Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas

our items stolen by room cleaner – arrived in our suite. mirror was obscenely dirty like so dirty you could not see yourself. called the cleaner he said it was condensation, called the manager who looked at it and said “oh wow i’ve never seen one as dirty as this , sorry ma’am i’ll ask your cleaner to fix it” obviously cleaner was not happy that when we went out of our room he… Read more

stole my sons expensive sunglasses that he left on the bed.

what made it more obvious he did it was he passed us in the hallway later that night and said is everything ok ? have i done the wrong thing. we were scared of him and worried what he would do to our items when not in our room that we had to lock all our belongings including toothbrushes away every time we left our room. it was a daily task and inconvenience.

we never got the sunglasses back nor did RC care too much. this cleaner had the look of guilt on his face every time we saw him.

back then you could request your gratitude not be on your bill when you paid at the travel agent. NOW a days you have no choice you pay gratuities all inclusive does not matter if you’re happy or not.

luckily back then he did not get any money off us but he knew prior to us getting on the ship that we took gratuity off the bill and would pay as we saw fit. I guess after the mirror incident he knew he was not getting his tip and stole the sunnies.

BAD FORM RC and dishonest staff which does not surprise me as your not so innocent yourselves!!!

The big runaround – Cruise 17th May to 27th. Cruise cancelled. Shore excursions paid for, paid cruise fare in full. promised would get refund on shore excursions, and cruise credit, nothing yet, Customer service pathetic. Avoid! Show details

Cruising the Pacific – we have just returned from our South Pacific departing from Sydney with Royal Caribbean wonderful wonderful wonderful , all ages were there all smiles everywhere a most satisfied passenger

First Trip - Love love love, great ship! – First time cruising, Wow !! 15 Jan 2019 from Sydney to South Pacific not a problem, everything ran so smoothly. the Ship is amazing and the Crew and employees were helpful. Facilities, food, Staterooms all were fabulous. Thank you Royal Caribbean.

Amazing experience – This is mine and my family’s first time cruising with royal carribean from the 7th - 16th of November 2018 and overall I have to say I was overwelhmed and very impressed with the food and the service from staff especially our my time waiters Daryl lumarda who was constantly assisting us and especially chao Li who constantly knew what we wanted… Read more

without even asking and was very time efficient and friendly

100/100 with all the experience food was phenomenal, staff where extraordinary, our room attendant Mohamed on level 6 was fantastic, islands where beautiful well done royal carribean ❤️

Don't deal with this company – Yesterday (April 1) had a text message from RC wanting my final payment for cruise departing Rome June 5. Would this have been April fool day joke? Resigned to not getting my $400 deposit back

I would give Zero Stars if I could – I was on the phone with Crown & Anchor this morning. I am a Diamond Plus member with two Cruises booked on Royal Caribbean out of Rome in July, which also goes to Spain. Italy has the highest cases of death caused by the Coronavirus and Spain is getting worse everyday. I want to cancel my cruise and have the future cruise credits transferred into… Read more

my name. I paid for my 20yr Daughter and my sister and do not feel it is fair, that the future cruise credits cannot go in my name. I am the one that paid and booked the cruise. You would think at this time with the cruise industry on pause and the Coronavirus still at large, that Royal Caribbean would make exceptions during these unprecedented times. They refuse to give the future credits to me, and said it can only go to my daughter and sister. I feel that this is very unfair and I am extremely surprised that they are not doing anything above and beyond for their guest. I spent over 200 nights on their ships. My family will start looking at Disney, Princess & Virgin cruise lines if this is not resolved.

Rip off – Alcohol is watered down Keep debiting credit card for charges days after the final bill was settled on board Customer service is a joke Staff freindly food ok Entertainment average Room ok Show details

its A floating Tupperware party – From the moment you hop onboard (seriously the very moment), expect to be confronted with high pressure up selling from everything from drinks packages, jewellery, watches, offshore excursions ... you name it... Even to play a single game of bingo, you’ll be up for $50 US Don’t expect much from the comedy nights either, unless you’re happy with… Read more

the standard ‘how annoying is it walking behind old people’ type washed up humour.. do yourself a favour and forget about trying to fight for a spare seat, which mind you will talk an obligatory half hour lining up before the show starts due to the limited number of sessions for each performance.

