Thievery on a "luxury" cruise...
Written: Sep 17 '07 (Updated Sep 17 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: They keep you well fed, Coco Cay, reasonably priced drinks
Cons: --Well...thievery...and more thievery
The Bottom Line: Enter at your own risk...don't expect a relaxing, luxurious trip. But rather hoards of people cramming food into their mouths.
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| seanito's Full Review: Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas |
Some quick notes about the rest of the cruise, before I really lay into these guys...
Even though they beat you over the head with the tipping procedures at the end, as we tried to figure out the intricacies of tipping out a waiter, assistant waiter, and head waiter--the service was good. In fact, they go out of their way to make sure you have food options at all times throughout the cruise...in fear that you may starve. I gorged myself with food for the entire 3 days. They might as well call it a floating fat camp!
The activities and shows were all pretty good. They apparently just updated the entire ship last Jan, but they should have spent a little more money on a decent sound system...just a personal bias.
The casino did a good job of taking my money. There was a good variety of games and stakes though. No free drinks while you're gambling like Vegas though...too bad! Good deals at the duty-free and the nice thing is they deliver it early enough Sunday so you can crack a bottle if you want.
Coco Cay, although an entirely artificial island created for Royal Caribbean, does offer some beautiful beach and ocean excursions. Good luck getting a nap in with the island drink-slingers yelling "Coco-loco" every 2 minutes as they walk by.
Nassau was kind of a drag. Royal Caribbean just sort of parks the boat at the dock and unleashes you on the island with no real direction. We went to the Atlantis casino which was your standard Vegas-style casino with pricey tables. It was difficult to determine what beaches to go to and how to get to them. And beware of the "water taxi" upon entering the island which is actually a ferry to Paradise Island....they wait until it fills before they disembark and I think we sat there for a good 30 min. You're better off paying the extra buck and taking a normal taxi.
The fitness center on the ship is nice...you can work out while overlooking the ocean, which can be nothing but a plus.
The Viking lounge is also a treat right around sunset, despite all the cigar smokers. They could use a little more diversity for the rest of the bars though. Boleros offers a nice Latin touch. The Spectrum is a little stark and, as I said, the sound system could be better.
Now....I can't begin to express my disappointment for what I thought was a well established and trusted brand in Royal Caribbean. I will admit that much of this review is colored by what happened at the onset of the cruise, but thanks to Royal Caribbeans' relative lack of customer support and follow-through, I can express nothing short of disgust. I will also add that I work for a company that has a reputable brand and I happen to know that we take these customer reviews seriously.
Let me now tell my story of heartache and whoa (okay it's not that bad!). Upon arriving at the Miami port to board the ship, we were hastily greeted by a bellman who we assumed to be a Royal Caribbean staff member helping us with our baggage. The 4 of us who rode over in the taxi all tagged our bags and watched as the bellman loaded the bags onto the cart, assuming that they would eventually make it to our rooms. It wasn't until we walked into the check-in lines a few minutes later, that I realized we could have carried some of our bags on ourselves. One of the bags that I checked to go to my room was my carry-on bag from the flight that I typically load with electronics....my iPod, my digital camera, my Bose headphones. Okay I think you can tell where this is going. After checking into our rooms we received most of our bags within the hour--which was fairly efficient. But I was one bag shy, which was naturally the bag with my electronics. I asked the stateroom attendant about the bag and he assured me that bags sometimes take a while and should be delivered within the next few hours. At this point, I, of course, expected the worst and found it strange that they would deliver all of my bags except for one.
After a few more hours of deliberation (Note: not in a relaxed vacation mode at this point) and a few calls to guest relations I went to the front desk. After describing the bag to them they assured me that bag-tags tend to fall off of the bags and that it should turn up within the next few hours (before 7pm they thought). In between this time we dealt with a series of bothersome announcements, safety drills, etc...all with eventual hopes of relaxation, entertainment, and indulgence. After a few more walks past guest relations I noticed a lone black duffel bag in the corner by the desk and was elated to discover that it was mine. I told the guest relations rep and hurried back to my room, as I was late for the first seating of dinner. Back in the room, I opened the bag to discover that my iPod and brand new digital camera were missing. I reported this right away to guest relations and, while sympathetic, they did mention that the bellmen helping me at the curb with my bags "was probably not a Royal Caribbean employee", but more likely a port employee who works with all the cruise operators....great information to have at this time.
So in this age of security concerns and lotion checking at the airports my bags were being handled by some random freelance port employee...hmmm, interesting service to add on to a supposed 5-star cruise. So, in essence guest relations deflected the blame to a non-cruise employee...what a great start to the trip! This would be similar to having something go missing from my bags that a bellman took to my room, with the hotel saying "we're sorry that you took advantage of this guest amenity, but we can't be held responsible for this." Well anyhow, at least I had some closure as to what happened to my bag and could enjoy the rest of the cruise.
I did manage to hold some of my disappointment at bay early on in the trip, that is until I found out that another family member in our group of 23 had the same EXACT thing happen to him. Like myself, he entrusted the curbside baggage service with his belongings...probably thinking at first "hey, what a nice touch." Needless to say, he did not receive his bag right away. And once he did finally get his bag, his iPod was (you guessed it) also missing. I guess Royal Caribbean forgot to tell us about the mandatory iPod contribution once aboard. One would think paying for the cruise, "donating" money to the casino, and being badgered for tips was enough.
Now, not only did he get his iPod stolen as well, but 2 nights later $60 in casino chips went missing from his room!! He was victimized twice in one trip...this is inexcusable!!! Yes, he was foolish to leave the chips out, but come on...get it together. Pay your workers better, Royal Caribbean...and do better background checks!!
Now the clincher was the follow-through. While I will admit that the guest relations rep was good about calling me throughout the cruise and updating me about the status of the investigation...no surprise--my iPod and camera didn't turn up (those two items didn't just happen to fall out of my bag after all, and I'm sure they didn't go room to room shaking down the employees). But I was told I should call the 800 number provided at the bottom of the report upon landing back in Miami. I did so that day and was serviced by the usual robotic guest service rep who could offer nothing more than a fax number to help further the investigation. When asked why it would be necessary to fax the report which they already had in duplicate (it's a carbon copy) she offered no further information. When I asked her what my next step would be after faxing it, more teeth pulling ensued. I was told I would hear back in 4-6 weeks with a letter or a check...how comforting and promising. Thanks Royal Caribbean for a wonderful vacation experience!!
IN all honesty, I probably would have given the cruise 3, maybe 3.5 out of 5 stars had it not been for the theft. But just for the mere fact that not only was I victimized, but so too was another family member (totally isolated incidences)....Royal Caribbean really needs to do something about this. People are paying WAY too much money for a luxury experience to have to worry about this. I'm a frequent business traveler. I've stayed in some really nice hotels and some well...not so nice. Not once have I ever used the safe in the room (maybe I'm too trusting). For the rest of the cruise I actually used the safe...is that comfort and relaxation?
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Friends
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Epinions.com ID:
seanito
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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