Our cruise from Shanghai to Korea was mixed. The Royal Caribbean home offices really dropped the ball with poor communication. Fortunately their shortfall was made up for by the ship's crew. Let me explain.

First, a word about us. We are United States ex-patriots living and working in Shanghai, China. We are experienced cruisers and are Diamond members with Royal Caribbean. Our goal for this trip was a simple get away with a good food supply and air conditioning. Throughout the Spring we monitored the Royal Caribbean website for cruises in Asia. There were a number of them listed in March for the Summer season. For some reason they became blacked out. I had assumed it was because of the uncertainty of the tensions with North Korea and what military action might be happening in the region. I telephoned the Royal Caribbean offices in Miami but they had no information to offer. In April the bookings opened up again and we booked a five night cruise directly on the Royal Caribbean website for a cruise out of Shanghai to South Korea.

We began receiving emails from Royal Caribbean to book our shore excursions, etc. Every time I tried to do that through the web site it would not allow it. A week before departure I was able to reserve My Time Dining. The following day it was canceled without explanation. I was again able to book My Time Dining but no shore excursions or wine packages were available to book online. Read more