grandgeezer

2 hours ago, AftMan said:

Yes. See Amazon, Tesla, FedEx and many others as companies that failed to make money for multiple years. It is not at all uncommon. Cruising is not going away and who is better positioned than Royal Caribbean for future growth? They attract the optimal demographic, have the best new ships and own a private island packed with profit-making opportunities. If only they could hire a competent IT team🤪.
 

disclaimer - I own both Royal Caribbean and Amazon stock.

I owned Amazon stock a couple of times and a boatload of money both times. i’ve never owned RCL stock and never considered it, even at $20 a share. I’m doing all right without it, my IRA was up $15k Friday and it’s only down 9% from it’s all time high which it hit December 29, 2021 ( 1 1/2 years after the start of the pandemic).

5 hours ago, Alex618 said:

I priced the package yesterday with TA,  it was $1,800 for booze classic, gratuity, and WI-FI.  With a husband who has 2 or 3 frozen drinks, and Elite Cocktail hour, only one basic WIFI, I figure doing this on our own will cost about 1K. If you need two WI-FI connection and both drink considerable about then I can see where it is worth it.  I know while on board, I was speaking to Bar and Beverage manager and he stated these packages were costing them BIG $$$$$ so I bet they go away. 

And you bought that? Think about what they pay for the alcohol and what they sell it for.

We aren’t avid drinkers, but in our case…. We drink mostly domestic beer, and stock up on it when they have sales around holidays. For Memorial Day we paid about $.60 per serving, tax included, and that was per case price. Just think what the cruise lines pay at the quantities they buy.

To make the math easy, say the drink package was $60 p.p. pd. They wouldn’t lose money on me until I drank over 100 per day. We don’t buy enough booze or wine to be able to compare them.

I would guess that alcohol would be their highest profit item, by percentage.

Last night, Wings Wednesday at our local sports bar. $.75 per wing, better than any of the wings we’ve ever had on a ship. Throw in $3 for a 16 oz glass of beer because of Happy Hour. 10 wings and two beers for $13.50 plus tax and tip. Now that’s cheap.

21 minutes ago, stan1980 said:

Yes for sure it was Celebrity. 
What were the tiers called again? 
 

I did 8-10 cruises in 5 years, some of them in concierge and aqua. 

Preview

Classic

Select

Elite

Elite Plus

Zenith

The Preview and Elite Plus were added maybe 10-15 years ago, the rest were there when we started cruising in 2005.

3 hours ago, C 2 C said:

If there were only one or two cruisers reporting a problem with the quality of food on a recent voyage they would most likely be attacked for whining, the traditional practice of shooting the messenger.  When someone such as Anne, whose opinion I would trust above anyone else on these boards, I believe the problem is as described.

The more cruisers reporting a negative experience, the sooner the problem will be fixed.

We're m so confident in Celebrity's positive response to this issue, that we've booked a two month stay on a Celebrity ship this winter.

So yes, I agree.  The negativity is giving me positive vibes.

Complaining about it is a waste of time and effort. The only way to get them to do something is to quit giving them your money. Case in point, we started cruising in 2005 and following this board. The one complaint, which seemed to show up regularly is the IT department. Fast forward to 2023 and there are still complaining about it. We haven’t given X or RCL a penny since March 2019.

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We were just on the Eclipse for 33 days from Sydney to Vancouver in an Aqua cabin and I lost 2 pounds! 😂 We ate in Blu for breakfast and dinner, and the MDR for lunch on sea days (with absolutely no complaints). On port days we ate lunch up at the OVC. 

 

I will say when we had to eat up in the OVC there were usually a lot of people, as it was a full ship. We only had to eat breakfast twice up in the buffet and it was OK. The scrambled eggs were watery, but I've come to expect that at the morning buffet on most any cruise line we sail. However, it would be nice if they had pre-cooked omelets near the grill, so one didn't have to always stand in that long line. I have to admit that was one nice thing we encountered on the recent NCL cruises we've been on. 

