Royal Caribbean, Splendour of the Seas Transatlantic

I booked our fly/cruise package through Thomas Cook with two days pre-cruise in Venice. We were efficiently met at the airport and taken to our hotel by the RCCL rep and collected and taken to the ship as planned.

We had a marvellous time on the cruise until the morning of our last cruise day when we learned that no arrangements had been made by RCCL regarding Volcanic Ash flight cancellations. However, late that night Captain Carl Graucob sent a letter stating that RCCL would "automatically" rebook our flight when flights resumed. We believed him.

We left the ship by coach at 7.20am on 17 April and arrived at the airport about 20 minutes later. From then on were on our own. We went like lambs to the slaughter. Marco Polo airport was in chaos with rumours spreading that all hotels were full. People were panicking and trying to use the public phones. A lady at the Car Hire desk helped us and we booked a hotel by phone and caught the bus into Venice. As we left the airport an RCCL rep appeared with "helpful" phone numbers. But we found that these could only be accessed from the States! And the BA number the desk clerk had given us was unobtainable. There were constant mobile phone calls to/from our relations in England who were trying to help us. Apparently, Thomas Cook had lost our records and thought we were with Ocean Village! We had no care or assistance from our Tour Operator or Travel Agent and felt absolutely isolated.

When flights resumed, I booked us on a BA flight to Gatwick for Euro 1788.19 for 3 adults and 2 children at the Internet Cafe with the intention of reclaiming this amount once home. As I didn't have any money left on my credit card, I had to ring up the company so that I could use it. At the return check-in desk we met other RCCL travellers who were disgusted with the lack of support. However, impressively all had been able to rebook their flights through travel agents as far away as Australia and Trinidad at no extra cost to them. When we boarded, we were amazed that the flight was not full.

Once home, I tried to claim my refund. However, RCCL says BA should refund the money; BA blames Thomas Cook and Thomas Cook says that RCCL is responsible. I have now paid twice for our return flight: once through the package deal with RCCL and once by credit card. ABTA has taken up the case.

Shame on you RCCL you reneged on your Captain's promise as well as the the package holiday guarantee. To Thomas Cook and BA I would say, "You should have done better!"

Following our weeks cruise on Splendour of the Seas we were treated shamefully by Royal Caribbean. It was clear from the 15th April onwards that there would be no flights to the UK given the problems with the volcanic ash cloud. Although we were fly/cruise customers we were given no information about any contingency plans and were lied to by senior members of staff to get off the ship on false pretence. Others who refused to leave, were threatened with forced removal by the Port police. We were taken to Venice Airport where there was chaos. Private Taxi Drivers were holding up cards showing how many spaces they had in their vehicles and people were organising themselves in small groups and would go away with these drivers if they could form the right numbers. It was the survival of the fittest and we went away with a driver who had a small mini-bus. The vehicle took us to the Luguna Palace Hotel which was two thirds of the way back towards the port from where we had come and we had to pay the driver 90 euros for the trip. The RCI reps had no idea who had gone to each hotel and had no list of our mobile numbers to contact us but merely gave us a card with a phone number to call an RCI Office in Miami.

We all then phoned the Miami number which was extremely difficult to get through to and left our location and mobile phone numbers. People were constantly phoning throughout Saturday & Sunday in an effort to get some information and assurances that they had our details and we would be booked on a fresh travel arrangement home when the situation cleared up. Hundreds of pounds were being spent on accumulative phone calls to RCI and JET2 but we were being constantly referred to different phone numbers with nobody willing to take responsibility for our plight. RCI were saying that JET2 were responsible for this but JET2 said we were not their customer and instead we were a customer of RCCL who booked the flights. We were being given the run around and abandoned in Venice with no one caring about our welfare. Someone's daughter phoned RCI on Sunday night to say her parents had come off the cruise in Venice on Saturday and RCCL were unable to tell her where we were. The difference in time zones between Europe and USA was also not helping as RCI offices were often closed and RCI UK were no help also.

All the cruise passengers stating in the hotel from Scotland/England & Ireland got together to co-ordinate our next actions and fortunately one of the party had a laptop and another member of the party had good IT knowledge. We managed to get connected on Skype to keep down further telephone costs, as almost every number we were given by RCCL or Jet2 was a premium rate number. Our plight was difficult enough witout others profiteering from it. It was noticed that the JET2 website was showing a coach/ferry arrangement back to Leeds airport on Tuesday 20 April. Although the majority of the people in the room were trying to get back to Edinburgh we all agreed that getting back to the UK had to be the priority in the first instance because UK airspace was still not open at that point and we were all paying open-ended hotel bills and other costs.

