scotmonson

On 10/2/2019 at 12:45 PM, uvadover said:

Update:  Two hours and fifteen minutes on the phones, including an escalation to a supervisor.  They've clearly nixed a bunch of the cabins that hold 3-4 people, so the 2nd of our connecting rooms with the 3 kids was the issue.  First I was told there was simply nothing that could be done, and we would just need to get two rooms next door - that's simply not an option with small kids.  Ultimately, they "found" two connecting rooms on Deck 8 (instead of Deck 12).  I was told "the good news is that it won't cost me any extra."  Needless to say, I would expect moving 4 decks DOWN to a much higher traffic deck would be less desirable and, therefore, less expensive.  I was told there would be no price accommodation.  

 

I asked why other people couldn't be shuffled around to accommodate us - perhaps there are sets of adults who don't really NEED connecting staterooms, for example, and could easily get by with nearby or next door cabins.  I was told "we can't possibly do that" - but of course, why could they move ME so easily?

 

At the end of the day, I have almost no leverage.  $4500 in flights non-refundable, cruise nearly sold out, actually cancelled a hold we had for Norwegian Escape for the same week, etc.  At the end I asked if there would be any goodwill/compensation, and the answer was a hard no.  I asked for further escalation, and that will result in a callback within 24-48 hours.  I am so beyond frustrated by this.  We're also booked on Ovation next summer and I am seriously rethinking that decision.  My platinum status may be pretty low but I am a relatively young cruiser and have been a loyal traveler many times.  

 

The representative did indicate that "quite a lot" of people were affected by this, so I'll be interested to see if there is more fanfare.  Frankly, if I had followed their direction to "wait 1-2 weeks," I would have most certainly been SOL.  

some would prefer deck 8 to deck 12 as you can walk right out to central park on deck 8.

Just off on 7/12.  Very minor ship movement going up or coming back.  Those posters who talked about the Ovation being unstable are not correct!

1 hour ago, frank808 said:

Yes we are on the same cruise. Did you sign up for the meet n mingle? I dont think we hit 25 or more for the official meet n mingle get together.

No I haven't - I usually don't.

8 hours ago, frank808 said:

Should be allowed.  I can confirm if D+ are allowed into CL in a couple weeks.

Sounds like we may be on the same cruise.  We sail on 7/5.

Does anyone know if Diamond+ cruisers are allowed to use the Concierge lounge on the Ovation?

8 minutes ago, CMcJones said:

We cruise Friday, I will never be able to give as great of a review as Hoopster, but I will try to pop on during our sailing and for sure after with info!

Thanks!

On 2/17/2019 at 8:13 PM, GXmanDC said:

January 2008 on Liberty of the Seas. We visited Grand Turk, St. Thomas, and Labadee.  My friends and significant other dragged me aboard because "I wasn't a cruise person."  We've been back at least once every winter since. 

 

I sailed on The Norway in 1986 and on Sovereign in 1991.  I know that Norway was a longer ship than Sovereign, but I think Sovereign was larger in tonnage. 

Lastly, I’ll close with this. There are a lot of talks on these boards about the decline in service and food in recent years. And there is probably some truth in that. But what is not talked about enough is that the quality of passenger behavior is declining. Seems as though people want 5 star food, 5 star service, 5 star entertainment…but they only want to pay 2 star prices and behave as a 2 star customer. In a week,I personally saw: A guy drop his pizza on the promenade, look at it, and just walk away…A guy get rude with a bartender who had to tell him (kindly), twice, that he had to put out his cigarette because we were getting gas in St Martin and there was no smoking outdoors…A lady get very pushy and rude with the crew member who was scanning people on and off the ship because she thought he was taking too long…the same lady who expected other people to get off the elevator to make room for her…a guy get belligerent and use multiple profanities with the guy serving the popcorn outside the comedy club because he thought he was too slow…a group of people constantly heckling the piano player every time they were in the Schooner bar…and members of the audience booing the member of the entertainment staff who had to come out midway through our Ocean Aria show and announce that they had to cancel the show because they were have problems with the pool and the floor that rises up and down. Be A Good Person. It really is the most basic concept. We are all human and all have our moments. The DW knocked her shot of Baileys off the table by Starbucks…we didn’t just leave it and walk away or bark at a crew member to clean it up…we went and grabbed napkins and wiped it up and notified a crew member we spilled…it’s that simple. Talk to the crew and treat them with respect at the very least. They are working hard and most of them are trying to provide for a family who they don’t get to see very often. Better yet, talk with them,try and get to know some of them instead of looking at them as a means to an end. We ended up frequently chatting with a server in the bar area of the Solarium and we asked him a lot of questions about his life and where he’s from and all that. And at the end of the week he came up and thanked us for taking the time to talk with him on a personal level instead of just asking for a drink and moving on. He said it really makes a difference in how their week goes.

 

So that’s that, another one in the books and the next one to far away. If you have any questions ask away. I do have the Compass’ and a few other flyers and such. I can get them posted if desired. I apologize in advance for any grammar issues...the formatting got all messed up when I copied on the boards from my Word document. I tried to correct it all, but I am sure I missed some.

I enjoyed your review and completely agree with many of your points. I sailed on Oasis in March and previous to my cruise and after my cruise I read many posts on CC tearing down the:ships condition; the food; the service by the crew, etc. I have to wonder if there are two Oasis of the Seas because I found the ship's condition and the crew's service to be wonderful. Food is very subjective but I will say that I have been cruising since 1986 and have completed 25 cruises with Royal Caribbean and I find the food to be as good now as it was in 1986 (I'm not a foodie) and with many more choices. I agree with you that I see the behavior of some passengers today to be much worse than it used to be. I know without question that you will receive responses from other people (crew) that are predicated on how you have addressed them. Just my two cents worth.

