In May 2023 i planned a family vacation of 14 to celebrate my moms graduation and want to tell MY story of my recent sailing on Symphony. The day we boarded the ship we went to our cabin only to find a females dirty shorts on the floor and a dirty medicine cup on the bedside table. This was my second consecutive trip on Royal where this occurred. I have been sailing with Royal since 2007. I bought this to my room attendants attention and Royal was kind enough to offer a 15 % discount, but dirty rooms are not what any guest wants to face. On May 31, 2023 we booked an excursion to La Spezia Italy and my family and I were so embarrassed, hurt and humiliated by the tour guides conduct towards us. I must say that what I’m writing is fully documented with Royal as one of the the crew members overheard the remarks and behavior of the tour guide. While on our excursion to La Spezia the tour guide repeatedly said to us we should not be here and he made it clear of his dislike toward us. In several occasions the guide was seen yelling at us and referred to us as referred to us as “you people” and indicating to my aunt that you should not be here because of her disability. Her first cruise at 85 years of age. After this experience she seldom left her room. When arriving back at the terminal the tour guide was bitterly angry and was seen and heard yelling at my family saying we should have never come. As we were providing our Sea Pass to board the Ship the tour guide was heard saying “racial and discriminatory words” towards me and my family. The Royal crew member nearly broke down in tears because of the choice of words and conduct of the tour guide. The Royal employee quickly apologized and emphasized how embarrassed she was, and quickly took our names and cabin numbers and assured us that someone would be in touch. It has come to our attention that the staff person was terminated within hours following the incident, which is great so that no future guest is treated this way but this does not take away the hurt and anger that my family experienced. Royal then offered an additional 5% discount and after hearing my frustration they told me that they would only give an additional 10%. Royal would give more of a discount (15%) for dirty shorts than someone who belligerent belittled my family. I finally emailed a Sr. VP with Royal and welcomed a phone call to discuss the situation. In return I got a email from someone from the executive office saying:“We always look forward to hearing from loyal members of our Crown & Anchor Society and as a Platinum member, we understand this is not a situation you're accustomed to when sailing with us. I truly do apologize for your shore excursion experience. Although they were third-party vendor employees, I assure you this does not reflect the type of service we want to provide. Again, I apologize for the impact this had on you and assure you your feedback is appreciated.” I hoped to a least be able to speak with someone in upper management but the best they could do was send a scripted email. I know this is not everyone’s experience on Royal but it was mine
