hac82

The logical answer is they want people to book early. The secondary one is, most of their new ships are almost ALL balconies. The balcony discount made sense to them when they had many inside, OV cabins on ships. In those times a balcony was a serious upgrade (in experience, but also in cost).

 

Now everyone gets a balcony, it's about all there is. They're effectively giving a discount to every C&A cruiser, rather then using it to promote people to spend extra for a balcony.

 

So now it's turning into a tool to promote people to book earlier. Other cruise lines may have their own methods (NCL, for example, gives a bonus loyalty point for cruises booked >9 months in advance).

For the most part, from a business perspective, I would agree with you. As a business, they will always nod to the bottom line because without that, they will not meet the obligations to the stockholders which is what public company needs to do.

What I feel is needed though, and I discussed this with them, is that they cannot toss aside those who have made their company what it is. Granted they created the C&A program with maybe loose requirements in the past and as such created the situation they have today with high numbers of repeat cruisers on each cruise, but just as they need to expand their new cruiser base to keep them going in future years, they cannot forget those that keep coming back. If they do, then at some point the repeaters will stop and then the question is if the new cruisers are enough to fill the ships. Most likely not.

They still need to let the C & A members know that RCCL appreciates their loyalty. Constantly removing benefits that were promised to them to get them back is not the way to go unless you find another way to compensate.

I honestly have no idea why this happened, but I received another call from their Executive Office this morning. I spoke with a different person than yesterday. She told me that they have researched and found that 80% of their sales comes from people that book more than six months out. I reminded her that the remaining 20% could be those customers that are retired, possibly long time Diamond+ and Pinnacle cruisers that look for last minute deals and as such you are now telling them that they can pay the same as a first time cruiser.

After a long conversation, when she told me they are looking for ways to make the C & A customer feel they are getting something for the loyalty, I said the best way is to let them have the loyalty discount throughout their booking until sail date and let them get the same price reductions that are being offered to the general public. At least there is now a reason to be a C & A cruiser and a repeat cruiser. They should not be telling C & A cruisers that at some point they may get the privilege of paying the same price as a first time cruiser.

I was told that all my comments will be forwarded to the board. Only time will tell if they are hearing us. Please, if you have not e-mailed, consider doing it. They need to hear our voice.

mbayley@rccl.com

My TA also got a call back today from her contact in RCCL. She was told they are getting a huge response on this.

First, I want to thank the OP for bringing this to our attention. I really was not sure I was going to do this, but I wrote a letter to Mr. Bailey this morning. My surprise was that I just received a call from the executive office within the past hour, not even six hours after I sent it. I was informed that Mr. Bailey had read the letter and had one of his people return a call to me to discuss it. It would seem that they are getting a large amount of feedback on this issue and it was impressed upon me that the amount is such that they are planning meeting on this to see what is next. Of course the person I spoke to would not go into details, but I did get the impression that they are "getting the drift" so to say that the level of discontent is extremely high.

I made sure they understood that I was not complaining because this affected me directly at this time, but it was a trend that I could no longer stay silent on.

My recommendation to everyone is send letters to Mr. Bailey and let him know how you feel.

Totally agree. It was very repetitive (and IMO, focused too much on steel and how propellers came to be, etc). I ended up not even finishing the episode.

I have been watching the entire series. Yes at times it is repetitive but the concept of the show is to show how they make the "Impossible - Possible" though the use of engineering discoveries from the past to the present. None of the shows so far have been totally about the object being built but the technological advances that allowed it to be built.

I noticed the Anthem is sailing on April 30 from the port, does

anyone know what the the parking situation will be i.e, will there be any available parking on May 1 for the Summit.

Thanks for your help

I think the design of the garage was for 900 cars. Even if it was full, they might still have the lot that is across the "street" from the garage (this was the original parking lot). They might use that for overflow but I am not sure.

what's wrong with parking at the pier?

I agree. Covered garage, right next to the terminal, your arrival and departure can be on your terms instead of taking a shuttle. If for any reason you are delayed in leaving the ship on your return (and sometimes it can happen), you do not need to worry about calling anyone or fighting for a taxi, just leave the ship, get your bags, clear customs and walk to your car. Parking at the pier, if I heard correctly is now $20/night of the cruise.

I usually hold back from posting on threads with topics like this but for some reason I felt I just had to do it this time. When we go on a cruise, it does not matter to us if everything is not 100% perfect. We stroll up the gangplank with the knowledge that we are going to be away from all of the daily issues that can complicate our lives and that alone makes it all worthwhile.

Can there be issues that I could complain about, absolutely. Do I contact Guest Relations when something is wrong, absolutely. However, here are two quick stories on how my contact with them still allowed us to have some of the best vacations we ever had.

Celebrity Eclipse - you name it, it was happening. A/C was not working when we got to our cabin, transformer on bathroom light failed, knob fell off drawer, phone cord would not stay in phone and several other small items. Housekeeping supervisor was trying to make sure we were not upset over all the issues. I told her "I am on vacation. If I was home, I would have to take care of all of these things. Your staff worked on them and fixed them so I did not. Thank you."