Apart from the high pressure sales and the very ordinary and sparse entertainment, I have one more suggestion since like me you’ve probably bought your ticket before you read these reviews...

Lower your standards..

Further

....Further

......... Further

............. A little more

.................. Keep Going

.................. ........ More

........... ........... .......... More

........... ........... .......... .......... Ok. Now do your very best to forget about how much you already paid and open up your credit card and do your best to enjoy being fleeced.

Good service but bad passengers – We boarded the ship at Sydney, can't believe the ship is full of bogans, almost every 2nd one has a tatoo, wearing thongs with shorts walking around with bad attitude, they're treated like a king whilst onboard before getting off to their housing commission . All paid for by the taxpayers.

Good – Sailed in Nov 2018 and this is my second RC cruise. We got an Owners Suite which was amazing and perks are great also. I think the staff were great but I thought the entertainment lacked with repeated movies, and not enough fun shows to watch especially comedy. I luckily purchased the drink package as drinks onboard are very expensive once… Read more

converted from US to Aus -$14 cocktails US made the cocktails approx $19 each and spirits starting @ $9.50 US made them $13 each. Personally probably will give RC a miss next time and try another brand due to the US pricing and there entertainment was not as good as I’ve seen on other cruises.

Disappointed – Loved the sea days..needed a rest. Found My Time Dining very confusing. Windjammer seemed a big selection, again confusing...had to search for items that looked appetizing (many badly labeled). Felt we were subsidizing Diamond Plus members (a 1/3 of the passengers we believe) drank freely all day and enjoyed spectacular dining, while our… Read more

budget meant a few beverages given 18% overcharge on purchases. Entertainment other than ice show and 2 comedians..really poor. Films constant replays and old. On a 21 day cruise considered port choices also poor, only Maui and Noumea would we consider again. After cruising with another group last year I would find it difficult to recommend cruising with RC.

Worst guest services ever – Royal Caribbean I have cruised with twice out of 20+ cruises. They are disgraceful in their attitude to health and wellbeing. They allowed novo virus to spread due to non quarantine of sick passengers. Worst cruise line IMO and would never recommend. Disgusting company.

Royal Caribbean treat USA customers better than Australian customers – I booked a cruise with Royal Caribbean, paying the standard price rather than waiting for a sale, because I read loads of reviews online saying the cruise line always honours sale prices for existing customers if asked. When a sale came up a few weeks later, the cabin price dropped by $280pp. When I asked them to honour the price they wanted to… Read more

charge me a $450pp fee to cancel and rebook the cabin.

Then I said I may as well upgrade the cabin because with the sale price it was only $96pp more for a balcony. But they wanted to charge me $350pp for the upgrade.

It appears as if they give USA customers massive discounts compared to Australian customers. USA residents pay around half what we do for exactly the same cruise. And if the cruise goes on sale, Royal Caribbean will refund the difference to USA customers but not to Australian residents. How do they get away with this ?

False advertising – Royal Caribbean sent me an email offering up to 30% off cruise excursions on our upcoming cruise on Explorer of the seas on 15th Feb 2019. When I booked 4 tours the prices were exactly the same as what has been offered on their website for the last few months, NO discounts applied! After numerous phone calls and emails the matter has not been… Read more

resolved. Sounds like false advertising to me, Im not happy! This will be the last cruise I do with Royal Caribbean.

Not so grand explorations – Just returned from Royal Caribbean cruises Explorer of the seas 7 day cruise and in my opinion are not a great ship or cruise company to go cruising with. To start with the Cabin air-conditioning temperature was erratic made my asthma flair up sometimes far too hot others freezing cold. The WI-Fi is very slow on board and around $20.00US a day… Read more

if you want it only for 1 day which we did just to contact our family.

Everything you buy is in US dollars which add a slug to the price tag not to mention the $14US cocktails.

The boat seems very rundown and there are bad smelling areas all over the boat.

The food is at best passable but nothing to write home about and the restaurants on board cost extra and is also just alright nothing flash at all.

