Royal Caribbean Cruises Reviews 

I recently sailed on Royal Caribbean aboard Freedom of the Seas for a 4-night Eastern Caribbean cruise to Turks and Caicos with my best friend, and unfortunately this was not the relaxing experience we hoped for.

The ship felt extremely overcrowded almost the entire trip. Finding a pool chair was nearly impossible unless you claimed one very early, and there was very little shade or umbrella coverage anywhere on deck. The pool areas were packed shoulder-to-shoulder with very loud party crowds at nearly all hours.

Cleanliness was also disappointing. Public areas often felt sticky and unkempt, trash was frequently left around by passengers, and people were inconsiderately reserving chairs for long periods without using them. At one point, there was a *human substance* in one of the main pools that required the pool to be drained.

The pools were all very small, absolutely packed with people from open to close, and just ick. We called them people soup. Some guests had zero shame in engaging in whatever activity that struck them in the moment. I didn’t even put a foot in a pool the whole trip.

The food also fell far below expectations. One of the biggest disappointments was the “New York strip,” which arrived cracker thin, dry, and lacking flavor. Overall, the dining experience felt more mass-produced than quality-focused. The lines in the buffet at breakfast would give just about anyone anxiety.

Another major issue was the bar service around the pool decks. Lines were sometimes 5–6 rows deep, making it difficult to even approach the bars. I can’t be totally sure, but the drinks were suspiciously weak. I had the drink package and used it quite often. There’s no way I’d be able to have that many drinks at home so the math ain’t mathing here.

Another thing that I found exhausting was the constant extra charges - wifi is extra, any drink over $14 is extra, can’t go to several of the restaurants, have to pay for your refillable cup, and so on. Elevators would be out of order. Guests liked to push their way in front of you for just about anything. This was just not my scene.

There were still a few positives — the itinerary itself was fun, and spending time with my friend made the trip worthwhile — but overall this cruise felt overcrowded, chaotic, and far less relaxing than expected. I would not recommend this cruise and I will not be returning.

On oasis of the seas in April /May of 2026
The good. The dining room food and the room cleaners.
The bad. Away overcrowded. Had to sign up for shows and still could not get in. Shows kept having technical difficulties. There were people who were massive and could not get in showers so you would see them in the hot tubs in the morning. All music wayyyyy tooooo loud. I will never do this boat again. I may never do RC again 700 + kids on the boat is not fun and old people that should be in the manor who are riding their mororiWd scooters is not fun..... And the nickle and diming you all the time is detestable.

I am so angry at RC for splitting my reservation just to get more money out of me that this will be my last. There use to be this “customer service” thing that doesn’t apply anymore.

My wife and I booked a cruise from Sydney around New Zealand to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The cruise was scheduled to depart on 27 January 2026. Late on the evening of 24 January, we received an email advising that the cruise had been cancelled due to engine problems. While we completely understand that technical issues can happen, the service we received afterwards was extremely disappointing.

We had originally paid for the cruise from a bank account that was closed shortly afterwards. On 25 January, we immediately contacted Royal Caribbean customer service to explain the situation. After a very long wait, we eventually spoke to an agent who advised us that the refund first had to be processed back to the original account. Once the bank rejected the payment, Royal Caribbean would contact us to arrange an alternative refund method.

Unfortunately, this process turned into a nightmare. After six very long phone calls and more than three months of waiting, we finally received our refund.

As this trip was for our anniversary, we decided to salvage our holiday by flying to Hamilton Island for a shorter break instead.

In Royal Caribbean’s cancellation email, we were advised that, in addition to the refund, we could claim up to:

$400 per person for flights
$400 for hotel accommodation (2 nights at $200 per night)
$100 per person for incidentals
A 25% Future Cruise Credit (FCC) valid for one year

Originally, we had booked one night at an airport hotel before departure, but after the cancellation we extended this to two nights. Because the additional night was not immediately connected to the cancelled cruise dates, Royal Caribbean refused to reimburse the extra night’s accommodation.

