Royal Caribbean UK Reviews 43

Absolutely dreadful customer service.After booking a cruise with numerous excursions and trying to book drinks packages I’m told my daughter who is 25 and severely mentally and physically disabled must also buy the £420 alcoholic package.I have repeatedly given evidence to Royal Caribbean of her needs and the fact she’s unable to drive alcohol.I have purchased my daughter a £200 soft drinks package but again I’m told if she doesn’t purchase the alcohol package then neither can we!! Customer service team didn’t want to resolve the situation and showed no empathy at all.This has really put me off travelling with them but after spending £10,000 we now have no choice.Avoid Royal Caribbean they are not the company they used to be unfortunately and are only about their profit.

This was my first time cruising with Royal Caribbean, and while the ship and crew were lovely, the pre-cruise customer service was very disappointing.

Before sailing, I used live chat several times to confirm details about our cabin and was told it was suitable for four adults, with two single beds and Pullman beds available. When we boarded, we discovered there were no Pullman beds at all. The information I was given beforehand was completely wrong. They had my booking number and room number so there’s no excuse.

I received conflicting answers from different agents, which caused unnecessary stress, delays, and extra expense. When I questioned this and shared screenshots of what I’d been told, some staff were quite rude rather than helpful.

The onboard crew did their best and were polite throughout, but the lack of continuity and accuracy before the cruise really let the overall experience down.

I didn’t find anything wrong with my cruises except the pre embarkation was extremely slow for people with disabilities or wheelchair helping get on board !

I stay in hotels a lot and I am not prone to writing trust pilot reviews 3 ever and 2 are about Royal Caribbean, Brilliance of the Seas. Should be renamed disgrace of the seas! So let’s add to my first day feedback. Lack of waiter servuce around the decks, you can’t find anyone. Waiters in the main dining area mean well but appear to have little or no training. 1 poor guy started the day before serving in a restaurant with a couple of thousand people going through it each night. Paid for an £830 premium drinks package and requested a bottle of water to take medication, was refused plus there is no sale of soft drinks/ water in any of the shops. I should read the small print but the Windjammer restaurant which masquerades as a buffet all day restaurant , have just come back on board and there is absolutely nothing,yes nothing available ,asked if we could at least get a frozen ice cream from the machine, you guessed it 2 team members said no!!! To top it all our cabin wasn’t cleaned today, when everyone else’s and our friends on the deck above, cabin done. Asked one of the cleaners 2 hours ago could they clean it and get new towels, nobody turned up went up to customer services and spoke to the first officer in charge of customer services called Frankie who apologised and send he would sort it out. Unfortunately he didn’t. We tracked down the deck head of housekeeping who came to the cabin, who tried to explain to us that she is by herself and doesn’t have time to do all the cabins and agreed that service on board was terrible, clearly not her accountability, I felt really sorry for her. I’m sure many reading this will think, ‘ First World problem just accept it and crack on however, Royal Caribbean are charging premium prices plus charging you a substantial staff gratuity on top. The Execs at this company need to go and pay for a Tui Marella cruise to experience what good looks like. Impeccable service, well maintained and relatively recently refurbished ships and cabins, well organised and enough team members who are trained across all areas of the ship. I suspect however,execs will not even read this and someone in customer services will dismiss it as just another whinger expecting to much or being pedantic. However if your reading this thinking about spending your hard earned on a Royal Caribbean cruise my advice, definitely think again or do a Tui Marella cruise 30% cheaper who are outstanding by comparison. I will even put my name to this, Jeff Browning

This is by far the worst company we have ever dealt with. Rude, abrupt and unprofessional staff and support services, a company in chaos.

Told us the day before the cruise was due to embark it’s been delayed! Called to complain, no compensation. Flights taxis etc can’t be changed. They’ve really gone downhill in the past few years. Been on many cruises with them including a couple of years ago. They aren’t the same company they used to be, will NEVER book with them again. Going through holiday insurers for compensation

I booked a cruise for our family with Royal Caribbean stating we would be adding a baby to the reservation when the baby arrived. Contacted them when baby arrived and they said it was no problem to add the baby, but would need to contact the agent we booked with. Did that a few days ago and they said it agent says Royal Caribbean want £900 to add a baby to the room reserved. A baby what will only occupy space. Not eating etc! Really……really??

Avoid spectrum of the seas Osaka, Kobe and Tokyo Japan cruise

Our first issue was arriving in Osaka. Intinary time 14:30-04:00 -

We did not disembark the ship until approx after 17:30 as we were ticket number 62 in the queue for disembarking. We did not get into Osaka until approx 18:30 . By this time it was dark and all attractions / museums were closed. Attractions closed at 5pm. Our first day was wasted.

The second port Kobe. We booked an excursion with a guide called Casper who kept walking off from the group and leaving the elderly behind. She only spoke to the front of the group and no one could hear what was being said. We were then taken to a hilltop and left for 2 hours with little to see or do . Lots of us sat by the side of the road waiting on the bus coming back to pick us up. We were then taken to Chinatown despite being in Japan and wanting to see Japan. Then taken back to the ship. Wasted a day when there was so much to see.

