Morganno

This could be a cultural thing, In European countries (Canada sometimes included, except Vancouver in my experience) the service staff are paid better and tipping isn't the majority of their pay. In the US and Mexico, tip income can exceed their paychecks. We frequent all inclusive resorts in Mexico and Europeans and some Canadians complain on review sites that the staff favors the Mexicans and Americans who tip 20% while they follow the resort's website that insists tips are included in their room rate. I blame the resorts or TA's, just be honest, most people will adapt to local customs when traveling if they are informed even if it is different from their home country. My son lived and worked in Asia for a few years and when we visited he constantly scolded us because we tipped our normal percentage for taxis, waiters and other service staff which was apparently not culturally appropriate. But we were in a very inexpensive country (vietnam) and tipping the cab driver the equivalent of a dollar felt insignificant because the fare was only $2. I just blamed it on the confusion over the exchange rate being 23,000 dong to one dollar and my lack of the various denominations. If a meal for two was 120,000 and I left 200,000, yes its an exorbitant tip but it is only $9 and 200k bills ($4.50) is the smallest bill I had, plus everyone is really nice to me. Pesos I'm better with, one peso is about a nickel, my brain can figure that out, but 1 dong equaling .0043 cents, I'm lost. Somebody is getting a big tip.

Thanks for your very descriptive review. And for confirming what I have always suspected of the Royal-Up program.  Given how close to sailing these rooms are assigned, it always seemed likely you were being assigned undesirable/unwanted rooms.

We will be on Brilliance in about 2 weeks. B2B.  We picked our cabin and are happy with it, a JS Aft.  Hoping the MDR improves.  The first week we do have Unlimited dining so will not be going to MDR at all.  We will see how the second week goes!  We will enjoy anyway, as we love cruising!

I'll start my review by saying any time on a cruise ship is an amazing time.
The weather was perfect for the most part and the destinations were great. 
Our opinion was this was our best cruise and also our worst cruise at the same time!
Let me explain.
My highs from this cruise.
The bar staff in all the bars were great attentive and served us very well. Shout out to Ana and Clifford in Schooner bar and Colony club.
The ship was clean and well maintained despite being 20 years old most of it fell very well kept.
The people we met. The passengers were very friendly on this cruise, we were apprehensive as it was the first time we had sailed as only a couple but we soon got chatting to and met loads of new friends and had such a fun time on this cruise laughing and joking every night this is what made it a great cruise despite the lows.
The lows we gambled with royal up and lost. 😞
We were in an inside cabin on deck 3 carefully selected by us to be centrally located.
We won an upgrade for 220$ in total to a balcony cabin, the downside was it was above the piano bar with what most of us on board thought was a simply terrible piano singer. 
Naturally on day 2 we asked for a move as we like early nights and early starts for excursions. However the cruise was full so on day 2we gave up the early starts and enjoyed the evenings on the ship since day 3 was a sea day. 
On day 3 we got a phone call at 8.30 that there was a cabin above the theatre available so we went along to see it, it was perfect. We were very happy about it we could get an early night and get off the boat early. BOY were we wrong, we were not above the theatre like they said but above the King and Country pub with the loudest guitar player I've ever heard playing in a pub. Our floor was literally vibrating with the noise. 😞 No early night for us. I phoned to complain about the noise level at 12:30 asking when he would stop, he stopped at 12.35.
AT 1AM after getting to sleep guest services called us back to inform us that they had went to the pub and there was no noise.  The literally woke us up to tell us that!
Again we asked to be moved but there were simply no cabins left for us 😞
Very disappointed in RC moving us from one noisy cabin to literally a worse cabin for noise. On hindsight I should have looked at deck plans but we didn't have the internet and it was a sea day, so I trusted guest services. 😞 
On this occasion we simply decided to look on the positive side and gave up any excursions this time and enjoyed late nights on the ship.
Still not happy at the sound level of the guitar player who was simply far to loud for a drinking venue.
He wasn't playing MSG but a bar on a cruise ship where people might like to chat.
Complaints to him and the cruise director Mike about his insanely high music level fell on deaf ears (probably literally) It was impossible to sit in the bar and have a conversation when he was playing which might explain how there was always an abundance of seats every evening..... 
Lesson learned we will never do another royal up as they just move you to bad locations that no one wants.
Our one other big negative was the level of service in MDR which was atrocious.
We had 6pm dining. At 6:20 no one had come near us finally I flagged down the head waiter to ask what was going on, were they short staffed etc. No no was her reply were are fine, what's the problem? The food was also either under cooked (worrying for crab cake) or dried up and cold. It really was horrible. The wait staff were non existant and when we did get them we really didn't fancy another long wait for a replacement meal as we wanted to see the show at 8pm. 
We skipped MDR day 2 we thought we'd let them sort out their issues but day 3 was even worse. Again had to seat ourselves, watched as our waiters ran around up and down the MDR carrying covered plates. Were given our menus at 6.20 literally thrown at us not even a good evening. Water came eventually and we ordered drinks which came with desert. The food was totally inedible and by 7.20 we'd had enough. 
On day 5 of 7 we received a phone call from the head waiter begging us to come back that all was better but our various conversations with other passengers told us otherwise. People with a 6pm sitting had to skip dessert to see the show at 8pm.
It seemed like if you complained enough you got the service you should have got at the start but probably at the expense of some one else. By this time we'd gotten to know the wait staff at the windjammer and had our drinks served to us as soon as we entered the windjammer so again despite missing out on the MDR which we very much enjoy, the windjammer staff made up for it. Also the food in the windjammer got progressively better (warmer) as the week went on, we actually burnt our tongues on the steak and Guinness pie. 😛
By the way,  to add a bit of insult we received 8 complimentary chocolate covered strawberries from the head waitress,  however 3 of them had gone off and were squishy and moldy. We just burst out laughing when we picked them up. No point in getting more annoyed but it at least convinced us we had made the right choice. 😄
The entertainment was hit and miss but I think this was just post covid and on it's own wasn't that bad. 
All in all like I said we are very fortunate to be able to afford cruising and this was the first ship which we had so many bad experiences, but the good laughs with the other passengers and the bar staff more than made up for the poor customer service desk and mdr. 
I still have to write my post cruise survey but it will not be 10 out of 10 for MDR or guest services. 
 
