peterhof

32 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

I totally disagree. The Oasis was a mechanical issue that needed to be fixed while Royal chose to cancel on use so they could make more money. I do understand it's a business, but why did Royal give them a 100% FCC while they only gave us a 25% FCC. Originally they were saying it was only going to be on what we had paid (for most of us it was just on the deposit) which amounted to very little. When there was such a backlash they finally relented and agreed to give us just a 25% of what the total cruise would have cost us. 

 

I wouldn't count on that complementary upgrade you're speculating about. They are almost completely booked with everyone trying to scramble to find a replacement. BTW, you can't compare the itineraries or ships, they are totally different. I live 5 miles for where the Independence was to leave from and now I have to fly somewhere. Are they going to pay for my flight to get me to where the cruise will leave from? Of course not!  So how is that fair? The Independence this year isn't an option since I have 4 more cruises this year on Royal which I'm considering cancelling. I could go on and on, but it just makes me madder.

 

Have you ever been in one of the D lounges when it's crowded? Probably not or maybe you yourself are happy to see them go because you don't like the crowded lounges either. At times when it's so crowded they won't even open the Viking Lounge (or other available space) to help the situation. Often when they do they don't seem to care if others that haven't earned the C&A status also get free drinks.

 

YOUR COMMENTS ARE SUCH A JOKE. SO AGAIN TELL ME HOW THIS IS FAIR! 

It beggars belief why some people, many of which are lucky enough to be able to afford to cruise many times every year, do just that, instead of holidaying ashore. There are thousands of package holiday companies all offering a place to vacation, that nothing like this would occur. However, lots of them go bust every year, whereas cruise lines rarely do.

Why don't you go to a lawyer and get them to write a letter to Royal in your behalf?

20 hours ago, cruisekap said:

Ok.  So I am booked on Explorer in October.  I will have to ignore the obvious maintenance issues as I can't rebook something else now as I have flights etc. already booked.

 

  What was the service and food like?  I assume the was normal Royal offerings.

Hi - it's Paul here,

Don't worry in the least about these images as there is a good reason behind them, which I will explain later. The cruise that we are both on in October will be fabulous on Explorer, I promise.

Now for my take on the possible reasons regarding the images, which lets face it, are alien to regular cruisers with Royal. At the outset, let me say that we have no idea if the ship has had sickness aboard recently, because American ships have no duty to report that unless the next port is in either the USA or one of their protectorates, like Puerto Rica. Therefore lots of the maintenance crew could be ill.

Explorer has been sailing for months in extremely hot climates, calling at ports where new supplies of sun beds and double glazed large panels are not available.

After leaving Dubai for the transit through the Suez Canal, there were many sea days when certain maintenance jobs could not be carried out, normally done during the early 'am' hours. That was because after leaving Oman waters, passing Aden and entering hostile known pirate waters, past Somalia and Yemen, (where this a war going on) and then cruising past Saudi Arabia, on the way to the Suez Canal, the ship was obliged to be at full alert for pirates and unlit at night.

On top of all that, whilst in European waters, many of the crew and equipment will be replaced, including let's hope, the officers responsible for the upkeep of the items in the images.

By the time of our cruise, indeed all of the Southampton cruises, all cabins will be equipped with a kettle and tea/coffee making equipment and the ship will be in as A1 condition as possible and up to the usual 'Royal' standard. What nobody should forget is that apart from the huge competition at Southampton, regular EU and UK standards inspections are held, to safeguard EU citizens. In many ways, ships based at UK and European ports, such as Barcelona and Amsterdam, are better inspected for health and conditions, than in Miami or Ft Lauderdale.

However, after saying all that, I am on the Indy in six days time and will show the images to a maintenance officer for him to comment on. Should I see similar evidence of bad maintenance like this, on the Indy or Explorer, I will post my own images on CC

On 5/9/2019 at 3:02 PM, timf2001 said:

This fills an obvious hole in their schedule, unfortunately at the expense of those planning to visit Europe.  It also leaves RCI without any Norway or Baltic itineraries, as Anthem only sails south out of Southampton.