As we are from South Africa, we also lost approximately $600 due to exchange rate fluctuations caused by the strengthening of our currency during the refund delay. We attempted to claim this under incidentals, but this was also declined.

In addition, we had already paid around $600 for New Zealand visas, which became completely unusable after the cancellation. This claim was also rejected.

Our son emigrated to Australia in April 2025, and visiting him was the main reason for our trip to Australia. The cruise was intended as a special anniversary addition to the holiday. Our son will be visiting us in South Africa for five weeks in October 2026, so we do not plan to return to Australia until January or February 2027. We therefore asked Royal Caribbean if they could extend the validity of the Future Cruise Credit so that we could still do the New Zealand cruise in early 2027. Since it is extremely expensive for us to fly to the US, Europe, or Australia solely to use the credit within one year, we felt this was a reasonable request. Unfortunately, this too was denied, despite costing the company virtually nothing.

Some people may feel we are being overly critical, but after the delays, poor communication, and lack of flexibility, we believe Royal Caribbean could have shown more goodwill and met us halfway on at least some of our requests. Although we have enjoyed cruising with them in the past, this experience has left us questioning whether we will choose Royal Caribbean again in the future.

“Loyal to Royal” has always been my motto when it comes to cruising. I truly love vacationing with Royal and have always preferred their cruise line.

Recently, many customers received refunds from Royal in error. The company later recovered those funds, and everything initially seemed resolved. Unfortunately, I was charged back twice, and Royal insisted the charges were correct. I spent over 90 minutes on the phone going through the numbers with an agent, but despite the discrepancies, I was repeatedly told to contact my bank and file a dispute if I believed the charges were incorrect.

What disappointed me most was the customer service experience. The agent initially refused to connect me with a supervisor. When she finally agreed, I was placed on an extended hold and never received any further assistance. As someone who spends a significant amount of money cruising with Royal, I expected much better treatment.
The cruises themselves and the onboard staff are absolutely amazing, which makes this situation even more disappointing. I sincerely hope other loyal customers do not have the same experience, but this situation will definitely cause me to consider other cruise lines moving forward.”

⭐ 1 Star – Terrible Customer Service & Ongoing System Failures

Extremely disappointing experience with Royal Caribbean before our holiday has even started.

After booking an expensive family Alaska cruise on Anthem of the Seas, we experienced ongoing technical issues preventing us from booking excursions, dining reservations and packages for one of our cabins. The same errors occurred across both the website and mobile app.

Over several days I spent around 4.5 hours on calls with customer services, repeatedly explaining the same issue to different advisors whilst multiple IT tickets were raised with no resolution or follow-up.

Although some reservations were eventually completed, we lost our preferred restaurant timings during the delays and the issues are still not fully resolved.

What has been most disappointing is Royal Caribbean’s response to the complaint. Despite acknowledging the inconvenience caused, the Executive Office stated their decision was final and advised that no further correspondence would be acknowledged.

For a company positioning itself as a premium cruise provider, the customer experience and complaint handling have been extremely poor.

Where do I begin? This cruise was supposed to be a lovely week getaway. We boarded excited and looking forward to our trip to Mexico with Royal Caribbean.

Unfortunately, the experience started off rough almost immediately. After boarding, it took nearly five hours for our luggage to arrive at our room. While frustrating, we initially brushed it off and tried to make the best of it.

The first stop on our agenda was the gym — and honestly, it was shocking. The fitness center felt extremely outdated, cramped, and poorly maintained. Several machines were out of service, the equipment looked ancient, and overall it felt rundown and neglected. For a major cruise line, the condition of the gym was incredibly disappointing and nowhere near what we expected.

As the days went on, we started realizing this ship is simply old and worn out. It clearly has a lot of sea miles on it. We still tried to make the best of the vacation, but the experience kept getting worse.

