LuvBNatC

Ongoing issues with purchasing anything on the website are ironic when you think how Royal is jumping the shark with fares to rake in as much revenue as possible until the market screams, "Uncle!"

Makes you wonder how much $$ they leave on the table from people who get frustrated dealing with the site and don't phone. Sure they may buy the same items later onboard, but Royal loses the float from the advance purchase.

Also ironic is that Royal wants to position itself as the highest tech cruise line out there, with all its gizmos on the newest ships, yet continues to have a website that's a pain to navigate and barely functional in many areas.

I trust it for informational purposes only.

I've always slept w the door open a crack as I love the white noise of the water... If it's too hot inside, has anyone actually slept on their balcony??

I have several free apps on my iPad with all sorts of white noise wave sounds. I pick one that reminds me of ship cutting through the ocean, set the timer for 2 hours, and drift off to sleep every single night at home.

I also use these apps while on cruises, even when I have a balcony, because you're not supposed to leave the door open -- ever. It's a safety issue.

I find the OP's experience and the ship's response to it jaw-dropping. One night of noise necessitating a call for Security, OK. But for it to continue through the whole voyage with no consequences for the culprits, shame on Royal. :mad:

Unfortunately, I wonder if this isn't symptomatic of life on these behemoth ships that hold 4,000-6,000 passengers. Who knows who else was calling Security? Maybe they were running from stem to stern every night like headless chickens, and eventually grew immune to the complaints.

At guest services, you're dealing basically with bureaucrats taking heat from the population of a small town and they tune it out to keep their own sanity.

On a smaller vessel where there's less "getting lost in the shuffle," I suspect it would have been easier to elevate the complaint to the hotel director or even the captain and get immediate results.

At least I like to think that's the case, and such poor customer service isn't a fleet-wide trend. :(

I hope the OP got names of the RCCL employees involved and relayed them to Michael Bayley.

I believe if you book a regular cabin during one of their many BOGOHO (buy one get one half off) sales, you will only be charged 150% for single occupancy, as opposed to 200% not during a sale.

At least, I think that's how I managed to get a decent price on my upcoming inside cabin on Vision, as well as booking it more than a year in advance.

The price for the same cabin has fluctuated wildly since then, mostly up, by several thousand $$.

We're intrigued by them too but we keep hearing that they have really small balconies. I might have to find out myself. We were in Bermuda on Summit along with the Breakaway. Many Breakaway passengers were complaining about the long walks through cabin corridors. All I could think was they must not have sailed Oasis and Allure. I mean, how bad could it be?

Standard balconies on Getaway (and, I assume, Breakaway) would more accurately be described as wide ledges. They're barely wide enough to fit an upright chair. Sitting out there with my knees almost touching the Plexiglas, it reminded me of a coach seat on a plane. Hardly conducive to stretching out and relaxing.

As for the walk, long ships are long and there's nothing to be done about that except perhaps installing horizontal escalators like they have in some airports? :D

I cut my cruising teeth on the 1,035-ft. SS Norway, whose corridors seemed endless. Loved walking every inch of them. :)

All this talk of cheese cake pops made me remember that I wanted to pack a plastic tray for trips to the Promenade Cafe for specialty coffees and sweeties. Just found one cheap on Amazon, under $4, with Prime shipping.

 

Another thing to add to my packing pile. :)

For a small cheap plastic tray, I'd hit Dollar Tree. I've bought trays there before. Heck, get 2 and have a spare. :)

I thought they'd eliminated all the trays at the Windjammer.

To be honest I don't think free wi-fi is needed if at all aboard' date=' I get on,put my passport,money,other valuable items and my mobile in the safe and don't see then again until I disembark..

 

I have no idea what's going on back home and that's how I like it.

Makes my cruise last longer and I like to see what's happened when I come back..it's like I've been to another planet lol..[/quote']

 

Agree 100%. I wouldn't use free WiFi.

 

Nor do I want to be on a ship where everyone else is walking around totally engrossed in their smartphones, oblivious to their surroundings because they're too busy "conversing" with people who aren't there. I see enough of that sort of disrespectful behavior on land, thank you. :(

If I'd experienced half of the inexplicable runaround pre-cruise, then the constant customer DISservice, complete with indifferent attitudes and apparent lack of willingness to make things right onboard until you found ONE solitary competent crew member, I would never set foot on any Royal Caribbean ship again.

Kudos to the OP for not going postal on Guest Services. I don't think I could have shown such restraint.

Thanks to all the new bureaucracy involving reservations and packages and prepaid everything else, coupled with RCCL's legendarily lousy website, etc., cruising has gained the ability to quickly turn into the vacation from hell.

Hey, maybe that could be Royal's new marketing slogan:

Royal Caribbean: Our ships sail you to your final frontier -- HELL.

I let the steward take the lead. A few kept themselves scarce, and I didn't seek them out.