Yes, I've often thought that all the American ships are missing a trick as lots of UK cruisers like ourselves, have on their bucket list a Norwegian 'Northern Lights' cruise. We have travelled to the Northern Cape on a 'Land of the Midnight Sun' cruise, which was amazing to see the sun go down to the horizon, bounce around for a minute, then rise again, but to see the Northern Lights properly and with some expectation that they will appear, you have to go there between the months of November to March.

At present, the likes of Cunard, P&O, Cruise & Maritime and Fred Olsen have the market all to themselves and you have to be very lucky to secure any sort of cabin under £2,000. One day perhaps the penny will drop for one of the American lines and they will send a ship to either Southampton, Dover or Harwich for the winter months. They could then offer Canary Island cruises as well as Norwegian ones and perhaps Icelandic and Greenland ones - imagine the thrill of being able to take a ride on a husky pulled, racing sled over the snow, with the Aurora Boralis in the sky overhead.

21 hours ago, Shrewsbury on Tour said:

Now I have calmed down a little...

 

It’s just greed nothing else....pure and simple...

 

Selling a product to someone, take a deposit, then cancel and offer to someone else to make more money..and advertise it on the same day as you have cancelled. For a small business you would be closed in weeks...for a huge corporate company it’s all about $...

 

Loyalty....yeah right....

 

Time to look elsewhere....

 

 

 

 

I haven't a clue about you personally, but I would bet that you have never had any experience in a high managerial position where things can change hourly, let alone daily or weekly.

RCI must have been looking at the very poor returns expected from this year's Southampton based cruises and the constant jiggling of advertised cabin prices to trials and tribulations of the sales teams to try to get them sold. We ourselves could not believe how cheap they were being sold, on top of which we get a discount for being Diamond Crown & Anchor members - so we booked the upcoming first cruise on Indy and another, which was even cheaper, on the Explorer in October.

No cruise line takes a decision like this lightly and they are fully aware that some of their loyal customers will be upset, but the fact of the matter is that it is a business decision and nothingat all to do withbeing greedy! They, like all public companies that issue stocks and shares, are answerable to their stock (share) holders and are committed to make sure that profits return at the agreed level. They also have to weigh up the fact that contracted and committed sums, which in RCI case relate to the ships they are currently building, are in place and that suffient funds are available to meet the deadlines. In every large company there is normally a 5-year budget plan, maybe longer, and budgeted profits from one year must be sufficient to service the expected outgoings of the next.

I consider, having been in this sort of scenario myself when I was working, that the original decision to send two huge ships to Southampton for the 2019 & 2020 season to be a bad one. They could even be considering cutting their losses and pulling one from mainland Europe as well. However, the Brexit uncertainty is relevant only at this stage to the UK people and to UK businesses. I say "at this stage" as things could radically change should the UK crash out of the EU on World Trading terms on 31st October, which is getting more and more likely. Germany car manufacturers for instance could easily see a massive downturn in profits if some sort of trade tariff is instigated following a certain EU ban on imports from the UK.

21 hours ago, SAmome said:

Have you seen the prices they are charging for 3 night sailings that include coco cay 2020?  I think they'd make more money running 3 and 4 night sailings.

 

Yes indeed they will, plus of course lots of the more mature passengers will opt to buy the 3 specialty restaurant deal which just now is a bargain at £55 pp. Thus, RCI can cut down the tables in the MDR and maybe reduce the number of staff.

Six years ago, when I had lots of time on my hands, I did a best gestimate of clear profit per cruise for a 7-night cruise on a 90,000 tonne ship, which included everything, cost of meals, wages to crew, casino takings, shore excursions, bingo profit, specialty restaurants, port fees, etc. etc etc. and the clear profit figure was just over £1million per cruise. On a ship the size of the Indy, the profit margins produce an even greater sum and on the Oasis class could easily double or tremble the £1million.