There are bars everywhere in all rooms with waiters pushing you to buy a drink even the theatre has 2 bars great if you’re an alcoholic.

On-board TV is a joke when it works mainly ads for RC and crap news networks a couple of sport channels and BBC HD but you can pay to rent movies if you want on the tiny screen in your cabin as this sums up this cruise buy, buy, buy.

The outdoor movie’s are useless as its always windy even when the wind is calm the moving ship creates a wind and who wants to sit in a wind tunnel to watch a movie outdoors.

The Casino is also a big trap on these ships and a good way to go broke without even discount drinks to soothe your aching wallet.

The ice skating show was abandoned at the last minute after everybody had purchased there drinks and rerun at the end of the cruise i must admit it was good but after another wait for drink orders .this seems to be a pattern on this ship.

The bar fridge in our room did not work and we had to keep asking for fresh water to drink in our cabin. We also ordered the free in cabin breakfast that was half an hour late and consisted of 2 pieces of toast and tea (continental breakfast).

Being disabled I asked for a disable cabin and all I got was 1 grab rail only in the shower and the cabin was at the front of the boat and all the food was at the back this was really inconvenient and made it a real problem having to get to all meals.

Did not live up to expectations – We booked ourselves on a New Year’s Eve cruise. We were so looking forward to New Year’s Eve and to let our hair down. On top of the cost of the cruise we paid for the drinks package. New Year’s Eve come around. We’re looking forward to the party. What a let down. Promoting a awesome show in the main promenade selling tables for $900 to get a… Read more

great view with drinks. We didn’t pay for a table. All the show was just some singers with a small orchestra.

Up on the main deck the band didn’t start until 11pm and played for an hour. The bar was full of people. In mid of people ordering drinks at midnight all the bars closed around the ship.

Even a older mature couple in their 60’s were saying they got booted out of a bar and had come down to where we were before ours got shut down. If you wanted to continue to drink all passengers were forced into the nightclub. It didn’t hold that many people.

You pay good money to go on a cruise you expect the bars to be open on New Year’s Eve past midnight. My home town local would still have been open. Unless you give us a free cruise we are never going back.

Big ship experience in review – Just returned from a 12 night cruise on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas. We normally cruise out of Brisbane but thought we would see what a bigger ship was like so flew to Sydney. Cruise was to South Pacific. Embarking was fairly slow but a lot of people to process. Ship was in excellent condition and easy to find your way around. Just… Read more

remember food at back , entertainment at front. We had a balcony cabin which was fine. Circular glass screen shower was great. Food & dining were all similar standard to other cruise lines. We have never had any issues with food. All very good. Buffet did get very busy though at breakfast & lunch. We didn't try any of the specialty restaurants other than Johnny Rockets which lacked any atmosphere the time we went there. US currency is used on RCI ships. Activities were limited. My wife & I are both in our 50's and reasonably fit but the surf rider & ice skating not something we would take part in. All other activities no different from smaller ships. Entertainment wise, the usual production shows with singers & dancers. Would like to see the shows updated , the "Rat Pack" era is getting a bit dated. Headline acts were quite poor. In fact , one night two singers from the production shows were the headline act. In saying that , they did do one of the better shows.

The ice show was the highlight of the entertainment for us. Having not seen anything like this before, it was special. You do get to see this only once though as only 700 people fit in this theatre. Something different was having lifeguards standing on the edge mid pool whilst pools were open. A bit overwhelming but did keep kids under control. All rooms have a flat screen TV. A bit annoying to find movies were Pay per View. $11.95 per movie. These are all free on Princess with countless movie options ! All staff were friendly & helpful.

All in all , we had a good time but would not go through the hassle of flying interstate to cruise. The cruise options out of Brisbane meet all our expectations on cruising. Hopefully when the new cruise terminal is built we will have lots of more options.

Wonderful experience!!! – I went for a 9 day cruise to South Pacific islands on 12th of February... Overall, my whole experience is excellent!!! I would like to mention the names of the best staff in the world, cause they truly deserve it: Wayan, Amit and Bento from Sky bar, Jaya and Peter from Sapphire dining room and our room attendant Nino!!! Their service was… Read more

exceptional... and I must say that is really rare to be treated like we were with those people....So professional and so genuine and always smiling...All the staff is amazing but mentioned people were special for us and they are the main reason why we will book our next cruise with RC again... When reading the other negative reviews, I must say that I strongly disagree with those statements... in our case it was totally opposite...

