Russ Lomas

What is that they say? "There's a sucker born every minute." Liberty is doing his best to find these suckers who have not cruised before. Those of us who have are looking elsewhere, knowing that the tripling and quadrupling of prices with inferior service and food will not entice us to return.

It was a shipping fee. It came to about $80 Canadian if I remember correctly. There was nothing in the suitcase purchased while on the trip. That said, I believe the current amount is $800 per person returning to Canada that they are permitted if out of the country for more than 48 hours (week long cruise, so that would have qualified) without having to pay any customs or duties on it. I realize that is if the suitcase was actually coming back across the border with the people who were out of the country (which it should have been if some idiot had not took the wrong suitcase). Even if it was being shipped back home after the cruise due to the issues, you would figure that if it had been a customs fee, it should not have been charged since it was lost luggage and as long as the amount purchased in the suitcase was below the threshold, there should not be an issue). That was all it was. Plus some shoes and toiletries.

Our in laws had a bag of their go missing as well from the terminal post cruise. Another cruiser took the bag by mistake. A couple of hours after realizing the mistake, they returned the bag to the port. RCCL was good enough to forward it to their home in Canada. They were told that RCCL would cover the cost of the shipping of the bag, but when it arrived, our in laws were told that shipping of the bag was not covered, and they would have to pay it on the spot, or they could not have their bag back. This seems to happen too often. We ALWAYS carry off our own bags in the morning now for this reason. It eliminates the possibility of someone taking our bag by mistake.

So, they make more than $10,000 more per year than the average school teacher in the USA. I sure hope all you parents who feel the need to tip a unionized longshoreman a few bucks for every bag, tip your kids' teachers $5 per day for every day they instruct your child, teach them right from wrong, and act as a caregiver/social worker/parent/teacher to them.

I love the flowrider and I would expect to miss it a fair bit on our upcoming Regal cruise. I really have no need for one if the cruise is port intensive, but the one out of Galveston is not. I cannot wait to try the app on Princess to order drinks (the app on RCCL is very poor). We got the PLUS package, so we will put that app to the test. I am excited to see what you say about the food. The Princess menus (even if people on this board say the food has taken a big step backwards) sounds far more creative and enticing than the current RCCL ones. I miss the twice per day cabin service. We keep the room very tidy, so the extra cleaning probably should take the cabin steward 5-10 minutes at most. We are Diamond with Royal and love the Diamond lounge, free 8x10 photo and 4 drinks per day at our loyalty level. RCCL renamed their Diamond lounge the Crown Lounge today, so if they remove our access to that lounge in the future due to the name change, that is one less thing RCCL's loyalty level would offer us and be one less thing that keeps us loyal to Royal usually.

We are booked on the Regal Princess. Looks like the same class as Discovery, but 8 years older.

Looking forward to trying another line just shaking things up. My not like it, may love it. Will not know til we try. Thing is that if RCCL had not cut their food selection and quality so much (as well as other cuts we did not like - the way they handle MTD, cutting cover bands in the Music Hall, etc.), along with doubling and tripling their prices, we likely would be sailing on RCCL instead of Princess in March. We tried Celebrity and loved some things and did not like others. We did the same with NCL and really enjoyed it overall, but pricing was always about one and a half times RCCL, so we stuck to RCCL (now NCL is half the price of RCCL, we would likely look at NCL first). Do not get me wrong. We still enjoy RCCL. We have 3 upcoming cruises booked with them, but the first of those 3 is not until next summer. Hopefully, RCCL starts to realize by then that insane demand for cruising now (due to a lack of cruising during the pandemic) will likely subside somewhat and they will have to do something to try to bring back their loyal customers that wandered elsewhere when they decided to downgrade the quality of their product and over price it as well.

I guess everyone is hoping the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. You were unhappy with the cutbacks on Princess, so you are going to try RCCL for a change. We have grown unhappy with the cutbacks on RCCL, so we are trying Princess for a change. Guess we should compare notes again after we have each sailed another cruise line. I guess if you are not familiar with the product that the other cruise line offered previously, we are ignorant to how much the quality has fallen and that is what cruise lines appear to be banking on going after new customers and alienating previous passengers who have shown loyalty to one line or another. I hope we both find the grass greener on the other side. Hope you enjoy your upcoming RCCL cruise. We are looking forward to our Princess cruise because is was 1/3 the price that RCCL was asking for the same cruise (different ship obviously) and the PLUS package with Princess is a steal compared to what RCCL asks for the same perks.

I was shocked to hear that RCCL was planning a drydock over X-mas and New Year, their 2 most profitable (overpriced) weeks of the year. They will probably make more in those 2 sailings than the next 4-6 sailings combined in January after the holidays. Makes much more sense to take the ship out of commission in January.

Thanks. That definitely answers one of my questions. Now we just need to know if any of those companies that rent the bikes actually have locks so we could lock them up and do a bit of walking after getting to our destinations (many of which will have a lot of sand and not be ridable).

Thanks. Did not mean to take you off-topic, but we are spending a couple of days in Copenhagen post-cruise next summer, and I have been able to find LOTS of information on Copenhagen, thus, think I have our days there fully mapped out. Skagen is a different beast. Not much online other than Grenen and Råbjerg Mile. I had though about renting bikes there for the day if the weather cooperated. I looked at Google Maps, and it appears you have to ride on the main road to get there and I did not know how that would be with traffic (tour buses from the ship) passing by. I was also curious about if you were to "park" your rented bike at Grenen or the dunes, I assume it does not come with a lock to secure it when walking around on foot. That would be a LONG hike back to town if someone took your bike.