Our recent Anthem of the Seas - One morning for breakfast in the American Icon, the waiter was refilling my coffee. The flip cover stuck and when it finally opened, a couple of drops fell on me. He was horrified and said he would have to file a report, offered to have my t-shirt cleaned, etc. We said not to worry, things happen, we did not need the cleaning voucher, etc. Result - one of the best waiters we had the entire trip. He ended up with a WOW envelope because of the exceptional service.

It appears that the staff is always on edge because they think the worse will happen from a passenger and I think it sometimes comes off as indifference. I have learned that a small amount of understanding goes a long way and if you let the staff know you understand what they are going through, they will repay that kindness back many times over.

This is only my opinion and in no way is it meant to contradict anyone who has posted previously. As to the path of the storm, yes it was forecast days ago and yes it followed the path however...

Up here, north of Boston, we have seen many storms shift their path long before they get to us. This is one in particular. This shift however is not a large shift but for us it makes all the difference in the world. Saturday night we went to bed thinking we were only getting 1-3 inches. We woke up Sunday morning with a report of 6-9 inches and potential blizzard conditions on Cape Cod. That is only about a 50 mile shift in the storm that was more than 24 hours away from us. At the speed it was traveling, that was more than 600 miles away and it resulted in a 50 mile shift inland (or less).

Anthem was closer to the storm than we were overnight Saturday and when the storm shifted, that would have given them far less time to do anything about it.

Many have said the ship should not have left because of the storm. I am sure that if the reports indicated that the winds were going to be more than the ship was designed for, and the wave action was going to be more than the ship was designed for, Anthem would not have sailed.

For most of us following this thread, we are on land and many assumptions have been made. You all have a right to those assumptions and I will not sit in the warmth of my home and say anyone was wrong in their opinion. All I am asking is that we can agree that for whatever reason the ship ended up in the storm that it just went through, the Captain and his crew did a remarkable job in getting the ship and passengers through it and let's wait to hear what those on the ship say about what went on. There are over 5000 witnesses to the event. They will have far more information than any of us on land will ever have about this one specific event.

I am so thankful that everyone has made it through this ordeal and I am anxious to hear their stories.

There is no separate line. When we sailed on Nov. 30, we dropped off two of our party with the bags at the platform and then continued into the garage, we then met up on the platform with the others that already had the bags checked in and then we went inside and found one of the agents on the floor to check us in. There are many agents available to check you in. Some were on the platform and some were inside the terminal. From the time we dropped off the bags at the platform and we boarded the ship, it was maybe about 20-25 minutes max.

I would definitely contact Royal about this.

I know the policy changed October of 2014 and it does states there is no corkage fee. Some blogs further state that "Royal Caribbean has removed the $25 corkage fee for bringing wine onboard and drinking it in a cruise ship restaurant."

The other link above indicates "Guests may bring personal wine and champagne onboard only on boarding day, limited to two (2) 750 ml bottles per stateroom. When consumed in any public area, each bottle shall be subject to a corkage fee of $25.00"

This might be splitting hairs here but if I were to read both of this I would say that as long as you are in your cabin or a restaurant, then there is no fee, other public places shall be subject.....

But, let's look at reality. Royal has in the past had multiple pages around the world on their different websites contradict each other. They are not known for consistency.

Knowing me, if that happened to me, I would go to Guest Services and have them contact corporate while I am standing there.

One month prior to the Quantum cruise in February, all of my entertainment that I worked so hard dropped from my cruise planner. Had to call C&A to find probable replacement to complement my dinner reserves. Also, check the entertainment schedules when on board, because our Abba show on the 2nd day was re-scheduled to a different time and we weren't informed. Thank God that some of the performers became ill, and 2 performances had to be rescheduled to late in the week. Also, if it's a popular performer/show, make sure you get there at least 30-45 minutes prior. With Abba, we got there 20 min. prior and wound up looking around a pole--seats went fast.

We were on the Quantum last Dec. The same thing happened to many of us but it was because they were "locking" the reservation data and it was still in the system but not available to the customer. I think they start doing that about 1 month out. I do not know why, they just do.

Thank you for that info. We will try to register tonight. We might get priority times as Diamond but our friends are 1st timers and may not get a good time. Seems that we may need to use C & A to help adjust times if possible.

Does anyone know how the boarding times have been altered for the Nov. 30 cruise for Anthem? Our departure time has been altered to 3:00 and that means that we all have to be on-board by 1:30. I know that the ship also arrives one hour earlier so I am hoping that the boarding times have also been adjusted back that one hour. If not, that is going to make for a very tight schedule for getting everyone on the ship in time.

I am hoping to have my registration done this weekend so I may be able to answer my own question, but just wondering if anyone know this now.

