RoyalcarribeanReviews of royalcarribean.com

This is our first cruise. We decided to book with RC as the offshore stops looked amazing. Now to be fair 4/5 trips were good but our last shore excursion on the final day was an absolute nightmare. We took a trip to Pompeii and the driver was so wrecklace. We were literally holding on for our lives. We were arrived we were then told to join a 1.5hr long queue to buy tickets - this info was made aware beforehand or even whilst on the coach so we could have purchased in advance. By the time we got through the queue we had just over an hour to explore before having to meet back up with the tour organiser. To then get back to the boat to complain and told by the manager (Paula) that she didn't believe our story. We ended up escalating the situation to one of the captains chief of staff and Toni (who was fabulous in handling that situation) gave us a small refund of 30% for the inconvenience. The boat and the staff (apart from Paula) were fabulous. There is alot of staff so it feels organised. The house keeping staff especially Nilo was excellent and left my daughter (2.5yrs old) a towel animal creation on the bed every day. We attended Captains hour which was very interesting and the captain was very funny and witty with his humour. We would definitely do a cruise again but not with RC. They focus so much on service whilst you're on the boat and after every meal ask for feedback and encourage you to give a high score but the excursion team, the guest services let down the operation.

Ovation of the Seas, May 2025, China, South Korea and Japan. Unfortunately, on boarding we were given the wrong cabin, which turns out to be the fault of the travel agent, not RC. We were charged £300 for an upgrade to the room we had actually booked, a cabin with a balcony. It took us a few hours to sort this out, including a long telephone call to the travel agent in the UK from China. Our cruise ended with a great disappointment as 4 designer shirts were taken and will not be returned. I didn’t realise this until we got home. The 3 shirts that I had worn were on the sofa with other used clothes, ready to be thrown into the case when we departed. One shirt was in the drawer. I have now had it confirmed that they were not ‘found’, so cannot be returned. I have never had an issue like this with the 2 other cruise companies that I have sailed with. The ship is huge with many great amenities and attractions to keep you occupied. The cabin was spacious for 2 people. The staff were very polite and hardworking. Some of the entertainment was excellent and there was a good choice in the various bars and theatre. The restaurants were very good with a varied selection of food, which was all prepared and presented very well. At times service in the a la carte restaurant was slow. Some of the trips were, in our opinion, a bit of a rip off, especially as they are so costly. One major issue was the daily service charge and the additional service charges which are automatically added when you order drinks. The daily service charges alone were over £300 but, after speaking with some Australian travellers, we challenged this and they were reluctantly removed. We would have considered sailing with RC again but, due to the lost clothes, will almost certainly not.

A fall from grace…our most recent transpacific cruise aboard the Ovation of the Seas was a far cry from only 2 short years ago. The ship was tremendously over crowed as evidenced by spot shortages of common food and beverage products, jam packed galleys, inconsistent food quality, and never ending lines at the customer service desk. Shore excursions were primarily sold out pre cruise leaving little to occupy the travelers time when considering the laughable quality of on board entertainment highlighted by ongoing sessions of karaoke. A clueless or at the very least untrained cruise director was unable to bring any order to a random collection of subpar activities and events. The process of boarding tenders or even exiting the ship was a long and drawn out process that regularly jammed the hallways of the lower staterooms making it difficult, or impossible to access cabins for extended periods. Cleanliness was a problem in common areas accentuate by episodes of drunken passengers vomiting on the pool deck. Dirt encrusted hot tubs highlighted the solarium experience and stacks of discarded beverage containers could be found on nearly every empty surface throughout the craft. Onboard shopping was limited primarily to trinket quality jewelry, discount quality clothing in an ongoing “rummage sale” . Crew members were undertrained and mercilessly over worked, and the customer serve unit were delightfully unconcerned. Beverage packages were overpriced and the very act of accessing over crowded bars made it difficult to obtain the product cruisers prepaid for. Uniformed security personnel roamed the venues but did little to discourage intoxicated patrons from languishing in bars and public areas. Smoking areas were consistently teaming with patrons unwillingly or unable to relocate for nearly the entire cruise. This was a cruising experience I would expect aboard a Carnival ship but with a much higher price tag.

There are two very different levels of service on the anthem of the seas ship. The people at customer services are awful. They are condescending and make every effort to make guests feel stupid. A simple request for a daily magazine is met with distain, as if it’s too much for them. The queue is always long. We asked for help downloading the app, the lady serving us was clearly so irritated that she couldn’t even look at us. She snatched the phone and tossed it back with no manners at all. When the app was working she didn’t even say goodbye! Many guests have told me that the customer service teams only purpose is to sell additional services, and I agree. Any comment is met with either “it’s not managed by us, we cannot help, it’s an external provider” or “let me fill in a form and investigate”. Todd from England is apparently a manager, when I complained to him about a shuttle service, he encouraged me to write and complain as “it will never get you anywhere”. He, and a member of his staff, spent over 20 minutes writing down my comments, and promised to get back to me. 24 hours later, I have heard nothing. The rest of the staff on the ship, however, are a stark contrast. They are amazing! The welcomer gentleman (maybe Rajeev) at the restaurant on deck 4 is outstanding, he welcomed us every day with a smile and found us a great table. It was a joy to see him every evening. Waiters Noor and Sanjeev are frankly amazing! They go over and above to make sure that everything is beyond expectations, no matter how busy they are they make you feel special. The two restaurant managers we saw every night are also so attentive (shawshank even found us soup when it was not in the menu). When an incident happened, the restaurant staff could not have been more fantastic. Faultless. Our room was cleaned every day by Rajev, who often left towel sculptures on the bed - which really made us smile!! The bar waitress with shoulder length black hair in the music hall is super friendly. Ibby in the flight area was patient and made our sky dive such fun. So, overall, if you avoid the customer services desk, your holiday will be great!!

Boat was beautiful and activities and shows were great but I am giving them a 2 star due to the food that was very low quality. Didnt eat any BEEF products, cause they seemed off...taste and texture not right. All the food was prettied up to cover up, sad!!

I went on odessey of the seas recently. I’ve been on a few royal carribean cruises and was always pleased with the overall service we got. I booked into fine dining, which we’ve always enjoyed in the past. Standards have really dropped. Food wasn’t that nice. Table service average. People around us were getting served drinks at their table. We didn’t get offered drinks. I bought a drinks package at £1,400 for 2 people. Conversations around the bar were there’s no kick in the alcoholic drinks. I wouldn’t buy a drinks package on royal carribean again. They are either low alcohol or watered down. Very disappointed, i couldn’t even be bothered completing their survey…they’ve had your money! DONT BUY DRINKS PACKAGE