Worst Covid-19 Cruise Experience

by Lida Adabnejad

My family had the worst Covid-19 cruise experience ever. The saddest thing is that it was our first cruise and now we'll never sail with this cruise line again.

As stated above, this was our first cruise. I booked a Royal Caribbean cruise for my wife, mother-in-law and our two children. My kids were very excited and looked forward to their first cruise.

The cruise sailed from Los Angles to Ensenada, Mexico.

As required, my entire family took a Covid-19 test before arriving at the port and all our results were negative. However, upon arriving at the Los Angles port they told us that the kids' test results were useless and they had to be re-tested before they could board the ship.

We waited for an hour to get the test results. One of the tests came back as inconclusive, so they said they needed to test again. Believe it or not, they ended up testing three times. Finally, we were told to check in. It had taken 3 hours to get all the testing done and by the time we were allowed to the check-in counter the ship was ready to depart.

We were the last ones to be released.

We provided our passports, vaccine cards and itineraries to the staff at the check-in counter. Also, just FYI, the staff at this check-in counter did not have adequate training and kept asking others to help them.

My wife had recently changed her name to the married name so she got my last name. We did provide the vaccine ID cards, driver's license, credit card, and insurance card that had the same name on the vaccine card along with her passport and the name change copy. The lady over the counter said that she had to check with the Cruise Manager, which took a while for him to come down from the ship.

A gentleman by the name of Jorge Perdrosa, the Guest Services Manager, came and after he looked at all the proofs he said: "NO SHE CANNOT GO." He stated that he needed the original "Change of Name" and then he disappeared. We traveled internationally last summer from Los Angeles to Dubai and we only showed them her passport, vaccine ID card and driver's license. All all was good.

I desperately tried to talk to him and explain that she had just changed her married name, but he said "THERE IS NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT" and he left.

This is just racial discrimination towards our family. This is pure and simple.

As you can imagine, we were very upset and struggled to decide what we could do. It was at this time that the kids began to cry. We were all stressed, because the ship was ready to leave and we had to make a tough decision.

My wife has monophobia and she has never stayed alone at home. Yet, she asked us to go since the kids were really looking forward to this trip. We checked in and ended up walking onto the ship without my wife - my kids' mother.

On the way to the ship we encountered a lady wearing a Royal Caribbean uniform, who was working as an elevator operator. This lady turned toward me and said: "You are the family who held me back to stay extra hours at work so I cannot be with my family."

I was shocked. You can guess that I was already very upset about the whole ordeal and then to hear this from that worker. I was just about to explode, but I controlled myself and I asked for name tag. She did not have one.


My kids were having a tough time without their mother and I was having a hell of a hard time to take care of two kids and above all I was also covering for my wife who is the caregiver to her senior mom. The kids we depressed and they just kept watching movies most of the time in the cabin.

Here is another issue. On the second day, we arrived in Ensenada and my kids were happy that they could get off the ship. We went all the way down to the 4th floor in order to go to ashore in Ensenada, but this was not to happen.

Next thing you know they told me that my kids could not go ashore, because they were not vaccinated. I was already upset about the whole trip so far and now I needed to deal with this stupid issue.

I asked why no one told us that our kids could not get off of the ship unless they were vaccinated. The cruise destination was Ensenada and if the passengers are with kids they should have explained before booking or at least while checking in that my daughter who is 8 years old and my son who is 10 could not get off of the ship unless they were vaccinated. We would have thought twice before booking or at the time of checking in could have gone back with my wife.

Try to imagine how angry and disappointed the kids were. The cabin was our only place to stay and as I mentioned it was like a prison. Please keep in mind that the weather was cold and windy.

We are so angry at Royal Caribbean that we won't be stepping on any of their cruise ships in the future. Furthermore, this discount is a worthless piece of paper.

This was indeed the worst ever Covid-19 cruise experience!