What omelets would you precook? With all the add ins, such as mushrooms, sausage, anchovies, etc., there’s got to be hundreds of combinations .  How many of each and how long would you keep them before throwing them out,  where would you keep them, it would have to be under heat lamps to at least to keep them warm? We don’t eat any precooked item in the buffet for that reason. Would you take one of the premade one if it was made the way you want it, without knowing if it sat there for five minutes or five hours? I wouldn’t and I doubt if anybody we know would.

23 minutes ago, ISABELLA said:

I was checking on a cruise in Europe for August 24, 2024 - 9 days and this  was under cancellation policy.

Cancellation Fees

Deluxe Porthole View with Veranda

If you cancel your reservation after the dates listed below, you may be subject to additional fees.

Dates

Cancellation fees per guest

07-07-202425% of total cruise fare

07-22-202450% of total cruise fare

08-05-202475% of total cruise fare

09-04-2024No refund except for taxes and fees -??????

First, I think that final payment is 60 or 90 days out and cruise ends September 2. So not sure what all this means.

Does anyone  can explain?

 

The only thing I see strange is there is no space between the date and the percentage of the fee. It should be 07-07-2024 25% of total cruise fare. That’s over 13 months from now.

4 hours ago, MisterMet said:

Benefits

• Complimentary Captain’s Club Daily Elite cocktail hour
• Access to daily coffee lounge for exclusive breakfast
• One complimentary bag of laundry
• Complimentary dry cleaning of one item
• Complimentary access to Persian Garden (on one port day)
• 10% discount at The Spa
• 30% off internet package or internet upgrade
• 10% off beverage package upgrade to Premium pre-cruise
• 40% discount on any digital or print photo package at the Photo Gallery
• Private shipboard departure lounge, serving continental breakfast
• Priority tender service in tender ports of call
• Status Match with Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society at Diamond Level

 

Is the Elite Laundry benefit mentioned above 1 bag per person per sailing or one bag per stateroom per sailing?  DW and I are both Elite and doing B2B on Equinox in August.  So two bags per sailing or 1 bag per sailing?  Might effect how much/what we pack.  Just wondering? 

We are Elite Plus so we each get two bags per cruise. We do mostly B2Bs so that allows us to travel for two weeks with just carryons. Sine we have to fly to all cruises, it saves us the luggage fees the airlines and we don’t have to worry about lost luggage.

Since the elimination of formal nights, we don’t have to bring any dress up clothes. We send everything to the ship’s laundry and never have had any problems on any cruise line or any ship. We’ve been doing this since they first announced the new Elite Plus and it’s perks.

On 5/15/2023 at 4:42 PM, deliver42 said:

We've been on both, including the YC on 2 MSC ships. The comparison is like Pepsi to Champagne, with Celebrity being champagne

What class cabin, on Celebrity, are you comparing the YC to? We compared it to a Sky Suite on the Equinox, both pre pandemic. If you are comparing it to anything higher, you might be right, but at what price? Though we thought they were somewhat similar but a unanimous 

decision for MSC. The $100+ per person per day cheaper made it a no brainer. 14 days x $100+ x two came to a hair over $3,000 that stayed in  our pocket, for a much better vacation.

Our comparison would be kool aid to champagne.

Sadly, the current pricing on any line, any ship, has us staying home. We have the money but the value of the experience isn’t even close.

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

You gotta spend money to make money😉

I don’t see where your post relates to mine. If you have to spend money to make money, apparently they aren’t very good at it. They haven’t made a penny since the first quarter of 2020.

Even with all ships sailing, high bookings and high pricing they are still running in the red.

18 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Revenue up over expectations, bookings at all time high, fleet wide occupancy running at 102%, several brokerage houses raised rating to strong buy, high price target for next 12 months raised to $104. 

Take that target with a grain of salt. November 21, 2021, with the industry shut down, the price was $84. Now, with all ships sailing and averaging 102% occupancy, revenue at all time high and the stock is hovering in the mid $70s. I don’t see inflation going away anytime soon, and the massive debt ($19.4 billion as of March 31 of this year) will take even longer to get down to a manageable number anytime soon with all the new ships coming.