The bed in our room was rock hard and uncomfortable, the TV selection was extremely limited with maybe 15 movies available, and overall the ship just felt outdated and overcrowded. To make matters worse, the AC in our room went out multiple times during the trip, which made the room miserable at times. Housekeeping also failed to properly stock the bathroom with basic shampoo and conditioner throughout the cruise, which just added to the frustration.

The only real positives were the friendly staff and the food — both of which were genuinely good.

But the final straw came on the last day. I started feeling sick and called three separate times asking if I could purchase NyQuil or some basic cold medicine onboard. I was told they would not sell it to me unless I scheduled a doctor’s visit first — which costs roughly $300 onboard. Absolutely ridiculous.

That completely put the nail in the coffin for us. Between the outdated ship, poor amenities, uncomfortable room, repeated AC issues, lack of basic toiletries, and the absurd medical policy, this experience left a terrible impression. We will never book another Royal Caribbean cruise again.

Last night on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas our cabin flooded.

Not a small leak. Flooded.

By 8 AM, our original room was basically unusable. Wet floors, soaked towels everywhere, standing water in the bathroom, and now a musty smell that makes the room feel unlivable.

So Royal Caribbean moved us to a “new” room.

Here’s the problem:
This is the condition they moved us INTO.

Dirty cups left out.
Food sitting on the desk.
Used tissues.
Unmade beds.
The room clearly hadn’t been cleaned or reset.

We understand things happen on cruises. Floods happen. Maintenance issues happen. Nobody expects perfection.

But moving guests from one unlivable room directly into another room that wasn’t even prepared? That’s the part that’s hard to understand.

And the craziest part?
Guest Services acted like a tiny onboard credit should make this whole thing disappear.

Royal Caribbean is a billion-dollar company. People save for YEARS for these vacations. This isn’t a cheap weekend getaway.

At some point customer service has to actually mean something.

Has anyone else had experiences like this on Royal Caribbean lately?

#RoyalCaribbean #AdventureOfTheSeas #CruiseFail #CruiseShip #TravelNightmare #CustomerService #CruiseLife #VacationGoneWrong #RoyalCaribbeanCruise #Cruising

Horrible experience.

I am writing to express my deep concern about an incident that occurred during my recent cruise on the Odyssey of the Seas. My wife and I were in our room 8548 when we were disturbed by the security team during our afternoon nap on May 4, 2026.

The security team bullied uu into an unwanted and disturbing conversation about taking pictures in the public pool area. They claimed that someone had accused us of taking pictures of them and insisted that it was illegal to take pictures of people on the ship.

I find it highly inappropriate that the security team made such claims without any evidence. They also informed us that we could only take pictures of the general areas of the ship, but not of the people. This is extremely difficult to do on a ship full of thousands of people.

I am deeply troubled by the actions of the management and security staff of the Odyssey. They went out of their way to ruin our cruise and vacation. The security team even had me show them the pictures on my personal phone, which is an invasion of my privacy.

It is evident that almost everyone in that area was taking pictures or videos of everything or everyone there eyes could see.

This kind of bullying behavior and unnecessary targeting is completely unacceptable. Royal Caribbean has just lost a valuable customer, and I will be sure to amplify this situation on social media and with everyone we know or come into contact with.

I strongly suggest that Royal Caribbean implement proper training for its security staff to prevent such mistreatment of guests in the future.
I am writing to express my deep concern about an incident that occurred during my recent cruise on the Odyssey of the Seas. My wife and I were in our room 8548 when we were disturbed by the security team during our afternoon nap on May 4, 2026.

The security team bullied uu into an unwanted and disturbing conversation about taking pictures in the public pool area. They claimed that someone had accused us of taking pictures of them and insisted that it was illegal to take pictures of people on the ship.

I find it highly inappropriate that the security team made such claims without any evidence. They also informed us that we could only take pictures of the general areas of the ship, but not of the people. This is extremely difficult to do on a ship full of thousands of people.