Worst holiday ever – Seriously I could write pages about this horror holiday out of Sydney to Noumea on explorer. I guess what disappointed me the most was the fact that the staff ( apart from the wonderful dining staff and the barman in the concierge lounge ) couldn't have cared less about our family or any of our concerns. The ship was overcrowded, tired and dirty.… Read more

The entire focus of the cruise appears to have been directed towards sales. So disappointing .I will never cruise again .

Had a great time – This was our family’s first cruise and my husband and myself was not very keen on the cruise. However, after being on the cruise and attending most of the activities and shows I can thoroughly say that we enjoyed ourselves and wanting to join another RC cruise. It was the Explorer of the Seas on 15th Dec 2017, to Noumea, Mystery Island and Lifou… Read more

Islands. The food at Windjammer was the best as there was a variety of choices. Their Chef was able to cook specific food on request too. There were speciality food nights at Windjammer too. The staff in all the areas were very friendly, helpful and always with a smile. We did have dinners at the Sapphire too but the choices were limited. The items organised by the Cruise Director, Topi was very well presented and we enjoyed the shows. The groups meeting place was the Cafe Promenade and we had a memorable time. The Pizza at Cafe Promenade was the best. Constructive feedback is that the Casino should not be in the middle of the ship as there were children watching the colourful machines. There should be more dancing classes organised as there was only 1 time provided for each dance. We will join RC again.

Double-charged – Travelled on Explorer of the Seas from Sydney 26 Nov 2017. Bought the pre-paid drinks package, but constantly charged for drinks. Had to visit guest services, with long lines, several times to rectify. There were some unresolved charges after the end of cruise. Have emailed Royal Caribbean and waiting, waiting, waiting for action. The guest… Read more

services officer on-board explained that their system requires bar staff to swipe our SeaPass cards when ringing up drinks. The full price is applied, then it's a manual process for the bar staff to apply the drinks package reduction. The problem is human error, even though it is blatantly obvious that the swiped SeaPass card should automatically recognise the drinks package and apply correct pricing. My query to RC also asks for their confirmation or clarification of the billing process. How many other passengers have been overcharged in the same way? The more reviews I am now reading about Royal Caribbean makes me wonder if I'll ever receive a reply.

Call Centre Absolute Disgrace No Customer Care – I have not yet left Sydney, I have been on the phone constantly with Royal Caribbean call centre. I discussed alcohol package with [name removed] late November, he told me to wait and not purchase the package as it will be going down in price (they have a special early December) took [name removed] advise. Now we are early December and the… Read more

packages seem to keep on going up in price from $58 to $62 now $69.12 per person per night. He now denies he stated any such thing. I asked to speak with a supervisor when the supervisor asked me what the issue was he too denined joesph had ever stated this to me, I requested for the call to be brought forward as every call is recorded, he told me it takes up to 10 days I am unable to listen to the recording its only for internal use only (liar I know my rights). I will never trust or travel on the Royal Caribbean as they are liars. [name removed] even had the nerve to yell at me stating he doesn't care if I do not recommend Royal Caribbean. I suppose that's what happens when you listen to arrogant customer care operators. Be aware!

Worse Cruise Ship Ever- The Nazi Of The Seas – Our whole family hated this ship, we've cruised before and loved the ships we've been on 8/10 to 10/10. One out of ten goes to this dud, only saved from 0 score for the good food and friendly staff at the Sapphire & Windjammer restaurants. I could write pages on our complaints but will keep to a few. The ship cannot handle even the calmest seas… Read more