When you consider that most RCI ships sail practically continuously all year round for ten years and operate on a break down scenario, rather than a pro-active 6-monthly maintenance program, Indy and other ships her size may well return a £100million profit for the company, per year. With 26 ships in the fleet and more to come, that means that RCI ships return a profit figure of approx £2.6 Billion per year. translated to US$ that is approx $3.9 Billion per year - wow

17 hours ago, Windsurfer play mates said:

RCCL have just lost themselves 2 Diamond Members. Presumably Loyalty means very little?

 

Losing 2 Diamond members is in fact a bonus for RCI, as there are so many now, that they have been obliged to introduce Diamond lounges on all new ships and to those that are refitted. On the Navigator for instance, nightly happy hours for Diamond and above, happened in the public Ixia lounge at the end of the Royal Promenade and was a comfortable experience.

Loyalty definately does mean a lot to RCI and to every line afloat and they always give extra than what is expected whenever they have to cancel a cruise. Just see what the 2019 Oasis TA booked passengers got after they were forced to have the ship repaired through no fault of their own. Cancelling a cruise this far in advance is not like cancelling one that was scheduled for a few weeks later. Giving a 25% bonus on top of a full refund, plus stumping up for any non returnable flight and transport costs, is I think very fair indeed. On top of which they said that anybody booked on next years Indy TA to the UK would have the option to transfer to the Anthem, probably getting a complementary upgrade I bet!

On 5/9/2019 at 11:32 AM, FionaMG said:

High. Sailings out of the UK are crazy high. Royal are pricing themselves out of the market, especially with new builds by competitors like MSC and Costa. 

Yes, but quite frankly, there is no comparison between the Italian style ships and the American ones. We have sailed on MSC just once (Reposition Beunos Aires to Southampton) and we were in one the top grade suites. As soon as we got in the stateroom we looked at each other and said "This is not what I would call a suite, just an elongated balcony cabin and smaller than a standard balcony cabin on an RCI ship.

We had been warned not to order any meat dishes at dinner, only fish - we of course disregarded this recommendation and ordered steaks on the first night. They arrived looking like flattened pieces of pinky brown lumps of cardboard and tasted even worse than they looked. Vegetables were served uncooked or at best having been microwaved for 10 seconds.

The ship itself was lovely, but the crew were badly trained and because all Italian ships act like buses, in that passengers can book a cruise from any itinerary port to another, there were multiple muster drills throughout the cruise. That said, and was the reason why so many people died on the Costa Concordia, although there were 'new' passengers at every port of call, not every port had a muster drill before departure.

For those unlucky enough to be in a cabin below the lido and sports deck, it was hell, as until about 2 in the morning, sometimes later, there was organised line dancing, sports games and lots of teenagers running around the deck, whooping it up. Anouncements, of which there were scores every day, were first broadcast in Italian, then French, then Spanish, then English. If there were any Japanese aboard, which is frequent, the announcement was given again by a Japanese translater or tour guide who was leading the Japanese contingent. Needless to say we have never booked an MSC cruise again.

Costa is slightly better regarding the food, but with lots of fun loving Italian and Spanish families on most of the cruises, ambient noise levels do not make for a great cruise if you are a mature cruiser. Also, just like at home, Italian families encourage their youngsters to run around the table and grab whatever they fancy from dishes on the table. If you have ever eaten in a local family restaurant in any Italian city, you will know exactly what I mean. It's pure hell for anybody else that happens to be in the dining room, hoping to have a quiet meal.

A Costa cruise is a 3-star experience for Italian food, cabin comfort and amenities, but a 1-star experience for English speaking passengers for entertainment and ambience around the ship.

1 hour ago, dcherry said:

Thank you for the reply. So one would need to physically stand and lift it through some cabin doors? If so, that is not going to be feasible in my husband's situation if I were not with him.

