Novice returns from a cruise

[zimmerman]

Some brief feedback for any casual visitors to this site;

 

Just back off our third cruise. So we don’t have any of the previous baggage/experience that a lot of this forum has.

 

Leading up to the cruise I was frequenting this board and with each day, getting more and more concerned.

 

I think all in all, it wasn’t as bad as these boards can suggest (or be interpreted as).

 

it wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t a floating war zone that you could be forgiven for thinking it is, reading a lot of these threads.

 

some of my thoughts on common themes:

 

Cabin Cleaning:

in respect to the once a day cleaning - absolutely fine for us. Wasn’t a problem at all. We did have issues with the cabin on embarkation day that took the whole day to resolve and probably soured the whole cruise experience; but the once a day cabin cleaning - was perfectly fine for us.

 

Service:

overall service was great. Staff cannot do enough for you. As has been highlighted, there are probably too few though.

 

Dining Room:

[queues]

It seemed to get better as the week went on. First few nights were absolutely terrible though. We had my time dining and across the week we waited 5-10 mins at most (one night maybe 15+). We had a reservation at 19:30 and this worked for us. Leaving the MDR though, could see huge queues (both reservations and non-reservations) across the first 4 nights for sure… didn’t seem to be as much of an issue across the last few nights. 

 

[service]
The waiter(s) we had were amazing.

the head waiter, was amazing.

 

but the reality is, they are spread so thin, they can’t really do any better… so this isn’t a criticism of THEM, but the SYSTEM.

 

our waiter seemed to be looking after about  50 of us and his drinks guy was nowhere to be seen after taking our drink order.

 

first night our drinks hadn’t even arrived after 40 mins. Similar story the next few nights; or one drink would arrive but the other didn’t. Can’t recall, second or third night the drinks arrived after an age and were wrong. So after that, we just took our own drinks in with us and I would nip out between courses to get our own drinks. Took so long for the food to arrive, this wasn’t a problem.

 

As alluded to, took ages for the food to arrive. Was worst on nights 1-2, but definitely speeded up as the week went on. Food was always warm.

 
[food quality]
the reduced menu wasn’t that big a deal for us. There was always something to select. If we were cruising 2-3 times a year or more; or this was our 48th cruise or we were sailing more than 7 nights… I could see it being more of an issue, but it wasn’t.  For me there hasn’t been any noticeable difference in quality between our first cruise in 2018 and this, our third. We’re foodies (we’re probably food snobs if being honest). So I’ve never found the food to be amazing quality; but I’ve never gone hungry and I’ve never struggled to eat it. No change on this cruise. It’s a consistent 6.5/10.

 

[drinks]

one thing we noticed, definitely at the pool bar (and maybe they’ve always done this)… but when making cocktails they’ll not use some of the premium spirits in those; if you ask, they’ll oblige without question though. To be honest, that’s one of the plus points of RC, the selection of premium drinks available on the drinks package. Noticed this on day one and just made sure we specified what we wanted when ordering after that. Could I have x with Grey Goose or could I have x made with Kraken etc.
 

[Billy Baltic]

4 hours ago, zimmerman said:

but the reality is, they are spread so thin, they can’t really do any better… so this isn’t a criticism of THEM, but the SYSTEM.

IMO that sums up the current cruise experience. Generally the people on board are still trying to deliver the best possible experience but the decisions being made in HQ ultimately undermine that. 

 

I might have missed it but what ship did you sail on?

 

[Rackham]

5 hours ago, zimmerman said:

[drinks]

one thing we noticed, definitely at the pool bar (and maybe they’ve always done this)… but when making cocktails they’ll not use some of the premium spirits in those; if you ask, they’ll oblige without question though. To be honest, that’s one of the plus points of RC, the selection of premium drinks available on the drinks package. Noticed this on day one and just made sure we specified what we wanted when ordering after that. Could I have x with Grey Goose or could I have x made with Kraken etc.
 

 

Anywhere it doesn't specify the spirit ("house rum," "vodka," etc.) they reach for the ~$12 for 1.75 liter bottles, at least for as long as I've sailed with Royal. zimmerman's suggestion of naming the booze if you've got the package, or vouchers, is right on the money.

[fenton04]

2 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

IMO that sums up the current cruise experience. Generally the people on board are still trying to deliver the best possible experience but the decisions being made in HQ ultimately undermine that. 

 

I might have missed it but what ship did you sail on?

 

Yes inquiring minds would like to know.  (Big, medium or small ship would do por favor)

[Big_G]

9 hours ago, zimmerman said:

 

it wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t a floating war zone that you could be forgiven for thinking it is, reading a lot of these threads.

 

 

🤣🤣🤣

[zimmerman]

We sailed on Explorer (out of Ravenna).

 

the cocktail in question specified Absolut vodka. But he made it with something that wasn’t.