On October 4 my husband and I boarded Independence of The Seas planning to spend the next seven days relaxing, anticipating a week with no stress. In reality the majority of the week involved confusion and frustration as a result of poor communications on the part of the crew and staff. We have cruised Royal Caribbean many times over the last decade and have both observed the level of service and attention to detail steadily declining. When cruising we entrust the crew and staff with our safety and our vacation, in return we expect to be treated with dignity by a professional staff following clear tried-and-true processes. Over the last three or four cruises with Royal Caribbean we have begun to question whether that trust is warranted.

On this cruise my husband had to utilize the medical facility for what turned out to be stomach flu and, as expected, he was quarantined. At different times while he was quarantined room service refused to deliver items on the menu provided by the medical center, movies didn’t work, some meals were delivered normally while others arrived with paper plates and bio hazard bags. We received two different explanations for the bio hazard bag and were never sure which was right. At one point I was told by someone at the restaurant that I could not enter but I had never been quarantined and had used my SeaPass card all over the ship while he was quarantined. In the days that followed, quarantine guest services missed or was late for meetings. Additionally we experienced problems with the cabin AC, a Diamond Lounge that was so overcrowded at times it was virtually unusable, failure on the part of the crew to follow up on issues requiring maintenance intervention, mediocre entertainment and uninspired menus. On at least two occasions at the beginning of the cruise bars did not have some of the higher end drinks on the menu. When getting a spa treatment there was no buffer for manicures and pedicures, the spa staff actually suggested my husband have clear nail polish instead.

Guest services did reverse some charges from our SeaPass and send a bottle of champagne but that’s hardly consolation when I already had the premium drink package and we had spent very little.