floundering & rocking all over the place, other much smaller ships we've been on have endured 30 foot waves with grace. Cabin next to us set off fire sprinklers on first day flooding cabin, and for 3 days noisy drying machines ran 24hrs a day. I asked for them to be shut off as my wife and son developed a moist cough, probably from the mould spores in the air, not to mention the condensation up the walls of the cabin & hallway and railings outside our cabin. Dryers were stopped for 2 hours, then turned back on. We complained & asked for another cabin & were given another cabin, soon after moist cough improved. Lots of maintenance items needed repair, lifts, lift buttons, cabin fridge not working, one working shuffle board stick on a ship with nearly 3200 passengers, nearly always huge line ups at guest services, guest services manager [name removed] who did not reply to my 2 page letter of complaints given whilst on the ship, activities that finished early or did not happen at all with people left sitting in an empty lounge for 20-30 minutes till someone went & complained with an excuse given that I'm sure most people didn't buy, we gave up asking questions to crew members except those that required a yes/ no answer or could be determined by pointing as I swear none of the crew spoke English as their first language. Most of the crew looked like they'd rather be anywhere else than but on this ship, and we felt the same. We loved the shore stops as it was it was our only relief from being on board. We have 2 son's aged 17 yrs 11 months & 15 yrs and they felt threatened and harassed by staff, with the rules and regulations like a Nazi concentration camp. I found out for myself when I tried to sign in to rock climbing but was not allowed by a male crew member with Poland on the back of his shirt, as my signature was outside the size of the box provided! (small box by the way), this crew member also would not allow me to go on the Flowrider as I was wearing a surf cap to protect my longer hair from possibly getting caught & ripped out, he thought it was very funny when I stormed off in disgust! Or a crew member named "Ines" who would not allow me to sign on to the Flowrider for a later session, as I had my wife's card at the time, amazing how they can bill your family for purchases though linking your cards, but not your activities! Our family was so frustrated and angry we have vowed to never go on a cruise holiday again! please feel free to ask me more about this horrible experience, can forward photo's as well.

It is July 16 2020, and the anger at this cruise line has not gone away, stay away!

What has happened to the once high service cruise company – We were very loyal rci paxs just would not have a bad word said about them. Boy have we changed since sailing 7 days 19 November on the explorer of the seas. No usual wow feature on this money making ship. The best reason i have ever seen to change over to princess cruises. We found our account had been billed incorrectly not once but 3 times on… Read more

the 7 day cruise once is enough. We found the staff in the dining room gloomy and not interested in the guests all. Similar the housekeeper maybe they are worked too hard? The front customer service staff were excellent sorting out the accounting problems. The pool staff just terrible. The cruise director was very good. The ice show the best ever. Now for yet another shocker my account was all clear and final was about to leave and found $100 us on my account for not returning pool towels when in fact they were returned but the staff member did not swipe them off correctly. Waited 35 minutes in the line to have the account fixed of course missed my prebooked transfer because of this. We were about to book a repositioning cruise and found out that both parties had to prebook and pay for a drink package and they would not sell one only to a cabin with 2 guests travelling. One of us does not drink alcohol the other only sugar free drinks and water no point what so ever in taking a soda package. So if this is the way this money hungry company wants to go well go sail away with out us and thank you for introducing us to princess cruises.

A little disappointing – The boarding process was excellent, streamlined and efficient, our cabin was ready and our luggage had arrived which was terrific. We had a balcony cabin which was pretty stock standard as on most ships, for first time cruisers you can expect a small bathroom and even smaller shower, this is not a complaint it's a fact. We were greeted by our… Read more

cabin steward "Ketut" who was very friendly and welcoming. All good so far!

