Independence of the Seas. Rude people?

[Azhure]

I found the same thing to be true. I would have thought it had something to do with my southern accent (I'm originally from South Carolina) but I didn't even have to say anything for folks to stop and offer assistance. Of course, it might have been the stupid lost look on my face...but that doesn't diminish the fact that more than one person graciously offered directions, advice on where to shop, how to get around, etc. And these instances did occur on weekdays!

We had the same great experience in NYC this past April. So helpful, often without being asked. We would be looking at a map, or talking about our confusion, and we had help. 1 guy even walked us part way to our destination (he was not going that way) and then provided detailed instructions on how to get the rest of the way! It was our first time there, and I can't wait to go back.

[Moondawgie]

I'm from the Midwest. One of my favorite places to go is NYC. I have run into many friendly and helpful people there.

 

About two years ago, we went to NYC for the first time (my first, DHs "several-th"). I really didn't want to go because of what I had heard about the rudeness, the crowds, the pollution, and the traffic......boy, was I WRONG!

 

First, the people we ALL very polite and anxious to help strangers. The minute we opened our mouths to ask for help, it became obvious that we were from Texas! We asked a policeman for the best place near Broadway to eat (figured they would know!) and, sure enough, it was an AWESOME place! Not one person was rude or unhelpful....

 

Secondly, for a Houstonian to worry about traffic, pollution, and crowds is just silly! Although the VERY tall buildings in NYC did give me a claustrophobic feeling like being in a canyon and made me long for the sight of some big sky, I found NYC to be a wonderful place to visit and am anxious to go back!!!

 

Much to my surprise, I realized that Houston and NYC are more alike than different!!

 

We had the same great experience in NYC this past April. So helpful, often without being asked. We would be looking at a map, or talking about our confusion, and we had help. 1 guy even walked us part way to our destination (he was not going that way) and then provided detailed instructions on how to get the rest of the way! It was our first time there, and I can't wait to go back.

 

Thank you all. NY loves you, too!!

[cruisinkitten]

As anyone who works in customer service will tell you. Rude people are everywhere. I am a pharmacist for a large chain drug store and I see rude people every day. People who want everything right this second and think they are to important to wait 10 minutes. People cut in line at the counter and push others out of their way. People come up to the counter talking on cell phones and then expect you to wait while they finish their conversation. Its inevitable that when you have 4000 people in an enclosed environment you are going to see some rude behavior. I try not too let it bother me as i am on the cruise to relax and have a good time.

 

Out of 5 cruises there is only one rude moment that I can remember and it involved a lady yelling at me for taking her lounge chair. The lounge chair had been empty all morning (along with the 5 others in the row with towels across them) and I had been on it for a couple hours when she showed up saying that was one of her chairs. I didn't want a confrontation so I just moved to another chair although now I wish I had stood up for myself and called her out for being a chair hog. But one incident out of 5 cruises isn't too bad. Hopefully my next cruise on the AOS will be drama free.

[kidless]

Very sad, but maybe thier shoes are too tight! Prehaps on cruises we should all go barefoot! :D

[CRUZBUDS]

I know this isn't a New York thread, but we were treated so well by everyone we met during a week long visit to that great city. It was an incredidble experience.

[lmcpark]

I have noticed on my last three cruises, RCCL and Carnival, very rude people! I noticed this particularly when waiting in line (breaking in line!) and in the buffet. I also noticed that it was almost always what appeared to be french-speaking passengers. I just chalked it up to cultural differences. So sad. I will be going on Voyager next month and be taking notes! LOL!

[EV2008]

There are rude people everywhere, not just on vacation i see them daily on the freeway slowing down to talk on the phone, driving side by side not letting you pass, it is all about me. And on a cruise I guess they think I paid for that I do what I want, no concern for the other person that is also on vacation and trying to get away from it all. I never take the elevator I rather walk up the stairs. I have been on a few cruises and yes people are rude and their children, oh well, the apple doesn't fall from the tree.

[retnuh281]

There are rude people everywhere, not just on vacation i see them daily on the freeway slowing down to talk on the phone, driving side by side not letting you pass, it is all about me. And on a cruise I guess they think I paid for that I do what I want, no concern for the other person that is also on vacation and trying to get away from it all. I never take the elevator I rather walk up the stairs. I have been on a few cruises and yes people are rude and their children, oh well, the apple doesn't fall from the tree.

 

You must live in Houston, you just described my commute.

Now keep in mind Iv'e only sailed during spring break, but WHAT is the deal with people sitting on the stairs? Not just kids (mostly) but Iv'e seen whole families.

Are they waiting for others? Do all the chairs on board have a towel on them? Drives me crazy.

[Mary1951]

You should be kidding . Being handicapped is not an excuse for unacceptable behaviour .I'm a nurse and know there is such a thing as a BITTER Handicapped person , and these people can be worst then any healthy person I know . they seem to think that because of their situation they can get away with anything , not so !!!!