Thanks for reading see you on the next cruise. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We were on Odyssey in July and the highlight was MDR, arriving at 6pm waiters lined up accompany to your seat, pull out your chair throw the napkin on your lap, day 3 so 2nd full day all our drinks were already on the table before we sat down. Stories exchanged with other guests and our excellent waiters and food hot and tasty with virtually no waits. Compared to BoTS you would think we were on a completely different cruise line. Like I said though the friendly staff at windjammer made up for it. 🙂 
Yeah we were just so lucky to be able to cruise and still had a great time. 

Ok I thought I would update since we are now back from our cruise.
We stayed in Hotel Santa Chiara which is across the street from the people mover.
We never ever got any voucher from RC but when we found the rep at the end of the people mover (btw she was wearing a t-shirt with Trumpytours on it so it took a while to see that Royal Clipboard)  we had to ask several tour reps before they pointed us in the right direction. We were on the  list 😅 so waited to board the bus. 
There seemed to be 3 buses and the driver loaded the bags then we went on quite well organised. 
We had a pit stop around 1.45 mins into the journey and over all it too around 2.40 to get to the port. 
For the return one of the good things about the transfers is they give your luggage tags 2 days beforehand so you can sort things out.
However check with Guest services your return,  we were offered 6:30am to the airport which I thought was early for a 4.30pm flight from Bologna airport only for Guest services to tell me in their system I was going back to Venice !!!
Luckily I had my printed voucher with me that clearly showed Bologna airport. After 30 mins she offered me Bologna airport at 7.15. I asked if we could go to the train station at 9am instead so we moved to 9am. Had I not asked it would have been panic on the final day.
This gave us some extra time in bed on the last day 🙂 
Once off the ship we collected our luggage and wheeled it past the empty customs desks to the clearly marked busses and were soon off to Bologna train station.
The unmanned monorail train from Bologna to the airport costs 9.50€ and runs every 7 minutes.  We intended to use left luggage at the station and head into town but we weren't feeling great and it was very hot so opted for the airport instead. We had lounge access (it's before security) but you are only allowed in 3 hours prior to your flight. Left luggage is still closed at Bologna (I think they are doing renovations.) 
Hope this helps future travelers. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ok I thought I would update since we are now back from our cruise.
We stayed in Hotel Santa Chiara which is across the street from the people mover.
We never ever got any voucher from RC but when we found the rep at the end of the people mover (btw she was wearing a t-shirt with Trumpytours on it so it took a while to see that Royal Clipboard)  we had to ask several tour reps before they pointed us in the right direction. We were on the  list 😅 so waited to board the bus. 
There seemed to be 3 buses and the driver loaded the bags then we went on quite well organised. 
We had a pit stop around 1.45 mins into the journey and over all it too around 2.40 to get to the port. 
For the return one of the good things about the transfers is they give your luggage tags 2 days beforehand so you can sort things out.
However check with Guest services your return,  we were offered 6:30am to the airport which I thought was early for a 4.30pm flight from Bologna airport only for Guest services to tell me in their system I was going back to Venice !!!
Luckily I had my printed voucher with me that clearly showed Bologna airport. After 30 mins she offered me Bologna airport at 7.15. I asked if we could go to the train station at 9am instead so we moved to 9am. Had I not asked it would have been panic on the final day.
This gave us some extra time in bed on the last day 🙂 
Once off the ship we collected our luggage and wheeled it past the empty customs desks to the clearly marked busses and were soon off to Bologna train station.
The unmanned monorail train from Bologna to the airport costs 9.50€ and runs every 7 minutes.  We intended to use left luggage at the station and head into town but we weren't feeling great and it was very hot so opted for the airport instead. We had lounge access (it's before security) but you are only allowed in 3 hours prior to your flight. Left luggage is still closed at Bologna (I think they are doing renovations.) 
Hope this helps future travelers. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We flew into Newark, NJ Airport on Wednesday August 17th and spend the night at the Springhill Inn Suites Airport.  We had an Uber from the hotel to the ship for twenty dollars to the luggage drop-off point.  We had a short walk to the terminal building to begin the checkin process.  Our checkin time was 11:00 A.M., our arrival time was 10:30 A.M.  We were directed directed to the Suites Guests line and then to a processor.  After greetings I handed the processor our passports which contained:Set Sail Pass, Bermuda Health Certification, Covid Vaccination card, Covid Test Results from Emed for each of us.  We were on the ship by 10:45 A.M. boarding on deck 4 which was only 100 feet from B5 Muster Station which we went to for checkin and orientation.  We were in the ship with all checkins taken care of at 10:50 A.M.!  We went to our cabin retrieved our pass cards and dropped off our carry ons and we were off for the obligatory Windjammer first day lunch.  Much to our delight the Windjammer was almost empty, we had a great lunch and were off to see the ship.
We found the ship to clean and well maintained with a friendly staff and crew.  We had MTD, Three Specialty Dinner Package and one dinner at Johnny Rockets.  The horror stories being reported about MTD are way to Positive!  This was my seventieth cruise on RCCL and only one other time have I have witnessed a more disruptive, disorganized and possibly violent event a ship.  The line for the dinning room wrapped all the way around the elevators on both sides of the dinning room.  The first night there were no signs for those with Reservations and those without making for one large group of hungry people looking to be seated.  Unfortunately the large group of hungry people soon turned into a large group of angry hungry people.  Not a pleasant beginning for an enjoyable dinning experience.  This mayhem got slightly better with signs for Reservations and No Reservation lines.  We spoke with the Hotel Manager Francois and the Resturant Manager.  To their credit they offered no excuses and said improvements were coming and were planned to start on the next cruise.  MTD is the only negative comments we have about our entire cruise.  
Disembarkation was one of the most orderly and well conducted we have ever witnessed.  Luggage tag areas were well marked and sorted with plenty of porters to give assistance.  Cape Liberty is equipped with Facial Recognition which made Customs a walk-through.  We went outside to the Taxi area loaded our luggage and was on the way to the airport by 8:45 A.M.  Since we had a late flight we caught the train and went to visit the World Trade Center Memorial which we highly recommend.  I will write more over the next couple of days about excursions, hints and tips.  The attached photo is a view from our cabin.
Bill