 

Put it this way, it's not as wide as a wheelchair and on his own he would not be able to lift a WChair on his own into a non accessible cabin but maybe could lift/negotiate a  Travelscoot into one. We have been on lots of RCI ships and some are wide enough and some are not, even in the same cabin grade. Ships that definitely are too small are, Marco Polo, Magellan and Fred Olsen ships - basically all the older ones, however, those ships don't let you use a scooter around the ship. 

Best to contact the cruise line and ask how wide their doorways are.

2 hours ago, dcherry said:

Does this scooter fit through the doors on non-handicap cabins? Have you used it on grass terrain?

Re cabin doors - it all depends on the ship, however, if you want to not collapse it, you can shorten the   Steering arm and turn sideways, or collapse it and lift inside. Not a problem.

yes, unless the grass is wet, it goes ok on grass

12 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

I don't think you appreciate the fact that at busy times a person or couple may not be able to board once or twice but a scooter user may have to watch five, six, seven or more cars stop before there is one that can be boarded. Sure we can put this down to "life". Personally though I see no reason not to look for ways to make life a little easier for everyone.

Here, here

13 minutes ago, 123funcruiser said:

 

No disagreement with you. This can happen to able bodied People as well. Sometime people rush in front of them too. Unfortunately this will be a Problem that will continue to exist and it´s certainly not limited to the Topic on Hand. 

 

 

Of Course this can happen, just as it happens to non handicapped People as well. An Elevator might come up that is fully packed and the next one might have room for the Tiny Lady but not for me the big guy. That´s life. Now we can discuss the issue if it´s Right for People arriving after the wheelchair user slipping into an Elevator having roo mfor them, but not the Wheelchair, or if they have to let that one go and Keep waiting. I´d say let them go, as have them waiting doesn´t help anyone, it just stretches the Problem By not full utilizing the Elevators.

Sometimes my wife, who is aged herself and has mobility issues not as bad as my own, will take the stairs if there is not enough room for both of us. 90% of the occupants in the lift already don't really need to use them at all. In the old days, all RCI ships had lifts at the rear of the ship too. These are now for crew use only.

37 minutes ago, Lady Hudson said:

What bothers me is the people who rush by a person in a scooter or wheelchair because they can.  It doesn’t matter to them that the handicapped person has been waiting longer for an elevator.  Most people have common courtesy, but unfortunately some do not.

Thank you - thank god someone on here agrees with me

30 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

 

It's all a farce anyhow, in a real emergency there would be panic and as what happened on the Costa ship that sank, the crew, including the captain, will be the first to get in a LBoat. 

A friend of mine was crew on a cruise ship and when he started, the first thing his cabin sharers told him was how to be one of the first off the ship if the order to abandon was given out.

Just now, tommui987 said:

 

My fault, I fear!

 

I was wondering whether the battery is easily removable to lessen the weight? Of course you would probably have to get a basket and trey for cruise purposes unless someone lugs your stuff/food around.

Hi,

The battery is the gold bar in the picture, which fixes to the Travelscoot by hook & eye style fasteners, so yes, it is very easy to remove, but as it weighes just 6lb, the weight difference on or off is minimal. The present Travelscoot being sold does not have the pretruding black drum motor (see in picture) as the motor is hidden inside one of the back wheels. The result to a first-time casual spectator is that it is powered by a 200 pack of cigarettes like magic.

When first I get on the scooter, after having a coffee in a cafe for instance, fellow drinkers think that it is a pedal tricycle - boy are they surprised when I zoom off at speed !

2 hours ago, Mulele said:

We're cruising on the Danube next year.  This will be our second cruise. Our first was last year to Alaska. We rented a scooter there and I was delighted to discover how much easier and less painful having wheels was as opposed to hobbling around. 

Hi,

We took a Danube river cruise a few years ago and I took my Travelcoot. What you have to remember on river cruises, especially Danube ones, is that lots of times you will be moored alongside another boat in cities. To get from boat to boat (up to 3 are moored together), you have to do that from the sun deck and on most cruisers there is no lift to get to the sun deck. Therefore, someone has to physically lug the scooter to the top deck. This is similar to what happens on Nile cruises, especially in Luxor and Aswan.