Glad you enjoyed it. I have never been to Europe on vacation. We're doing a 15-day Cruise next summer from Southampton to Copenhagen and I have booked two days in Copenhagen at the end of the cruise. The Copenhagen card looks phenomenal. Unlimited transportation in Copenhagen and the area and also includes lots of Admissions and other tourist sites. We are also stopping in Skagen denmark. Not really looking forward to that stop. Is there anything amazing there that you found that you would like to share?

We paid $2,600 Canadian all in for 4 passengers in 2 cabins when Odyssey came out. Boy were we lucky to get that 8-day cruise for that price in comparison to what you are paying for your cruise next year. We would love to book more cruises with RCCL, but unless our travel agent notices some amazing deals for when we can travel, we will have to look elsewhere to spend our vacation money.

Disney simply has priced itself out of what I consider to be reasonable (for us) to cruise with them and it has always been that way. Usually they were about triple the cost for the weeks I was looking at with RCCL. RCCL is now charging double to triple what they used to, so if Disney has not raised prices, that would put them both in the same league. For this reason, we have not booked any further cruises with RCCL (we did have 3 booked that are still upcoming at good prices). For this reason, RCCL has now priced themselves out of what I consider reasonable for a vacation when there are many other choices out there that offer better value. We have booked with other cruise lines since RCCL has overinflated their rates. Once RCCL rates begin to get reasonable once again (if they ever do), we will be happy to reconsider and book with them in the future. For now, cruises are being booked with other cruise lines. One thing you should always do is make sure you have a great travel agent and they often have group space available at a fraction of what price you will see on the RCCL website (not always, but often). May help you if you want a short RCCL cruise if they had blocked off space for a cruise you are looking into prior to RCCL jacking up the rates.

We sailed the Odyssey twice last year. Looks just like the ice cream station that was immediately to your left when you enter the Windjammer on the Odyssey. It had the exact same set up with ice cream and toppings set up. There was never a charge for it last year in the Windjammer on the Odyssey. It was NOT gelato, but just regular ice cream in the metal serving containers as pictured. Not saying the posted photo was from the Odyssey, but it looks the same. Have not seen an ice cream station like that on other RCCL ships we have sailed (about 7 or 8 other ships).

I definitely would no pay 50 cent for a slice of Sorrento's pizza. I know a lot of people love it for a late night snack, but I think that is mainly because every other food venue closes at 9 pm, so it is the only real choice between 9 pm and 6 am (other than a couple of premade sandwiches).

Food quality 7/10. Service 10/10. Menu selection 3/10. Quality has slipped a bit, but he main problem is that many of the great things RCCL used to offer on their menus that people loved have been removed and replaced with cheaper alternatives that people are not enjoying. If they would just keep the things people enjoyed and replace the ones people do not like, they would not have near as many negative comments to field about their menus.

I do not disagree with you. I usually eat maybe 1 slice of Sorrento's pizza per cruise, if that. Tastes about as good as a frozen one you buy from the store to me. Just saying that RCCL is announcing that they will not change their free pizza to a paid pizza joint.

May have been mentioned here, but that was a lot of pages to read and catch up on. Michael Bayley formally posted today that RCCL will NOT make Sorrento's pizza an extra cost. He mentioned 80% of guests would not pay extra for pizza and 25% would consider switching to other cruise lines if they did this. Part of me wonders if RCCL did this as a marketing ploy after Princess' announcement...Look, we asked on a survey and guests said no. We listen to our customers (other cruise lines do not). Quote below: "Pizza ! Pizza ! Everywhere ! A couple of weeks ago we conducted one of frequent small group guest surveys. As usual we asked questions on this n that ! Including customer thoughts on $ charges for Pizza ! The question was posted with the result that many emails and comments were sent ! The survey said 80 per cent of guests were opposed, 20 per cent of guests said they would still go for Pizza with a charge, 25 per cent of guests surveyed said they would consider other cruise lines. To calm all our Pizza lovers don’t worry we are not charging for Pizza."

Thanks for sharing that info. The person who provided it to me mentioned nothing about that.

Someone shared a PDF with me showing the pricing. $12 for a pizza. I will try to attach it here, but if it does not work because it is a PDF, then I can guarantee you it reads $12 Alfredos-2.pdf

As someone who has not yet cruised as a passenger with Princess Cruises (first one booked for March 2024), we are still very excited to see what Princess offers in comparison to our usual cruise line of choice (RCCL). That said, we are discouraged to see changes like this after booking and before our cruise takes place. A couple of comments I would like to add. The reason we booked the March cruise with Princess is because RCCL has been doing cutbacks and is now asking 3 times the prices that we usually pay for the same week in March. As they lower quality and service and charges exponentially more of it, we decided to try another cruise line to compare. Secondly, we booked our cruise on the Regal for 1/3 the price that RCCL wanted for the 7 days on the Harmony for the exact same dates with the exact same ports. In addition, we purchased the PLUS add-on for the cruise and the cost of that package is $20/day less than RCCL charges for just the beverage package alone, never mind tossing in gratuities and internet (plus some other minor perks). For us, the price we are paying is a far better deal than with RCCL at this time. Time will tell what we feel about the food and service and other amenities. Finally, it is upsetting to read cruise lines like Princess changing a "free" venue into a "pay" venue, like Alfredo's. Maybe if the ship went into dry dock and a venue was removed or changed from a free venue into a different pay venue, that would be more acceptable (though still tough to swallow), but charging for food that was free when people booked their cruises is just not right.

Thought this was another thread on RCCL raising the prices on cruises. Disappointed it was about a hot air balloon.

I, too, enjoy Costa Maya as it is. That said, I enjoy Roatan as it is as well. I would rather one in Belize.

Interesting. Personally, we usually really enjoy Costa Maya, but I know a lot of people do not. I know that NCL has a private island in Belize, so for RCCL to do such a thing in the Western Caribbean would not be surprising.