Third port Tokyo which was supposed to be the highlight was the biggest disappointment. We booked “ Tokyo on your own” to take us to Shibuya crossing with “over 4 hours exploring time” . We arrived in Tokyo approx 15:25 and were advised that the bus was leaving early at 7pm. Basically 3.5 hours to explore Tokyo. We were then advised that the gangway doesn’t go up until approx 10 and we could stay longer but have to get a taxi back which was around £156. So we basically paid for a £90 each bus to take us to Tokyo only to leave early and give us very minimal time. We ended Coming back with the bus to the ship very disappointed and deflated with the whole experience. Saw very little of Japan and even less of Tokyo. We felt like we had travelled across the world to fall short right at the last destination.

In our onion the excursions/ intinary was a poor excuse to take customers money and provide as little experience in return. We have never felt more scammed in our lives.

Cruise ship disorganised and uncoordinated.

Avoid this cruise if you especially want to see Japan.

Not even worth one star. I didn’t get as far as a cruise. I receive daily marketing emails. I was genuinely interested in booking something but it fell over each time I tried. This has been the case for at least the last two days. I called to let the company know that they must be losing a fortune in business. I spoke to someone who wasn’t interested in what I was telling him and he just kept repeating back - wrongly what I stated to him, such was his lack of mastery of the English language. Thank God I didn’t book with them.

Ships are busier than ever, standards have dropped and the extra mandatory charges such as daily charges for tips and high cost of drinks plus surcharges make RoyalCaribbean.com one of the most expensive cruise lines when compared with others who offer similar quality of ships.

Keep a check of your loyalty points .
We've cruised with rci over 10 times never had a problem but your loyalty points don't always get added .
I had a cruise missing from my loyalty and told them , they asked me to prove it,I sent them the ship name our names our loyalty cruise numbers the full itinerary AND a photo of our seapasses and all this wasn't enough.
They want my reservation number which I couldn't get hold of because this cruise was over 4 years ago and I didn't keep the invoice.
But you would think a company as big as rci with all the information I gave them would be able to find us on the ship , but NO they can't, so I would just say check your loyalty programmes points as soon as you return home .
I give the loyalty team 1 out of 5 for there help . !!!!!!!!Since this post ive now received all my missing points and been fully updated.
It's great that I finally found contact in an email with someone who really helped. That's why ive updated my review

Wishy washi lady in Windjammer was brilliant with the guy on his guitar but the the table waiter ruin the hygene standards by wiping tables after clearing the dirty plates,cups ect with a used guest napkins and not using the pink cloths and spray they had with them 😲.

Checking in at the port in Ravenna we found the staff/port authorities abrupt and ordering people about in the line. As a disabled person the woman taking the luggage off myself and my husband 1 being a small suit carrier and 2 med sized cases she refused to take one of the cases off us and said we had to take it on ourselves as 1 case was too small for them to take!!
My Husband said we don't want to carry it on ourselves and it was bigger than the suit carrier you have taken off is but she dismissed us and wouldn't take it off us😡.

Boarding felt more like we where entering a prison rather than being welcomed on a cruise ship for a lovely relaxing holiday which we work hard to have!
Definately felt unwelcomed they all seemed very angry!

Definately wouldn't go from Ravenna again as it's too far from any Airport (3hrs away/train station from which you need a taxi transfer which adds to the costs.

The ship was nice and the entertainment was good.
Cabin large interior with a nice attendant Thank you.
Plenty of sunbeds.
Guest toilets were untidy and lacked required cleaning standards we are used to on RCI.

Bar staff ok in all bars.
Promanade cafè no tables cleaned at all just cleared that we saw!
Staff were not friendly at all and seemed like it was all too much trouble.

Tuna sandwhiches in the fridge were drenched in water and apperently that was due to the fridge being cold one young woman said and I said thats a terrible excuse and you are serving people those items like that!! There was no officer around to complain too!.

Arrived in Kotor @ 12pm and we were ther until 20:00 but eventually got off the ship at 4pm😡.
All other ports were good but terrible trying to get back down for the tender in Santorini as the line for the cable car was 2 hours long and with 3 ships there it was crazy. People were cutting in and almost fighting to get on the cable car!!!

Deck 7 had a vile smell of vomit which we noticed a few times and it just seemed to get worse! We did ask giest servoes to check it out and they did and the smell had gone by the morning after ( RCI what took so long) your cleaners must have smelt it!