I am deeply troubled by the actions of the management and security staff of the Odyssey. They went out of their way to ruin our cruise and vacation. The security team even had me show them the pictures on my personal phone, which is an invasion of my privacy.

It is evident that almost everyone in that area was taking pictures or videos of everything or everyone there eyes could see.

This kind of bullying behavior and unnecessary targeting is completely unacceptable. Royal Caribbean has just lost a valuable customer, and I will be sure to amplify this situation on social media and with everyone we know or come into contact with.

I strongly suggest that Royal Caribbean implement proper training for its security staff to prevent such mistreatment of guests in the future.

What happened RCCL?

Previous cruises were great couldn't fault them.

Fast forward to current ones not even on ship yet and issues started. Despite booking guaranteed room, I have been given one the worst rooms you could ask for. Reason they have overbooked! Will they fix it, no they wont unless I pay another £3000 on top ! For 2027 I was undecided between cruise lines for Fjords, guess what RCCL the choice now doesn't include you!

Many are unsure of the gratuities, RCCl needs to be more transparent on where these go and what cover.

The same company that offers to you and unforgettable experience through their cruisers...The same company is trying to DESTROY a natural reserve (A JUNGLE) in Mahahual, Quintana Roo this is an ECOCIDE

Royal Caribbean and Silversea say that status matching is automatic. But I have been going in circles for seven months with both organisation's saying the other is responsible for matching. Absolutely useless on customer service and really needs consumer regulators to look at false and misleading statements on their websites.

Royal Caribbean need to be more transparent about their terms and conditions.
We were told by Virgin holidays that RC could take over a cruise booking that we’d made ourselves. Royal Caribbean are not only saying it has to be within 48 hours of booking they also can’t tell us where it says that in the Terms and Conditions and instead referred to a very open ended statement about USA customers being able to transfer to booking agents within 30 days but note this may not apply to other countries’ !!
Well please in the name of transparency list those countries and the timelines don’t leave it open ended so you can make up your own rules as you go along!
Always been loyal to Royal since the 80’s but no more!
What difference does it make to RC? None!!! You still get the same money from the same people! Our holiday though doesn’t have the security that a package holiday gives.
Hope people take note of all the bad reviews on here and make a sensible decision to avoid, avoid, avoid!
They sadly won’t care though ….

We booked a cruise to leave Nov. 2025. Stopping in Seattle and then Hawaii. Didn't see that it was a non-refundable deposit. Would have never booked that. Then with everything going on in the
US we decided that we do not want to go there. Changed the cruise, charged $200 for that. Now we received a email that they are changing where the cruise is going.
Asked if we could postpone to a future cruise and they want to charge another $200. We are not giving them anymore. You would think out of customer relations that they would wave the extra fee. So guess we have no choice but to cancel and lose our deposit😡

Review of Rhapsody of the Seas (Royal Caribbean International)
The dining staff on this ship were outstanding. Easily the best part of the trip. They were kind, attentive, and handled my husband’s food allergy with real care every day.
Beyond that, the experience fell short.
This ship is not well-suited for families or anyone expecting a range of activities. We were stuck at sea an extra day due to weather, which we understand. Safety comes first. But guest experience is still within the company’s control, and this is where things broke down.
There was very little to do. Programming felt repetitive and limited to things like bingo and karaoke. Even the movies were on repeat. When you’re already limited on activities and stuck onboard longer than planned, watching the same movie again doesn’t cut it. Three days onboard felt far longer than it should have.
The gym was also small and not equipped for what most people expect today, which only added to the lack of options.
Service overall was inconsistent. Outside of the dining room, several bartenders acted bothered by basic requests, which made the experience uncomfortable.
The spa experience was also disappointing. While the woman who did my hair was excellent, the rest of the interaction felt off. Asking about services or trying to book something felt like an inconvenience to the staff, which made what should be a relaxing experience feel awkward and unwelcoming.
We also asked about purchasing a short-term drink package due to the unexpected extra day and were told no because of policy. That felt like a missed opportunity to take care of guests in a situation outside their control.
Food overall was fine, but desserts were underwhelming and forgettable. Simple upgrades, even something like fresh or warm cookies, would make a noticeable difference.
This experience has made me rethink booking with Royal Caribbean again. I came in with higher expectations around client experience, especially in situations that don’t go according to plan. To be fair, I own that expectation, but it also highlights a gap. When plans change, this is exactly when policies, flexibility, and service should step up.
This feels less like a frontline staff issue and more like a management and operational one. The dining team proved what great service looks like. The rest of the experience did not reflect that same standard.
At the end of the day, cruise lines should be asking: what will make guests remember this trip, and what will make them come back? Unfortunately, this experience felt very basic. We’ll be exploring other cruise options moving forward.