In January 2021, the stock was $133+ and paid a dividend of  $3.12 per share.

10 minutes ago, Lisah101 said:

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing - a user with a specific name to accommodate their issue that is new and this is the only thread they have posted to - new account.

You didn’t see the picture? You think it was staged? If so, why would they turn down the obc?

The response from the ship doesn’t surprise me in the least. We had a similar situation on the Allure right before the pandemic.

We did a B2B in a Grand Suite as we got a great price, about $200 p.p. per day, taxes and fees included. We had the same cabin both legs.

The next morning the was a puddle of water about 12” in diameter, on the tile right below a sprinkler head. The room steward was in the area so I told him what was going and we considered it a major safety hazard, on he told me he would report it and do the clean it up after they fixed it. When we came back from breakfast the water was cleaned up so we assumed the problem was taken care of.

Wrong, next morning the puddle was back. I talked to the room steward and he told me a maintenance man had showed up and could find nothing wrong. I called the front desk and explained what happened. I said I would like to talk to someone who actually cared and had the authority to correct it. Within ten minutes the room steward’s supervisor showed up. That was it. I told her what had transpired and I considered a major safety problem. She left and came back with a maintenance supervisor, two maintenance men, and the hotel director. I told them it had to be the sprinkler as there was no other water source within fifteen feet and the tile was bone dry between them. The supervisor said it couldn’t be the head.

I said fine, but if you do nothing, if one of would happen to get up in the middle of night to use the bathroom, and fall due to the water, my first call will be to OSHA, the second one will be to the media, and the third will be to the best ambulance chasing lawyer I can find.

I had times, dates, names and pictures of all people involved. All of a sudden changing the sprinkler head was a good idea. Head changed and not a drop of water for the last ten days of cruising. We were offered dinner for two, and a bottle of wine for our inconvenience, but turned it down.

1 hour ago, azgrandmax3 said:

Has anyone received air information for March 4th 2024 cruise on the Infinity in the  Mediterranean. We booked  air for $999. And have not been notified which airlines we were told we would know by April. 

We must have used their air at least 10 times (pre pandemic) and every time we were able to choose the airline and the flights we wanted.

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

 

Yes, really.  Look at the crazy stuff people complain about where they claim "I'm switching cruise lines"

 

Well it works in the positive to be a repeat customer, too.

Will anybody that can honestly say they booked another cruise based only on getting a free $10 drink please step forward. A lousy free drink wouldn’t even guarantee I would go back to that bartender or server. My drink of choice is domestic beer and I can buy a 30 pack for about $17 including tax. That’s what I paid for the Cinco de Mayo sale last week.

I would bet money that they aren’t authorized to give free drinks. I don’t why they would, risk their job hoping they would get a tip, higher than what they would get by charging for it. I know it happens, I’ve seen them give two drinks with one card and two drinks with one card and some cash folded up underneath it.

The comment about giving someone a free drink will lead them to book another cruise is beyond my imagination, a free $10 drink turns into a cruise that cost thousands of dollars, really??

6 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Need to look at food overall.  Texas Roadhouse has great tender beef - that is tenderize.  Every restaurant chain has an excellent special dish.  The challenge for cruise ships is to feed 2500 people in 3 hours with some dozens of entrees.

Is the food up to the increased prices?  Hmm.  Our local $7.99 lunch special is $13.99.  Add 9% tax and a tip and it is a $20 bill.  So yes if you look at the overall picture things on board are pretty good.  Plus want another piece of halibut - just ask.  Try that at home.

$13.99 plus 9% tip is $15.25, a long way from a $20 bill. What makes a meal worth a 9% tip at home and 20% on a cruise? Surely not the quality of the food or service.

6 hours ago, truffles2 said:

Don’t think they get quite as close to the venue and its patrons as they did with the ship!  By a looong shot!

From what I can find, planes should keep at least 500 feet between them and the vessel or structure, unless they are taking off or landing. I have no idea how low our jets fly, but at times they are awful loud and the windows, and other things rattle. They are low enough that I can tell if it’s a F22 or an older one as the F22 has two tail fins and a wider body.

