We have previously only cruised with RCCL and found them generally great but after a bad cruise in May I have been trying to sort the issue out with their customer service and either get zero reply to emails or told someone will call me back if I phone (and am on the phone for hours). My main issues are:- We booked as a group and had so many problems pre-cruise with being able to link our reservations and make food reservations. We also got incorrectly charged for things and I’ve lost count of how much time was spent first trying to speak to someone and then get a consistent answer when we finally did get hold of someone - My son was only 2 and we were charged for him as a third person in our room despite there being next to no facilities for him. The pool for toddlers is the size of a puddle. Next to it is a shallow pool with low slides fed from the same water but unless a child is fully potty trained they can’t use any pool except the puddle, even if wearing proper swim nappies. It allowed me to book the North Star for him but when we turned up he wasn’t allowed to go on that either for no apparent reason. Apart from a tiny soft play inside there was nothing at all for him on board despite the fact you pay the same for him as you would any third person in a room.- The quality and choice of food in the buffet restaurant has gone downhill and there was very little choice for kids beyond burgers and nuggets . We always upgrade as we love the restaurants but they again charged for my two year old and then said the fee would be refunded. It took many trips to customer services to try and sort that out and then I was told that they would eventually refund the fee but would instead charge a surcharge for him each time we visited a speciality restaurant.- Our cabin was at the back of the ship so we had a good view but it was covered in dirt from the exhaust. The cabin was also smaller and had far less storage than usual.- We all paid for and took our negative covid tests with us onboard as instructed but boarding in Civitavecchia was an awful process that took hours. Many passengers were just walking straight past the people checking their Covid tests and they did nothing about it.- My Son developed a cold while we were on board and we took him to the medical facility. They tested him for covid and he was negative but we were told we had to isolate for 24hrs anyway. We asked why given he had a negative test three days before when we boarded and again on that day and we’re told it was protocol. Whilst in the medical bay a man walks in without a mask and said he was there for a covid test as his wife had Covid. He apparently didn’t need to isolate and was free to walk around the ship without a mask. My Son had a negative covid test again the next day and we were then set free after more than 24hrs. Ironically we all tested positive the day after the cruise so clearly picked it up on board. I don’t mind rules when they’re there for a reason but these seem ridiculous as we were isolated but others weren’t and were free to spread it round the ship. Our Son has disabilities so being stuck in a cabin with him with nothing to do was awful. We had to fight customer service to get 24hrs of free Wi-Fi which they eventually approved but added to the bill anyway.- We had non-stop issues with the billing and despite having the drinks package found quite a few times we had unexplained charges on our account. When we enquired we were told that someone in the bars had pressed the wrong button by mistake……I wonder how often this happens. We spent so much time queuing for customer services it was ridiculous. We were given a 24hr cruise credit for our Son for his isolation period. We argued that we should get refunded too given we had to be with him and they did give in. At the end of the cruise after having encountered all these issues and with a bill that was still wrong we spoke with customer services again and were offered a 20% cruise credit or a lower amount off the bill. We took the cruise credit given the higher amount however stupidly didn’t get anything in writing. I was told customer service would be in touch and issue the credits automatically.I have lost count of the number of times I have contacted RCCL over the past three months and have been ignored or fobbed off. I’ve sent pictures of the letter I have with all three of our names on giving the original cruise credit and also explained that we were then offered a 20% off one and have been told they apparently have no trace of it. I gave the names of the people we spoke to including the Manager and was just told that staff move around between ships and it may be too late to speak to them now and if they couldn’t track them down it was too late to do anything - it’s too late because RCCL AWFUL customer service has taken so long. They’re also now arguing the cruise credit I have in writing. AWFUL experience.