I'll start my review by saying any time on a cruise ship is an amazing time.
The weather was perfect for the most part and the destinations were great. 
Our opinion was this was our best cruise and also our worst cruise at the same time!
Let me explain.
My highs from this cruise.
The bar staff in all the bars were great attentive and served us very well. Shout out to Ana and Clifford in Schooner bar and Colony club.
The ship was clean and well maintained despite being 20 years old most of it fell very well kept.
The people we met. The passengers were very friendly on this cruise, we were apprehensive as it was the first time we had sailed as only a couple but we soon got chatting to and met loads of new friends and had such a fun time on this cruise laughing and joking every night this is what made it a great cruise despite the lows.
The lows we gambled with royal up and lost. 😞
We were in an inside cabin on deck 3 carefully selected by us to be centrally located.
We won an upgrade for 220$ in total to a balcony cabin, the downside was it was above the piano bar with what most of us on board thought was a simply terrible piano singer. 
Naturally on day 2 we asked for a move as we like early nights and early starts for excursions. However the cruise was full so on day 2we gave up the early starts and enjoyed the evenings on the ship since day 3 was a sea day. 
On day 3 we got a phone call at 8.30 that there was a cabin above the theatre available so we went along to see it, it was perfect. We were very happy about it we could get an early night and get off the boat early. BOY were we wrong, we were not above the theatre like they said but above the King and Country pub with the loudest guitar player I've ever heard playing in a pub. Our floor was literally vibrating with the noise. 😞 No early night for us. I phoned to complain about the noise level at 12:30 asking when he would stop, he stopped at 12.35.
AT 1AM after getting to sleep guest services called us back to inform us that they had went to the pub and there was no noise.  The literally woke us up to tell us that!
Again we asked to be moved but there were simply no cabins left for us 😞
Very disappointed in RC moving us from one noisy cabin to literally a worse cabin for noise. On hindsight I should have looked at deck plans but we didn't have the internet and it was a sea day, so I trusted guest services. 😞 
On this occasion we simply decided to look on the positive side and gave up any excursions this time and enjoyed late nights on the ship.
Still not happy at the sound level of the guitar player who was simply far to loud for a drinking venue.
He wasn't playing MSG but a bar on a cruise ship where people might like to chat.
Complaints to him and the cruise director Mike about his insanely high music level fell on deaf ears (probably literally) It was impossible to sit in the bar and have a conversation when he was playing which might explain how there was always an abundance of seats every evening..... 
Lesson learned we will never do another royal up as they just move you to bad locations that no one wants.
Our one other big negative was the level of service in MDR which was atrocious.
We had 6pm dining. At 6:20 no one had come near us finally I flagged down the head waiter to ask what was going on, were they short staffed etc. No no was her reply were are fine, what's the problem? The food was also either under cooked (worrying for crab cake) or dried up and cold. It really was horrible. The wait staff were non existant and when we did get them we really didn't fancy another long wait for a replacement meal as we wanted to see the show at 8pm. 
We skipped MDR day 2 we thought we'd let them sort out their issues but day 3 was even worse. Again had to seat ourselves, watched as our waiters ran around up and down the MDR carrying covered plates. Were given our menus at 6.20 literally thrown at us not even a good evening. Water came eventually and we ordered drinks which came with desert. The food was totally inedible and by 7.20 we'd had enough. 
On day 5 of 7 we received a phone call from the head waiter begging us to come back that all was better but our various conversations with other passengers told us otherwise. People with a 6pm sitting had to skip dessert to see the show at 8pm.
It seemed like if you complained enough you got the service you should have got at the start but probably at the expense of some one else. By this time we'd gotten to know the wait staff at the windjammer and had our drinks served to us as soon as we entered the windjammer so again despite missing out on the MDR which we very much enjoy, the windjammer staff made up for it. Also the food in the windjammer got progressively better (warmer) as the week went on, we actually burnt our tongues on the steak and Guinness pie. 😛
By the way,  to add a bit of insult we received 8 complimentary chocolate covered strawberries from the head waitress,  however 3 of them had gone off and were squishy and moldy. We just burst out laughing when we picked them up. No point in getting more annoyed but it at least convinced us we had made the right choice. 😄
The entertainment was hit and miss but I think this was just post covid and on it's own wasn't that bad. 
All in all like I said we are very fortunate to be able to afford cruising and this was the first ship which we had so many bad experiences, but the good laughs with the other passengers and the bar staff more than made up for the poor customer service desk and mdr. 
I still have to write my post cruise survey but it will not be 10 out of 10 for MDR or guest services. 
 
Thanks for reading see you on the next cruise. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We were on Odyssey in July and the highlight was MDR, arriving at 6pm waiters lined up accompany to your seat, pull out your chair throw the napkin on your lap, day 3 so 2nd full day all our drinks were already on the table before we sat down. Stories exchanged with other guests and our excellent waiters and food hot and tasty with virtually no waits. Compared to BoTS you would think we were on a completely different cruise line. Like I said though the friendly staff at windjammer made up for it. 🙂 
Yeah we were just so lucky to be able to cruise and still had a great time. 