I advise that you check with your Danube river trip organiser to see how easy it will be to take a scooter on board.

12 minutes ago, tommui987 said:

 

sorry - can't see your reply

20 hours ago, Mulele said:

Finally have to move on up to a folding scooter... but I'm feeling overwhelmed by the massive amount of data out there.  Does anyone have any recommendations to share? I would prefer something that folds, but I'm more concerned about reliability and range. And cobblestones. Thank you. 

Look no further than the Travelscoot.

https://www.travelscoot.com/

In a period spanning five years I purchased and ultimately rejected everything that was on the market, including the folding type as already mentioned to you. The main problem was weight and the ability to make sure that it could be driven right up to an aircrafts door and then stowed in the hold. With the type already shown, no airline would allow me to do that - I could take it to the gate, but it was then taken from me and put in the hold. That meant that I had to struggle to get to the aircraft door without mechanical assistance.

Then I discovered that a German guy in America had invented the lightest and most portable travel scooter in the world, after he had been injured in a plane crash. His background was in avionics and he designed aircraft. He like I had gone through all the different scooters on the market and none were what he required - i.e. Lightweight but with long distance use and to be able to folded to a size that would fit in an aircrafts overhead locker.

Depending on the airline, and if you travel business class or not - I can now take the Travelscoot on to the aircraft where it is stored in a wardrobe. Overhead lockers have got small and smaller and there is rarely room for it to be stowed there.

I purchased my first Travelscoot (Mark 1) and had it shipped to the UK. The Mark 1 was great but it didn't have a reverse gear, so I had to reverse using my feet (pushing on the ground backwards). I took this little baby on all my foreign trips and on cruise ships it was a sensation, after so many passengers asked me for details I contact the inventor and he sent me some of his business cards.

You will see from the images on the website that the present version (Mk 2) now has a reverse gear and much better breaks + the motor is hidden inside one of the rear wheels. Weight is around the same as a suitcase - i.e. 20Kg (42lb) and the power supply is a very efficient Lithium battery, that looks like a 200 pack of cigarettes. Made from aircraft quality aluminium it and welded, it is very, very strong. I wont temp fate by saying that I have never had any trouble at all !!

In operation it folds down to roughly the size of a babies buggy and the stem folds onto the top of the chasis to form a strong central lifting arm. The quoted maximum driver weight is an amazing 350lb + carry on luggage. Take a look at the YouTube videos for more information.

Below is me on board a ship in the casino - my biggest regret was that a lovely croupier loved it so much that she asked me for a ride - what was I thinking of to turn her down - "Stupid is as stupid does" said Forest Gump.

1 minute ago, Reader0108598 said:

My apologies I am going to quit while I am behind...lol

Yep - good idea - this is a very dark place to go for some people and best not to open that can of worms any further.

2 minutes ago, hazence said:

As a few of us have mentioned, can you envision the Indianapolis 500 scooter/wheelchair race to that one elevator during peak times! Additionally, there would need to be disability police stationed to sort out arguments over who has right to “board” such as we are encountering just in this discussion!

 

I am reminded of the “emotional support dog” attempt to compassionately accomadate certain passengers. Soon that “compassion” to one set of passengers encouraged abuse and created a whole new set of disgruntled passengers.

 

Courtesy and kindness and patience on ALL sides is one answer.  The other would be to assess if the wait times disturb you enough... choose a smaller ship, a different line, or a different type of vacation. When you can’t change a business model or the action of others, you can always change your own choice of vacation venue. Like I said before, if you can’t climb the hills in Positano, go to flat but beautiful Bermuda...don’t expect the Italians to install motorized walkways.

How rude of you to suggest that we the disabled are somehow second rate citizens and must not go on the same holidays as the fit and able. I must remind you that there are international laws surrounding disabled people and in fact whilst sailing in EU waters there are some very strict extra laws that forbid anybody offering accomodation from excluding and not providing for the disabled.

