marti315

Royal has fully embraced the Dynamic Pricing model.

hahahaha so true, gotta pay for that wasted boardwalk donuts space.. :)

When I was on allure in May the max drink price with the premium package was 13.00, same with wine by the glass. On other non oasis class it looks like its 12.00 but whats odd is the same drink with the same liquor is cheaper on non oasis class ships, same with the wines.

My bad I thought the photo was missing the central park but it looks like it's just an odd angle. Ship is OK, nothing to see here hahahahha

Yes they seem to have a stock ship photo yet they slap any ship name on the side.

Walking around in Budapest and came across a celebrity/royal Caribbean travel agency. Anyone see the reason I snapped the photo?? I couldn't move the moped but its not the oddity.. :)

It is amazing how much I continue to learn on Cruise Critic.

 

I have been around along time and only today found out about the existence of a Crown & Anchor Executive Comments feedback site.

 

Now I know it is there I will certainly make sure my voice is heard

 

http://www.casexecutivecomments.com

This site is not owned by Royal Caribbean, its some guy in the UK:

Registrant Contact

Name: John Tafe

Organization: Front Page Ltd

Mailing Address: 26 Woodside Pl, Glasgow Lanarkshire G3 7QL GB

Phone: +44.01413336308

Ext:

Fax:

Fax Ext:

Email: john@frontpage.co.uk

As I posted on another thread, our travel agent called RCI 3 times while we were booking and the RCI staff had no idea about the perks in Star Class. I was constantly on my cell phone bringing up the RCI website to show the travel agent so that she could explain it to the person on the telephone.

 

It sounds like they have changed some of the perks and personally I don't think this is right. They should be grandfathered to the date that the cruise was booked. I understand that "some" things may be available if your request them from your genie but to me, guests shouldn't have to go asking for things that were part of an original package of perks. It looks like they didn't do their homework on this before rolling out the program(s). Certainly it seems to be creating a lot of confusion.

I agree that having to "ask/beg" your genie for things that were included and now removed isnt the relaxing / stress free week people hoped for when booking the suite. If the genie is new to the job and had no idea what the perks used to be (over a year ago) this could be some fun back and forth's. I remember RCI used to use the phrases like "THe Ship is yours" in the star class brochures, now it should read "Most / some/ well we will tell you at your sail date what you get in star class".

I wouldn't call it potent. it is not freshly ground. Closer to sauce than not.

I think the sauce you are referring to is the sour cream & horseradish mixture they serve with the prime rib. Its tasty but you are right not overly potent. If you ask for just prepared horseradish it will clear your sinuses.

Yes they definitely have "Prepared" Horseradish. Doubt they are grating it fresh. They will bring you a massive cup of horseradish if you ask for it and its potent stuff.

I've had pretty good luck with the Prime Rib and LOTS of the horseradish sour cream they dollop on your plate. Wish they could spruce up their vegetable offerings a little bit because those parsnips and carrots and whatnot are kinda bland. Oh and of course the Sourdough rolls, by the end of the week the Assistant waiter never lets me sit without a sourdough roll on my bread plate.

I have a feeling its Royal Corporate not communicating changes to the onboard staff and so the onboard staff are using the documents they have been presented in the past. Will they honor it if they sent it to you, yes definitely but this seems to be what happens quite often. Corporate makes changes and the fleets start implementing those changes months / years later.

I don't know where you got your information from but I'm sailing in star class this month and this was sent to me last week about the amenities currently provided.

 

Ultimate Beverage Package

• Complimentary Specialty Restaurants

• All-Day Access to Coastal Kitchen

• Special In-Suite Dining

• Suite Lounge

• In-Suite Handcrafted Cocktail Service

• Complimentary Minibar

• Specialty Bottled Water

• Nespresso® Coffee Maker Service

• Complimentary VOOM,

Fastest Internet at Sea

• Complimentary Fitness Classes

• Complimentary 7-Day Spa Thermal

Room Access

• Exclusive Access to Signature

Activities

• Exclusive Access to Suites Beach on

Private Islands

• Daily Gratuities Included

• Complimentary In-Suite Movies

• Luxury Bathroom Amenities by

Hermès,® Ferragamo® and L’OCCITANE®

• Duxiana® Mattress

• Frette® Linens, Towels and Bathrobes

• Welcome Amenity

Did your travel agent happen to send you that list? That is a VERY early list, almost back from March 2016. The current list has some of those things removed from it which was the topic that started this discussion.

marti315-What? No suite free cocktail hour? Surely that is incorrect. Suites have gotten that perk for years, way before the "new" suite program started. What about those Suite Lounges on Oasis class ships and Liberty? If suites no longer get the complimentary cocktail hour, why converting from Concierge Lounges to Suite Lounges?

