true in the windjammer, the chef would prepare him a special plate of pasta (cooked in water - no oil) so he could eat. The shows were not spectacular, in our opinion, but enjoyable. We loved the addition of the water slides and tidal wave. We all had a blast on the flowrider. We had a balcony cabin on deck 7 on the hump which was a great location. I am sure there are folks who have had a negative experience on the Liberty, but I would say it is rare. If you go looking for something bad to happen, you will find it. Go with a great attitude and enjoy your vacation. You will not go wrong on the Liberty!

[Liljo22]

I do not put a lot of stock in reviews. I fell into the same trap that you did. We cruised on another line earlier this year and I was agonizing over ever review worried that I made a bad choice. Trip comes and we had a wonderful time. My whole family was in tears as we walked off the ship. Did everything go 100% as expected? Of course not but you can't let something ruin your vacation.

 

I quickly went and took a look at the Liberty reviews. It seems like some of the bad reviews have something going wrong right off the bat and those people probably never recovered. Security line took to long. Galveston is ugly. If you are going to be angry before even getting on the ship, every little thing is going to seem like a huge annoyance to you.

[cloud_nine]

Can't say anything about Vegan dishes but I am Vegetarian and never have any problems on RCI (unlike Carnival which I would never cruise again as a veggie). What I would suggest along with letting special needs know is to go to the MDR as soon as you board and let the Maitre D and/or head waiter know. Things can sometimes get lost before you board and once your head waiter knows they will come to your table every night and work with you to figure out your next nights dinner.

[surf cruiser]

My 11th cruise, with the majority being on Oasis class ships. We found everyone to be very friendly and accommodating. Ship chefs are pros at handling special diets or requests. If you have any issues or concerns, just leave a written note for the Hotel Director. Our concerns were addressed immediately and followed up on throughout the week. We loved everything about our vacation!

[CComyns]

Just wanted to put in my two cents. I work in car sales and I see a lot of bad reviews and a few good ones. There is a 10% chance that a person that has a good experience will tell someone. There is a 90% chance that a person that has a bad experience will tell up to 9 people about their experience. Cruising is amazing and you will love it!

[reallyitsmema]

Just wanted to put in my two cents. I work in car sales and I see a lot of bad reviews and a few good ones. There is a 10% chance that a person that has a good experience will tell someone. There is a 90% chance that a person that has a bad experience will tell up to 9 people about their experience. Cruising is amazing and you will love it!

 

And 95% of statistics on the internet are made up.

[John&LaLa]

And 95% of statistics on the internet are made up.

 

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[CComyns]

And 95% of statistics on the internet are made up.

 

Yeah, these aren't internet statistics. This is factual research from the fortune 500 company that I work for.

[OuterLimits]

Can't say anything about Vegan dishes but I am Vegetarian and never have any problems on RCI (unlike Carnival which I would never cruise again as a veggie). What I would suggest along with letting special needs know is to go to the MDR as soon as you board and let the Maitre D and/or head waiter know. Things can sometimes get lost before you board and once your head waiter knows they will come to your table every night and work with you to figure out your next nights dinner.

 

On Navigator of the Seas, they were pros at handling my vegan requests. Special meals in MDR. Answers/soy milk/etc in the Windjammer, etc. The head waiter was fantastic, special desserts/appetizers, etc.

 

I'm hoping it will be just as good on Liberty in September.