We spent some time familiarising ourselves with the ships facilities and were pretty impressed, ice rink, flow rider, rock climbing wall WOW! It was on day 2 that the nasty things started to stand out. The food was average and I'll admit I'm not a fan of buffet's but hey, when in Rome. The problem was not so much the food but the people, adults and unsupervised children ignoring the notices to use tongs and grabbing things with bare hands and on two occasions passengers sneezing all over the food and not covering there mouth. The meals in the main dining room were not great either and certainly nowhere near the standard of other cruise lines that we'd been on. We decided to try the dining room for breakfast and oh dear! Big mistake! I could have resoled my shoes with the fried eggs and apologies to the people behind us who copped my sisters toast to the head which took off when she tried to get her knife in it to cut it. We purchased a coffee card and were disappointed that the Promenade Cafe only serves coffee in paper cups with ridiculous little black plastic stirrer things. The coffee was very week so I had to order a double shot which meant two crosses on the card... of course! Now my main problem with this is the landfill all of these paper cups and plastic stirrers are creating, surely they could whack an extra $5 per head on the fare and supplied glassware and real spoons!!! Here's a tip, bring your own chocolate and paper chips because on board you will be slugged $15.99 USD for a family size block of chocolate and $12.99 for a small bag of Kettle Chips. The exchange rate on the ship is a bit dubious as well. When I attended the customer service desk to ask the exchange rate on a particular day they said they couldn't tell me - strange because I'd already looked it up on Google using the very over priced and under performing internet service. It wasn't a bad cruise but it certainly wasn't great, I very much prefer the smaller ships who have less "bells and whistles" and focus on good food and service

Be Careful When Book Cruise With Royal Caribbean – They did not tell us that they cancel the cruise when we paid deposit $200, they let us paid full amount $1030 then email us this cruise was canceled. Not reliable!

Absolutely no Customer Service! – We were booked on our very first sampler cruise, three nights out of Sydney. Talked my husband into it for our anniversary. Our flight from Brisbane was cancelled and the next flight delayed. We finally arrived at the port 50 minutes before sail time. We were met by a lovely security guard who told us she thought we were too late. She called her… Read more

Supervisor down and she was sympathetic and went off to ask if we could board. She came back and said she had tries\d but no go!!! You can imagine our disappointment. No one came to see us from Royal Caribbean but they were more than happy to keep our $2000. I tried contacting their customer service department when we got home. They were useless!!!! Wouldn't you think having that cabin free but paid for and not eating any food would warrant and bit of a sweetener in the form of a credit - but NO. So that is us for cruising unfortunately, well with his company anyway.

Disappointing – This was my second and last Royal Caribbean cruise. Our cruise was booked out, it was during school holidays over Easter and there were kids galore running amok, it was a nightmare. They'd get in the lifts, push every button and run off, making catching elevators a lengthy, tedious experience. Beds and pillows were uncomfortable (like a hospital… Read more

bed), the bathroom always smelled a bit funky and I was counting the nights until I could disembark. Internet, billed as high speed, was woeful...slow and often not able to connect at all. The TV programs were the SAME episode repeated over and over and over. I can now quote a few sitcoms word for word. Okay, we weren't there to watch TV but it would have been nice for some variety to chill at night. Easter eggs were provided by Royal Caribbean but guests grabbed huge handfuls of whatever they could meaning most missed out, I've never seen such selfishness. Food in the Windjammer was hit or miss. The Sapphire was nicer but a few times we had stone cold bacon and eggs for breakfast (and we went in as soon as it opened). Shopping on board is awful...why do they insist on selling such upmarket stuff like watches and jewellery? Entertainment was excellent, the ice show was amazing and guest performers in the main theatre just wonderful (Tom Burlinson, magicians and more). Anyway, I'm cured of cruising now...wouldn't go back on Explorer if you paid me.

Outraged to say the least! – This was the complaint i have raised and had no reply to: I have not long returned from a cruise on your Explorer of the Seas ship and can honestly say thanks to one of your waitresses, left me with the worst taste in my mouth. While I addressed the issue on board, it was not dealt with to the extent I had expected it would be, and am now left… Read more

depressed and generally feeling quite down about myself. Having said that, I didn’t get to raise this as soon as got off the boat as I had deal with a financial blow also dealt to me by the Royal Caribbean (RC) first!

When we first boarded, somehow our account became a ‘cash’ account as opposed to having a credit card linked to it (which is surprising as we did link a card to the account with our travel agent, before we left). So we attended the Guest Services desk on the 2nd day to bring the account up to date and re-link the card, we sort of walked away confused having been told that our card would be charged daily (pre-authorised), and that it would be charged once at the end of the cruise (P&O didn’t touch my account until the end and the payment was just one charge, processed once!). This was not entirely true.