I'll start my review by saying any time on a cruise ship is an amazing time.
The weather was perfect for the most part and the destinations were great. 
Our opinion was this was our best cruise and also our worst cruise at the same time!
Let me explain.
My highs from this cruise.
The bar staff in all the bars were great attentive and served us very well. Shout out to Ana and Clifford in Schooner bar and Colony club.
The ship was clean and well maintained despite being 20 years old most of it fell very well kept.
The people we met. The passengers were very friendly on this cruise, we were apprehensive as it was the first time we had sailed as only a couple but we soon got chatting to and met loads of new friends and had such a fun time on this cruise laughing and joking every night this is what made it a great cruise despite the lows.
The lows we gambled with royal up and lost. 😞
We were in an inside cabin on deck 3 carefully selected by us to be centrally located.
We won an upgrade for 220$ in total to a balcony cabin, the downside was it was above the piano bar with what most of us on board thought was a simply terrible piano singer. 
Naturally on day 2 we asked for a move as we like early nights and early starts for excursions. However the cruise was full so on day 2we gave up the early starts and enjoyed the evenings on the ship since day 3 was a sea day. 
On day 3 we got a phone call at 8.30 that there was a cabin above the theatre available so we went along to see it, it was perfect. We were very happy about it we could get an early night and get off the boat early. BOY were we wrong, we were not above the theatre like they said but above the King and Country pub with the loudest guitar player I've ever heard playing in a pub. Our floor was literally vibrating with the noise. 😞 No early night for us. I phoned to complain about the noise level at 12:30 asking when he would stop, he stopped at 12.35.
AT 1AM after getting to sleep guest services called us back to inform us that they had went to the pub and there was no noise.  The literally woke us up to tell us that!
Again we asked to be moved but there were simply no cabins left for us 😞
Very disappointed in RC moving us from one noisy cabin to literally a worse cabin for noise. On hindsight I should have looked at deck plans but we didn't have the internet and it was a sea day, so I trusted guest services. 😞 
On this occasion we simply decided to look on the positive side and gave up any excursions this time and enjoyed late nights on the ship.
Still not happy at the sound level of the guitar player who was simply far to loud for a drinking venue.
He wasn't playing MSG but a bar on a cruise ship where people might like to chat.
Complaints to him and the cruise director Mike about his insanely high music level fell on deaf ears (probably literally) It was impossible to sit in the bar and have a conversation when he was playing which might explain how there was always an abundance of seats every evening..... 
Lesson learned we will never do another royal up as they just move you to bad locations that no one wants.
Our one other big negative was the level of service in MDR which was atrocious.
We had 6pm dining. At 6:20 no one had come near us finally I flagged down the head waiter to ask what was going on, were they short staffed etc. No no was her reply were are fine, what's the problem? The food was also either under cooked (worrying for crab cake) or dried up and cold. It really was horrible. The wait staff were non existant and when we did get them we really didn't fancy another long wait for a replacement meal as we wanted to see the show at 8pm. 
We skipped MDR day 2 we thought we'd let them sort out their issues but day 3 was even worse. Again had to seat ourselves, watched as our waiters ran around up and down the MDR carrying covered plates. Were given our menus at 6.20 literally thrown at us not even a good evening. Water came eventually and we ordered drinks which came with desert. The food was totally inedible and by 7.20 we'd had enough. 
On day 5 of 7 we received a phone call from the head waiter begging us to come back that all was better but our various conversations with other passengers told us otherwise. People with a 6pm sitting had to skip dessert to see the show at 8pm.
It seemed like if you complained enough you got the service you should have got at the start but probably at the expense of some one else. By this time we'd gotten to know the wait staff at the windjammer and had our drinks served to us as soon as we entered the windjammer so again despite missing out on the MDR which we very much enjoy, the windjammer staff made up for it. Also the food in the windjammer got progressively better (warmer) as the week went on, we actually burnt our tongues on the steak and Guinness pie. 😛
By the way,  to add a bit of insult we received 8 complimentary chocolate covered strawberries from the head waitress,  however 3 of them had gone off and were squishy and moldy. We just burst out laughing when we picked them up. No point in getting more annoyed but it at least convinced us we had made the right choice. 😄
The entertainment was hit and miss but I think this was just post covid and on it's own wasn't that bad. 
All in all like I said we are very fortunate to be able to afford cruising and this was the first ship which we had so many bad experiences, but the good laughs with the other passengers and the bar staff more than made up for the poor customer service desk and mdr. 
I still have to write my post cruise survey but it will not be 10 out of 10 for MDR or guest services. 
 
Thanks for reading see you on the next cruise. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We did five cruises on BOTS earlier this year and have three lined up for December. We had a fairly good experience and got pretty good RoyalUps. Sorry for the bad spots on your cruise. We stopped going to the MDR several months ago because of the sameness of the meals and the long dining times. We usually do Windjammer, Solarium, and a three specialty dining package. If there is a Playmakers that is perfect.

