Crew are ppl who like you are working to support their families. Don't be rude, treat them the way you demand to be treated.

At the end of the cruise those punks made me get off the ship while I was having the time of my life!!!!! I HATE that part about cruising!!!!! 😡

LOL...your toilet paper comment. Just got back from a cruise with my mom and she came out of the bathroom and commented "well, there is nothing Royal about that toilet paper!" 😂

My pet peeve is observing other passengers being rude to cruise staff members. We're always in a fabulous mood the moment we board the ship. My wife and I go out of our way to compliment the wonderful service we receive from everyone. Heck, we find that the very act of giving out compliments while making positive eye contact and smiling with crew members heightens our joy even more. I'm a retired hospitality pro who knows how hard it is to maintain high standards each and every single day...RCL folks always bring their "A" game from my perspective.

I absolutely hate ppl being crappy to the staff 😡. My wife has to pull me back when I start getting into it with the passenger being an 🫏. Be nice to the ppl taking care of you!!!

Matt, you are 110% right about the post-cruise survey. When you are not TRULY able to provide your honest insight and really only provide a '5 out of 5' then they are really missing the boat (pun intended). The reason I believe they do this is ease and simplification of data collection. They should be putting more resources into data colletion and mining, otherwise just do away with the surveys. I prefer to provide details specific to to the good and bad, be it service, food quality etc.

On a recent O of Seas cruise, there were 10 kids at a table in the MDR with no adult supervision. Parents ignored the rowdy behavior, I was told by the grandparent to get the hell off their ship when I made a comment.

I agree with gratuities should be part of the cruise fare.

I took a spring brk cruise on the Explorer of the Seas out of Miami last month. Every time I walked past the Guest Services area some dude or lady or group was letting one or more GS staff members have it and were being extremely rude and angry. At one point I had to get some change for going to shore the next day, I asked one of the GS attendants how they dealt with the challenge of rude passengers (cause I witnessed it just before it was my turn in line) and she was so professional about it, said that she loved people and that sometimes guests were difficult but there are very pleasant interactions with guests as well and that would make it all worth it. I was AMAZED at this response. Great work by the Guest Services team on Explorer of the Seas.

Gratuities should simply be a part of the cruise fare, and if you feel like going over-and-above, that's your call. They shouldn't even call them gratuities. It should all happen behind the scenes, like Europe or Australia.

To remember all those great onboard crew who make your cruise fantastic, either jot their name on a pad but even easier, take a photo of their name badge on your cell phone, obviously with their approval. We do this all the time and it makes filling out the cruise survey so much easier.

I hate it when there is almost always some group of kids that ride the elevators all day. they sit on the floor and mess with the buttons. If you are a parent please tell your children not to mess with the elevators.

I absolutely agree with you about the survey. Instead of the rating system, I would like to be able to type in suggestions to improve the cruise experience or say what I enjoyed about the trip.

I hate not finding chairs in the pool deck and 90% of them being saved. I wish they would enforce the "don't save chairs" and create e good culture.

I hate getting home from a cruise! Love the channel Matt.

Agree about rude people!

Hi Matt ❤ ❗You Are So Right , Crew Members Work Too Hard ❗❗Back when we Cruised on The CARIVAL Fantasy WE TOOK a Tour of the Ship . I - 95 where they Showed All WHAT The CREW Does For EVERYBODY ❤ THANK YOU ALL ❤❗❗ OUR Travel Agent on our First Cruise on The MARNIER of the SEAS 2008 Said They ALL Work For Us , We ALWAYS Give Extra Tip to Our STATEROOM, Our Dinner Staff & who Ever we feel Did Over What Was Expected . You see People Being So Rude ❗ I was Always Taught to Treat People the Way You Want to Be Treated ❤❗ Thanks Matt For ALL YOU DO ❤❤❗❗

I wish they would add the gratuity too Matt! And I also wish they get rid of the Jones’ Act foreign port requirement. I live on the west coast and honestly, Ensenada and Victoria are two places I’ll just stay back on the ship. Especially Victoria where the stop is literally a few hours just to make that requirement! Thank you for all you do!

