While there are many things people will complain about on a Royal Caribbean cruise, some are opinions you can safely ignore.
The internet is a great resource for learning about just about anything, including a cruise vacation. It can also help a lot with finding the right cruise, shore excursion, or activity onboard. Heck, this entire website is built around that premise.
I like to read through others' experiences on cruises, but there are some things you probably shouldn't make a buying decision off of because you read a negative experience online.
Some subjects are simply too subjective, and a cruise is so personalized. Unlike a review that criticizes Enchantment of the Seas for not having nearly as much to do for families as a newer ship, a dismal review one person have may have more to do with that person's likes and dislikes than an objective viewpoint.
Before you make any rash decisions, here are five complaints about cruises I wouldn't take to heart.
How comfortable the beds are on a cruise ship
Let's start with an easy topic that is so subjective, you may as well stop reading as soon as you see the topic: beds.
There are all sorts of complaints that Royal Caribbean's mattresses are too firm, too soft, too lumpy, or simply not what they prefer in bedding.
This is why the entire mattress industry has been built around different firmness levels. Everyone will never agree on what's the right level of firmness.
Personally, I prefer a firmer mattress, and I sleep well on Royal Caribbean ships. So clearly they work for what I prefer, but there are others that have a different feeling.
Don't forget you can ask for a mattress topper to help make it softer.
Ultimately, don't freak out if you see someone complaining about the comfort level of the beds. It might not be the as wonderful to sleep on as your luxury mattress at home, but it does the job.
Cruise ship reviews
If I had to pick one kind of complaint you should never use as the basis for any decision, it's cruise reviews.
You'll find plenty of negative reviews on Facebook and Reddit talking about how some ship is horrible, but I've been on those ships and I scratch my head how they had such a worse experience than I did.
The issue is a cruise ship has so many ways you can experience it. For example, you could stay in your cabin all cruise and only order room service, but someone else could spend all day in the casino.
There's simply too much variation on what you can do on a cruise ship to use a review as the basis for booking or not booking it.
Most often, bad cruise ship reviews stem from unrealistic or uninformed expectations. People writing cruise ship reviews aren't trained reviewers: they're dads that thought a ship should have free WiFi and less trivia events because "that's what it's like at Marriott".
What one person considers a deal-breaker, might be exactly what another cruiser loves about the vacation. Add in variables like weather, itinerary changes, and individual service interactions, and two people on the same cruise can walk away with totally opposite impressions.
Royal Caribbean cruise ships are not copies of each other. Even within the same ship class, you'll find stark differences between each vessel.
There's nothing wrong with reading ship reviews to see specifics that people liked or didn't like. Online reviews tend to reflect personal preferences more than an objective measure of how good a cruise actually is.
The stage shows around the ship
Royal Caribbean is known for their entertainment as being a differentiating factor from other cruise lines. Specifically, they're a market leader in the onboard shows. But that doesn't mean everyone loves them all.
A great example of why show reviews shouldn't be taken as the gospel truth is the Broadway show, "Cats" on Oasis of the Seas. Perhaps no other show has such divided views among fans that either despise the show or love it.
I've told readers I can't stand magicians, jugglers, or ventriloquists because they're all the same and bore me. But I know there are lots of people that love these shows too.
I try to go into every show I've never seen with an open mind, and I think you should give a show a try. You might love a show that gets lambasted by someone else.
All those food reviews
Nothing is more synonymous with subjective than food reviews. After all, the word "taste" is used for both review and experience.
I would guess the top complaint among all cruisers is centered around food on a Royal Caribbean cruise.
I could write about how much I loved a particular restaurant and there will be plenty of readers who claim it's a terrible restaurant, they have better food at home, or they didn't like the food at all.
To be fair, I slammed the specialty restaurant Hooked for years, but then tried it again and liked it much more than I ever expected.
If you're a classically trained chef and know how lobster thermidor should be served, bravo, I defer to your opinion. But since I think most of us are just people eating on a cruise, food reviews are just someone's random opinion.
I like to give any restaurant a chance because it might be my new favorite. Pier 7 is another good example of a restaurant others panned, but I really liked because I gave it a try.
How crowded a ship felt
A study by the University of Tokyo looked at how people judge how crowded a place is, and it found that people perceive how crowded a space feels largely based on the gap between the speed they want to move and the speed they’re actually able to move in a crowd.
This boils down to everyone has a different definition of how crowded is too crowded.
I won't pretend Royal Caribbean ships aren't crowded at times, or that you can easily get a pool chair at noon on a sea day. Those are valid complaints and definitely things I've experienced.
The difference is crowds ebb and flow, and I certainly wouldn't say it's a poor experience when it happens. Unless you have your own private ship, there's going to be crowding of some kind.
You could argue a crowd means energy, which is important if you want a party atmosphere or are looking to socialize.
So reading "my ship was crowded" doesn't really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of what makes that ship a fun vacation or not.