Don’t look too closely... she’s a bit worn down.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

You must be pretty picky! I was on the Oasis two weeks ago & looked for things looking worn. I could not find mant.

It is on the 3rd night.

Or heat, and we are usually there at the hottest part of the day. PS to Scott, had to re-read your user name. At first I thought I don't want to cruise with anyone with the name of Monsoon. :o

Nor would I Bill!:eek:

Robyn, I would be interested in knowing how the situation with mosquitoes is in Labadee tomorrow, if you have time, as I have heard mixed things about that port. Just wondering how many precautions we should be taking, if we should get the malaria prevention medicine.

I have been to Labadee many times (1st there in 1991 on the Sovereign of the Seas) and I don't remember ever seeing a mosquito. Mosquitos don't like the wind and Labadee is always windy! Don't worry.

Maybe they have new ones on order, but just didn't get completed in time to make it on the boat yet.

Suppose that could be true, but they weren't on the Freedom last October either.

Interesting about blue cushions. You'll have to tell us how comfortable the loungers are without them but with the gold towels.

I can say from personal experience that they are very uncomfortable! This is one cut-back that is really noticeable!

I happen to agree with you. We were on the Oasis in August and loved our cruise. We just got of the Oasis a week ago and not the same experience. I understand RCCL have every right to change their loyalty programs. However, it wouldn't hurt to have communicated so to their most loyal cruisers. We are treated no better than diamond at this point so what is the incentive to get to Diamond Plus? The lounge is now for both diamond and diamond +. The buy one get one free specialty dinner is not a perk on this ship as Oasis were offering 50% off for everyone the first evening.

 

You can flame away, but above is a fair statement.

Perhaps the incentive is that you get to enjoy your cruises (or not) on the way to Diamond Plus. This entire thread is very amusing to me. The poor diamond plus guys must enjoy the same space they did before, but must do it now with lowly diamonds! What is life coming to?

Looking forward to the always informative review even with the obligatory "us poor persecuted smoker's lines. (2 before sailaway) I will look forward to hearing how well you like Giovanni's on this ship. (And other changes)

There is no necessity to demean his comments on smoking - if you would pay attention, you would discover that this is his way of letting us know that it is a bad habit - but he has it

You said that the ship left Coco Cay at around 2:00 PM. Was this time shown on your ship's itinerary or changed? I am sailing on Freedom Eastern in October and the itinerary shows leaving Coco Cay at 5:00. This is an important difference in that leaving at the earlier time would give more time for excursions in St. Thomas

We stayed in 1340 on Liberty in March of 2008. They had just added the binoculars to the balcony. They said at the time that they were an experiment, but I have stayed in quite a number of center hump owner's suites since and I have never seen binoculars. These by the way are the same as the ones on Oasis and Allure viewing deck on the front of deck 14, very powerful!

:mad:

You're getting off the ship in Jamaica? Might as well go to Uganda.

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Forums mobile app

You are exceedingly uninformed!:mad:

For what its worth, I have corresponded with, and followed JohnGaltny's posts, for several years and have found him to be an intelligent and humorous contributor to this forum. I am somewhat surprised at some of the responses to this string.

 

The fact that he travels with a bevy of beautiful women is completely irrelevant and has nothing to do with my brown-nosing!

I could not agree more and hope one day to be on a cruise with him and his bevy of beauties!

:)Been on 4 cruises with Ken Rush. Have had personal interaction with him. He is like any other entertainer who has a busy schedule - he can only spend a certain amount of time with any one person. I think without any question that in my 20 cruises with RCI, he runs the best entertainment group of all!

Trekker - how to you get alerts as to upgrades?

Reading about all the "negative" changes listed, and there are many :-(, reminds me of a thread several years back when RCI began taking the chocolates away. Yes those D@%$ chocolates!! :-).

 

Can't remember who said it but the jist of their comments was that this is just the beginning. They predicted RCI will begin a deliberate slow process of reducing overhead and costs to the consumer's disadvantage but to corporate's advantage.

 

Well the flaming this person got on this site was endless, I mean brutal. The "loyal to royal" folks just went crazy brutal on him/her.

 

Fast forward a few years and this person now looks like a wise psychic that sees into the future.

 

If your being honest, no one, I mean no one, can deny that the RCI product has lessened for the consumer over the last 3-5 years. The list is long: food, long customer service waits, terrible, I mean really terrible - yes it was bad in past but has gotten much worse- IT, less staff doing more with less, increased up charges and reducing choices in specialty restaurants, yes-no chocolates:-), fewer towel animals :-) , on and on and on.

 

BUT with that said, I still believe RCI has a product that I'm willing to pay my hard earned $$ on, FOR NOW. It is still a great vacation for the DW and I. Will be on IOS later this month and even with those listed "negatives" we'll have a great time. We just know what to expect AND not expect.

I started sailing with RCI in 1991 on the Sovereign of the Seas. I just looked up my ticket for that cruise and found that I paid $2550 for an ocean view cabin (no airfare, no balcony). 1991 dollars are worth far more than 2014 dollars, and yet I can book a balcony cabin on either Oasis or Allure today for around $2200. Which way is Royal increasing prices when you make that comparison? Anybody that ever sailed the Sovereign knows that that experience did not, and could not compare to Oasis or Allure. So when I read all these comments about how Royal is reducing it's quality, I am mystified.

I have sailed a lot on Royal (diamond+) and will tell anyone who asks that the last 5 cruises on Royal were the best cruises I have ever taken and that in my opinion, the food in the main dining rooms are better now than they have ever been.