Dizzly

I’ve been cruising with Royal for a few decades now, and have definitely seen the “death by a thousand service cuts” while prices slowly rose. I agree that any one single “minor” (to me) service cut most likely won’t cause me to switch cruise lines, but it certainly leaves me less loyal to Royal and makes me more likely to explore other vacation/cruise options. And yes, given a forum, I’ll mildly complain about the missing services too. Growing up, my family were never big spenders, so a cruise vacation was a splurge. We were inside cabin all the way, never saw a window cabin till my honeymoon. My father, who controlled the purse strings, was adamant that he would pay no more than $100pp/per day for that inside cabin, and I’m not talking a cheaper transatlantic either. Just a regular 4-7 night out of some Florida port. For that $100pp/per night, we had fine dining in the main dining room (don’t even remember extra-$ restaurants, but if they existed we certainly would not have visited them. Midnight buffets every evening with one special Chocolate midnight buffet each cruise. Twice a day cabin service with turndown, a cruise compass delivered without having to specifically request it, and chocolates on every pillow. Drink of the day being hawked on the pool deck right to your lounger if you wanted to pay, after dinner shots in souvenir glasses brought around the dining room each night (also for $$). We didn’t have water slides, flowriders, rock walls, etc. back then, but there was plenty to do on-board for free. And that’s just a small example of what used to be available to all, regardless of C&A or Suite status. As for me, I miss what was lost in the little cuts. I’m still cruising on Royal when the itinerary and price are good, but I’ve also gone on other lines as well. As different lines come to my home port, I’ll branch out further and see who offers me the best cruise value for my $$.

Before my son could reliably give information, we’d use the printable removable tattoos to put our contact info on him in case he got separated, just before any major trip. Parents’ phone numbers, cabin info, whatever we had pertinent to that trip. Thankfully we never ended up needing it, but it was some peace of mind to know he had our contact info on him in a not easily removable way, just in case. I bet you can still find the tattoo paper on Amazon and it works on any regular printer, no special inks needed.