Royal Caribbean International has always been our preferred cruise line, which is why this experience was both surprising and disappointing.

During our recent sailing on Star of the Seas (March 29 – April 5, 2026), my daughter (teenager) was confronted and intimidated by a group of adults late in the evening in a public area of the ship. The situation involved verbal aggression and threats, which understandably caused significant emotional distress.

While the incident was reviewed by onboard security, what was most concerning was not only the incident itself, but the lack of visible security presence at the time and the absence of any follow-up support afterward. As parents, we were left to ensure our daughter’s safety for the remainder of the night.

Equally concerning was the handling after the cruise. Despite escalating the matter to the Executive Office, the final response was limited to confirming that the issue had been reviewed internally, without additional clarity, reassurance, or resolution offered to address the impact on our family.

As frequent guests, now recently at Diamond level, we have always trusted Royal Caribbean to provide a safe and supportive environment, especially for families traveling with minors. This experience fell short of that expectation.

I share this not out of frustration, but as constructive feedback. Situations involving minors and guest safety require not only internal action, but also visible support and meaningful follow-up for those affected.

I hope Royal Caribbean continues to strengthen both its onboard security presence and its post-incident guest care, particularly in situations where young guests are involved.

No complaints about the rooms, food, and shows
BUT BEFORE YOU BOOK;

RC advertises the slides a lot. During our trip, only 1 slide was open. Every time, they said it was maintenance and that more slides might open tomorrow. That wasn't the case. Only 1 slide out of 6 was open the entire trip. They advertise the slides and are not honest. When you complain, they say there are other activities on board. That is true, but with the slides closed, they are already fully booked. Or they recommend activities that require an extra fee. I find it disgusting that they even dare to suggest paid activities, because you already pay so much for the cruise. Some did receive compensation on the cruise in the form of arcade game credit, but they do not give this compensation to everyone. Why not???

RC is not honest and transparent
INFORM YOURSELF WELL BEFORE YOU BOOK

Despite providing details of disability well before travel, no adjustments are made, it seems the paperwork did not make it to the ship. The result was an unsuitable room, intrusive questioning, and a disabled person left sleeping on a mattress on a dirty floor in a way that wasn't safe for the other users of the room. Customer service ignored our requests for changes, explanations and partial refunds - we're contacting the bank with evidence of disability discrimination to pursue a payback. We also filed an ADA complaint with the DOJ

Poor experience with the staff. Have of them are on their instagrams making anti religious remarks while on duty.

Suyash Sarharkar if you think we wouldnt notice, now you do.

We were forced to cancel our August 2026 cruise in January 2026. It was financed through Affirm. March 20, the flights portion was refunded. At that time, Royal Caribbean said that on March 17th, the refund has been dispersed to Affirm. Affirm says it has not. They have received nothing. I can only assume that Royal Caribbean lied to me. More than 3 months after I canceled with Royal Caribbean, I can only assume that either they or Affirm has stolen my money. I will never make reservations with Royal Caribbean again! They appear to be either liars or thieves or both.