I totally agree with all you said.Regarding the survey, i was on the Odyssey for a TA cruise and my survey had disappeared by the time I was home in Florida and was told by RCL that i wouldn't be able to submit it . There were crew members that went above and beyond that i wasn't able to compliment.

Matt, you go boy. I have been cruising with Norwegian 12yrs

221 more days and counting until Adventure of the Seas.

Great video Matt

Wow. Today I learnt about the PVSA. That makes so much sense to me. I don’t have a Canadian visa and can’t do an Alaskan Cruise from US cause there is always a Canadian stop. I searched so much to find one and now it makes sense Thank you

My wife and I have been on 7 or 8 cruises, and will go again. We enjoy most of it, but really dislike standing in line. And you stand in line for everything! The buffet, the dining room, embarkation, disembarkation, everything! :-(

We tip on purchase and also tip the crew members in cash, the staff is always incredible and well deserving on RC!

disorderly disembarkation - some cruises getting off the ship is a big free for all, waiting forever on the stairs, other people cutting in line, others taking the elevator and bypassing hundreds of people waiting on the stairs

I hate the post cruise survey too. I usually tell our servers, stateroom attendants, etc. that we've got them when it comes to a "perfect score" once we reach about halfway through the cruise. (Of course that is if they have been good, which most of the time they are.) That way we don't have to listen to them ask for perfect scores and we, and they, can relax.

I definitely agree about tying gratuity into the cost of the cruise! Those very nice staff members work so hard.😊

We went on our first cruise last week and it was absolutely amazing. Some of the things you mentioned were some of the things we hated as well. Appreciate all your videos. Keep them coming

Nice tour, our next cruise Destination is Lanzarote

I said before the video began the Toliet paper 🤣 also how loud it is for the flushing toilet, it sounds like a jet engine.

For me I love cruising so much these things don't bother me!!! However being kind to people and tipping is a must!!! As for the toilet paper, it's what needed for the plumbing system they have. I love venturing out on my own basking in the culture, people and the food so I haven't done a group shore excursion in quite sometime!! Thanks for the list Happy Cruising #LOYAL2Royal

I absolutely agree with the toilet paper. It’s like using sand paper.

I got vert very sunburnt on my transpacific cruise to Australia. The Asian folks I was sharing a table with said to use vinegar. Dab it on, not wipe, and the next day the pain with be gone and everything will start to heal. GREAT NEWS - IT WORKED. That's my tip... vinegar on a sunburn.

This is new for Matt. You love everything 😂❤

Sailed on Wonder last week...outstanding staff! One thing I really HATE is when other passengers stick their used beverage container/water bottle right up to the water refill station disregarding the signs. I did observe a few individuals using a cup to pour the water into their container (which is ok to do). One crew in the WJ (kudos!) stopped a lady and had her use a cup for refilling her used water bottle.

Good list, I agree with many of these items. The thing I hate most is the end of my cruise. 😢

Great points! I hate how small the toilet and shower areas are.

Excellent list! My wife and I agreed with most everything. Survey’s definitely need to be revamped. We’ve found that private tours are worth the cost. It would be nice if gratuities were part of the cost of your cruise fare. Now, how do we get the cruise industry to listen?!?

Went on an excursion where we spent 3 hrs at a trinket shop and go 30 minutes at the site we went on the cruise to see.

Looking forward to Icon of the Seas later this year! I still need to get an Insta360 to record all the fun

I 100% agree about the satisfaction survey. I've always been happy with our service and always given 10s and specifically named our wait staff and housekeepers as being excellent because I KNOW what happens when they only get a 9. All that does is hide any actual problems. I've always had excellent service but I do feel pressured to give perfect scores for the staff who I came to be concerned for, if I didn't.

The PVSA is by far the #1 on my list. Would love to be able to cruise up the west coast other than a repositioning cruise.

Crown Loft actually had 2 ply toilet paper few weeks back! It was still thin cruise safe, but had that extra ply!

i agree about the post-cruise survey. on my last cruise, the food was sub-par, but the dining room staff was exemplary. the dining room wait staff is punished if you down grade the main dinig room. and there us no separate qustion about the food.