[Cruising89143]

Could it be the ships are too darn big which requires this behavour. I have never encountered this on smaller ships.

 

Has nothing at all to do with the size of the ship. I have come across rude people on smaller ships. As a matter of fact, the most rude encounters came on a ship that was just over 20,000 tons and held around 1000 guests.

[Cruising89143]

So, just to clarify, for those of us who have seen it, are you calling us liars....or are you saying that because you haven't seen it, then that means it doesn't happen?

 

Just an example....I was on a cruise on the AOS where I saw a Solarium window broken by a thrown beer bottle because of a fight. On that same cruise, the whole liquor table display in the Promenade was knocked over and dozens of bottles broke, causing the Promenade to be closed for several hours. Let's see...door was knocked on at 2 a.m., stairs were always blocked by people laying on them, people were screaming during the shows, people's digital cameras were being stolen prompting the Captain to make an announcement that if anyone was caught, they would be charged and disembarked. And that's just the tip of the iceburg on that voyage.

 

Please don't take this as a flaming post. I am just a little offended when people insinuate that just because they haven't seen it, that means it never happens. I had 15 great cruises where I didn't see it. But on 2, I did.

 

For your sake, I really hope you never undure this....it really is very frustrating and it does affect your cruise.

 

Doesn't sound to good Paul. I am on the Adventure in April. Hopefully we will not encounter this type of behavior. :)

[crusinmama06]

I don't know. I'll be on Indy soon so I'll let you know if I encounter any rude people. :D

 

The one thing I do notice on all cruises are people trying to push past wheelchairs to get on the tender boats. Now THAT annoys me. :mad:

[Aquahound]

Wow! We are going on AOS in Feb 2010.....hope I'm not cruising with any of the same people who were acting this way on your cruise.

 

Doesn't sound to good Paul. I am on the Adventure in April. Hopefully we will not encounter this type of behavior. :)

 

Most likely, you will be fine. I've cruised the AOS twice. The first one was fabulous. The bad one was a quincinera (sp?) cruise.

[cruisin from florida]

Is when the rude people think that the OTHER people are being rude!

 

On our last cruise, a family was trying to save about 15(!!!) seats right in the middle of the theater. The room was filling up. Another family tried to take the seats, was told they were "saved" and, after a brief discussion among themselves about how seats couldn't be saved, sat down to enjoy the show. The seat savers acted like they were going to get someone to make the family move (which I would have loved to see) and muttered and shot dirty looks at the family that had taken the "saved" seats for the rest of the show.

 

We were in the row right behind to watch all this.

 

We weren't quite close enough to the family that had taken the seats to say "way to go!" but I wish I could have.

 

Most of the "saved" seats were still empty when the show started - filled up during the show. We know how the acts love THAT.

[Hlitner]

We have been cruising for over 30 years (on 11 different cruise lines) and have found the "rude person" syndrome not to be an exclusive issue with RCI ships. In fact, it seems to be a growing problem on most ships (even with some of the very high priced exclusive lines). It even became a popular discussion topic in the concierge lounge on our recent Explorer of the Seas cruise. Our own observation has been that we see less rudeness on our longer cruises (more than 12 days) than on the shorter 7 - 12 day cruises. The rudeness does not seem to be confined to just Americans, but seems to cross international boundries (there was a real problem with a few Brits on our recent cruise). My DW thinks that this is just a reflection of current day trends where manners no longer seem to be important to some folks. Its now the "me generation" where dress codes can be ignored, no-smoking rules are tossed to the wind (literally), cutting in lines (queue jumpers for our English friends) is fine, crashing into elevators before letting other folks off is Ok, and of course the inappropriate saving of seats previously mentioned. When civility is ignored, a crowd turns into a mob!

 

Hank

[petesweet]

We had the same great experience in NYC this past April. So helpful, often without being asked. We would be looking at a map, or talking about our confusion, and we had help. 1 guy even walked us part way to our destination (he was not going that way) and then provided detailed instructions on how to get the rest of the way! It was our first time there, and I can't wait to go back.

 

We need to start a thread about how nice New Yorkers are!! :)

[IKE]

We just got off the Explorer of Seas this past Sunday and encountered many rude people. They come from all over. Not just New York.

[dolfandude]

This thread has turned into a type of therapy!;)

 

My name is Steve and I'm a RUDEAHATEAHOLIC!:D

[EtoilePB]

It is, alas, not confined to vacations. Anyone who has worked customer service knows it inside out and backwards, as does anyone who's ever taken mass transit. Just watch a person with crutches or an extremely pregnant woman try to get a seat, even the ones that say, "please give up this seat"... (They can't have mine because I never have one either, hehe. On the rare occasions that I do, they get it.)

