RockchalkFan

I had a terrible experience with RC last June. They claimed to be autism friendly, but the reality couldn't have been further from the claims. My daughter is high functioning and doesn't cause a lot of problems nowadays unless you really lean on her or another kid pushes her buttons. She did alright on the cruise however, it wasn't due to anyone going out of their way to help her or due to anyone even knowing what autism or aspergers was. I notified the RCI well in advance. Talked with multiple people on the phone. Filled in form extra forms. Was told that everything would be taken care of and nothing was. No priority boarding. When I asked, they rolled their eyes and said they had no idea what I was talking about. Dining? Nope. I begged for an assigned table near a wall and I was told that I couldn't have an assigned table or an assigned time, I had to use the my time dining just like every one else, and if we didn't like it we could use the buffet. Kids club? The staff didn't even know what aspergers or autism WAS let alone how to deal with her. So they just let her play video games and watch tv the whole time she was in there.

Hmmm...just saw this. I could have written this! Only I just cruised August 2015, so a full year after you did! Sounds like nothing at all has changed. Other than I guess RCI went from Bronze to Silver certification in that time, right?

The response will likely be that they have resolved the conflict of interest between the agency and RC. I'd start with Adam Goldstein and work my way down. I will private message you his e-mail address.

You're probably right. I can try to email Adam Goldstein though. I was thinking more along the lines of complaining to some place outside RC but not sure what agency. Not sure how private messages work on cruise critic but I don't think I have gotten one. Thanks again.

IMO....That certification is nothing but a self-serving award primarily to drive business to the travel agency. The big problem is that it sets up unrealistic expectations for Autism families. It's also not fair to cruise lines like Carnival who do just as good a job as Royal Caribbean.

 

Ron Petit was on the AotS advisory board until RC received feedback that there was concern over possible favoritism in favor of AotS. It's hard to complain to the guy at RC about the agency that he's personally connected to outside of his job at RC.

I have no patience for this type of thing. It also explains a lot about the response I got from AotS and also RC/Ron Pettit. To me this seems like false advertising, especially given our experience onboard. Is there any place a person can file a complaint i.e. in Florida if that's where the RCCL HQ are?

This is disappointing to hear. I haven't read other responses because I'm busy at the moment so if someone else mentioned it, I apologize. I find it strange that they don't have a policy for guests with Down Syndrome. They have made a big deal about the Autism Certification and allow for a lot of flexibility with age groups in those cases, so why not Down Syndrome as well.

 

I would definitely recommend that you reach out to someone in their corporate offices, perhaps the Access Department (866) 592-7225 and let them know that the ship board staff did not help.

After our recent cruise I have been looking at the boards to see if our experience on RCCL was an anomaly. My biggest complaint is that like "smileperry" mentions above is that they have press releases about how they have the Autism on the Seas Certification - first bronze, then silver.... press releases in USA Today, NY Times...They have great sounding services on their website and from their CSRs.... and I didn't encounter anyone onboard who knew anything about it. Here is what services they are supposedly offering based on the silver certification: http://www.autismontheseas.com/foundation-programs/autism-friendly-cruise-line-program/the-standard-autism-friendly

If they are going to talk the talk they need to walk the walk. In our case we didn't even want to access the Adventure Ocean services. But to not have anyone who knows about the adapted muster drill, priority embarking/disembarking, meal seating - these are the most basic things that they should have even without their "certification". I cynically feel their certification is a marketing ploy that they are not following through on. If they are going to advertise these services either on their website or via their CSRs, they need to follow through and the people on the ship need to know about them. I have seen interviews where they talk about "accessible cruising being a huge growth market" http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Accessible-Cruising-Is-a-Huge-Growth-Market and I feel they are trying to tap into this without following through with their promises.

I am curious if the OP ended up letting the Access Department know her experience. I wrote the head of the department, Ron Pettit. It took him about a month to respond after I sent a reminder email. Some of his responses to our concerns were a little vague. It will be interesting to see what other people have as experiences going forward.