As you would be aware, these daily pre-authorised amounts take some time to drop off, not advised to us at any time throughout and consequently when we returned were left with hardly any money! I had to stock my fridge, put petrol in our cars and get my son ready for a new school year, which is pretty difficult when your account is overdrawn by $174 AUD!!!!!!!!

Anyway, when the ‘final’ charge went through on my account on Friday 27th January for $1015 AUD, I called your ‘Customer Service’ line for assistance. A male representative answered my call; spoke to me for a maximum of 3mins, before putting me on hold for 30mins!!!!! As they had not come back to assure me they were still looking into my query, I called the same number from another phone while remaining online, on hold with the first call, a representative by the name of [name removed] (I was sure to get names after the first call) answered my call assuring me I could hang up on the first call, and he would assist from now on, not offering any answer to questions of what had happened with the first call. Anyway, he got all the details from me and put me on hold on and off to investigate, and then told me I would need to call my bank to get the ‘approval/authorisation numbers’ for each transaction to give to him to put on a form to submit to the Royal Caribbean merchant team in order to get the pre-authorised amounts released. He said that once he sent the completed form over to my bank the amounts would take 2 days to release, which was very distressing to me as I had no money and at that point owed the bank $174 AUD!!!!!!

[name removed] was very insistent on this whole thing being my bank’s fault/issue for not giving RC the ‘approval/authorisation numbers’ they claimed to need to remove the hold on my funds. He also said that if I had used a credit card and not a debit card this would not have happened as it would not be my funds on hold, but credit funds instead. Firstly, I do not use credit, I like to use my own money, and secondly I was not told of how this would work from travel agent to guest services!

As the conversation went on I found it quite infuriating that [name removed] would keep blaming my bank as opposed to the poor service that I received from RC Guest Services at the time of this debacle. I also think [name removed] wasn’t truly understanding/appreciative of the fact that I had NO money and the position it left my family in, it was most concerning. I also explained to [name removed] the kind of ‘treatment’ I had on board and that I was already traumatised by that, so to please be considerate, again, he did not take notice of this, and by then I wanted to speak to a manager, someone that had some more sympathy for the situation RC had been responsible for and someone that could get the hold removed from my funds asap. (I should point out I was very angry and upset at this point and in tears.) [name removed] said they don’t have managers in his call centre that they speak to managers via Skype in Florida. I found this hard to believe, so I asked again, and then he kept repeating that I didn’t need to speak to a manager, they weren’t going to do anything different to what he was doing for me. Then he said there were no managers there at the moment, and then I was told they were all busy… The final straw was that he told me that he was going to hang up on me and that he didn’t have anything else to say about the situation. He was just raising his voice above mine and talking over me saying he was hanging up, goodbye!

I have worked in Customer Service as a call centre manager for many years and if I heard one of my staff speak like this to someone, deserving or not deserving, whether they were right or wrong, the company’s fault or not, they would be severely reprimanded and performance managed. This is by far one of the worst interactions I have ever had and his reaction was totally uncalled for and out of line.

So then I had to waste more of my time and call back. I spoke to [name removed] or [name removed] this time and had to explain everything that happened all over again! While I was on the phone to her and asking for a manager a supervisor by the name of [name removed] took over the call, she said she overheard some of the conversation as she walked in to start her shift and wanted to help! Now this is the kind of service RC can be proud of and to be honest, it is the kind of service I provide when I speak to customers as well. She listened, was patient and asked for all the necessary details. However, I explained to her what happened on board the ship and she promised me she would raise it and get back to me, but alas, that was not the case! So, here I am again, waiting for RC to take this seriously and again I am left with nothing resolved…

The funds RC had on hold have finally now after 8 days been released, in bits and pieces… So that tells me that although I am told [name removed] did in fact send off the form to bank, this either was not sent, actioned or completed correctly. I just want RC to know the incredible stress this put me and my family under at this time, just a ridiculous arrangement to get your money out of people, as soon as that final, full debit went through, the other funds should have been authorised to be released!

Now, onto the real reason for my complaint, which I had hoped not to have to raise, but unfortunately my experience on board at the hands of one of your dining room waitresses has gotten to me more than I thought it would. Maybe had it been handled better on board this may not have surfaced but here goes!