[fendbass]

I've told this story before, but, it is so funny, it bears repeating every once in a while.

 

My wife and I were on a 14-night cruise on the Celebrity Millenium, so, you can imagine, there were a larger number of older people

 

We decided to take in a movie one night, and were waiting for catholic church services to end. People kept opening the door to peek in; I actually heard one guy say "How long before you are done"

 

Well, the services ended, and people started to leave but, they couldn't because of the crush of people coming into the theater. So, we get in there, and find a couple of seats. There was this older woman trying to hold not one, but TWO rows of seats.

 

So, some guy comes and sits down in one of HER rows, and she starts in on him. He just ignores her, then, her husband decided to join the fun. So, these two older guys (I'm 60 myself, not much younger than them) start pushing each other around, each cursing up a blue streak. I was hoping they would go to the floor, and roll around, but, it never got that far. The new guy decided it wasn't worth it, and left, and the 2 rows remanied un-filled for a while when the 2 originals decided their friends weren't coming

 

I don't remember what the movie was, just thought the side show was better

[harry0]

The interaction with rude peeps is inevitable while cruising. If you enjoy rudeness the hot spots are:

 

1. The Windjammer-you can always get a line cut or passengers treating the crew like dirt.

 

2. Elevators-I guess people do not know proper manners when loading and unloading.............The crew should go over proper elevator ediquette during muster drill and put it on the TV the first day with the life jacket show.

[want2seaitall]

I don't think it is particular cruise or a particular ship. My family and I noticed the rude behavior on our 12/20 Nav cruise. It started while waiting to board and ended when we disembarked. Don't get me wrong, we met plenty of lovely folks on board as well. But, rude behavior was dominant.

 

Examples:

 

The young lady who was sitting back to back with my husband in the seats while waiting to board. My DH leaned back and the back of his chair kept pushing against hers and that was enough to get her in a tizzy and she shot him a look to kill - yes I saw your look :rolleyes:

 

The grown woman in the Windjammer who was walking behind my 13 yo on his way back to our table with a spoon...apparently he wasn't walking fast enough and she stopped, shot a sarcastic look at the back of his head and then began walking again - yes I saw your look :rolleyes:

 

I don't know about all of you, but I was taught to allow people off of an elevator before getting on...this seemed to be a skill many of my fellow passengers were not taught.

 

We got down to a table at the Pub a 1/2 hour before a parade one night to make sure we had good viewing. Well...1 minute before the parade, a family came and stood right in front of our table. :rolleyes:

 

These are just a sampling...I could go on.

[mberli]

I don't think it is particular cruise or a particular ship. My family and I noticed the rude behavior on our 12/20 Nav cruise. It started while waiting to board and ended when we disembarked. Don't get me wrong, we met plenty of lovely folks on board as well. But, rude behavior was dominant.

 

Examples:

 

The young lady who was sitting back to back with my husband in the seats while waiting to board. My DH leaned back and the back of his chair kept pushing against hers and that was enough to get her in a tizzy and she shot him a look to kill - yes I saw your look :rolleyes:

 

The grown woman in the Windjammer who was walking behind my 13 yo on his way back to our table with a spoon...apparently he wasn't walking fast enough and she stopped, shot a sarcastic look at the back of his head and then began walking again - yes I saw your look :rolleyes:

 

I don't know about all of you, but I was taught to allow people off of an elevator before getting on...this seemed to be a skill many of my fellow passengers were not taught.

 

We got down to a table at the Pub a 1/2 hour before a parade one night to make sure we had good viewing. Well...1 minute before the parade, a family came and stood right in front of our table. :rolleyes:

 

These are just a sampling...I could go on.

 

I think that I might find it rude if someone "kept pushing back" against my chair.

 

Maybe I might get annoyed if I had hot food on my plate, and could not get around a slow moving person. I'm sure you would not.

 

Maybe when I had been waiting for an elevater to come, and when it did no one immediately got off, I might start in. What might you do?

 

Just an observation.

 

Mel

[Aquahound]

This thread has turned into a type of therapy!;)

 

My name is Steve and I'm a RUDEAHATEAHOLIC!:D

 

Isn't that the truth!

 

Unfortunately, the rudeness has even spilled over to these boards. Last year, I reported a bad experience......the same complaint several people before me also reported. The do-gooders of these boards made me and the others with similar experiences out to be liars. They even went as far as to start new threads about how great that ship is....saying the type of things we saw don't actually happen.

[want2seaitall]

I think that I might find it rude if someone "kept pushing back" against my chair.

 

Maybe I might get annoyed if I had hot food on my plate, and could not get around a slow moving person. I'm sure you would not.

 

Maybe when I had been waiting for an elevater to come, and when it did no one immediately got off, I might start in. What might you do?

 

Just an observation.

 

Mel

 

Are you serious? :eek: I hope we never cross paths while in our travels.