We previously took an RC cruise to Alaska, which was wonderful (as well as a Caribbean cruise on another line), and several members of our 9-person group have taken multiple cruises. I think we all agreed that this was the worst cruise any of us had experienced. Here's just a short list of what needs to be improved: we contacted RC for ADA information about excursions multiple times before the trip, and no one got back to us. We went to the excursions staff within an hour or two of boarding and asked about the accessibility for a snorkeling trip (which I have done on other cruises). The staffer, said he would inquire but indicated that he didn't think that was feasible. He later left a phone message saying the same thing. I went by and asked to speak to the manager. After much fumbling I was handed a phone to talk to "Kim" who told me that there was nothing she could do. When I asked about going on a glass-bottomed boat tour -- alone--while the rest of my party went snorkeling(!!), she said that wasn't going to work either. When I said that I was going to express my dissatisfaction when I posted a review, she suddenly decided that she would "inquire further" to see if there were any accessible options. We had another conversation in which she confirmed that there were no accessible excursions other than the island tour we had booked for the next day, but I was free to use the phone at Guest Services to make my own arrangements. I again expressed that this was totally unsatisfactory. When I got back to my room late in the afternoon of Day 2 there was a message from the Marketing Director, who said that she heard that I was unhappy. I went through the whole story again. And, of course, she did nothing to rectify the situation either except apologize. It is absolutely unacceptable that RCI, which pumps so much money into the Bermuda economy, has taken no steps to ensure that a reasonable selection of excursions, including snorkeling and boat tours, have an accessibility option. And, it is even more unacceptable that I wasted 2+ hours of my precious--and expensive--vacation arguing and complaining. To say that I was disappointed by my inability to participate in activities that I was looking forward to does not even begin to describe how frustrating and dehumanizing the entire experience was. And now on to all the other other things that went wrong: the elevators are frequently broken and take forever to come; our room steward never showed us anything about the room--as a consequence, we sat in the dark and heat for two hours when we first boarded, because we didn't know that we needed to put the sea card in the slot to turn on the lights and AC--AND THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ROOM; we didn't sleep the first night because the wind was howling so loudly--BECAUSE THERE WAS NO EXPLANATION PROVIDED ABOUT THE ODD WAY that the BALCONY DOOR has to be closed; we missed most of the evening entertainment because it was all scheduled once rather than twice and exactly at the time we had our 8:30 pm classic dinner reservation; dinners took a ridiculously long time--as much as 3 hours one evening--after I complained, we got out in 2 hours and 45 minutes the next evening!; as with the steward, the waiter did the bare minimum; in Bermuda, on the second day, there was no staff available to assist with pushing my wheelchair up the gangplank when we returned to the ship--the staff person at the desk stood and watched as my husband pushed the wheelchair up an extremely steep incline; a person in our party got sick and had to wait several hours at the infirmary--because no form of communication we tried--the RC app, internet, etc ever worked properly--we had a very stressful time then and throughout the trip trying to contact one another --a real issue with a party of 9 people spanning 7 decades--about

where we were at any given time; when I finally decided to go to the infirmary to try to find out what was happening after a couple of hours, I was told to take the elevator from deck 14 where I was to deck 2, after waiting for the elevator for the usual 5-7 minutes I went to Deck 2 to learn that I was in crew quarters and couldn't get through. None of the crew that passed by knew how to direct me to the clinic. I waited for another 5-7 minutes, took the elevator up to Deck 5, rolled across the entire ship, and took the elevator to 2--in total, it took 20 minutes for my to make my way from the solarium to the medical facility. Imagine if the medical emergency had been my own! We ordered photos on the morning of the last day, and came back at 10:15 pm as per instructions to pick up the thumbdrive. When I picked it up, I asked the staff to view the contents to make sure it was complete. They mumbled something about an an internet cafe on Deck 6. My party went off to do other activities, but I knew that I should check, given the poor track record of everything on the cruise. When I looked at the map, it showed no internet cafe. I went to guest services and asked how to get to the cafe. I was told that it was inaccessible (up a flight of stairs) and the staffer offered to let me look using her office computer. And lo and behold, yet another screw up! Only 8 of the 10 pictures were on the drive. The staffer, who reports to the hotel director, called the photo manager and escorted me back to the photo area. After about 10 minutes, she returned with the drive. No apologies from anyone; had we not discovered this until we got home we would have been out $40 and worse yet, without the pictures since they destroy the files when the cruise is over. Over the course of the time we were together, she asked me about our experiences on the cruise, and I told her we were extremely disappointed. And she said she was sorry, asked why, and then said, "oh" when I told her. This was the experience we had with basically every staff person we encountered. At best, a pro forma apology right out of the training manual, but no sign that anyone actually cared about anything. It was the least hospitable group of people imaginable, quite a statement for a cruise line banking on repeat business. And, of course, by the time I rejoined my family in the casino, it was closing and I had missed yet another activity. We then tried to go for a midnight swim...Despite the fact that the Cruise Compass said that at least one pool was open 24 hours a day, none of the pools were open, only one hot tub. In addition, as happened every day, we could not reach the outdoor hot tub in the family pool area because there was no space left between the rows of chaise lounges for a wheelchair to pass by. Instead, we had to ask an entire row of people to get up and then help us push all the lounges out of the way--and then do it again when we came out of the hot tub. In the adults only Solarium, which was lovely and quiet, only one small pool at the top is accessible. The rest of that room's pools and the hot tubs are only accessible via dozens of stairs. The carpet in the hallways to the rooms is very thick and it is difficult to to traverse with a wheelchair. Wheelchair access to the theater is only on the upper level, so you can't participate in any of the games, etc. that involve audience participation. There are no adaptive fitness or recreational activities. Some positives: the staff operating the lift into and out of the pool for people who can't use the steps was great. Our accessible bus tour of the island was fine, although there are several stops that are not accessible; they do provide photos of what you are missing, but it is not the same. In general, Bermuda seems to be surprisingly uninterested in providing even basic accessibility. One bright spot: Horseshoe Bay Beach does have a beach wheelchair for rent, which really added to our enjoyment. No one on the RCI excursion staff knew anything about this (or anything else about accessibility, except to say that nothing was accessible); my daughter found a mention of the beach wheelchair through a 2003 website before we left. We were pleasantly surprised that the listing was still accurate. The other really beautiful beaches would be impossible to access unless you had 4 strong people to carry you in a manual chair. Also, the cabin itself was wonderful. The shower, toilet, and the balcony were fully accessible and well-designed; the cabin door opens and closes automatically. So, in short, I would say RCI and Bermuda have a lot of work to do to make my vacation better next time (although I'm not sure that I would use RCI again after this.)