We (my son, husband and dear friend) arrived for al-a-carte breakfast at the dining room on the Sunday morning 23/01/17 (I believe, I would have to confirm that) and were guided to a table to share with an older woman and her daughter and a young couple. We sat down and as soon as we were seated, a woman came barrelling through the thoroughfare near our table with a trolley and was not able to get through, so she promptly stopped the trolley and yelled across the 8 seat oval table where we were sitting and at the top of her lungs yelled to have “someone slimmer needs to come and sit here please!”. She then demanded the young man of the couple at our table to come and swap places with me (which then would have meant he was not sitting with his partner), saying ”could you please swap seats so we can have someone slimmer sitting here please, I can’t get past!”. She proceeded to say it over and over again so all of the surrounding tables and our waiter heard the commotion. So, I asked for her to please be a little quieter and that we would sort it out. I calmly and embarrassingly said there was no need to be so rude so as to shout out that I was in her way because I am so heavy (she wasn’t exactly skinny by the way), to no avail, she kept arguing with me and causing a scene, I am horrified by this stage and ended up changing seats with my son so as not to be in the way and just sat at breakfast quietly. It took over 20 minutes for the table to return to normal, who were obviously all made uncomfortable by the situation. (I was told later that the older woman on the table offered to be a ‘witness’ to our friend, saying she saw the whole thing if we needed anything). Our waiter was very kind and came up to see if I was alright later and apologised for his colleague’s behaviour.

As we walked out of the restaurant, I didn’t feel right leaving that situation without reporting it to her senior, as I don’t think anyone deserves that treatment and would hate for someone else to go through what I went through, so my friend convinced me to approach the supervisor/manager, but as the woman who offended me so greatly was nearby, I was concerned she would overhear, so my friend asked her to follow me outside the door. I told the lovely lady who was supervising (a shorter lady with a Romanian accent I believe) and she was visibly shocked and in disbelief at what I was telling her. She couldn’t believe it and apologised profusely asking me who it was, I described the lady and pointed her out and she said her name was [name removed]. She said she would pass on this feedback to the Restaurant Manager.

Needless to say this ruined my day and made my family feel concerned for me and kept asking if I was going to be ok.

A day or so later I had the restaurant manager call me in my cabin saying that he wanted to speak to me in person and had been looking for me at dinner time and could not find me. He said that he was very sorry for what had happened and that he hoped that this had not ruined my holiday, to which I responded, no, it hadn’t but it had put a definite cloud over it. He said he would go to our table tonight to speak to me and he did not show. I did however see [name removed] serving the family at the table a couple of metres away from us, and she turned and glanced at me a few times, with a look of disgust and this made me very uncomfortable.

I am still at a loss as to how someone could humiliate another person so greatly in front of so many other people like this, especially a person in hospitality directed at one of their customers, the very reason they do that job is because they have a desire to make people happy and want them to walk away with a great experience from the establishment they work at.

I have always been overweight, but hand on heart I can honestly say that I have never been treated so poorly and been so embarrassed before in my life. This has resulted in me being quite depressed, having problems sleeping and overall just an overwhelming feeling of shame.

This holiday was a struggle for us to pay off and we worked really hard to do it and looked so forward to enjoying it now, but honestly, when people ask me about how my holiday was now, I have to stop myself from telling them about this incident, but I do tell them I would not be going on another RC cruise again.

The Restaurant Manager should have done something at the time to ease my humiliation; there was no offer of any kind of compensation to try and make me and my family get back into enjoying our holiday, nothing!

I am now seeking legal advice to see about a possible case for defamation and mental anguish. Also, I think RC should talk a long hard look at who they have serving their customers, that’s if they want to have a good name in social media and repeat custom. I have never felt so strongly about someone being heavily reprimanded. I cannot think of a job that I have ever had where it would be ‘ok’ to have treated a customer in this way and still retained my position to be honest.

This RC staff member really caused distress to me and my family and we now feel like the holiday and time together we worked so hard for has been wiped out.

FYI, I have forwarded this to a legal representative for advice on possible litigation proceedings.

Disappointing trip – The accommodation was ok the dining offers for free was horrid . Everything was so expensive and not good like the internet