We phoned RCCL to ask that we be put on this arrangement but initially were told this was not possible but we could try booking this on the JET2 website again at our own expense. We were informed by RCCL that we might get back on the 26th April but people had run out of cash and supplies of life threatening medications for conditions including high blood pressure and diabetes.

We also pointed out our rights under EC Regulation 261/2004 and the Right to Care including costs being met for hotel accommodation and reasonable refreshments.

We phoned the BBC as a last resort and one of their reporters contacted the RCI PR department which seemed to soften their approach. After further pressure from us we were contacted by the RCI air transport department to advise that we could after all get on this coach arrangement. We did a spreadsheet providing all the Ref Numbers, destinations and mobile phone numbers for those in the room and e-mailed this to get confirmation. We could all still be in Venice running up further costs had we not done all of this but were doing the job of RCI by getting organised in this way.

I fully appreciate this was an unprecedented situation and RCCL nor JET2 could provide planes if they were not flying. I would however expect three basic things from a Company like RCI which are as follows:-

1. Honesty and Integrity from staff

2. Leadership from the senior staff on the ship which was clearly lacking- an unprecedented situation needs unprecedented action by such individuals to justify their ranking and come up with potential solutions

3. Communication and organisation to know where their customers are stranded and a means of contacting them to provide a daily update even if only to reassure us. Fly/Cruise customers could have all been given the option to stay on board an extra day as the Splendour did not sail again until Sunday morning. This would have saved costs for all concerned and RCCL would still earn money from the bars etc as the ship was as least half empty as many of the next set of passengers could not get to Venice. Proper plans could then have been made on board with hotels and arrangements made with JET2 to cover our expenses under EU regulations. Instead we were all dumped at an airport with no flights to the UK and had to pay our own way back to hotels - a complete shambles

After paying for 3 nights accommodation and other costs we endured a 42 hour journey home by coach & ferry but only after being forced to sign a disgraceful disclaimer to JET2 Holidays stating that they would be released of further liability. We phoned a lawyer in the UK who advised that we qualify our signature on the form by stating signed under duress.

There are many lessons to be learned for the future and we still await compensation to cover our additional costs.

Unfourtnately these post events spoiled what was a good cruise

Quality of Food

Used the Restaurant in the evening and the Windjammer during the day. Quality of food was good but second sitting at 9pm meant you did not leave the table until 11pm which is a bit late to digest food

Entertainment

Ratpack and singer from London West End were best

Shore Excursions

Athens excursion was only one we used which was very good. Guide on the bus was excellent. Would agree with other reviews that shuttle costs are expensive and better information needed for guests who wish to visit places on their own

Staff

Waiters were very good and also the bar staff although price of drinks very expensive - example $8 for a pint of beer after tip added on. Only met our stateroom attendant on one occasion and towels were sometimes not changed

Children's Facilities n/a

Onboard Activities

Usual activities such as bingo and casino were available

Cabins

Cabin was generally clean apart from the shower curtain but did not get the fridge I pre-requested and towels were sometimes not changed

Overall Rating

having cruised 5 times with 3 other cruise lines i feel i have a good overall knowledge for comparisons - my party consisted of 4 adults with 2 children.

when i booked with royal caribbean i genuinly thought i was upgrading to a higher level of cruising.

"oops" how wrong can one be:- the staff service was actually no better or worse than any of my previous cruises so no probs there -

the buffet was far inferior than on previous cruises , plus the short opening hours were often inconvenient - we were unable to get an early sitting in the restaurant (apparently its a lottery system) so booked for 9.30 sitting food started arriving about 10pm (try making your family and children wait till 10pm for food when thay are used to eating at about 6.30pm).

the stage entertainment was o.k but not as good as previous cruises -

the deck entertainment when it was on was poor-

2 hour que to get on the climbing wall

the solarium and pool was often to cold for comfort

the day excursions were overly expensive, i had been to two locations previously with thomson cruises and the same tour cost approximately double with this cruise line

we decided to do our own exploring at some destinations but the help and advice we could get from R.C was very inadequate , they grudgingly gave us a photocopied map sheet that had lots of the information missing ,it did not show the bus stop/train/taxi locations or even the point of departure (ie where the ship was on the map) and many street names missing, talking to other passengers we think the reason was to discourage us from not buying their tours.

the only thing that i can praise was the kids clubs, very well organised and secure with lots to do.

they say you can judge a company by its actions when things go wrong -- well this is where RC really showed themselves up:-

we arrived in venice during the volcano cloud (which we understand was a natural disaster with no one to blame) but the way R.C treated us was nothing short of disgraceful, on the ship they assured us arrangements were being made for us , they then said they would tell us our arrangements after the coach transfer , instead they gave us all a phone number in u.s.a that would not work from europe, - they had lied, they had made no arrangements whatsoever. (note! not just my family but all the other passengers) we were left on the pavement with no help or assistance , eventually found own hotel (at £250 per night plus food costs)after 3 nights we were invited to join a group of R.C passengers who had independently organised a coach to uk as they also had realised R.C were not going to assist us. (it cost me a total of £1700.travel & hotel to get my family home)

we booked this complete package deal through a well known travel agent - today we have found out that R.C refuses to even pay us back for the air fare that was canceled - and offered not a penny for anything else

.

i would hate to think how RC would look after us if a problem had happened to the ship at sea!!

