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I absolutely love RCL ! seems like a lot of people just gripe and complain about my favorite cruiseline....so I want to let everyone know that I don't care what they charge it is worth it! RCL has the best of everything! so I don't mind paying it. just like having a BMW in your garage....you get what you pay for. so you haters can just hate...but I think RCL is the best!! and no I am not trying other lines...done that....no comparison.

 

 

I have never sailed with Royal. In the past, our favourite line was Celebrity. We prefer to book lower-level suites (we certainly are not wealthy and have to save for them!). Once Michael Bayley arrived at Celebrity, the prices rose very significantly. Even if the quality remains the same, suite prices at Celebrity are now more than we wish to pay in most cases. Although every cruise we've done with Celebrity was great, it got to the point where I didn't feel the experience was worth the price, and I've made a deliberate decision to find a new line that provides a good product for a reasonable cost.

 

I am waiting to book a 2016 Med cruise. After much research, I had decided on Royal and await the release of 2016 Europe itineraries. After seeing the comments on CC after yesterday's release of Royal's Caribbean itineraries, it sounds as though Mr. Bayley has struck again. I'll see how the Med prices look next week when they're released, but if they look too high for the product that Royal is providing, I'll skip it and go elsewhere. Even if Royal costs less than Celebrity, I will not pay more than I think the experience is worth.

 

The OP's original post sounds to me very much like a first-world rant. Perhaps money is not an issue for you - but we work very hard for our money and I won't spend it indiscriminately out of stubborn loyalty to anyone. Whether it's a cruise line, airline, resort or whatever, the prices must make sense and I don't ever want to feel like I'm paying too much. In the end, it doesn't appear that Celebrity has suffered due to the increases and I suppose Royal won't either. However, my business will go elsewhere if the prices are unreasonable.

Edited by jaspersmommy
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There is also the psychological process that if you pay more it must be better, when in reality, its not..

 

Don't I know it. The Toronto Maple Leafs have the highest ticket prices in the league. You could buy several houses in Detroit for what a Platinum seat costs for a Leaf game!:eek: So the Leafs should be in first place, right? Not quite - 5th LAST and sinking faster than the Titanic did on the way to the ocean floor.:D

 

But it's all good, several reports lately of scalpers getting less than face value for tickets vs the usual huge premium, so maybe, just maybe, the Leafs won't be a complete sellout next year like they have been since the time of Moses, and the draft prospects are really, really good this year.:D

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It does suck that prices go up but like I mentioned before its across the board on everything we pay for nowadays.

 

I agree prices overall are up, but seriously, the so called sale since May last year is more than inflation. I booked my August Oasis cruise in April, inside is $854, it's currently $1279 with the "sale". That's not inflation or normal profits, it's greed, manipulation & just wrong. I've seen too many reviews about service decline, lower food quality in the MDR & an overall lack of the special ness that use to be a norm.

 

It's been 3 yrs since our last Rcl cruise, hopefully, we will be blessed with good weather, cabin steward & waiter.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

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Just an interesting aside here. I always find it comical that folks post here on the quality of RCI going down and they have fewer than one cruise a year. With around 22 ships in the RCI fleet how does one cruise infrequently and make such a determination?

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like. No...LOVE!

 

I will agree, but say that if RCCL is astute, they are paying attention to this Forum.

 

Hopefully, especially with regards to smoking in the Casino; A once enjoyable activity that we can no longer take part in.. sigh. :(

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Just an interesting aside here. I always find it comical that folks post here on the quality of RCI going down and they have fewer than one cruise a year. With around 22 ships in the RCI fleet how does one cruise infrequently and make such a determination?

 

Speaking for myself, my first cruise on RCL was in 2001 on Monarch. Only cruise before that was on NCLs Norway (2000, before freestyle). We were blown away by the difference. Royals service in the MDR & treatment by staff made us decide to only cruise Rcl. We have cruised 5 more times (2004, 2005, 2006, 2011 & 2012) on Rcl. But due to family/friends, etc, we also cruised 1 time on Celebrity (2010) & 1 time on Ncl (2013). We cruise again on Rcl this August.

 

Celebrity had the quality service that we saw on Rcl that first cruise on Monarch. But, not as much fun for our teenage sons. Ncls freestyle didn't work for us.

 

So, although we didn't cruise every year, we've been around long enough to note the difference. It was better than Ncl, overall, but not as good as it use to be.

 

That's really the issue. I've seen better from Rcl, but now it's more money for less. That's my story.

 

Edit:

We sailed all classes except Radiance & Quantum.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

Edited by idamae3218
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All of the mass market cruise lines have cut costs and reduced the cruise experience. It's not just Royal Caribbean. Prices of cruises are set by demand or what people are willing to pay. As long as people will pay the higher prices, they'll keep raising them. People write the same complaints on all of the other CC cruise line forums. This isn't unique. For us, sometimes Royal Caribbean is the right cruise line and sometimes it isn't.

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Just an interesting aside here. I always find it comical that folks post here on the quality of RCI going down and they have fewer than one cruise a year. With around 22 ships in the RCI fleet how does one cruise infrequently and make such a determination?