(I am posting this on the Royal Caribbean cruise review area but thought it might be helpful if you have a child with autism/developmental disability)

We are a family of 5 that cruised Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas on a 13 day Baltic Sea cruise. This was our first cruise. Our teen-aged daughter has Down syndrome and severe sensory issues. Like the Cruise Critic member “jaspup” (search: “Cruising with Autism”) I wasn’t originally going to post but I think people who have children with autism should be aware of some of the more significant issues we encountered on our recent cruise.

In advance of our trip, we spoke to several RCL customer service regarding our daughter’s special needs. The CSRs told us that with the “autism/developmental disability” notation on our daughter’s cruise record, we would have accommodations such as: modified muster drill; priority check in, boarding, & disembarking; & dining seating accommodations. Once on board, however, we realized that multiple people at the ship’s Guest Services, as well as our concierge (due to being in a suite), were not familiar at all with disability accommodations. To summarize:

Muster Drill: NO ONE we asked knew about alternate muster drill arrangements. We had to go to our assigned location. This was an extremely stressful time for us, but for other children with severe autism this could really be a major problem.

Priority Disembarking: Every individual we spoke to told us to wait 30 minutes after the signal to disembark. At that point it would be less crowded because the majority of passengers would have left the ship by that time.

Dining: Concierge wasn’t sure we could have a table for just our family of 5 (even though we had “My Time Dining”) & not to expect this every night. There were people all around us that were seated as single families or even couples – I am not sure why this was even an issue at all. Being seated with a rowdy group would have been a major problem.

Priority Boarding: Much like CruiseCritic member “jaspup” encountered November 2014, the first two RCL staff members had no idea what we were talking about. The terminal was a mob scene. Only after we told the 2nd person that we were in a suite were we moved to the suite/priority line.

I contacted the RCCL head of the disability services, Ron Pettit, to share some of our experiences, since there seems to be an across the board issue. We also suggested they should have a Disability Point Person on each ship. That way, if a family notifies RCCL ahead of time about their child’s disability, and their account is flagged, the point person could check in with the family to ensure their needs are being met. It took Mr. Pettit a month to respond. His responses:

Re: Muster drill: They were sorry it didn’t go as it should have for us—and that their “Safety Department is working on a formalized standard operating procedure for modified muster drill to ensure consistency across the fleet.”

Re: Priority disembarking: Mr. Pettit said that this does not necessarily mean first off, but means a quicker departure off the ship. He said that they will “fine tune this process”. I am not sure what this means exactly – but there is a major difference between multiple phone reps saying “first off” and the cruise ship staff saying “wait 30 minutes until everyone else is off the ship”.

Re: our suggestion for a Disability Point Person: Mr. Pettit said they are going to implement a new process, sending a letter to guest's stateroom “which will outline the various Autism Friendly accommodations we provide and the contact information for our Adventure Ocean team. They will contact each family to arrange a meeting so they can help address the family's needs.”

Prior to our trip, we knew of the Autism on the Seas (AOS) Autism Friendly certifications, & our ship had a Silver certification. After our trip, I have serious misgivings about this certification. My cynical side feels like this is a marketing ploy by the cruise lines, and an added income generator for the agency that provides the certifications/training. The certification on our ship dates back to early 2014. The issues we encountered were very basic– considering most ships in the fleet have been certified for a year & a half I can’t understand why these areas have not ALREADY been fine-tuned. The issues we encountered are covered areas of the base Bronze certification/training process on the AOS website.

Hopefully other families will have better luck with the autism friendly services. Just do not rely on what the CSR’s tell you – we did not find this to be an accurate representation of what we encountered. The ports on our cruise were spectacular and we enjoyed our time at port very much. Overall the cruise would have been much more of a success if we didn’t encounter so many roadblocks to basic services promised in advance of the cruise.