Yes I was referring to that in suite cocktail cart they referred to as a STAR CLASS perk. Looks like that never got any traction so they removed it.

Gave the C&A group a call and was able to talk with the representative and a supervisor. They did in fact confirm that things were being removed from the amenities list such as the thermal room access, fitness classes, the happy hour cocktail thing and a few other trivial perks.

They confirmed the Laundry/pressing services are still an amenity as well as the minibar.

It sounds like RCCL provides the C&A staff with some PDF weekly with the current perks and even they didnt know things had been removed until they compared previous ones.

I guess i hope they dont start removing valuable perks of this program.

I had emailed them two weeks ago and got a very generic response. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, I will forward your input to our crown and anchor loyalty team".

I have a star class booked for next April and I randomly check the RCCL site to see what additional information they are posting about this program. What is scaring me is the perks listed on the site are slowing disappearing instead of more details being added.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/royalsuiteclass/star/

What i do not see anymore is:

Laundry Services

Thermal Spa Access - It was unlimited when the star class was first announced, then reduced to 1 day now i do not see it.

Fitness Class - Not listed anymore

Complimentary Minibar no longer listed

In Suite cocktail service is no longer listed (the 2 hour happy hour thing)

Specialty bottled water (Not a big deal, just another thing they removed)

Maybe this is their attempt to make the amenities more generic across the fleet where each ship does not offer equal services? Ive saved the documents and screen shots of the website going all the way back to last August and it makes me wonder who is running the show at Royal?

They also have some delicious ramen. I actually recommend the non spicey ramen broth over the spicy. Not because of the heat but the flavors are better and you can spice it up however you want.

I dont know if its just the changing of how RCI operates or if its directly related to the drink package but I feel like back in the days the MDR was pushing wine and alcoholic drinks like crazy. You almost ALWAYS had a drink person coming around, then you saw those crazy 3 color shots or after dinner cocktails. Maybe since so many people have the package and want drinks with dinner the same number of beverage servers are just completely overwhelmed. I am like others, i always stop at vintages or the pub for a drink before dinner and usually by the time im done the MDR drinks person does end up getting around.

I am going to go out on a limb and say you are either a professional photographer or definitely enjoy the hobby. These shots are amazing! I was trying to figure out if you were hand holding your camera in some of those dark shots of the promenade with the lights on the winding stairwells. Your reflections you captured and the glazing/blur in some of the shots is stunning. Nice work, oh and the ship looks beautiful.

I was doing a little bit of digging to try to determine why the pre-cruise package prices are all over the place when they offer a 20% discount on the package. After making some phone calls to RCI they explained to me that the pre-cruise drink packages are all re-priced every Monday for every single ship. This means that the 20% discount you are seeing may not be off the "published rates" we are all used to but instead their pricing for that given sailing. There seems to be no rhyme or reason except for they are raising the prices for the packages when they are getting near where they want to be with respect to pre-sales of drink packages. The 20% still helps over the ship prices typically but in some cases its more like 10% off the standard ON SHIP rates. Hope this helps to clarify (or confuse even more).

I thought I would add my two cents in here regarding the term "super premium" liquor. I think they are referring to the Macallan 18, 25, the other aged scotches and things like the Louis XIII. I was on the allure May 8 - 15 and was drinking Stoli Elit, Tanq Ten, Pyrat Rum, Blackwell rum etc all on the premium package with no added charges. As Matt said they are pretty awesome when it comes to the options they have.

By the way, I have been a long time lurker to CC but decided to register and get to know some folks in here. Whats peaked my interest is the Star class introduction and I appreciate all your updates and info Matt. I have a 2 bedroom ATS reserved next year on the Allure so i am hopeful they get this program tightened up without removing perks.

I know thats where a band / singer typically sets up at night and they get a group of people sitting around there. Whether or not they wheel in a portable bar / beer cart is unknown but i can imagine thats what RCI is referring to in their image.