 

Are you seriously asking that question? People who cruise less often are more likely to see the decline than those who cruise several times a year. Frequent cruisers don't see it as easily because it happens a little at a time so each change (loss of service or quality) isn't necessarily noticed. When you put all the changes that have occurred over a period of a year or more together, it's VERY noticeable.

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Just an interesting aside here. I always find it comical that folks post here on the quality of RCI going down and they have fewer than one cruise a year. With around 22 ships in the RCI fleet how does one cruise infrequently and make such a determination?

 

If your saying that those individuals' opinions are not based on a significantly large sample size to be statistically significant you're right. Way too small of a sample size. But has that ever held anyone back from offering an opinion around here on anything?:p

 

BTW, even with your vast amount of cruises your sample size is too small to statistically say the quality of RCI is not going down.;) With any high level of confidence of course. :)

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$4 increase does not affect us, neither do the drink prices.

Lately it's been the amateurish management moves, the moves to start charging extra for every little thing it seems, the Chops price increase, and the assumption that they can sell more drink packages by instituting hyper-inflation level price increases on individual drinks. The product is still pretty good but the management, not so much.
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the more you cruise, the more you should notice the small things that change the big things that change..

 

I don't see it that way. Big changes will be noticed. The small ones won't be noticed until they start to really add up. A frequent cruiser, won't really feel them because it's one small thing at a time. The infrequent cruiser gets hit with them all at once & when they compare it to what they experienced 2 1/2 years ago, there's a big difference!

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I agree prices overall are up, but seriously, the so called sale since May last year is more than inflation. I booked my August Oasis cruise in April, inside is $854, it's currently $1279 with the "sale". That's not inflation or normal profits, it's greed, manipulation & just wrong. I've seen too many reviews about service decline, lower food quality in the MDR & an overall lack of the special ness that use to be a norm.

 

It's been 3 yrs since our last Rcl cruise, hopefully, we will be blessed with good weather, cabin steward & waiter.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

 

 

I guess the game is you have to book early. My August cruise is now a little over $1000 and I paid $770 in total which includes a $100 credit

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BTW, even with your vast amount of cruises your sample size is too small to statistically say the quality of RCI is not going down.;) With any high level of confidence of course. :)

 

I did not offer an opinion of my own as to the quality of RCI's service. ;)

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I don't see it that way. Big changes will be noticed. The small ones won't be noticed until they start to really add up. A frequent cruiser, won't really feel them because it's one small thing at a time. The infrequent cruiser gets hit with them all at once & when they compare it to what they experienced 2 1/2 years ago, there's a big difference!

 

 

I think if you haven't been on every ship how can you generalize and say that the service is down on Royal. No one mentions service has gone down on a particular ship. Actually cruise on each ship several times a year to actually gauge how the service actually is. Unless you do that no one truly knows if the service is actually going down or not. Taking opinions from others on cruise critic doesn't count lol

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I think if you haven't been on every ship how can you generalize and say that the service is down on Royal. No one mentions service has gone down on a particular ship. Actually cruise on each ship several times a year to actually gauge how the service actually is. Unless you do that no one truly knows if the service is actually going down or not. Taking opinions from others on cruise critic doesn't count lol

 

Again, I disagree. Our first cruise was in 1990 & I assure you, service has declined considerably since that time.

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I don't need to be on every ship to notice a decline in the experience! :confused:

 

 

You're pretty much guessing then without any solid proof. If you say you've been on a certain ship since 1999 and you only go on that ship then that sounds more believable.

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Again, I disagree. Our first cruise was in 1990 & I assure you, service has declined considerably since that time.

 

 

Again, you wouldn't know how the service is on every ship if you haven't been on every ship. To convince someone you should have facts based on your findings and not someone else's experience that relates to yours.

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I absolutely love RCL ! seems like a lot of people just gripe and complain about my favorite cruiseline....so I want to let everyone know that I don't care what they charge it is worth it! RCL has the best of everything! so I don't mind paying it. just like having a BMW in your garage....you get what you pay for. so you haters can just hate...but I think RCL is the best!! and no I am not trying other lines...done that....no comparison.

 

Funny let's see you work for royal Caribbean right :D Thanks for the laugh needed that.:D:)

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Just an interesting aside here. I always find it comical that folks post here on the quality of RCI going down and they have fewer than one cruise a year. With around 22 ships in the RCI fleet how does one cruise infrequently and make such a determination?

I've cruised about 110 days a year on Royal the last couple of years (also a few other cruise lines). Am I qualified to say "the quality has gone down"? I am not "anti" Royal but am finding it harder and harder to get excited and actually book new cruises. Last year we had 23 future cruises booked on Royal. Don't remember my actual current count but it's down to something like 9. I've only given my TA instructions to book 2 or 4 more depending on price. At this rate I will quickly run out of future bookings (on Royal at least).

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I've cruised about 110 days a year on Royal the last couple of years (also a few other cruise lines). Am I qualified to say "the quality has gone down"? I am not "anti" Royal but am finding it harder and harder to get excited and actually book new cruises. Last year we had 23 future cruises booked on Royal. Don't remember my actual current count but it's down to something like 9. I've only given my TA instructions to book 2 or 4 more depending on price. At this rate I will quickly run out of future bookings (on Royal at least).

 

 

Maybe you are cruising too much. That what it sounds like to me. Cruising about a third of the year sounds fun, but is it really?

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