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Unsupervised out at sea
September 12, 2010
Parent's Beware
I booked adjoining cabins on the Oasis of the Seas through Royal Caribbean International over a year in advance. The rooms, although shown as adjoining on the Royal Caribbean website and the brochures and reported as adjoining by the Royal Caribbean booking agent, were not connected. The Royal Caribbean travel agent booked my two minor children alone in cabin 3238. Upon entering the cabins, I went immediately to guest relations to report their error. The staff told me they would get back to me after check in to see how they could move us as we had minor children in the "connecting room". After departing and in the middle of the sea, the staff said they had no other rooms available and offered us a bottle of champagne with fruit (found free aboard the ship in various locations). After daily complaining, Royal Caribbean offered us 20% off a future bookin-- ( perhaps I don't want to book another Royal Caribbean cruise!). Again, I find this completely unsatisfactory. I booked adjoining cabins so that my parents, traveling with us in the next cabin, could come babysit at night and my husband and I could go out. We were totally unable to utilize many ship ammenities, such as the casino and late night entertainment. We were unable to go out every night and spent our $10, 000 vacation sleeping in separate rooms. The current website and brand new Oasis of the Seas catalog continues to show cabins 3238 and 3240 as adjoining, therefore showing me that not only has Royal Caribbean disappointed me and my family but will continue to ruin vacations for future travelors as well. My husband, a NYC police officer, and myself, a counselor for sexually abused children, find Royal Caribbean's policy of booking and permitting minors to be alone in unsupervised cabins appauling and certainly plan to bring public attention to the policy for further review. I am truly dissappointed in their response and after enjoying multiple cruises with Royal Caribean, I will certainly be considering alternative cruise lines for my future travel.
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