What is the nicest thing a RCI crew member has ever done for you?

[emory2001]

On my first Royal cruise on Jewel, I had a small asthma-related cough that week. Not hacking my head off, but a small annoyance. At dinner our first night in the MDR, our assistant waiter, a darling young woman from the Philippines, brought me a cup of some kind of hot tea - I think without my asking for it, if I recall correctly - and told me it would help me feel better. I love hot tea, and it was great tasting, soothing, and caffeine-free which I prefer. She then brought it to me first thing every single night at dinner. I felt very taken care of. Beyond that, she was all-around attentive and cheery about it and should have been our head server rather than the assistant. It was my first cruise on Royal, but my sister had a WOW card to give, so she gave it to her at the end of the cruise.

Edited December 4, 2015 by emory2001

[Royal2464]

About a year and a half ago I was aboard the Freedom when I came down with a terrible cold. A woman who was then a senior guest services officer gave me some of her personal cold medicine and then went ashore and bought me more. Great lady, and typical of many of the crew who really care and want to help someone in need. They greatly deserve our thanks and respect for the things they do to enhance our cruise vacations.

[ladytaekwondo]

My DH and I sailed with Grandeur twice in 2008...every night they would ask Mr. Ted, want your usual rum and coke? and Mrs. Ted, drink of the day?

 

We loved it! We are sailing on Grandeur now in March 2016 and are very excited!

[johnjen]

It was our first cruise on Grandeur.

 

We attended the midnight buffet. All DW wanted was to try one of the chocolate dipped strawberries, but by the time we got through the line, none were to be found. She voiced her disappointment to me; eventually we just went back and crashed; next morning it was forgotten about.

 

However, that next evening's dinner, the head waiter came by - with a tray full of those chocolate strawberries. "My compliments to the lady," he said, gesturing to DW. The night before, he was in the vicinity and must've heard her say something....I thought that was totally awesome of him to do that. Of course, the tray of strawberries was shared at our 10-seat dining table.

 

What a nice cruise that first cruise was!

[TPCRUISER2]

Love this thread! Have too many nice things to count. That's why I am Loyal to Royal!

[emory2001]

I'm enjoying reading everyone's stories too. I don't discount when people have disappointments, but I do love reading the good stories.

[NemoCrownie]

This past February my DH's carry-on suitcase got mangled (like missing a large corner and a wheel)somewhere between the luggage drop-off and cabin delivery. Guest Services arranged for the suitcase to be picked up and taken to the ship's luggage repair shop - didn't even know they had this. They returned it after a couple days and said it was not repairable so would give us $50 OBC because they didn't have anything suitable in the shops onboard. That was nice and handled well, we thought.

 

Later, our cabin attendant asked if we were alright with the resolution and my DH flippantly said "not really, now I will have to take my stuff home in a trash bag." Later the deck Supervisor (didn't know this position existed either) stopped by our cabin and apologized profusely. We told him no big deal and we were sorry the cabin attendant had taken our comment seriously. We also said it was an issue we could deal with but we very much appreciated the follow up by him and our cabin attendant.

 

The next day we were in Barbados and when we returned to our room there was a big, nice, new, wheeled, black suitcase in our room. The deck supervisor had gone shopping in Barbados just for a suitcase for us. WOW! That was impressive. I'm not sure we handled it right because we returned the suitcase to the ship with our appreciation and then bought duct tape at a hardware store in Antigua to do a giant patch job (funny, all those new cruiser "what to pack" lists have duct tape on them...). The new suitcase was not carry-on size and not a size we needed but we so appreciated all of the time and effort put into trying to resolve the situation and make us happy.

[BlueSkiesTX]

We were just on Liberty last week. My 5 year old daughter took a liking to our asst. waiter on the 2nd night proudly pronouncing him as "her husband". He was so patient and kind to her. He was only our waiter on that one night, but every time we saw him in the MDR or Windjammer, he went out of his way to greet our little Lucy and pick her up. He was 6'6" so she would squeal with delight when he picked her up. He made her cruise! It is a story that we will talk about for years to come....Lucy's brief cruise marriage to Slobodan from Serbia. What he didn't know was that my daughter had had a rough two months as she was heavily grieving the loss of her Grandmother (my mother). I cannot thank him enough for bringing her so much joy. :)

[Miamia65]

 

On oasis in 2013 and the CD staff gave us these orange dots to put on our sea pass. It gave us priority entry to any event on the ship - no booking required.