But they typically introduce themselves quickly and know I'm alone. I often get a sense they want to know who I am so they can watch out for me -- in a good way. :)

On a 12-night t/a on Vision OTS, my steward was from the Philippines. Mid-voyage, I tipped her extra and gave her a nice lapel pin CCers had made for that sailing. I thanked her for taking care of me and explained we only had 100 pins, and we shared them only with our favorite crew members. She seemed pleased.

Then some catastrophe hit the Philippines (tsunami? I don't recall), and I asked about her family (prepared to have her crying on my shoulder). She told me she'd finally reached them that day and they were OK, but she'd been worried sick. Whew!

Since the steward has to work around my stuff and sees my dainties in the bathroom :eek: I try not to be aloof, but not so friendly I'm intrusive.

According to Royal's Twitter feed https://twitter.com/RCLcorp

14 minutes ago, they said all guests are now accounted for and none were injured.

No word on crew yet. I hope all are OK.

If you're into watching 24/7 commercials for the cruise line, shore excursions, and shopping, then ship TV is for you.

If you really get desperate, there should be some pay-per-view movies available.

The most valuable tip I've ever seen about TV is that if you have an inside cabin, keep the TV tuned to the bridge cam and pretend it's a porthole. At night it will be totally black and not interfere with your sleep, brightening as the sun rises in the morning. :D

I agree with a previous poster that the Caribbean can be pretty uniformly hot and humid year-round, with pop-up downpours. I could cope with all of that.

Other people's kids are my deal-breaker in the summer and during school breaks. During the school year their numbers are manageable. But when so many are onboard that the children's facilities become maxed out and packs of them are allowed to roam unsupervised at all hours, it can get noisy and unpleasant in many places.

I've recently sailed solo with RCCL and NCL, and I prefer RCCL by a mile because of traditional dining.

I'm fine eating breakfast and lunch alone, but I like company at dinner.

On RCCL I ask for a large table, late seating (fewer kids around). Mostly, my tablemates have been lovely. But when they're not, after the first night I'll discreetly ask the maître d' to move me. That usually works well because they've had a night to see how the tables are shaking out, who seems to be getting along, etc., and can make an informed switch.

On Norwegian Getaway with Freestyle, I ate all but 4 meals alone on a 7-night cruise, in spite of "meeting" many fellow CCers, mainly because many made reservations months in advance and their weeks were already all planned out.

I just drifted around with no reservations because, to quote Pretty Woman, I'm more of a "seat of the pants" kind of girl. :D

I don't think anyone has mentioned this advice yet: If you are looking for casual chat in the evening, have a drink sitting at any bar, rather than a table. Couple of reasons:

1) If nobody else does, the bartender will talk to you,

2) The bartender will introduce you to other solos who come along,

3) Other solos will tend to sit at the bar, rather than alone at tables, because they also want to meet people,

4) When you're at a table, people are reluctant to approach you, except to ask to steal all your empty chairs for their own group.

OK, that was more than a couple but, as others have said, you'll meet more people putting yourself in a position to be noticed (when you feel like it) than by sitting by yourself in a situation (like, at a table) where it looks like you're waiting for a companion.

My most embarrassing cruising moment as a solo was on HAL. I was sitting alone at a table for 4, a group came by and stole the other 3 chairs without even asking me, and left me sitting at this big table, only chair, feeling like a fool. From that moment on, I vowed, "Never again!" :mad:

I LOVE cruising solo if I can find a decent price. It's much harder on RCCL these days, but if you book far in advance or really watch for deals, they can be had.

The last thing I want to see on a ship is all the passengers walking around with eyes glued to their smartphone screens because the ship went "paperless." It would be exactly like being on land! :mad:

Keep the Compass activities and amenities schedule, ditch all the advertising. Run ads on a dedicated TV channel so those who are interested can watch.

I did use my iPad on my last NCL cruise to check menus to decide where to eat, but not to make reservations, simply because I didn't want to be bothered.

I cruise to get away from gadgets and would give up cruising if it meant I'd have to rely on gadgets more than I do at home, just to know what's going on around me.

I pack toiletries and cosmetics in a large cube-shaped zippered bag. Inside, I stack 2 plastic bins from Dollar Tree of roughly the same length and width. They take up almost no space. Then I put all my stuff in the trays or tuck it around the edges.

Once onboard, I put all bathroom toiletries in one tray, and cosmetics and hair styling stuff in the other. Everything I need stays together, where I need it. Deodorant, moisturizer, mouthwash, toothpaste, etc., in the bathroom tray.

Makeup and hair items go in the other tray on the cabin vanity, where I dry my hair and primp. :D

Keeps my stuff out of the steward's way, and leaves more room for a cabinmate to spread out their stuff.

Obviously, you should print how ever you can, b&w or color.

But think about it: the tags wouldn't be color-coded without a reason. It's just as those paper files in your doctor's office have color-coded edges. It's so they can be more quickly put where they belong, and misfiles will instantly stand out by breaking the color pattern.

(I used to work with color-coded systems. :))

The porters are handling thousands of bags, and the work goes faster grouping by color because it takes no thought. Otherwise, they have to stop and read a tag and think for a nanosecond.

All those nanoseconds add up, and any misplaced bags don't stand out. I always print my tags in color because I can. If you have the capability, why be a bottleneck in the process?