I'll start my review by saying any time on a cruise ship is an amazing time.
The weather was perfect for the most part and the destinations were great. 
Our opinion was this was our best cruise and also our worst cruise at the same time!
Let me explain.
My highs from this cruise.
The bar staff in all the bars were great attentive and served us very well. Shout out to Ana and Clifford in Schooner bar and Colony club.
The ship was clean and well maintained despite being 20 years old most of it fell very well kept.
The people we met. The passengers were very friendly on this cruise, we were apprehensive as it was the first time we had sailed as only a couple but we soon got chatting to and met loads of new friends and had such a fun time on this cruise laughing and joking every night this is what made it a great cruise despite the lows.
The lows we gambled with royal up and lost. 😞
We were in an inside cabin on deck 3 carefully selected by us to be centrally located.
We won an upgrade for 220$ in total to a balcony cabin, the downside was it was above the piano bar with what most of us on board thought was a simply terrible piano singer. 
Naturally on day 2 we asked for a move as we like early nights and early starts for excursions. However the cruise was full so on day 2we gave up the early starts and enjoyed the evenings on the ship since day 3 was a sea day. 
On day 3 we got a phone call at 8.30 that there was a cabin above the theatre available so we went along to see it, it was perfect. We were very happy about it we could get an early night and get off the boat early. BOY were we wrong, we were not above the theatre like they said but above the King and Country pub with the loudest guitar player I've ever heard playing in a pub. Our floor was literally vibrating with the noise. 😞 No early night for us. I phoned to complain about the noise level at 12:30 asking when he would stop, he stopped at 12.35.
AT 1AM after getting to sleep guest services called us back to inform us that they had went to the pub and there was no noise.  The literally woke us up to tell us that!
Again we asked to be moved but there were simply no cabins left for us 😞
Very disappointed in RC moving us from one noisy cabin to literally a worse cabin for noise. On hindsight I should have looked at deck plans but we didn't have the internet and it was a sea day, so I trusted guest services. 😞 
On this occasion we simply decided to look on the positive side and gave up any excursions this time and enjoyed late nights on the ship.
Still not happy at the sound level of the guitar player who was simply far to loud for a drinking venue.
He wasn't playing MSG but a bar on a cruise ship where people might like to chat.
Complaints to him and the cruise director Mike about his insanely high music level fell on deaf ears (probably literally) It was impossible to sit in the bar and have a conversation when he was playing which might explain how there was always an abundance of seats every evening..... 
Lesson learned we will never do another royal up as they just move you to bad locations that no one wants.
Our one other big negative was the level of service in MDR which was atrocious.
We had 6pm dining. At 6:20 no one had come near us finally I flagged down the head waiter to ask what was going on, were they short staffed etc. No no was her reply were are fine, what's the problem? The food was also either under cooked (worrying for crab cake) or dried up and cold. It really was horrible. The wait staff were non existant and when we did get them we really didn't fancy another long wait for a replacement meal as we wanted to see the show at 8pm. 
We skipped MDR day 2 we thought we'd let them sort out their issues but day 3 was even worse. Again had to seat ourselves, watched as our waiters ran around up and down the MDR carrying covered plates. Were given our menus at 6.20 literally thrown at us not even a good evening. Water came eventually and we ordered drinks which came with desert. The food was totally inedible and by 7.20 we'd had enough. 
On day 5 of 7 we received a phone call from the head waiter begging us to come back that all was better but our various conversations with other passengers told us otherwise. People with a 6pm sitting had to skip dessert to see the show at 8pm.
It seemed like if you complained enough you got the service you should have got at the start but probably at the expense of some one else. By this time we'd gotten to know the wait staff at the windjammer and had our drinks served to us as soon as we entered the windjammer so again despite missing out on the MDR which we very much enjoy, the windjammer staff made up for it. Also the food in the windjammer got progressively better (warmer) as the week went on, we actually burnt our tongues on the steak and Guinness pie. 😛
By the way,  to add a bit of insult we received 8 complimentary chocolate covered strawberries from the head waitress,  however 3 of them had gone off and were squishy and moldy. We just burst out laughing when we picked them up. No point in getting more annoyed but it at least convinced us we had made the right choice. 😄
The entertainment was hit and miss but I think this was just post covid and on it's own wasn't that bad. 
All in all like I said we are very fortunate to be able to afford cruising and this was the first ship which we had so many bad experiences, but the good laughs with the other passengers and the bar staff more than made up for the poor customer service desk and mdr. 
I still have to write my post cruise survey but it will not be 10 out of 10 for MDR or guest services. 
 