[knittinggirl]

I was hobbling around w/ a cane on our most recent cruise. In the Windjammer, the gel supervisor told me to sit in one of the handicapped seats. Then later, one of the staff picked up our shore excursion tickets down at the stage for us.

[brillohead]

Has anyone every made a special request for a waiter? We had a waiter last year who we would love to have again in the MDR.

 

I just tried this, but unfortunately the waiter I was requesting is no longer aboard. I emailed the generic dining address ( rcldining@rccl.com ) with my cruise date / ship / reservation number, and the name of the waiter I was requesting about 3-4 weeks before my cruise. They forwarded the message to the ship, and the ship responded back with the news that he wasn't available.

 

But they WILL do it if they can!

[Margy23]

We've had three experiences that really stood out in customer service:

 

On our second cruise on Jewel, we had just entered the Tampa terminal when we heard, "Richard, Margaret" and turned around to big hugs from Catalina and Suzette, our wait staff from our first Jewel cruise. They were in the terminal helping people with wheelchairs and certainly helped us begin our cruise in a happy frame of mind.

 

On a cruise on Enchantment a couple of years ago, friends in the Diamond Lounge mentioned to our favorite concierge, Carlington Berry, that we were celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary and I was celebrating my 80th birthday. Carlington sent us to Chops for a very special complimentary dinner. We are really going to miss him as he goes to the far East.

 

Recently I suffered a compression fracture in my spine. I'm very short and found that sitting on a regular chair on the balcony without my feet touching the floor was painful. My husband talked to our cabin steward, and within a half hour he had put a lounger on the balcony for me.

 

Even if I try really hard, I can think of only one occasion when I dealt with a rude, unhelpful crew member (Guest Services on Freedom about five years ago), so I certainly give Royal high marks for taking care of passengers. I think this is the main reason we are loyal to Royal - it certainly isn't the web site.

 

Thanks to the OP who started this thread. It's a welcome change to concentrate on the positive.

 

Margy

[mconthehighseas]

I just tried this, but unfortunately the waiter I was requesting is no longer aboard. I emailed the generic dining address ( rcldining@rccl.com ) with my cruise date / ship / reservation number, and the name of the waiter I was requesting about 3-4 weeks before my cruise. They forwarded the message to the ship, and the ship responded back with the news that he wasn't available.

 

But they WILL do it if they can!

 

Thank you for this info! It may be too late for my upcoming cruise, but I am going to give it a try.

[brillohead]

Thank you for this info! It may be too late for my upcoming cruise, but I am going to give it a try.

 

You're VERY welcome!

 

And even if it's not able to be handled via email before you cruise, just go to the MDR as soon as you arrive and ask for them to make the change, if at all possible. Lots of finagling of final assignments takes place the first day!

[minn0315]

On Navigator last February: my wife loves the lasagna at Giovanni's, especially the meat sauce, but they only serve it at lunch on sea days. In th MDR she likes the linguini, but not that sauce. So our waiter had the kitchen prepare the linguini with Giovanni' sauce. She really enjoyed it and the fact that our waiter went out of his way to make it happen.

[xxoocruiser]

So many nice things have been done for me by RCCL staff but this one ultimately was done for a friend of mine traveling in our group that came about as a result of the Allure Sports Deck Manager having struck a conversation with me.

 

I cruise every year with a group that call ourselves the MSCruisers being that most of us have Multiple Sclerosis. One evening during diner my friend who is confined to a wheelchair due to MS mentioned how it was a dream of his to have been able to zipline but that that dream was over due to his condition. The next day I had scootered ( also have MS) up to watch the people going off on the zip-line, the Sports Deck Manager asked if I'd like to try it ? I politely declined as prefer to watch. In the process I told her the story about my friend and how sadden he was that that was something that was not going to be crossed off his bucket list. The Sports Deck Manager inquired about the group I was traveling with and asked that my friend get in touch with her as she'd like to assess the situation.