I've sailed on both lines and I prefer Royal Caribbean. Royal doesn't promote itself as being an "anything goes" kind of line, the way Carnival does.

Carnival definitely does attract a younger crowd, and has no problem with parties getting loud and wild.

The times I've seen passengers really behaving badly (fighting, screaming profanities, throwing up in the corridors) were all on Carnival.

And I've found Royal's crews generally to be friendlier and more accommodating. The only times I've ever been rudely scolded by crew members was on Carnival. (MSC was a close second on that.)

The ships themselves are lovely. The food is passable. Those are toss-ups.

Solos now get double points, triple if in a suite.

Excellent point. Yes, they do. And it's high time solos finally got something to show for the single supplements they've been paying for years. :D

I can't imagine that RCCL would allow high, light bar stools to get past the naughty room. If they did happen to make it to the cabin, the steward would probably take one look at them and remove them for the duration.

The chairs on the balconies are the heft and height they are for one reason -- safety. Why circumvent the ship in trying to keep you dry and alive?

I'm scratching my head over this one. :confused:

Exactly - IMO, they should have to earn the status by spending the same amount of time (and money) as the rest of us (well, most of us:rolleyes:)

Agree 100%. Marital status should have absolutely nothing to do with this. A passenger is a passenger.

I seem to recall that I attained Diamond status after the FIRST NIGHT of my last 7-day cruise on RCCL. Did I get to enjoy Diamond perks for the remaining 6 days? Heck, no. I won't see them until I embark on my NEXT voyage on Vision in October.

I'm irked that someone would receive Diamond privileges most have paid thousands to earn just because she has a husband, after she completes only one voyage. It would be even more outrageous that she should get them the moment she first steps onboard, on her first cruise.

It's nothing personal, but simply a matter of fairness. Why should couples get considerations that solo travelers would never be entitled to? Solos already have to pay DOUBLE. :confused:

I was solo on Getaway in October and not only did I not have the UDP, but I didn't make any reservations.

I couldn't make the math work in my favor on the UDP because I didn't plan to eat at the priciest places every night. I paid as I went and it came out less.

I had no problem as a walk-up getting a table by myself in the complimentary and some specialty restaurants, and they usually gave me a nice table in the corner by a window, if there were windows.

The only restaurant I didn't try was Le Bistro (for which I had a free meal voucher), and this was because everyone I met told me they couldn't get in at the times they wanted because it was booked solid, but every time I walked by, it was dead.

I just didn't want the hassle of dealing with reservations. But I also didn't enjoy eating so many meals alone. I could have stayed home and done that.

Mr. Fain would do his marketing department a big favor by closing his cakehole. Talking about passengers and their "used car salesman mentality" as if we're all rubes isn't the way to attract new business or keep the repeaters coming back.

And boasting that he'd rather see his ships sail with empty cabins is just horse hockey. All it would take for RCCL to do a 180 on this attitude is for some news outlet to cover RCCL's resulting "Ghost Fleet."

A helicopter flyover could show other lines' ships setting sail with upper decks full of partying passengers dancing and waving colorful fou-fou drinks, and then a comparatively empty RCCL ship, with a few passengers standing quietly at the railings, empty-handed.

The report closes with: "Since Royal Caribbean instituted its policy of charging top dollar for all its ships and just about everything -- while not upgrading its product to be considered a premium line -- Carnival, Norwegian, and MSC report their fleets' bookings have increased to capacity."

And maybe Mr. Fain would consider this new marketing slogan:

When you're Loyal to Royal, you may not be able to afford the drinks, but you'll have the ship all to yourself!

:D

I can recommend the transfer company PressICat in Barcelona if you want/need private transfer services. My wife and I used them for transfer from the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to the cruise, from the cruise to the hotel, and from the hotel to the cruise during our winter vacation last year. Friendly and professional chauffeur, spotless car every time. Check out the reviews at Tripadvisor.

Thank you for this information. This is just the sort of recommendation I was hoping to find for transfers before my upcoming transatlantic from Barcelona. I will see about hiring PressICat.

I vote for Captain's announcements!

 

Good Morning! Good Morning! Good Morning! As the Master and supreme authority onboard, passengers have a right to hear from him. Yes, we're on vacation and don't want our fun or rest interrupted. But this isn't a ride at an amusement park. We're on a real ship in the middle of a real ocean. The Master addressing us with nautical information should be expected. The Master is responsible for our safety and comfort onboard. If he gains no rapport or respect by addressing the passengers with nautical information and other official announcements, how is he to expect cooperation and compliance if, heaven forbid, there was a real emergency that he had to direct?

Agree with this reasoning 100%. :)

I've carried one of those small block Belkin extenders someone showed earlier in a packet with all my gadget cords and chargers in my carry-on for the past few years with no questions asked.

I only use it while I'm in the cabin to keep an eye on it, and store it out of sight while I'm out and about.

Before that, I always packed an extension cord in my checked luggage with no problems. The Belkin is better because it also has 2 USB ports. :)