We were set to cruise on Royal Caribbean out of Galveston on March 23rd on the Navigator of the Seas for our 25th wedding anniversary. The ship encountered a delay due to fog first and then later an oil spill. During both of these delays we received NO notification of the delays by RC. Our hotel told us not to go to the ship, we called RC to check and were kept on hold for 2 hours 20 min. the young lady that answered the phone said " I think I heard something about an oil spill but I'm not sure." I asked her if RC had our correct email and phone number and they did. I told her we have not received a notice about the fog delay or the oil spill. I asked to talk to a supervisor and was kept on hold for another 30 min. I then told the RC employee on the line with me that after almost 3 hours on hold I was just ready to hang up but I asked her to make sure we got all future updates on the ship sent to our phone or email and she assured me we would. At around 11 pm the hotel front desk called us and told us to go down to the ship. I told them I hadn't heard anything from RC and asked if they were sure. The hotel said, "yes" and we went down. Sure enough they were boarding. We boarded the ship that night.

The next day they came on an announced we would be skipping Roatan due to the delay. We spent the evening on the ship and the next day they came on and announced that the cruise had been cancelled. They said everyone could stay on board for the remainder of the week for free. My husband and I chose not to do this because the pools and spas had closed, the casino was closed, all the shops were closed. There wasn't much to do with the ship going nowhere, and all the clothes we had with us were for warm weather. We got a flight home and left. We left with plenty of time because we wanted to beat the Huston traffic to the airport and stop for a nice dinner on the way home. We took a late flight out. During this time RC decided to sail. Evidently they notified passengers by email and text that they could return to the ship and re-board. Again, we never received a notification. We would have been thrilled to return for what turned out to be a 4 day cruise to Cozumel that they did not charge passengers for. When we returned home and found out on the internet that the cruise had sailed without us were were heart broken and angry.

We have made 3 attempts with RC to make this right. They did not charge passengers for this cruise that ended up being a 4 day to Mexico and gave a 25% off a future cruise. However we did not get the opportunity to take the 4 day cruise to Mexico and we spent 2,300 in travel expenses. Also to re-book this cruise for May the price had doubled making the 25% discount worthless. We have asked RC to refund our 2,300 in expenses or give us a future cruise in lieu of that so that we go will be able to go on a cruise and celebrate our anniversary. They have refused. We have gone through 3 levels of customer service to the top supervisor in guest relations. She seemed irritated at having to listen to us and apathetic toward our situation. All the way through this we have had HORRIBLE customer service with Royal Caribbean!! If you want to be treated as if your vacation matters I would advise you NOT to book Royal Caribbean. We have had fabulous cruises on Disney and NCL.