Royal Caribbean Cruises Reviews 

We have been travelling with Royal Caribbean since 2007 and have always had wonderful family holidays. In fact, we enjoyed our most recent cruise so much that we booked another cruise while still onboard.
Sadly, everything changed after disembarkation.
The evening before disembarkation, we handed over three tagged suitcases exactly as instructed for Royal Caribbean's luggage collection service. Two suitcases arrived at the Ravenna terminal. One never did.
We immediately reported the missing suitcase at the terminal, completed the report on Royal Caribbean's handheld device, provided photographs of our tagged luggage and followed every instruction we were given. We were assured confirmation would be emailed to us. It never was.
What followed was more than six weeks of repeatedly chasing updates by email and telephone, being passed between departments, receiving generic responses and having to explain the situation over and over again.
The suitcase was eventually located, but Royal Caribbean required us to pay almost €300 to have our own belongings returned.
From the very beginning, we made it clear that we were not seeking compensation for replacement clothing or any additional costs. We simply wanted our family's suitcase returned without being asked to pay for what we believe was a failure in Royal Caribbean's own baggage handling process.
The most disappointing part came in the Executive Office's final response. After more than six weeks, we received a short email stating that their investigation had concluded our missing suitcase had been left "in the public area."
This was particularly difficult to understand given that two of our three suitcases arrived at the terminal, we had provided photographs showing all three tagged together before collection, and no investigation report, supporting evidence or explanation was ever provided to explain how that conclusion had been reached.
The missing suitcase was disappointing. The customer service afterwards is the reason we will not travel with Royal Caribbean again.
Sadly, we have now cancelled the Royal Caribbean cruise we had already booked for next year. We are willing to lose our booking deposit because we have completely lost confidence in how problems are handled when something goes wrong.
If everything goes smoothly, Royal Caribbean delivers a fantastic holiday. However, based on our experience, I would strongly recommend carrying your own luggage off the ship whenever possible rather than using the luggage collection service.

Never book this cruise line! I booked a family of 9 and paid in full. 62 days before expected departure I had to cancel the trip due to job loss and family members not being able to get passports. I paid for insurance Aon which has a clause for all reasons but job loss is not covered. So much for any reason. They have scammed me out of $9000 so if you are a family DON'T book here!

That was the worse experience I’ve had of vacation

Sad to have to write a negative review as someone who has had so many good cruises with Royal.
Cancelled a cruise on the 19th of May and still yet to received a refund, after numerous phone calls, being called a liar, and multiple excuses still waiting for £600 back. To be told today that it’s another 8 - 10 working days for the refund to be processed. Sadly I feel that a small claims court will be coming. Please be cautious when booking with royal

the unfairness that Royal Caribbean think of loyal members that they wont help us transfer money we already paid for because of a family emergency. And they suggest we pay extra for protection when you never know what life may throw at you.

I requested handicap assistance!
I had to wait for omost two hours. I inquired and got a cocky answer! "We take you as you arrived". Finally approached supervisor and discovered they failed to enter my name. I did point out the person that took my information.
I was finally was taken to my check-in location, dropped off and left there! No wheelchair! I promise I will never travel on Royal Caribbean again.
I did try to speak to customers service personnel, they spoke broken English and didn't understand my complaint or problem.

Title: My Worst Cruise Experience and an Insulting Response

I recently sailed on Jewel of the Seas and paid $1,408.32 for what turned out to be one of the most disappointing vacations I have ever taken.

The problems were not limited to one isolated issue. Instead, there was a continuous pattern of service failures throughout the cruise. Activities listed in the daily schedule frequently did not occur or had no staff present to conduct them. The beverage package was confusing and poorly explained, including requirements for a special cup that were not made clear until after boarding. Beverage stations were often unavailable or not functioning properly.

Dining options became extremely limited in the evenings. After 9 PM, the primary option was pizza, often accompanied by long lines and excessive waits. Guests who wanted alternatives had very few choices. As someone with dietary restrictions, I also found that my needs were not adequately accommodated.

Repeated calls to housekeeping went unanswered. The only venue offering protein smoothies was frequently closed or unavailable. Individually these issues may seem minor, but together they created a cruise experience that was far below what was advertised and what I reasonably expected.

After returning home, I contacted Royal Caribbean and documented my concerns. Their response was a 15% discount on a future cruise. Because of this experience, I canceled my future Royal Caribbean booking and informed them that I do not intend to sail with them again. Offering a future cruise discount to someone who no longer wants to sail with the company does not resolve the problem.

I have since filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the Florida Attorney General’s Office, and my credit card company. I am seeking a fair resolution that reflects the substantial reduction in value of the cruise I actually received.

Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Jewel of the Seas or Royal Caribbean.

Awful food, awful service, mediocre ports. Would not recommend this boat. Very tacky and staff were often rude. You couldn’t pay me to eat the food!

We were also told we can’t refuse to tip and then charged 18% on top of everything even though we prepaid our tips.

So @RoyalCaribbean, a global cruise giant, is apparently too small to offer me a joining opportunity from Europe? Quite surprising for a company that operates around the world. Disappointed with the recruitment process and lack of transparency. #RoyalCaribbean

Sailed with my parents on Liberty of the Sea on 31 May this year. The staff in the restaurant who served us were lovely. However, I have been scammed out of just over £600 due to being charged gratuities. They have taken £303, which I highly doubt will be passed on to the hardworking staff that deserve it. I was then charged an additional holding fee of a further £303. They are telling me it will take them a month to returned the holding fee! This is on top of being hounded before the trip for over priced drinks packages and extortionate WiFi packages. The ultimate insult is the fact my mother and I are now being inundated with emails from them on ‘discounts’ for future cruises while they are refusing to pay me back the £303 ‘holding’ payment. This is a total scam and Royal Caribbean needs to be called out on it! This has ruined what should have been a lovely trip. I’m not holding out much hope of ever seeing that money again.
DO NOT BOOK with these scam artists!

The room was nice, the balcony a lovely bit of private space to rest in the sun. The ship was clean and the food nice. The cruise took a few days before they tried to take my wife’s lactose intolerance into account and they weren’t always successful. The buffet had a good selection but no information about what was in the food. Staff in the main restaurant, were friendly and attentive.
Internet cafés weren’t available; despite being advertised and staff had no information to help us with self-led excursions. Thankfully there was a leaflet in our cabin with some helpful information (I don’t know why other staff didn’t mention it or the information it contained). If you’re looking for self-led tours, you can do internet searches when the ships docked. Japan has clean, regular trains with colour coded lines and numbered stops. Shimizu is a lovely town and had a mini festival when we docked (probably a regular thing). Local friendly guides with good English took us around the shrines and museums for a wonderful experience.
On board English was poor in many cafés, bars and customer services- so it was hard to get help/answers to questions. If tap water isn’t drinkable there should be a sign- but this could have been customer service misinformation as they struggled to understand us. Tip required for Bionic bar- why?
The ships architecture was nice and the selection of shops was okay. The pools were pleasant, if a tad small and it was hard to find a seat around them. We also enjoyed using the bumper cars and the Casino was okay. We did struggle to understand the slots, but we doubled our money. The shows were good with excellent choreography.
At the first port too many people were let out at once, causing a crush-could’ve been controlled better. We were given a departure time later than the Wendy Wu coach departure.

Went on a royal Caribbean cruise ovation of the seas and it was a total disappointment. I bought the drink package like I thought I should you get there and in order to use the soda machines you have to buy there cup which cost $5.00 and pack it around all week. The food totally sucked unless you paid for it and the whole time you’re eating they have people bugging you trying to get you to go to a restraunt you have to pay for.
The things they have set up for you to do are a joke like they have karaoke at a certain time and you show up and they start setting up at the time there supposed to start and nothings ever right by the time they get it going it’s time to quit. The whole trip was a joke don’t spend your money on these clowns and the food is cold ever eat cold fried potatoes you will on royal caribbeans ovation of the seas. I should have stayed home and lit my money on fire it would have felt better. The ship is outdated stuck in the 70’s and they should pay you to be on it not the other way around it sucked!!!!!!

Worst cruise company in the world, you cant sleep well in the cruises, too expensive for what they offer. Just a one time experience, not a second chance ever. MSC cruises are way better option to choose.

I requested a refund of my pre paid gratuities whilst on the Brilliance of the seas during the transatlantic crossing which ended on 11 May. It is now a month since I requested the refund of over £421 and despite calling almost daily I have not had my money, this feels like theft. I have had interest charge on my credit card because of the pure incompetence of Royal Caribbean. Customer service used to be great now it’s appalling and Michael Bayley and his team simply don’t care

We got screwed on a cruise booking, we went with 3 parties in our group who booked together, the 2 of them were able to book an "XB" cabin which is any available balcony, (and subsequently, about 25% cheaper) than picking your own balcony.. we were not able to select the XB option, of course until the next day it magically appeared again for us later that week. We ended up paying +$300 more than everyone else in our group because of a technical error. Not fun! Will never use them again, total scam and not worth it. I called to get it adjusted 1 day later and they said it was "too late" -- thanks for nothing, Thanks for allowing us to get ripped off +25% on our vacation compared to the other 2 groups who booked at the same exact hour as us. Fun start to the trip!