 

Gave all information to my friend ad he and his wife than contacted the Sports Manager. RCCL determined a way to make my friend's dream come true. It took quite a bit of planning and about 10 RCCL staff to pull it off but my friend went on the zipline !!!

 

RCCL shut the line down for about an hour to get everything in place . Passengers in line were upset at first but when everyone realized what was happening all passengers were rooting my friend on. RCCL had 5 people at that start that literally had to lift my friend up to the platform and keep him steady before sending him off. In the meantime his wife position his chair and service dog at the end so that it'd be ready upon the landing. RCCL had to have staff on safety lines at the end of the zip so that they could reach out to grab my friend's legs as he did not have the ability to raise his legs to land on his own. You should of seen these RCCL guys suspending out beyond the landing !!!

 

Passengers were all filming it. Those dining in the Windjammer all watched through the window. When the run was over everyone on the Boardwalk, Balconies , Sports Deck and anywhere insight of the zipline all clapped and cheered. RCCL really went over and above to make this happen. He was treated by all RCCL staff and passengers the rest of the cruise like a celebrity.

[judymag]

My dad told our waiter that the trip was a birthday present for my 40th a few months earlier I was surprised with a small cake on the last night

[brillohead]

Gave all information to my friend ad he and his wife than contacted the Sports Manager. RCCL determined a way to make my friend's dream come true. It took quite a bit of planning and about 10 RCCL staff to pull it off but my friend went on the zipline !!!

 

I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit this has tears in my eyes! I work with disabled people, and I love to see people going out of their way for something like this!

 

Thank you for sharing the story!

[mconthehighseas]

I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit this has tears in my eyes! I work with disabled people, and I love to see people going out of their way for something like this!

 

Thank you for sharing the story!

 

I agree with you. I wish Cruise Critic had a Like button for xxoocruiser's post!

[Dinkachu]

I am disabled and was cruising with 12 family members after a surgery that made sitting through a long evening meal virtually impossible. On previous RCI cruises I was been able to order dinner from the MDR menu and have it delivered to the balcony cabin, and I had planned to take all of my evening meals in the cabin. The rules had changed. Only people in suites could order room service from the MDR menu. I was limited to pizza, sandwiches, salads, light snacks from the new room service menu. On the 2nd night, the room service waiter offered to bring me meals from the MDR menu and did so for the next 4 nights. His was tipped well and my cruise experience was greatly enhanced by his kindness.

[mcatmcat]

Nothing nicest so far but in my last cruise the Stratton attendant took the Victoria secret dog that was traveling with us and he placed on the mirror on the promenade. It's was fun for us but still haven't experienced a " nicest" act

[LKN-NC]

on our first cruise, Jewel of the Seas, we had a wonderful waiter, Manny. Fast forward 3+ years, we are back on Jewel with our children, spouses and granddaughter. Manny was there, but in the next station.

 

Manny made it a point to stop by our table each night and brought little gifts for our granddaughter. Being one of only a few children on board, she was treated like a princess.

 

I hope we run into Manny again some day, he's a lovely person.

[CntPAcruiser]

Nothing nicest so far but in my last cruise the Stratton attendant took the Victoria secret dog that was traveling with us and he placed on the mirror on the promenade. It's was fun for us but still haven't experienced a " nicest" act

 

This is like poetry! I have no idea what the pre-autocorrect version was or what this means, but it is beautiful in and of itself.

[MicCanberra]

I had a staff member constantly provide me with another drink before I had even finished my drink (normally around 1/4 left) or even asked for another, top service.:D

[SPacificbound]

The very kindest, above and beyond act that has ever been done for me by staff on a cruise ship.

 

I had an injury from a fall. The very bruised, swollen, extremely painful kind. So painful I was staying in the cabin, it hurt too much to move. DH was bringing me food etc. I am medically knowledgeable (I'll leave it at that) enough to know this was not an injury that required a doctor.

 

On day three our cabin attendant asked me why I wasn't leaving the cabin because she kept seeing DH going and coming back with stuff for me. She could tell there were no signs of my being sick. So I told her.

 

Our cabin attendant made me a bottle of chopped up fresh ginger in rubbing alcohol. It made a world of difference and got me up and out of the cabin. After three applications the pain was much less. I kept using it until I was pain free.

 

I have the same thing in my refrigerator at home. It is wonderful.