Russ Lomas

On 8/7/2023 at 8:10 PM, The Grumpus said:

Just got word that the balloon will be closed for maintenance on August 15.  Not sure if this is a long term thing or just the day I’m there. After the 15th I’ll now be 0 for 5 with getting to ride that balloon. 
 

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

2 hours ago, MindyJohn said:

I enjoy the current version of Costa Maya.  If they had a poll, my vote would go for a private beach area at Roatan.  .  

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

2 hours ago, eel said:

On the President’s Cruise in the Q&A session, Michael Bayley was asked if they ever might have some sort of private island where cruises from Galveston could stop. In response, he gave a knowing smile and said “Very Interesting, what a great idea!” Of course that means something is in the works.

Later in the cruise we had Royal Day which was a port takeover party in Costa Maya. The scuttlebut is that Royal is working some sort of deal with Costa Maya to create a Labadee like facility. Watch this space. 
 

This could certainly make Galveston sailings more popular, especially for families and would help justify keeping larger ships sailing from there.

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.

17 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Galveston has the lowest per day prices in all the fleet - surprised Royal is wasting a Oasis class on these low prices!

I agree and disagree at the same time.   I booked Harmony for our March break week in 2025 because it was selling for only $800 Canadian per person that week from Galveston for an inside cabin.  So in this case, I fully agree that there are low prices to be had from Galveston.

I still had nothing booked for March 2024, so I looked at March 2024 from Galveston, since prices for our March break from Florida for March 2024 are astronomical.  The exact same cabin I booked on the Harmony for 2025 was over $2400 per person Canadian for the same week a year earlier.  So in this case, the prices RCCL are asking are insanely high.  By the way, we ended up booking March 2024 from Galveston anyway...but with Princess.  We were able to book inside cabins for under $700 Canadian per person (rather than the $2400 RCCL were asking for the exact same dates).

On 8/1/2023 at 3:46 PM, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

I believe Oasis class will continue to sail from Galveston throughout 2025, but not 100% sure on which one. If I see anything specifically relating to Galveston deployment I will post here.

Totally a guess on my part and I have not heard anything about it, but seeing all the money RCCL just sunk into a new terminal in Galveston and the fact that they just completed the President's Cruise out of there, I am assuming they want a major presence in Galveston and would continue to port an Oasis class ship there for 2025 (unless sales of the Harmony in 2024 and early 2025 go really poorly, which I doubt).

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Middle of last march they used it for the diamond lounge while they worked on it. We did see a great band warning up everyone enjoyed. 

That was Slippery When Wet - absolutely fantastic.  Saw them 4 times, including their performance in the Aqua Theatre near the end of the cruise because they could not cram enough people in the Music Hall to see them.

Unfortunately, that was then, and this is now.  RCCL has decided to drop the cover bands to cut costs.  Now you get to listen to the Cats performers sing some Broadway shows one night and the members of the ship's band play some songs another night (we were on Oasis again 2 weeks ago).  Really sad that RCCL is cutting costs this way.  We were so excited to see what cover band was going to be on this July, only to find out that they eliminated them all to save a few bucks.

On 7/22/2023 at 3:14 PM, taglovestocruise said:

I read a blog a few weeks ago that predicted Icon will be the first Royal ship to sail at 135% with a passenger count of 7600. That will be a lot of kids.....

That is a lot of kids that I will not be seeing personally.  Although I am interested in seeing what the Icon has to offer, the pricing has made it one ship that I am likely not to sail on, as well as the fact that due to its size, ports it can visit will be very limited.

On 7/22/2023 at 7:45 PM, Loracpin2 said:

We were on the June 30th sailing and were told the ship's passenger head count was over 6800.  Although we have Diamond status, it was our first RCI sailing since June 2017and this was definitely our last RCI sailing!!!!!

Just curious why you say it will be your last RCI sailing?  We were not impressed with the menus in the MDR, the reduced entertainment, and the huge cut backs in the Windjammer for food selection, but we still have trips planned with RCCL in the future.  That said, we are trying Princess for the 1st time in March because the pricing Royal was asking was outrageous in my opinion (triple what Princess is asking).