I was booked into a room with a balcony but air conditioning didn’t work properly. Maintenance came to the room to say the grill had been put on backwards which he rectified. The controls for the air conditioning he said had to be fixed remotely which he said he would do. A few hours later another maintenance man came and said he would have to shut down the air conditioning manually which he did. He then returned another four times between ten pm and five am to sort out the air conditioning manually which he could not fix. We were then offered an inferior room at the same price which we refused. We also had to miss our excursion for the following day as we had not slept all night. I requested that royal Caribbean refund me one day of my seven day cruise which they have refused. They have offered money off a future cruise but nothing else

Tried to log in to pay for 2 different bookings for my family and both times they logged me into the same booking. The result is that they were happy for me to pay twice for one booking and it will be 7-10 days to get my money back. 1. Why would they ever take 2 full payments for the same booking? 2. Why did they log me into the wrong booking and allow me to make payment? Zero controls and very poor service.

Never been on a cruise before and it is my partners 50th birthday this year and she always wanted to go on a cruise. I booked 1 week around the mediterranean leaving 25th May 2024, included as part of the package were flights from Heathrow to Venice, where we started the cruise. Six hours before we were due to leave home I got an email from Royal Caribbean to say our flight has been cancelled and we were rebooked on a flight the following day. This would have meant missing the cruise ship, after 3 hours on the phone to various people at Royal Caribbean it finally dawned on them that this flight was no good and we would have to cancel the cruise. Today is 2nd June and so far I have had no reply to any emails, no explanation or apology, cut off the phone when I try to ring and zero refunded. Never again.

They're app doesn't work,been trying for weeks to access.up coming cruise snd need to book ahead for shows excursions etc

We are Diamond members with RCI but we will never book with them again. Booked a "Holy Land" Cruise for Sept 2024 some while ago as we had never been there, but had visited all the other ports on the itinerary. Obviously the current situation in Israel was going to cause an issue. Unsurprisingly, yesterday we received notification that the itinerary had been changed and two ports of Haifa and Ashdod had been replaced with Kusadasi Turkey and Mykonos Greece. So, of course its now no longer a Holy Land Cruise at all and, as we have now been to ALL the ports on the revised itinerary before, its not worth it to us to spend over £5k to do the same again. But - RCI have given no option to transfer penalty free; no we have to pay them yet another £150 just to move the cruise across. Emailed customer services to point out that this is no longer a Holy Land cruise - (and one which they are still marketing as such and can still be booked showing the old itinerary!!) - so they cannot offer what we paid for and should allow us to transfer penalty free. A refusal was the response hiding behind their indemnity clause of being able to change ports at will without redress. Not a problem usually but when the whole reason for booking it was because it was a Holy Land cruise and they now cannot offer that, there should be flexibility to at least transfer without charge. Fortunately we have only paid the deposit, but we will now cancel the trip and lose that as well. This is not the first time we have come across such issues of inflexibility with RCI - but it will definitely be the last. Other cruise lines are far more considerate.

I hate this company. They essentially stole money from us and have not given us a refund despite saying they will, it's been 4 months and we've been back from our Mediterranean cruise already. We've been following up and no seems to be able to help us. Basically, we booked tours via their app and because our room number got changed, the tours attached to our initial booking was also cancelled. It's over AU$850 that is now incurring interest that they have not refunded. I will not book with them again!!! I hate this company!

Disappointed, the Jewel of the Seas is an old rusty ship, £10 for a small glass of wine, £40 for a small bag of washing. Robotic customer service. No hot drink making facilities in the old fashioned cabin (they call it a stateroom) no trays in the buffet, poor quality food, over priced shore excursions, toxic gratuity culture. You are unable to take off the gratuities the staff ask you to give good reviews so they can be promoted. Bullying culture of the staff on board

Just completed our 5th cruise with Royal Caribbean, we will never cruise with them again with no after cruise customer service.
We disembarked at Ravenna Italy on Sunday, following cruise on Brilliance of the Seas and one of our suitcases was missing when arrived in terminal.
We were with the first group of people into the terminal, so quite sure no one took it by mistake. This case was tagged just like instructions and same as the other case, so no reason for this to be missing.
We kept getting told by staff it would appear because still taking cases off the ship, they held a coach back for us for so long and we checked all areas of the terminal ourselves in case it was placed in wrong area with no help from staff in the terminal.
Eventually told to fill in lost property form, they told us they couldn’t delay the transfer any longer so we had to go to avoid missing our flight home.
So on Monday I tried to ring the number on the bottom of the lost property form, but it wasn’t a valid number and number advised to ring instead just had message to say no one available to take call.
So called Royal Caribbean and eventually got through to customer relations, the lady had to go and ask for process for lost property and we were told to ring a number for lost property. Well that number was incorrect because that company didn’t deal with Ravenna port. So rang Royal Caribbean again and back to customer relations where again the person I spoke to had to ask for process for lost property, this time told correct way to report to them via a third party intermediary called charge back.
So form filled in and acknowledged received, but no information on how long this process takes and no contact from Royal Caribbean to discuss this loss which is their responsibility as clearly lost by their staff.
Feel very let down with no apology for this situation we find ourselves in, Royal Caribbean don’t seem interested in letting us know if case found or not and timescale for a response.
Royal Caribbean pride themselves on their customer service, but it seems once the cruise has ended they are not interested.