2 minutes ago, broberts said:

That is discrimination my disability is no less than anothers. Maybe I am wheezing need to get to my nebulizer quick ,maybe my legs are about to give out due to my back pain! See you cannot say one person deserves more acomadation than another.

 

If the case mentioned is that serious then the doctot should be called

On 4/30/2019 at 1:38 AM, 6theagle said:

Recently, while travelling with a couple of friends who I am privileged  to be friends with for over 40 years, we encountered a cruise problem that I am seeking opinions on.  I can be a bit of a grump sometimes, but I was wondering if anyone else thinks that we with mobility issues, those traveling with children in strollers or anyone else who requires the elevator to get safely to and from our cabins to every where else on the ship, have encountered long waits at the elevators at peak times. Notably the fact that there are so many ambulatory people using those elevators. 

Rather than shaming my fellow travelers I want to address that it is fact the accessible desk or officer who SHOULD monitor how long it takes to get an elevator during embarkation, days at sea, and debarkation dates and times. How about dedicating an elevator? This would not be a full time dedication but at specific hours, for specific purposes. Let me know what you think, I am trying this again in August to Cuba. 

Being disabled myself and having to use either a wheelchair or mobility scooter to get around a ship, I fully appreciate the frustration I embarassingly have to encounter whilst on vacation. For those that are 'able bodied' there is little comprehension of the difficulties that we encounter and I have even been patted on the head in a ship elevator more than once by a condecending fellow passenger and asked if I was having a nice down there!

There are three specific times on a cruise that being in a wheelchair/scooter is highly problematic, two of which happen every day:

1) After the muster call on day 1

2) After and just before Dinner

3) After the theatre show

Getting to the muster call is ok, as all the elevators are available only to the disabled - however, when the muster drill is over, the whole ship wants either to get back to their cabin or somewhere else than where they are at the moment. Consequencly wheelchair/scooter users have to wait litterally an hour sometimes to get in an elevator. This annoys me as 90% of the passengers could easily walk down the stairs - I cannot in any way.

My answer would be to have one lift (elevator), either forward or the stern to be permently reserved for wheelchair/scooter users (I have to stress that kiddies in buggies are not disabled, normally). The way to police this facility is by way of the Sea Pass card by swiping the card across a sensor to call the lift. There are 14 lifts on the Independence of the Seas for instance and one lift, that could be one of the lifts that are out of action on embarkation and disembarkation days on luggage duties, would not cause too much delay to other passengers.

Either that or passengers that do not give prioty at the lifts at these crucial times to disabled folk are named and shamed. A "There but for the grace of god" attitude is what is required.

I am very much looking forward to the two RCI cruises we are on this year, but not looking forward to the mayhem that some passengers inflict on me and others. I can understand how children don't give a 'monkeys', but to be insulted time and time again by their parents, who think only of themselves is appalling. These people themselves grow old and the fit and healthy amongst them still treat the less fit like something under their shoe. One holiday that no disabled person should go on is one organised by Saga, as the folk that do go on them think only of themselves and fight to be at the front of every queue (line) to be first in everything.

So yes, I think that a designated lift is urgently wanted.

18 minutes ago, mac66 said:

Mac66-  Do you realize how many people do cruise more than I have?  I have encountered a number of people who I thought I cruised more when in fact they told me they cruised more than I have.  I will always go on cruises 2-3 times a year, and always spend two weeks in Aruba during the month of July and always take 2-3 other land based vacations a year, cruises aren't the only means of vacation for us.

 

My original post has nothing to do with the quality of the food, I simply stated that I like to see 150 Central Park finally serve different vegetables.  Why does it only have to be broccolini and carrots over and over for the past many years? Its time to switch the veggies and add different items to the menu too.

Quote

I'm just saying.. that cruise lines cater to the average customer out of necessity. The average customer doesn't cruise 91 times and therefore doesn't have problem with the cuisine or the decor.   You do the same thing 91 times and then complain that the food is boring.  Perhaps you should find something else to do. 😉

Ladies, ladies - lets not fall out on such a trivial matter as vegetables - all you have to do is ask the waiter to ask the maitre 'D to ask the third cook to ask the second cook to ask the chef to always serve you the vegetables that you like and it will happen - trust me.

