Cruise lines, Royal Caribbean included, say passenger safety is their top priority — and in fairness, much of the time they take it seriously. But over several sailings I've had a handful of experiences where it felt like profit came first. Here are three.
Spoiled lobster at Hooked (Symphony of the Seas) At Hooked, Royal Caribbean's seafood restaurant, my clam chowder was excellent — but my surf and turf wasn't. The lobster tail smelled and tasted off, so I sent it back. The replacement smelled wrong too, so I didn't eat it. My table mate wasn't as lucky: he'd had three lobster tails, and the next day he was ill with vomiting and diarrhoea, bad enough that his bedding had to be changed. Days later, another guest told us she'd had the lobster the same evening and had also fallen ill. We reported it to guest services. Nothing came of it.
A table no one should be seated at On another sailing, my friend and I were placed at the far end of the main dining room — a table with a couch on one side and a chair on the other, and a pillar less than 30 cm behind the chair. To serve the next table, the waiter had to breathe in and edge past that chair every time. One unexpected roll of the ship or a single misstep, and a tray would have landed on my table mate. We raised it with the head waiter and asked never to be seated there again, and to their credit they listened. But it left me wondering whether squeezing in extra covers had come before basic safety.
Rushed service in a "speciality" restaurant (Oasis) On an Oasis transatlantic crossing a couple of years ago, I was at dinner in Giovanni's. The staff were rushed — which shouldn't happen in a speciality restaurant — and as one waiter hurried past, he caught me on the back of the head. I wasn't hurt, but with tables packed close and staff moving at speed, it easily could have been worse. It also rather undermines the point of "speciality" dining.
The pattern None of this means Royal Caribbean doesn't care about safety — much of the time they clearly do. But on these occasions it felt like fitting in more diners, or moving people through faster, mattered more than the people themselves. When a cruise line tells you safety comes first, it's worth remembering it doesn't always play out that way on the ground.