On our previous September cruise on Allure there were a great deal of Pinnacle-level guests. Most of them were very senior. Not a single one responded to me when I said “good morning” or just “hello”.

I totally agree about the post cruise survey, I was just on a trans Pacific cruise from Australia to Hawaii. They were way too pushy about the perfect score on the survey. For one I'm on vacation and I don't want to be harassed constantly about this and second it's unrealistic to deny that there's always room for improvement. I always wear a rash guard on a cruise when I'm out on deck doing nothing by the pool and have never gotten sunburnt.

44 to go till Anthem OTS to Norway!

Nice vlog

great video as always. and i agree 110% with you regarding the survey. i use to work at a restaurant years ago with the same issue. we were pushed constantly through out our shifts to give the sympathy spiel which wasn’t only humiliating but also yields ingenuous results. it defeats the whole purpose of the survey so what’s the point

There is a simple solution to the PVSA issue you identified--Royal Caribbean, a company based in the United States, could reflag its ships with a US flag, as opposed to a flag of convenience in the Bahamas. RC, and all the other cruise operators, could fix this tomorrow, but choose not to.

Hi Matt, we are on the Ultimate World Cruise we are covering all the ports in our channel. We do private, tours almost 100% for a fraction of the price of a Royal tour. there are many things that are not perfect but nothing is perfect.

Toilet paper…a solution would be to use the toilet paper initially, then use wipes, but don’t flush them. Put them in the little can next to the commode. I’ve done this, just not all the time.

I hate the disembark process. I think it could be reworked and smoother.

Agree with your thoughts on the survey, but Royal is hardly the only company that has decided anything except a 10 is failure. To me, a 10 is perfect and going above and beyond. Normal good service is probably like an 8

Absolutely, Matt! Agree with all those points. Really wish they'd just include the gratuities in the overall fare to insure the crew get their due. Rudeness to any crew member is the absolute worst. That's my biggest pet peeve. We've also stopped booking group excursions... so many bad experiences on past tours, mostly with rude passengers.

I am going to Alaska (Seattle round-trip).What I hate is that to comply PVSA is not that they are going to stop, but rather they pay lip service to the stop. We are arriving at 6:30pm on a Sunday night and leaving soon after. What is there to see in Victoria at that time...not much! Essentially it is a stop to comply, but they do not really allow us to experience the city. It is just a rush stop for legal purposes. I think that is wrong.

I bring my own TP. I understand why it’s 1 ply but it’s rough, I have very sensitive skin and end up raw halfway through the cruise. There are other 1 ply options that are better quality and softer. Parents who let their children run free and do whatever they want is one of my biggest issues. It’s usually those parents who get drunk and end up arguing, causing a scene too.

I always wonder if "Gratuities" really go to the staff, or are they just part of the cruise ship profit.

Chair hogs! Such a challenge for two of us to find empty seats without towels on the pool deck or solarium pretty much any day

I absolutely hate the survey thing! I am a nice person, and my goal is never to get anyone in trouble or fired. Hence, I have definitely lied on the surveys because I don’t want to harm anyone, and often it was just a bad day. But it keeps me from giving honest feedback to the cruise line. Luckily, service is normally great, but I have definitely had a MDR experience that I would have given a two - but I give a 10 on the survey because I don’t to put anyone’s job on the line.

I agree about the TP…ouch! Also the lack of time allotted to complete the post cruise survey is questionable. Shame on you RC, you know that many of us need more time to complete it. However I disagree with you regarding the gratuities. Thank you RC for allowing us to choose how WE want to tip.

I just got off Virgin, and most of these issues aren't a thing. The passengers are amazing, gratuities are included and the toilet paper is great! I'll be on Utopia in August, and I know it won't be the same.

Could you do a video on how tips work for my time dining. Since you don’t ever have the same servers, do they just pool all the tips?

Norwegian pride of America is the only one that avoids the pvsa rule

There's usually only one excursion per port that is listed for those with mobility problems. I get it-but it's still a bummer

Wow, i never had much thought about the toilet paper. LoL. Mot much of a big deal to me.

Retail experience surveys are exactly the same.