On 7/16/2023 at 2:10 PM, Doc2725 said:

Did they deliver a paper copy of the Cruise Compass in your room each day? If not, did you request a paper copy? 

We asked our cabin steward and received one every evening with turn down service (cabin cleaning).  There were never any to be had at Guest Services.  One change we noticed is that in the MDR, they were handing out paper menus again without us having to ask for them.  The previous few cruises we took, they expected you to look at the app for the menus and you had to request a paper copy.  Guess they figured that was slowing down dinner service.

On 7/16/2023 at 9:29 PM, Doncin said:

I also paid for 4 of us to enter the water park which was a total waste of money. It took my grandchildren 50 minutes to go on one water slide. Ridiculous and I agree that the restrooms were not clean. 

For the price of the water park alone, I would not pay for it for my family.  If you read any comments about the water park online, you will note that basically if there are 2 ships in port (which is almost every day), then the lines are usually 30-60 minutes each.  Not my idea of fun.

On 7/17/2023 at 7:54 AM, MaddyandMax said:

We were on Oasis the week before you and agree with all you said.  We are a group of 11 that cruise 2-3 times a year.  This was our first cruise since the menu change.  We had just been on Oasis in October less than a year ago.

 

The food changes were really upsetting.  No one from our group is what I would consider a "foodie" but so many nights more than one us didn't want anything on the menu and ended up with ordering 2 starters.  Starters continually came cold (except soup).  Don't even get me started on the July 4th menu.  They need to throw it overboard LOL.  If the food continues to be like this we will branch out.  I personally have only ever cruised with Royal but others in our group have been on other brands.  I suspect the food problems are not just on Royal though.  

We had the exact same comments that we mad to the officers and in our comment card.

On 7/17/2023 at 1:05 PM, Crazy planning mom said:

Do you know if the ship was sailing at full capacity?  As long as they are selling out, there will be no incentive to approve things.

They consider 100% capacity to be full at 2 people per cabin or, 5602 passengers.  We were told that they were close to 7000 passengers on this sailing (maximum passenger capacity with all cabins that hold more than 2 people at full capacity is 6771).

23 hours ago, Marleycruiser said:

We just got off the Oasis this morning and had a great trip. I will outline my thoughts below and we did the identical ship/itinerary a year ago almost to the day so I will provide commentary on a few different categories. 

We were on the same sailing, and I agree with pretty much all you said here.  My responses to your opinions are below.

Pro's

1) Internet - I vacation to disconnect (but did use my free internet day due to Diamond privileges).  No issues with the internet on Oasis at all.

2) Staff - Best staff we have had on any ship with any cruise line.  If only they were all this good.

3) Ship - 3rd time on her and found her in great shape.  We were on just prior to the Oasis' 1st dry dock, and things like the chairs were well-worn.  They were in much better shape this time around. 

4) Cleanliness - Spotless - fantastic overall for 7000 passengers on board.

5) Entertainment - Aqua80 was amazing (saw it 3 times).  Cats was good for catching up on some sleep (half the audience left before the end).  What we were disappointed in was the fact that RCCL decided to eliminate the cover bands in the Music Hall to save money and now just uses their regular ship musicians.  Also disappointed that there was only 1 headliner performer instead of the usual 2 (we were on Oasis in March and these changes are in comparison to back then).  Just means that the other venues are even busier than before due to less entertainment choices than before.

Cons

1) Drink Package - Too expensive and would never pay that much personally for a package.  Luckily, RCCL treats its loyal cruisers (Diamond and above) to 4+ free drinks per day.  More than enough for my family members.  Thanks RCCL.

2) CocoCay - Amazing island and an amazing day.  We walked by the washrooms on Chill Island and I could smell a smell of raw sewage easily from about 50 feet away.  I did not have the nerve to get any closer than that.

3) Food/Staff & Dining Cutbacks - Food selection in the Windjammer is MUCH worse than it used to be.  We walked out most times and sought food elsewhere.  Gone are the days (last year and prior) they would make fresh crêpes, make salads and pasta to order, etc. in the Windjammer.  MDR menus are poor compared to 2022 and prior.  Some in our party had a difficult time choosing items some evenings.  In the past, you would go to the Windjammer instead.  Problem now is that the same food from the MDR is the exact same in the Windjammer (cost-cutting).