Thanks for reading see you on the next cruise. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'll start my review by saying any time on a cruise ship is an amazing time.
The weather was perfect for the most part and the destinations were great. 
Our opinion was this was our best cruise and also our worst cruise at the same time!
Let me explain.
My highs from this cruise.
The bar staff in all the bars were great attentive and served us very well. Shout out to Ana and Clifford in Schooner bar and Colony club.
The ship was clean and well maintained despite being 20 years old most of it fell very well kept.
The people we met. The passengers were very friendly on this cruise, we were apprehensive as it was the first time we had sailed as only a couple but we soon got chatting to and met loads of new friends and had such a fun time on this cruise laughing and joking every night this is what made it a great cruise despite the lows.
The lows we gambled with royal up and lost. 😞
We were in an inside cabin on deck 3 carefully selected by us to be centrally located.
We won an upgrade for 220$ in total to a balcony cabin, the downside was it was above the piano bar with what most of us on board thought was a simply terrible piano singer. 
Naturally on day 2 we asked for a move as we like early nights and early starts for excursions. However the cruise was full so on day 2we gave up the early starts and enjoyed the evenings on the ship since day 3 was a sea day. 
On day 3 we got a phone call at 8.30 that there was a cabin above the theatre available so we went along to see it, it was perfect. We were very happy about it we could get an early night and get off the boat early. BOY were we wrong, we were not above the theatre like they said but above the King and Country pub with the loudest guitar player I've ever heard playing in a pub. Our floor was literally vibrating with the noise. 😞 No early night for us. I phoned to complain about the noise level at 12:30 asking when he would stop, he stopped at 12.35.
AT 1AM after getting to sleep guest services called us back to inform us that they had went to the pub and there was no noise.  The literally woke us up to tell us that!
Again we asked to be moved but there were simply no cabins left for us 😞
Very disappointed in RC moving us from one noisy cabin to literally a worse cabin for noise. On hindsight I should have looked at deck plans but we didn't have the internet and it was a sea day, so I trusted guest services. 😞 
On this occasion we simply decided to look on the positive side and gave up any excursions this time and enjoyed late nights on the ship.
Still not happy at the sound level of the guitar player who was simply far to loud for a drinking venue.
He wasn't playing MSG but a bar on a cruise ship where people might like to chat.
Complaints to him and the cruise director Mike about his insanely high music level fell on deaf ears (probably literally) It was impossible to sit in the bar and have a conversation when he was playing which might explain how there was always an abundance of seats every evening..... 
Lesson learned we will never do another royal up as they just move you to bad locations that no one wants.
Our one other big negative was the level of service in MDR which was atrocious.
We had 6pm dining. At 6:20 no one had come near us finally I flagged down the head waiter to ask what was going on, were they short staffed etc. No no was her reply were are fine, what's the problem? The food was also either under cooked (worrying for crab cake) or dried up and cold. It really was horrible. The wait staff were non existant and when we did get them we really didn't fancy another long wait for a replacement meal as we wanted to see the show at 8pm. 
We skipped MDR day 2 we thought we'd let them sort out their issues but day 3 was even worse. Again had to seat ourselves, watched as our waiters ran around up and down the MDR carrying covered plates. Were given our menus at 6.20 literally thrown at us not even a good evening. Water came eventually and we ordered drinks which came with desert. The food was totally inedible and by 7.20 we'd had enough. 
On day 5 of 7 we received a phone call from the head waiter begging us to come back that all was better but our various conversations with other passengers told us otherwise. People with a 6pm sitting had to skip dessert to see the show at 8pm.
It seemed like if you complained enough you got the service you should have got at the start but probably at the expense of some one else. By this time we'd gotten to know the wait staff at the windjammer and had our drinks served to us as soon as we entered the windjammer so again despite missing out on the MDR which we very much enjoy, the windjammer staff made up for it. Also the food in the windjammer got progressively better (warmer) as the week went on, we actually burnt our tongues on the steak and Guinness pie. 😛
By the way,  to add a bit of insult we received 8 complimentary chocolate covered strawberries from the head waitress,  however 3 of them had gone off and were squishy and moldy. We just burst out laughing when we picked them up. No point in getting more annoyed but it at least convinced us we had made the right choice. 😄
The entertainment was hit and miss but I think this was just post covid and on it's own wasn't that bad. 
All in all like I said we are very fortunate to be able to afford cruising and this was the first ship which we had so many bad experiences, but the good laughs with the other passengers and the bar staff more than made up for the poor customer service desk and mdr. 
I still have to write my post cruise survey but it will not be 10 out of 10 for MDR or guest services. 
 