Used to work for large wireless carrier, NPS are false readings. As you stated nothing is perfect. For workers to feel pressure or get in “trouble” for not receiving 10s is bad business practice. To fix an issue , must need to know the issue.

So, we are taking our first cruise next March on Royal Caribbean. I love rewarding good service! My family and I eat out all the time and I always tip at least 20%, even to the waiters that quite frankly do not deserve it. What should we tip and to whom? Maybe, there is a video on it but I have not personally seen it.

I’ve noticed when I’m on any vacation is that the rude people come across as, “This is MY vacation and everything should be catered to ME!” It doesn’t matter to them that there are thousands of people that signed up for the same vacation, they believe that their experience is more valuable than everyone else’s.

Agree!!! You could have included line cutters under rude people. 😂

I carry a peri bottle and spritz. Then I use a flushable wipe THAT I Don’t FLUSH. I use a bidet at home so I expect to make accommodations. •RCL excursions are the worse. And most expensive. It’s as if they don’t want to do them. •I consider rude passengers as entitled folk who deserve to be ignored. I go out of my way to appreciate the staff and show them great respect. •their surveys ask stupid questions. They do not want to know the truth. •RCL needs to get their deck chair situation in order. It’s going to cause great ugliness in the future. •gratuities need transparency. I’m tired of being the rescuer when they have high paid executives. • that Cococay port fee is garbage because it’s a nowhere water park. I hate Cococay.

A lady did this on Indy last week. The nice person at the towel check out told her she needed to scan her card for the towels and the passenger said something rude and waked off without checking them out. I wanted to tackle her for the crew member. lol

I so agree with the gratuities- just add them into the fare!! I've gotten to the point that if something comes up in conversation with another guest about how they took them off, I just walk away from them. It angers me!

I hate having to come back to reality!

I agree with you about the surveys. They need to tweek that. I hate that children are allowed in the hot tubs for unlimited time. Even for adults, I thought that there was a rule that you should only be in there for no more than 20 minutes at a time. It is nice when there is a solarium on a ship for adults only but it would be nice to be able to go in one out on the main deck on occasion without the little ones in there. I think gratuities should be included in price. I also always give more to my room steward, bar staff and occasionally extra to dining room wait staff if appropriate. I believe there should be more policing of saved chairs but with a reasonable time period, say at least an hour. Sometimes during the middle of the day you need to go grab a quick lunch or attend a event that shouldn't last more than an hour. It takes a few minutes sometimes to get to where your going. I was on a ship where they were ticketing chairs in the solarium and the lady had just moved away from her chair to run back to her room for something. They saw her get up but ticketed her chair anyways. Then she felt she couldn't leave.

If your tips are added into the cruise fare, your insurance will be at a higher price. Making the cost of your cruise higher too.

Only thing I hate about a cruise is being in a cruise..:D

I always tip extra in cash at the end. Makes me feel good and they certainly deserve it.

You hit the right note on the toilet paper. I hate 1 ply. Luckily my wife found portable bidets on amazon. I'll be trying it on our cruise in June

Those remind of chain of command surveys when i was army. They ask for opinions but they don’t want in 2014 I was brand new private at my first and only unit. They he week they were punishing the whole company because they didn’t like what the soldiers put on surely so I learned quick to never be honest on those.

I agree with most of your complaints, especially about the post-cruise survey. It feels like a scam, why have 10 numbers if it is binary? Also strongly agree with gratuities being included with fare.

Gratuities! Is so annoying! I also wish they would give you an option to add the drink packages aa part of the cruise fare and not pay separately.

I think disembarkation day is the worst, for reasons that are obvious (End of vacation blues) and not so obvious (it's a very long day).

The pricing should be inclusive taxes, fees and gratuities on all pages of the website.

Private excursions are awesome. Did one in Panama and was worth every cent. We have 3 in our upcoming cruise in Italy. Great, especially with small kids I hate it too when I see anyone rude to any crew. Thankfully, its only been a few times over the 38 cruises I have been on. Usually, its just people upset over the dumbest things. Surveys is great for constructive feedback...if they are filled out honestly. When I worked with Marriott for 5yrs, getting an 8,9, or 10 was the goal. Then they changed it to only 9's or 10's. Much harder. Getting an 8 hurt our overall score even if the guest said they loved everything. Tips should just be built in to the cruise fare.