How high are they flying over the ships? 48 cruises and 494 days at sea and have never seen that happen.

I’m not concerned in the least about any accidents happen. They have an air show here and the Thunderbirds fly at 500 mph and their wingtips are so close you would think they are touching. 

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

And that great sound of freedom. I hear it just about everyday. 

We live near Luke AFB, in AZ. And also see and hear jets almost every day. The newer F-22s can be quite loud, when they fly a little lower, but as yo said, the sounds of freedom.

I don’t know what the big deal about flying over cruise ships, they do all kinds of flyovers over special events, such as the Super Bowl and I haven’t heard of any complaints.

1 hour ago, cruisegal415 said:

You are my hero! Can you share tips for packing for 14 days with just carryons? 

As I think I mentioned, the 14 day cruise was two seven day cruises, B2B.

Actually it’s pretty easy since they did away with formal night. Since we each get two bags, per seven day cruise, we send in laundry about every other day. 

3 hours ago, SbbquilterUT said:

We sailed 19 nights last August in carry on bags - used the wash and fold for everything but good clothes and it worked out fine.  I do have items that I will wash in cabin once and send out after the second wearing.  

We do 14 days ( 2-7 days cruises B2B) with just carryons. We are Elite Plus so we each get two bags per leg. We send everything out, no washing in the room. Saves the checked luggage fee and no waiting for luggage at the airport.

. 

40 minutes ago, RTR 21-0 said:

Ordered our Euros today from our bank for upcoming cruise on Beyond.  I requested small bills - ones, fives, tens, twenties - but the banker said she didn’t have the option to choose the denominations and more than likely Wells Fargo will send larger bills.  She suggested finding out if Celebrity will make change.  Does anyone know if they will or if there are options in Rome (will be there 2 days prior)?  TIA

We got Australian dollars from Wells Fargo last month for a birthday present for our son, as they were going there. We had our choice of large denominations or small denominations bills. We took the small and got 5s, 10s, and 20s. When they got home they had dollar and two dollar coins, that they got in change.

On 4/23/2023 at 5:35 AM, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Lawsuit is for $1M which IDK, seems reasonable considering they'll probably settle out of court for half and the lawyer team will get around half so the plaintiffs get about $250,000 and probably a lifetime ban on X

I don’t think a lifetime ban is much of factor. I doubt if either his spouse, or family, would ever cruise with them anyway.

I’d like to see it go to trial. If the complaint is anyway near accurate, and the pictures and testimony of the people who removed the body is entered, the $1M would be a bargain. In a civil suit, the burden of proof is much less than a criminal trial, as you only have to think that they are probably guilty, not beyond a reasonable doubt. I was unlucky enough to be on a jury for a medical malpractice trial. The suit was for $2M and it was against the hospital, the emergency room doctor, 

and the neurosurgeon who was called in. The settlement offer was $1M and turned down. When we came back from lunch the second day we were told there was a settlement agreement so we were done. Smart move, the testimony and x-rays were compelling in favor of the plaintiff and the little guy would have won.

Once the Capitan agreed to keep the body on the ship, he put himself responsible for everything that transpired after that. It seems they just dumped the body in the beverage cooler and forgot about it. If they checked on it during the rest of the cruise the smell should have given them a clue that something wasn’t right, and maybe pack it in ice and detour and drop it off at a port who handle in properly. The ice option would cut into the supply they need for drinks so that was a no go.

4 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Can't help how you read it. 

How do you think I read it? I read it exactly the way it was written, nothing assumed.

23 hours ago, arealcheapskate said:

One of our colleagues uses the premium internet to report on radiology scans like MRIs/CTs while cruising. Makes 10 grand a day while cruising lol. 

I find that hard to believe. My daughter in law is a highly regarded spinal surgeon and doesn’t make anywhere near that.

Two months ago my wife had a MRI on her back and the total cost for the scan and it’s reading was only $1400 according to what the insurance paid.