I hope it works better this time on Anthem then it did on Quantum. There it told me that I had no luggage on my account even after it was delivered to my cabin. :eek::rolleyes::D

Paul, there are so many things I wanted to say have already been said. I will however add my $0.02 on how I look at cruises since we started in '05 and the changes up to now.

Have there been changes. Absolutely. Many in fact. I was on the Explorer of the Seas last year for I think the 6th time and the Main Dining Room food was no where near as good as it was on my first cruise on the Voyager of the Seas. Did it ruin my cruise... absolutely not.

We were on the Quantum last year for it's first Caribbean sail out of Bayonne. I read all the reviews saying how bad things were and that you should never go on a new ship and expect everything to work. Being in the computer industry for 38 years, that was the furthest of my expectations. Did it ruin my cruise when my TV kept shutting off after 45 minutes or they never "found" my luggage through the entire cruise on the Royal IQ App? Absolutely not because I had my luggage as of 5 hours after we boarded. Did I like the Dynamic Dining, not totally, but the food was far better than the previous Explorer of the Seas MDR experience.

We will be on the Anthem later this year. Will there be problems, most likely. Will it ruin my trip? I doubt it.

I go on a cruise to do one thing and one thing only. That is to get away from the daily routine and get a chance to do nothing if I so choose. Every cruise I have been on has given me exactly what I was looking for.

What I am saying is that when I board a ship (and we have also been on Princess and Celebrity), I only want certain things:

1) A clean stateroom and a clean bed to sleep on

2) A cabin attendant that takes the time to understand our needs

3) Food - it never had to be gourmet but if it is, all the better

4) Drinks of any kind - keep them coming

5) A chance to unwind from daily life

6) Meeting new people who may become friends for life (this has happened often)

Every cruise has given me all of this. Everything else is a bonus.

Have we every had anything to complain about. We have. However we never complain about anything unless we can also give a compliment along with it.

Bottom line, read the reviews with a grain of salt like so many have mentioned. Everyone has a different opinion and so do you. Go on your cruise, enjoy it for what you want and expect, not for what others said they did not get. You are the only one that can judge if you had a great time or not.

Sorry, I think I gave more than $0.02. Just go and have fun.

Howard, you got your answer! Graham Seymour Sept 15 until Nov 4, then Joff returns.

Yes I saw that. Thank you. From what I have heard and read, I will be interested to see Joff. We will be on the Anthem after he returns.

I know this has been posted a while back but I am wondering the same thing

Anthem OTS - Joff Eaton joins the ship on March 18 until September 15 then who?

Not only who after Joff, but for how long?

I didn't get the email but had sailed Q in Jan and had already booked the Anthem last Oct. I called C&A and was told that I could have it applied but they would re-price my cruise at today's rates which is more than the obc they are offering so it is no deal for me.

I would call back and ask for Resolutions. After all, they are giving it to you to repeat, they should not re-price. To my knowledge we weren't.

Glad you got the $100 OBC. When did you book Anthem?

While we were on one of the sea days back to Bayonne on the Quantum

I have nothing. DW and I were on the Dec 12 Q sailing. And on top of that, we just booked an Anthem cruise the other day!

I did not get the e-mail directly but found out through my TA. I think it might be that if you booked with a TA, the TA was informed and told to contact those that were to get it. I do not know if that is the case, I just know it was what happened on my end. We were on the Dec.1 Quantum and will be on the Nov 30 Anthem. She contacted Royal and we got the $100.

Cruise port would probably have the better selection of brands. There's a Tequila Museum, or Tequila Factory, place just outside the cruise port next tot the pharmacia, they could have selections other than tequila. There could be another store in the area right out side the port gates too, There's a ton of development coming and and places coming and going all the time. In Mahahual , you'll find a small grocery store with some limited liquor and beer available. It's on the street on block off the beach/malecon about half way down the malecon.

 

If you'r going to Costa Maya, you'll probably be going to Cozumel too. In Cozumell there's a large liquor store, Covi, on the south end of downtown and there are 2 large groceries, Mega mart and Chedurai, that sell liquor too.

I saw the name Mega in some other posts. I think I may be heading there. Covi was also listed for my Cozumel post as well. Thanks.

Covi Liquors, Calle 2 Sur and Avenida 30. south end of downtown.

Thank you.

to be the lowest in the Caribbean. Not a wide selection but I bought 12 year Dewars for $20 a bottle and a 10% discount for buying any 6 bottles Tortuga rum shops have that deal and they are right where the tender comes in. The only deliver to the ship.

I will definitely take a look when I get there. Thank you.

We will be heading to Grand Cayman later this year and was wondering where the best locations are for buying liquor. We know that in the Eastern Caribbean, St Maarten usually cannot be beat for prices, but we were wondering if there are good prices here as well. One item I would be looking for is Courvoisier XO. When I get it in St Maarten, it is usually 1/2 the price I would buy it back home. Any help would be appreciated.