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This cruise was to celebrate my best friend's birthday. It was also her first cruise ever and my first cruise with Royal Caribbean. Several of my friends and family told me how much better they throught Royal Carribean was over Carnival, so we were both very excited to be taking the trip.
Upon arrival at the port, it was complete chaos! The parking lot and garage were under construction and it was hard to figure out exactly where you were supposed to be driving. They had plenty of personnel in the garage and lots, but they were too busy sitting in their golf carts, rather than actually directing us or answering any questions. Once entering the actual terminal, there were no signs directing us where to go and there appeared to be two lines to check in through security. We walked down one line, and were yelled at by an older male security guard, who told us we had to go back to the beginning and go through the other line.
After making it to the next security guard, we were informed that they would not be able to accept my friend's birth certificate, because it was issued at the hospital, rather than through the state. Everyone seems to know this that I had talked too, but I did not. AND I called several times and actually read the birth certificate to the person from Royal Caribbean and was told it would be accepted. We were told we needed to go upstairs and go directly to Tracy. Which we did and was greeted by a rude, unprofessional woman, who told us we had to go to Brevard County Sheriff's Dept. to get a certified copy of her birth certificate and we had 45 minutes to do so, or the boat was leaving without us. Thankfully, we made it there and back on time. We walked on the ship as they were doing last call for the munster drills. We missed the boarding photos.
On the ship, I was disappointed with the size of our stateroom. It was more than half the size of the room on our Carnival Ship. We could not walk without bumping each other and there wasn't anywhere to put our suitcases. There was also a funky smell down our hall for the better majority of the trip. It was finall taken care of on the last night.
The common areas of the ships were overall in better shape than the Carnival Fascination. But I believe the Monarch of the Seas is a much newer ship, so that would probably explain it.
As we were returning to the ship from Nassau, a security guard walked past the entire line of people waiting to get back on the ship and asked us for our SetSail pass. We weren't even to the door way or in the line. Once we showed him both, he just walked away. I made a comment to my friend about wondering what that was all about and he turned around and said he was checking Passes so we could get back on. But we weren't in line and by him checking our passes, we still had to wait in the line to get back on. We were constantly asked for our SetSail passes and IDs on board. I was even carded in the casino.
Our waiters, Roy and Leon, in the Vincent Dining Room were awesome. The first night, they pretty much ignored me. They walked around and put everyone's napkins in their laps, but mine. Everyone got a menu and a wine list, but me. Minus the shakey start, they did awesome.
In the Windjammer Cafe, the workers walked by dirty tables. They didn't remove dishes or wipe down tables, unless you asked them. They walked past food on the floor also.
Our staterooom attendent also did a wonderful job. Our rooom was made up everytime we left. He was helpful with all the questions we asked him.
I wasn't impressed with the bartenders. In fact, most were extremely rude. One in particular in the Schooner bar, was giving my friend the 3rd degree about the Coke in her cup. It was actually coke. And she is 27 years old, plenty old to drink!!!!
The Mexican buffet on Saturday night was disgusting. There wasn't much for Mexican food, except for rice and beans, and plantains. Then there was fried chicken and stuff to make sandwiches.
Due to strong winds, CoCo Cay was cancelled, which was a huge disappointment, but something that was beyond their control. However, they really didn't change the activities on the boat. They didn't have much to cater for the adults until the late evening. It was also cool the last day, so sitting around the pool was not an option.
On the last afternoon, I discovered a charge for $18.97 on my SetSail pass. After printing the receipt through the system, it showed I purchased two strawberry daquiris at the pool bar earlier in the afternoon, which I did not. I had to go to Guest Relations to do a dispute and was told to come back around 8:00pm. I did and was told to come back again, after dinner. I did and it still wasn't taken care of. I was told I would be getting my statement under my door by 6am and that the charge should be taken off by then. It wasn't and I had to go stand at the Guest Relations again for another 25 minutes, finally they removed the charges.
The commedian/juggler was awesome. I believe his name was Bob Cates. He was similar to the commedian on Carnival, but was still very impressive. The "Can't Stop the Beat" show on the last night was disappointing. The fact I had talked up how good Carnival's show was, didn't help. The female lead couldn't sing very well and the costumes were just hideous. They had male singers, sining the female songs and vice versa. It was just strange. The seats were so uncomfortable and there is no where to put your drinks while you sit, other than the floor.
The drinks were more expensive on this cruise line and no where as strong as the cheaper Carnival drinks. We were also offered a free wine tasting, but when we said we wanted to sign up, we were informed there was a $9.95 reservation fee. Room service is complimentary on Carnival, regardless of the time, however, on Royal Caribbean, if you order from 12:00am-5:00am, there is a $3.95 charge.
Most of the staff we dealt with, were slow and rude. Most of the them if you asked a question, didn't know the answer and had to ask someone else. Everything was disorganized and seemed to just be thrown together.
Disembarking was HORRIBLE. So disorganized. Every member of the staff was telling you to do something different. You would think this was the first time they had ever done this!
I was extremely disappointed. I do not think I will take another Royal Caribbean cruise. I think I will stick with Carnival!
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