Also, we did not like how the Solarium Bistro and MDR were only open for brunch most days now.  They force you to go to the Windjammer if you want to eat before 9 am, and it was packed in there.  Also, those two places now close at 1 pm and do not offer a real lunch selection.  Just keep out the breakfast items and add a couple of limited lunch choices.

4) Nick and Diming - We are used to this.  Getting rid of the free potato chips in the Park Cafe and charging that much for popcorn are examples of this.  We like that you have the choice to pay for extras, and you do not force everyone onboard to pay for something (like other cruise lines do - internet packages, beverage packages, excursion credits), but some of the nickle and diming should be eliminated.

Pricing - We paid $1464 Canadian all-in for 2 people in an interior cabin on this cruise (thanks to an amazing travel agent who told us about this great price).  The same week on the Symphony for the same cruise in 2024 is now going for $3326 (more than double what we paid for the Oasis).  We LOVE RCCL and want to continue to sail with them.  Their crew members were amazing this past week.  However, if pricing continues to be what they are asking right now, we will not rule out sailing with RCCL again, but we will be looking at many other options to compare value.  We are glad we already have 3 future RCCL cruises at great prices over the next 2 years, before pricing went insane.

3 hours ago, cruisefanatic16 said:

agree the refundable options are not worth it in my opinion as too pricey 

Booking through our travel agent, he almost always can get us the refundable cruise through him for the same price others pay for the non-refundable deposits through the cruise lines.

1 hour ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

I could always count on the salad bar to be a great back-up option.

 

"Those were the days my friend, I thought they would never end...." (Mary Hopkin)

 

Oh the inhumanity of it all, not the salad bar!

 

😭

I used to love the salad bar they offered in the MDR at lunch, but that disappeared post-Covid.  The salad selections in the Windjammer were good, but then came the food cut costs of January 2023 and what once was a strength is now a definite weakness.  We are trying Princess for the 1st time in March due to RCCL high prices and cutbacks.  Not sure if it will be any better, but come March we will know for ourselves how Princess compares to RCCL for food.

On 6/17/2023 at 2:38 PM, tennislvr8 said:

Lunch at the windjammer. It was lackluster and I generally prefer the windjammer. I had a difficult time finding something to eat. I didnt even like lettuce, it was iceberg.. last night they had spring mix. I know first world problems. I will be finding somewhere for lunch tomorrow:  playmakers, the solarium or the BBQ place.... Thats where I'll have lunch from now on... I'll also go to El loco fresh. 

The love and marriage game show, one of my favs was at 2pm.on the second day. I feel like it should be a night time activity. 

Shocked to hear that the love and marriage show is during the daytime.  Never seen that before.  We were on Oasis in March and will be again in a few weeks from NJ this time around.  Did you have to pre-book for the comedy show?  We did back in March, but it was not available for pre-booking for July.  Is it first come, first seated now?

The Windjammer was very poor in March on the Oasis compared to all other RCCL cruises we have done in the past.  Really thought when the ship got Amped, they would have made the Windjammer better.  The only good thing about it is there are lots of seats (Unfortunately, food selections are very poor to what they were offering in 2022 - case in point, the salad selections...or lack thereof).

On 6/10/2023 at 10:34 AM, loudbmw said:

The Oasis Diamond lounge coffee maker was great.  Its a new machine and available 24/7.  We get up very early and only on one occasion was the machine was out of beans. 

 

I wish I could say the same for the Oasis suite lounge coffee machine.  They removed the grounds container at night and didn't turn the machine until 6:00am.

Looking forward to trying that machine on the Oasis soon.  When we sailed Oasis in March, the Diamond Lounge was shut for the week, so we were sent to the juice bar who made specialty coffees all week long for us.  Just had to present our seapass to get the free coffees.  Kept the juice bar very busy that week.

23 minutes ago, Ms313city said:

Will do!