About toilet paper. It's not like newspaper; it is softer than that. There are plenty of restaurants that have the same quality. Years ago, I stayed for several months in a European hotel that had toilet paper that was similar to crepe paper. It was gray, thick, and rough. Cruise ship toilet paper is high quality compared to it. If your skin is sensitive, bring some cream. If you insist on bringing your own toilet paper never, ever put it in the toilet. Put it in the trash can instead along with your baby wipes, pads, and diapers. You do not want to clog up the plumbing!

Hate the inadequate survey!

I totally agree about the gratuities. The staff work hard and I don't think people should be able to remove those fees. People are cheap and are allowed to remove them. We tip above the standard gratuities fees.

At 5:22, which ship is this Guest Services on? Interesting space there with the blue swirl carpet.

2:30 can you bring your own toilet paper 🧻? 😂

I went on a Royal Caribbean anthem of the Seas cruise February and again just now in April and both times I never received the post Cruise survey when I went back in April I told them I never got the February one they took my email and they said they would look into it but I just got back from the April Cruise a week ago and I never got the post through survey again do you have any idea of why this is happening

We’ve been on over 60 cruises and I can honestly say the toilet paper on 6 different cruise lines has never ever been an issue! 😮 !

100% agree with your views concerning the Post Cruise Survey--they are really shooting themselves in the foot on this valuable resource. Also, someone commented about a table full of kids with NO adult supervision. We had that on one cruise and I hated going to dinner most every night. I complained all the way up to the highest-person-I-could and she said that basically her hands were tied and they are "guests" too. I told her--well, maybe your hands are tied but my mouth works fine and I'll address the "missing" parents. You should have seen the look-of-horror on her face! The parents that were sitting 20+ feet away didn't really care. We're pickier now about where we sit in the MDR--it we don't like it we move immediately! And finally--to get to my MAIN complaint. It's the tiny sinks in the bathrooms! And then--for some ships--they put in some "fancy" sink and it's even worse! I get it--the bathrooms are small but I'd like to fit my hands in the sink. Also, we're usually on the ship for a couple back-to-backs and wash/rinse out our clothes in them, too. I've got a system--wash in sink and rinse in shower--dry on balcony. (we bring extra beach towel clips to secure drying clothes and only leave out when we're in the room during our afternoon nap) After 100 cruises tho, I really can't complain--just love the ocean and cruising!

It is great to hear an american wish gratuities were automatically incorporated into the cruise price. Royal often now include them if you are booking in UK. In europe generally the feeling is that they are part of the cruise cost and should be treated as such by the cruise lines and not solely to give misleading pricing. We all see through the scam so just admit it cruise lines and include, it does you no favours.

I’ve seen reports on social media this week that some passengers on Harmony had bed bug infestations in their cabin. I wonder how common this is? Have any of you encountered this before, and how did Royal Caribbean resolve the problem?

Question: if you pay for unlimited dining package should you adjust fixed gratuities since your not even going to the MDR

I adamantly disagree with you regarding automatic tips. Unfortunately, we humans know that if things like tips are automatic, we tend not to work as hard. That being said, my wife and I go above and beyond to take care of those who take care of us and as diamond members we firmly believe that Royal Caribbean does it best. I appreciate that Royal Caribbean wants to get every crew member a nice tip but the back of house members who Royal hires for that job should be supported by a little higher wage paid by their employer because it's not a job that typically receives tips. Royal can easily handle that. With the cruise boom that's going on, it wouldn't be a problem. I love your channel and always agree with you.....but on this topic I'd have to agree to disagree. I'm sure you know what "TIPS" is an acronym for? "To Insure Prompt Service". Anyway thanks again Matt.

Food. I have some of the best and worst meals on RC. I know they are cooking for 1,000's, but could they at least season a little bit in the process? I could say more but won't bore you. Also, could they be bothered to add some to add some real sausage links in the breakfast selection in Windjammer? Chicken sausage doesn't cut it for me.