It's true what they say.... It isn't value for money, you pay lots & get nothing in return. We couldn't believe the $10pp charge for the 5min, shuttle bus to Mykonos, & they will not give you port info if you want to explore by yourself. There are trains & bus's from Mykonos port but this isn't on the maps they provide, on board. We have been on Thomson & Ocean Village cruises & they provide all info on request. The bingo cost $20+, daytime events were sales orientated eg. art auctions, photo shoots. Drinks were horrendously expensive. Food isn't 24hrs unless you want to eat in your cabin & the buffet food was the "same old, same old". Like the review before this, we were abandoned in Venice. They disembarked us at scheduled time of 7.30am even tho' the airports were closed due to the dust cloud. We wanted to stay & asked for a little help in booking hotels but they told us lies to get us off the ship. You can imagine how sick we were when we heard of the rescue mission by the Celebrity Eclipse as Royal Caribbean are their parent company. We heard they had reps on board signing up potential customers.

R.C.C.L. Splendour of the Seas. Embarkation was smooth but straight away the sales pitch started by trying to sign you up for expensive drink packages.Cabin was good size but was flooded & smelt foul, problem solved within 4 days. Buffet food available till 10pm. then burgers,hot-dogs & pizza in solarium corner, good if your a junk food fan.After midnight(supposed to be 2am)you could order food in your cabin, not my idea of fun. The only place you could get a drink after 12am was the disco.1 beer $8. We walked thro' the whole ship at 12am & it was deserted apart from 1 other passenger who looked as stunned as we, even the casino shut early. Daytime entertainment,art auction,towel folding,photo portraits.Day at sea rained but indoor pool freezing & empty.Even the last big show spent 10mins trying to sell the cruise dvd, a cruise that i really want to forget. THEN CAME THE DUST CLOUD. We were told a rep would be at the airport to help with accommodation as flights canceled, there wasn,t. We were abandoned in Venice even tho' booked with them. This is the parent company of the Rescue ship Celebrity Eclipse. They will help you as long as there is free publicity.

Although the organisation on Splendour of the Seas was very effecient there are some points which means that I wouldn't use this organisation again.The alcohol is very expensive. price plus 15 per cent!1 Very strict rules about having a drink in own room. If caught consequences could mean being put ashore!!!!!!!! Constant nagging about 'tipping' the staff and I hadn't realised that I had paid these when I booked the cruise.Constant attempts to sell.People who don't drink and who like playing bingo might like this cruise.

Flying from the UK? Check your flight details. Interconnections:- had over 3 hours wait in London, outward. Had 5 hours at Venice airport and a further 4 hours in London during return. When we got back we felt we had traveled from Florida and not from Venice.

At port, dropped off away from registration area, no one available for guidance, Seapass, a total waste of time; everyone joined same queue. Only 3 or 4 serving whilst a further 15 stood around. Got on board to a cursory glance and a gruff indication of what deck we were on. Trying to buy a shuttle bus ticket (which we were advised to buy on the ship) meant waiting in a queue for 40 minutes only to be told by the sole assistant that he was finishing in 5 minutes and anyone that did not get served: - go to the bus and get them? Again there were 4 sometimes 5 personnel behind the adjacent Pursers desk serving no one. Departing from the ship: - we were last off the ship at 8:40am again no guidance or assistance once leaving the ship. Found our way to a car park and asked a friendly face (not from Royal Caribbean!) who pointed out buses that were going to the airport. Seemed to me like a lack of organisation or administration. The impression given, as soon as you are off the boat RC had nothing to do with you.

Clean, good cabin stewards on the Splendour of the Seas. Royal Caribbean will 'upgrade' you, unannounced and it will be cabins that they cannot sell because they are too noisy. i.e. under the band area that plays on the pool deck and there is also constant scraping of chairs and tables, or next to their Centrum where there is loud music every night. BEWARE!

Food is limited and buffet breakfast and lunch very bland-check luncheon meat for freshness - dining food down to two courses, long time in between to be served.i.e.appetizer, main course, desert would take 2.5 hours. Food in dining room slightly better than buffet Absolutely won't be going back to this ship. Concerns met with staff not fluent in English and rather a glib attitude.