You will be fine with the child in the cabin next door.  RCCL is fine with this.  We have done it many times.  Had our daughters, who were 8 at the time of sailing, in their own cabin beside ours.  As another previous poster suggested, I would be putting the 2 kids in the cabin together and enjoying my own cabin in your circumstances.

On 6/9/2023 at 8:31 AM, Georgeny said:

for now but have to wonder before that is a past thing. Had lobster for formal dinner last night clearly said additional lobster $16.99 and I’ll say lobster was good but a small tail still. 4 bites for $16.99 I think not. 
 

one evening waiter offered baked potato to replace roasted potatoes. Came back with roasted said sorry no baked potato with this dish.  One night only salad offered was ceasar I asked if I could have just garden salad with thousand island. He said all he could was give me ceasar with no dressing and thousand on side. That was fine but one tablespoon of dressing. Can you see where this is all going? No substitutions extra cost extra. I can read the handwriting. Packing day! Last supper tonight not a big sign anymore considering the food. 

 

Totally dumb on the waiter's part not to get you a baked potato.  Would not be giving him a 10 as they always ask you to do.  Guess you could have always ordered a full New York Strip Steak (which comes with a baked potato), took the potato off, eaten it and told your waiter you only wanted the potato off the entire entree because he would not bring you one on its own.  Totally wasteful, but if he does not want to bring just a potato, play the game til someone gets the message.

12 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Royal really needs to get smaller plates.   The photos seem to have lots of empty plate showing.  

I much prefer the smaller portion sizes.  You know you can always ask for a 2nd or 3rd portion if you need more.  That way you can order a couple of things and do not feel bad leaving half of each.  

On 6/1/2023 at 6:48 AM, antsp said:

Some cruises are really cheap at the moment, completely disagree with you 

I agree with you there.  We booked a one-week cruise for March 2024 in our prime holiday season for $693 Canadian (inside cabin before taxes).  RCCL was asking more than triple this price for the same cruise on their ship.  Normally we would not buy the Plus package, but we thought, even after adding in the Plus package, we would still be $700 less per person than the same week on RCCL (and that would have been on RCCL with no drink package, no internet, and no gratuities prepaid).

Cheap base pricing got us to book this cruise and we still felt the Plus package was a great deal.

Had one on the Oasis back in March.  A bit noisier than I expected, but not bad.  That said, we were on deck 10.  The noise we heard was from the pool deck above.  Was glad we did not have a higher deck or the noise would have been annoying.  As for noise from the eateries and shops below, there was no noise at all.

On 5/29/2023 at 10:24 AM, BLAMBKY said:

We absolutely enjoy the BIG ships & all their entertainment but I am ready for different ports. Looking at possibly the Canada/New England routes but they seem to be older/smaller ships. Do you spend more time in ports making the ship less important, more about transporting? I would appreciate hearing others opinions/experiences. Thanks!

Port intensive cruises, do not waste your money on the big ships with all the bells and whistles.  You will be ashore and not use them too much.  For those itineraries, the smaller ships are better.  For sailings where you have been there, done that before (or with crummy ports - our upcoming Oasis cruise that goes to Nassau and Port Canaveral arriving in the afternoon each day) then we pick the bigger better ships.

On 5/29/2023 at 2:13 PM, Tin can said:

We are UK based and rarely sail with Royal out of Southampton as we have been there and seen that. It makes things expensive flying and cruising out of new ports but you can't take it £ $ with you 😀. 

We booked the 15-day Serenade of the Seas sailing next summer out of Southampton that does 13 Northern European ports in 15 days.  We are very excited to try that itinerary on that class of ship from the UK.

On 5/30/2023 at 2:04 PM, BobNoxious said:

Liberty of the Seas doing the Canada/NE route.    Also, Oasis on it right now (may 28).

I was going to mention the same thing.  Oasis going to Canada is rare, but I saw it was in Halifax earlier this week.  The Liberty is a big ship with lots to offer that does the Canada/NE route several times.  Good compromise for those who want a big ship and those ports.

On 5/25/2023 at 7:26 AM, PacnGoNow said:

Let us know how they finally resolve this. 

