Why did I venture from DCL, RCCL cannot compare..

[Mackey Mouse]

Of course, you probably all already know that DCL is the way to go, but we foolishly booked a Mediterranean cruise with friends and they were travelling on RCCL, Voyager of the Seas.. OK, I cannot fault them on the cleanliness of our room or our room steward, both were pretty terrific, food was good, not great, and our waitstaff was incredible. Here is where they do fall short, they do not know how to smile, be courteous to the travellers and their customer service is seriously lacking.

Also, Disney has the corner on the market with people moving. RCCL just did not get how to move the crowds. One day my DH and I had a private tour and went out with all the people that were leaving the ship, got into the dock in Naples and were sent back.. yes sent back, fighting our way back in on the same gangplank as those people coming out, made to go to the 4th floor to go out a different gangplank as we were not taking a RCCL excursion....We never heard an announcement so if they made one we have no clue. Announcements were few and far between so mostly were left wondering what the heck was going on......

I will say check in was relatively easy and our room was ready when we boarded at 1:00pm. Here was the issue with our room, our room was on the same floor with the disco, the Vault, we listened to that music banging in our room from 11:00pm to 2:00am...every night. We went down to see if they could do something for us, and the only offer was to move us to the deck below.. deck 2, where then we could have listened to the dancing as well as the music.. We refused and asked if there were any other options, I would have paid for an upgrade, but no other offers came our way.....oh other than they would send earplugs to our room.. two pairs.. wasn't that nice of them??? I think Disney was smart enough not to have rooms on the same floor as their clubs....that is brilliant..

The excursions were interesting, but most times we were late getting back and thus missing our dining room seating and then ate at their Windjammer's on the 11th floor. We did have fun in the dining room at the table with our tablemates and our server was really good.. our best day was a private excursion we had set up with American Express, we had a wonderful English speaking driver, Gianpiero, and he took us wherever we wanted to go. I got to see the land of my ancestors, the first to do so since they travelled to the USA many years ago, and then onto Sorrento, which we absolutely loved..

Smoking was prevalent, seems we could not escape it, not in the dining rooms though and I thought I could smell smoking in the corridor near our stateroom. Also, gambling onboard does seem to bring out the beast in some people.. so Disney is smart in restricting their smoking places and of course having no gambling..

One more thought, when you think you have seen it all, there was a fistfight in the dining room between a man and a woman.....I assumed husband and wife, but some said it was brother and sister, who knows. We were in horror over that and there were children at their table, crying, I have to say that bothered us the rest of the cruise and thankfully it was at the end of the cruise. It was a huge table, couples, children, and what seemed to be maybe grandparents, they never came back to the dining room. Security was called to the dining room and many people went to guest services to complain and to make sure that the children were ok in that group..

Anyway, never again, only Disney from now on. Just thought maybe you would like to read our experiences with another cruise lines..

 

[PoohJen]

Here was the issue with our room, our room was on the same floor with the disco, the Vault, we listened to that music banging in our room from 11:00pm to 2:00am...every night.

OMG!!!! I would've gone out of my skull!!! I'm more an early to bed, early to rise sort of person; I CAN"T STAND any noise at bedtime! Truly, while that wouldn't bother some people, it really would've ruined the cruise for me. Yikes!

and too much smoke - yuck.

Glad you had some great times, though!

 

[Verandah Man]

My family will be on RCCL in three weeks for a 4 day sailing to the Bahamas, I hope our cruise goes smoother than what you experienced.

 

[zalansky]

While we didn't see any fighting on RCCL...we definitely agree we like DCL much better. We cruised 7 nights on the Mariner for a family reunion type cruise years ago and no one else in my family enjoys Disney so we were stuck with RCCL. We hated the smoking everywhere and there was a teen girls trip from another country on board who ran amuck the entire cruise. The food was not very good on RCCL - we didn't like it at all. The worst was they made us pay full childs fare for our then 13 month old baby. DCL charges only port charges for kids under 2. There was nothing for our baby to do on RCCL either which meant not much for us to do as a family.

I don't think we'd cruise with them again even when our kids are older.

 

[Mickey'sfriend]

Sorry to hear about your poor experience. My dh and I have cruised with RCCI 4 times and think they offer a great cruise experience. Food is better than Disney, IMO, and we, luckily, have always had a very quite stateroom. I'll admit there is more smoking, but they enforce their dress code and no-smoking and no-kids area better than we found on the Wonder. Hope the trip wasn't a complete loss for you!!