My recent (25/3/24 - 3/4/24) RCI cruise from Sydney to Pacific Islands was the most disappointing cruise I have ever experienced! While the wonderful crew and the most comfortable ship, Ovation of the Seas was much appreciated and enjoyed, sadly, my disappointment was due to the most unpleasant, arrogant and ignorant fellow passengers (almost 3000 total) and their offspring (approximately 2000 total.) The parents were loud, pushy and completely oblivious to their badly behaved children who ran amok everywhere, yelled on top of their voices at all hours and were never disciplined. It was impossible to get away from them including the Solarium area which was supposedly designated for adults... Supposedly! Why did RCI not care about adults who did not wish to be subjected to such behavior? I felt badly for the officers and crew who had to work in such an unpleasant environment.
One morning our table witnessed an 8-year-old boy yielding a knife and scraping the Solarium window for at least 10 minutes. He was in full view of his parents! He then proceeded by samurai-style waving the same knife in his baby brother's face. At this point, one of the men at my table knocked/gestured to the boy to stop, to much displeasure of his relatives. The next morning, the same group almost hissed at us - how dare we prevent a serious injury to the baby and damage the Solarium window!
On the subject of passengers reserving lounges for hours and never coming back to them, I had borrowed a pillow from an empty lounge in the Solarium area to help support my back - within 1/2hr, there was a woman angrily asking me if I took HER PILLOW? An officer who was at the time by my side was most embarrassed at this but again, couldn't do much other than bring me another cushion! By the way there were tons of empty but "reserved" lounges with nobody sitting in them at the time!
Needless to say, I'll NEVER sail with RCI again!