I quote the time when I was on a TransPacific cruise from Bangkok to Cape Town and was served a pre-plated selection of cheese and biscuits dish. On seeing that there was no Stilton, which I love, I asked the waiter if Stilton was available. He returned saying that there was no Stilton aboard, but would Danish Blue do. No I said and left the matter there. The next night the waiter asked me if I would like the cheeseboard again and I said ok, but this time I want to choose the cheese.

To my surprise, he came back with a huge selection of cheeses - one of which was Stilton. He had gone to the trouble of asking the third cook to ask the second cook to ask the chef if Stilton was anywhere on the ship. It appeared that in the officers mess, Stilton is served every night - but for that one 30-night cruise, it was served on one select late sitting table as well! Needless to say, our waiter Manuel received a generous tip from me !

Moral of that story is: Always STOP the daily auto gratuity debit, as all waiters and cabin stewards that are not wet behind their ears, alway check which of their customers have done that. Those that have stopped the auto gratuities always receive better service !

On 4/22/2019 at 2:38 PM, Mwaldron said:

My adult daughter and I just got off a cruise on the Independence. First of all, I paid more for this 5 day cruise than some 7 day ones. Embarkation was slower than slow. Im Diamond plus and and was shown no consideration. They corral you into a seating area and we waited 1.5 hours to board. On boarding, the first thing I noticed was dirty rugs and scuffed floors. Not a good first impression. We found a seat on deck to sun in at 8:00 am and went to eat for approximately 15 minutes. When we returned, pool staffed had placed s chain with a sign saying, reserved for suite guests. Well, the sign was not there when we first came but they proceeded to throw us out ( Im Diamond plus remember). At this point the deck was crowded. So much for the no reserving seats rule. Let me see, this was my 40th cruise. Im sure Ive spent as much as suite guests. If you’re going to have a rule, it should apply to everyone. Staff was great. The food was ok, not exceptional. The drinks are getting way too expensive. But I think they do this to push you towards purchasing a package. Plus, the drinks seemed watered down. Looks like I need to reconsider where my loyalty lies.

The moral of this story maybe is:

a) arrive at the correct boarding time and not early

b) if the weather is at all inclement on boarding days, old rugs are placed over good ones to keep them clean

c) if you boarded at 8:00 am you were not entitled (officially) to have breakfast

d) depending on the number of passengers on each cruise, areas are sometimes "chained off" for suite passengers.

e) congrats on being able to take 40 cruises, however, you are just a baby compared to some Pinnacle members who have sailed over 100 cruises

f) As Forest Gump said "Life is like a box of chocolates" i.e. you gets what you pay for and like flying first class on a plane, the cost bears no resemblance to the overall experience. Suite passengers pay a hefty premium per cruise to occupy a larger and more luxurious cabin, but everything else is the same as what even inside passengers get. What little perks suite passengers do get, like special designated areas on deck and theatres, which by the way RCI don't like doing, as it offends some people, gets a thumbs up from me.

g) the money you have paid for 40 cruises may well exceed what someone else is paying for a stay in a suite - I put it too you though, would you rather have sailed to the places you've seen, met the hundreds of new friends you have done, ate the thousands of quality meals you have eaten, seen the hundreds of shows etc. etc etc. attaining the Diamond + status you are now - or be on your first cruise ever in a suite, with all that entails (which is not much in the scheme of things)?????

On 4/22/2019 at 11:36 PM, deliver42 said:

I'm so tired of the Diamond and Diamond+ saying they are not given the "respect" they deserve. You get what everyone else gets, plus what you are entitle to. Nothing more, and nothing less.

I quite agree and both my wife and I appreciate the extras that RCI give us for loyalty to the line. What sort of non respect are these people complaining about Deliver42?