Thanks for reading see you on the next cruise. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'll start my review by saying any time on a cruise ship is an amazing time.
The weather was perfect for the most part and the destinations were great. 
Our opinion was this was our best cruise and also our worst cruise at the same time!
Let me explain.
My highs from this cruise.
The bar staff in all the bars were great attentive and served us very well. Shout out to Ana and Clifford in Schooner bar and Colony club.
The ship was clean and well maintained despite being 20 years old most of it fell very well kept.
The people we met. The passengers were very friendly on this cruise, we were apprehensive as it was the first time we had sailed as only a couple but we soon got chatting to and met loads of new friends and had such a fun time on this cruise laughing and joking every night this is what made it a great cruise despite the lows.
The lows we gambled with royal up and lost. 😞
We were in an inside cabin on deck 3 carefully selected by us to be centrally located.
We won an upgrade for 220$ in total to a balcony cabin, the downside was it was above the piano bar with what most of us on board thought was a simply terrible piano singer. 
Naturally on day 2 we asked for a move as we like early nights and early starts for excursions. However the cruise was full so on day 2we gave up the early starts and enjoyed the evenings on the ship since day 3 was a sea day. 
On day 3 we got a phone call at 8.30 that there was a cabin above the theatre available so we went along to see it, it was perfect. We were very happy about it we could get an early night and get off the boat early. BOY were we wrong, we were not above the theatre like they said but above the King and Country pub with the loudest guitar player I've ever heard playing in a pub. Our floor was literally vibrating with the noise. 😞 No early night for us. I phoned to complain about the noise level at 12:30 asking when he would stop, he stopped at 12.35.
AT 1AM after getting to sleep guest services called us back to inform us that they had went to the pub and there was no noise.  The literally woke us up to tell us that!
Again we asked to be moved but there were simply no cabins left for us 😞
Very disappointed in RC moving us from one noisy cabin to literally a worse cabin for noise. On hindsight I should have looked at deck plans but we didn't have the internet and it was a sea day, so I trusted guest services. 😞 
On this occasion we simply decided to look on the positive side and gave up any excursions this time and enjoyed late nights on the ship.
Still not happy at the sound level of the guitar player who was simply far to loud for a drinking venue.
He wasn't playing MSG but a bar on a cruise ship where people might like to chat.
Complaints to him and the cruise director Mike about his insanely high music level fell on deaf ears (probably literally) It was impossible to sit in the bar and have a conversation when he was playing which might explain how there was always an abundance of seats every evening..... 
Lesson learned we will never do another royal up as they just move you to bad locations that no one wants.
Our one other big negative was the level of service in MDR which was atrocious.
We had 6pm dining. At 6:20 no one had come near us finally I flagged down the head waiter to ask what was going on, were they short staffed etc. No no was her reply were are fine, what's the problem? The food was also either under cooked (worrying for crab cake) or dried up and cold. It really was horrible. The wait staff were non existant and when we did get them we really didn't fancy another long wait for a replacement meal as we wanted to see the show at 8pm. 
We skipped MDR day 2 we thought we'd let them sort out their issues but day 3 was even worse. Again had to seat ourselves, watched as our waiters ran around up and down the MDR carrying covered plates. Were given our menus at 6.20 literally thrown at us not even a good evening. Water came eventually and we ordered drinks which came with desert. The food was totally inedible and by 7.20 we'd had enough. 