RESOLVED.  After the other family was denied, then the travel agent denied, then the travel agent denied by 2 supervisors, the travel agent called again with the intent of showing our reservations and how it was done for us.  From what I was told by my in laws, the Princess agent said no problem and removed the Plus from the 2 kids (1 staying in each room).  Not sure why there is no consistency, but at least it is finally resolved.

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

You could take the "don't sweat it approach".  Princess now allows guests to purchase the Plus or Premier cruise fare package upon boarding. Do it on embarkation and it is charged to onboard account.  It is a good way to use up OBC and if you have any trip insurance that charges premium based on your trip cost, you will save on that as well since the Plus cost is not considered in the picture until you are actually on board.  So, the parents and teens can be aligned in their proper cabins and then just order the package in the adult cabin.  You also have the option to book the "No Alcohol" beverage package for the teens.

 

Another tip would be to upgrade one parent's MedallionNet to a 4-device plan and then share with the teens.  All teens need to pay is the $16 Crew Appreciation and then you can decide if a la carte non-alcohol drinks is better than paying $30/pp/day for the non-alcohol package.

 

Thanks for the detailed comments.  I had heard that you were able to add the Plus once aboard the ship, but in this case, people felt best to add it now in case policies or prices changed.  We thought it is a great idea to use the OBC to cover the package, but we will just use the OBC to pay the kids' gratuities, thus leaving us with a bill of only a few dollars.

As for the MedallionNet upgrade, we do not cruise to sit around on a device all day long.  We plan to just share access with the kids whenever they would like it, but we paid for them to enjoy the cruise.  If they just want to go on the internet, they could do that from home.  I am assuming Princess is similar to RCCL where you get a code and you can log in and get internet access from multiple devices, as long as only one of them is on at a time, or it boots off the other device?

2 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

The stand alone Plus Beverage Package can be purchased by individual passengers but the Princess Plus Fare, which includes gratuities, internet, and the Plus Beverage package, isn’t available to just one of the people in a cabin. The first two passengers in the cabin both have to book with the same fare. Children booked with the Plus fare get the non-alcoholic beverage package along with internet and gratuities included.

Did you and your in-laws book with the Princess Plus fare or purchase just a Plus beverage package? It’s confusing because the nearly identical names.

 

We booked Princess Plus, not just the beverage package.  Had no issues on my 2 reservations, adding it to the adults only and not the kids (1 in each cabin), as others on this forum told me previously they had successfully done as well.

The in laws tried the exact same thing with a different agent and were denied.

The problem will get solved because the in laws will be able to move their 16-year-old boys into one cabin (it was originally booked with 1 adult and 1 child in each cabin because the agent said two 16-year-olds could not be in their own cabin, which according to the Princess website, it is not true).

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Do they have a TA or CVP who could do that for them?

 

I called in to Princess and got it done myself, received the new invoices, then transferred our reservation to our travel agent (he was away on vacation when I booked this cruise).

The other family did the exact same thing.  They were told by the 2nd Princess agent it was taken care of.  They then transferred the booking to the TA.  When they got confirmation yesterday of the transfer, all 4 of them now were registered for Princess Plus (not what they asked for).  The TA called Princess and spoke to 2 supervisors, who both said it was not possible.  Not sure why not, because I did it myself with no issues at all.

We have 2 children travelling with us who will be 15, so they are not permitted to be booked under Princess' rules in their own cabin (I know switching can go on once aboard).  We wanted the Princess Plus package for the two adults, but not the 2 children.  Princess says both people in the cabin (or all 4 in our case - 2 cabins with 1 adult and 1 child registered in each) must take the package.  People in this Forum said that you could call in and get the Plus package added to just the 2 adults in different cabins.

I took their advice and did this with no issues at all.  My in laws have the same situation and called in to do the same.  They tried 2 different agents and 2 supervisors and said it is not possible.  I have my invoices, so I know it is possible.  Do they just keep calling til they get an agent who says OK and does it?

7 hours ago, Kay S said:

I'm donating my two free to my teenage grandsons who can eat everything all day and still stay skinny.

I love ice cream and gelato, but I too think that some will be given to my kids travelling with me.  2 per day is a bit much.  Cannot understand how someone would want unlimited on the Premier Plus.