Have not even started the cruise and its a mess. I have been on over 20 cruises, but this time booked a group cruise for my 65th birthday in November. The entire process has been nothing but aggravation, With setting up the individual reservations, packages, access to the group. I have booked 10 rooms for 22 guests. NEVER AGAIN!! There is no special treatment when working with a " Group specialist" This whole experience has me never wanting to go on a RCL cruise again!!!

I have the worst experience on this cruise the staff treated us like trash we waited at the bar for 20 mins before we where acknowledge but everyone else that was white got royal treatment my shower was cold I had to shower in the sink and I bought a drink package and they keep telling me my card was inactive I had to go to customer service several times daily just to be able to get a drink after we spent 300 per person on UNLIMITED DRINKS. We had a family of 61 on board and the experience was not at all good they where very nasty and rude to us for no reason and I’m very upset I spent all that money for a bad experience. Even when we where at coco island my card didn’t work for drinks and I was told we had to go alllll the way back to the ship to get it fixed smh never again .

I sailed on Icon of the Seas 4/11/2026 through 4/18/2026 Eastern Caribbean Cruise for our Honeymoon. We live in Orange County Ca and selected Icon for its 7 waterslides onboard, spa services, and culinary options when compared to Carnival, Virgin and NCL that leave from San Pedro Ca for 30-50% less. We are EXTREMELY disappointed with Royal and will NEVER sail on any Royal cruise ship. We paid $2,000 to fly roundtrip from OC to Miami where the ships port is, and another $8,000 for 2 people mid ship floor 7 balcony sea view room. The staff are very rude with the exception of housekeeping. The dining room looks great but tastes awful. We tried several dishes from the main dining room over our 7 day cruise and they were TERRIBLE. The waterpark onboard had 6 of the 7 slides out of service the entire cruise. Complaints were made by numerous guests and maintenance never fixed or even attempted to fix the problem. The had a lifeguard blocking all 6 slides with a "down for maintenance" sign the entire cruise. The cruise ship is the destination and why we flew from OC to Miami for $2k and paid $3K more just to sail on Icon. The biggest selling point of Icon is the drop slides, no other ship has the type or number of water slides Icon has. The only slide that was open was a super slow, zero drop boring slide. I wasted 3 hours of my cruise waiting in line for a disappointing kiddie slide. The CASINO is a SCAM. The dealers, and casino staff don't give the correct credit for hours played or average bet. I had a discrepancy and received 4 separate answers from 4 different casino managers even after the cameras were checked. They casino staff especially Crescenzio are delusional. Crescenzio refused reward credit and accused me of not playing at a table when I was. After he insulted me by saying, "It's not like your going to get a free cruise" and re-checked the cameras they supposedly already checked...Crescenzio apologized after he realized I was playing there for over 2.5 hours at a $25 minimum table. On top of Crescenzio over the top rudeness he asked me to point out other cruise guests on the casino floor to verify my play. This was beyond unprofessional, none the less I obliged and spotted several guest on the casino floor to verify my play/average bet. I wasted 4+ hours of my last night sailing disputing my casino play. The casino acknowledged their mistakes and unprofessionalism by Crescenzio by offering me a $100 onboard credit which was beyond insulting. The Spa sauna didn't work the entire cruise due to "maintenance". The staff was aware, and again nothing was done. This was a serviced paid for and not received. Royal Caribbean is extremely over priced, provided a terrible experience, staff has terrible attitudes, rude, and food is TERRIBLE. I cruise Carnival and NCL yearly. Carnival and NCL is 100 times better value, cheaper, and main dining room food is very good. Royal Caribbean is a bait and switch, they advertise cool ships, you pay, board, and everything cool and different from typical ships is "down for maintenance". Royal stated they knew about this issue 10 days prior to my sailing. They never sent an email stating the slides will be down the entire cruise, BUT Royal continued to push and sale us onboard amenities and activities even while aboard the ship on departure day. The service is HORRIBLE! After my cruise I spent 6+ hours speaking with representative Louis, Sky, and Carlo with zero care or solution to my issues. The representatives spoke broken English and very hard to communicate with. STAY AWAY FROM ROYAL CARIBBEAN!!

Is there any option less than 1 star? No compassion for a military family! All we asked for was to move the date or for a credit and nothing! They will keep 75% of the paid in full amount and a big old screw you to us! Stay away from this place. Better off on the SS Minnow!

I would give 0 stars if I could! This company hates wildlife, they are about to destroy the habitat of turtles, jaguars and other endangered species.