I'm currently sailing on the Rhapsody of the Seas. I've cruised regularly with Holland America, Princess, and other members of the Carnival family of cruise lines but this is my first time on RCL.

It's moments of adversity that test a corporation's mettle, and RCL's handling of our departure from Venice was not its finest hour. The heavy fog that closed the harbor was beyond RCL's control but the company's response was entirely its call.

Venice was pure chaos. We arrived around noon, deposited our luggage, herded to seats at a remote corner and told we would receive documentation and numbered tickets from local staff to ensure everyone was boarded in their order of arrival. There were cursory attempts by staff to distribute sandwiches and bottled water but they brought only enough food for less than a tenth of the people present, resulting in an ugly melee of guests scrambling to grab something to eat. Boarding began after seven hours but people in our corner of the building discovered that we hadn't been given our numbered boarding tickets (and weren't told that tickets had been available all along at a table in the next building). One member of the Italian staff initially wanted all of us to board last until another staffer member overruled her and allowed us to board immediately. By then, whatever "system" that RCL had implemented had broken down entirely, and other folks were boarded randomly without tickets. Latecomers (even some pretty elderly guests) were unable to check in their luggage and were told to walk their bags aboard themselves. It was probably for the better as they were able to access their luggage right away. Read more