On day 5 of 7 we received a phone call from the head waiter begging us to come back that all was better but our various conversations with other passengers told us otherwise. People with a 6pm sitting had to skip dessert to see the show at 8pm.
It seemed like if you complained enough you got the service you should have got at the start but probably at the expense of some one else. By this time we'd gotten to know the wait staff at the windjammer and had our drinks served to us as soon as we entered the windjammer so again despite missing out on the MDR which we very much enjoy, the windjammer staff made up for it. Also the food in the windjammer got progressively better (warmer) as the week went on, we actually burnt our tongues on the steak and Guinness pie. 😛
By the way,  to add a bit of insult we received 8 complimentary chocolate covered strawberries from the head waitress,  however 3 of them had gone off and were squishy and moldy. We just burst out laughing when we picked them up. No point in getting more annoyed but it at least convinced us we had made the right choice. 😄
The entertainment was hit and miss but I think this was just post covid and on it's own wasn't that bad. 
All in all like I said we are very fortunate to be able to afford cruising and this was the first ship which we had so many bad experiences, but the good laughs with the other passengers and the bar staff more than made up for the poor customer service desk and mdr. 
I still have to write my post cruise survey but it will not be 10 out of 10 for MDR or guest services. 
 
Thanks for reading see you on the next cruise. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Getting kind of fed up with RC over transfers from Venice to Ravenna.
I booked the cruise from Ravenna and phoned for the transfer to and from the port to the port from Venice and from the ship to Bologna.
I got the e-docs and the voucher supplied is only for the post cruise I have no pre-cruise vouchers so I phoned them up and had to spend 40 minutes on the phone while their supervisor had to manually update their booking. I was then told it would be reflected in my docs in 5 days. We are now 7 days later and my docs haven't changed.
I'll need to phone tomorrow again now and spend another 40 minutes on the phone. We fly out 2 weeks tomorrow to venice. I'm not sure if we don't get on the coach that we would be able to find alternative transport. (Taxis cost 350$ one way.) This isn't something to leave to chance, I'd prefer to have something in writing. 

Unvaccinated people pose no risk to those vaccinated apart from an increased chance of having to turn the ship around due to a medical emergency. This is why cruise lines have the policy in place. 

Carnival cruise line has changed their testing to up to 3 days before sailing. I hope Royal Caribbean follows their lead. It would be nice to be able to test prior to leaving home to fly across the country just in case the worst case scenario happens at least I would be home. 

We are sailing on Quantum out of Alaska in a couple of weeks.  I go back and forth.  We are both vaxed and double boosted!.  I know that will not prevent us from catching COVID, but working in health care and wearing a mask every day, I'm ready to take it off!!!  I would do what is best for you.  

No one is going to blink twice if you're wearing a mask, do whatever makes you comfortable and have a great time!

This seems to be the norm these days, I never recieved this email but I didn't get my confirmation of my bid not being accepted until 4pm on sailing day. We had already been on the ship and unpacked by then 😂

I do all the cooking at home, so I've taken these home and place them next to my wife's plate at the end of her meal, when its a "special" homemade meal. Kids think its pretty funny, just to reminder her to at least say thank-you for the home cooked meal.

If you don't want to tip additional, then you're free not to, and you're no better or worse of a person for it compared to those who have a different opinion of additional tipping.
 
 

just off Odyssey despite uploading all documents correctly they still wanted to see everything again at the port in Civitavecchia 
Won't bother wasting time uploading anything for my next cruise. 

I did that thanks it was still rejected. I'll just wait for the port.