Royal Caribbean's 5-day cruise to Bermuda October 17 to 22 on Liberty of the Seas was a frustrating and stressful experience for us almost from the beginning. This was not my first cruise, and that's a good thing, because I probably would not have wanted to cruise ever again.

And that would be a shame because our family has shared some absolutely wonderful cruises on other lines and often joke that if we had enough money we would probably just want to get on a ship and sail on forever. As cruisers go, we are a pretty laid back bunch. We don't complain about the occasional bad meal, one or two scheduling mistakes, missed ports, horrific weather conditions, etc. We've experienced them all, and still came away at the end of each cruise feeling sorry the trip had to end. We treat each cruise as an adventure, with the attitude that whatever happens we are still probably going to have a good time.

That approach didn't work this time, for reasons detailed below. If you don't have the time or the interest in reading a lengthy review, I can summarize the three main areas of concern and you can move on: poor communication, bad management, and uncooperative staff. Read more