MaritimeR&R

My dad worked for the cruise/shipping industry from 1939 until his death in 1969, so I have been around ships since I was born. Over the last 65 years, I have seen the industry move from the "white-glove-type experience onboard" to today's revolving-door cruises where, if you are lucky, no crew member is fixing something right next to you , but I still love being onboard.

I'd love to see pictures of/from 7648! We have that balcony booked for our June/July Anthem cruise.

Thank you in advance!

Here are the pics of 7648 from the Quantum. I assume the cabin will be the same.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44913506&postcount=9

Think a smart move. If anthem has crowding and poor service like the Quantum, you made a good choice!

Didn't care for Quantum the three times I was on her. My Thanksgiving Anthem cruise involves family getting together, so I couldn't do much about that. I decided the cold weather loss of days on a 10 and 12 night b2b along with my feelings about the Quantum class wasn't worth not having to fly to a warmer port for embarkation. So, the 10 & 9 B2b on the Vision made better sense.

Changed my B2B sailing from the Anthem to Vision. This cabin is the one with the biggest balcony. Just thought I would let everyone know that it is available.

Did Liberty with grandkids late August. As others have stated Puss n Boots and Shrek were there as well as Gloria the hippo. Puss n Boots and Gloria were the characters at the character breakfast.

Just looked at pics from cruise - King Julian was there as well.

Did Liberty with grandkids late August. As others have stated Puss n Boots and Shrek were there as well as Gloria the hippo. Puss n Boots and Gloria were the characters at the character breakfast.

7 on RC for me.

Desk check-in for Liberty. Took kids and grandchildren at the end of August on her. I am D+ and they were allowed to check in with me - it was their first RC cruise.

There are a few threads going on another forum that RCL has reverted back to its old check-in/check-out policy for pool towels. On our last EN cruise in July, they were doing this for shore excursions in Nassau, but not on the pool deck. The threads mention Radiance, Brilliance, and Oasis.

Was on Liberty 3rd week of August. Sea Passes needed to check out towels for the pool deck. Attendants said it was due to chair hogs, towels being left all over and people stealing them (that last one, I don't get =they aren't a great quality.)

I agree. It weighs a few pounds, so if you are close to the max weight in your suitcase (as I often am), it's best to have it mailed.

I call them "dustables" and usually find someone onboard who is celebrating a special event and give it to them.

I understand that you were reporting what you were told, and I am not trying to shoot the messenger in any way.

 

I have to say that Royals logic in this issue makes no sense. A 24 hour hold really cannot tie up a lot of inventory for a significant period of time....it only ties it up for 24 hours and then automatically goes back to inventory after the allots time. No employees 'work time' gets used in the process. Having internal commission issues, is not a reason to penalize the customers who you want to book your cruiseline -- there should be other ways to resolve those matters. The bigger problem is TA's that 'grab up' cabins via some type of hold that takes those cabins out of circulation for a much longer period of time than 24 hours....that really is what should be focused on, not the 24 hour holds by an individual cruiser.

I agree that their logic is flawed.

Are we discussing Travel Agents or TransAtlantic

agents...lol

Are you including TAs in this list, or just those who like to book themselves? I only ask because my TA currently has a hold (more than 24 hours) on the Allure for a 2017 Eastern Caribbean cruise.

I am the OP of this thread, from what I was made to understand, the "no holds" are going fleet wide because of internal departmental issues and the tying up of too much inventory. Given those reasons, it may eventually extend to TA's, but I did not inquire specifically about them.

My granddaughter, age 15, is very shy, but her parents and I managed to convince her to go to the mixer on the first night of Bermuda cruise this past summer. She met up with a few girls and had a wonderful time. There are lots of organized activities and she participated in many of those as well as just "hanging" with the girls. They have all kept in contact. I heartily recommend it!

Enchantment of the Seas - November 2015. No Hold button on reservation screen and when I called RCCL to ask permission to place a courtesy hold, my hold request was denied. I did not try to do a hold with my TA.

 

Actually I was under the impression that 24 hour holds were generally no longer available for any reservation regardless of ship or sail date.

 

M

Not all ships/sailings have been affected. It is slowly being phased in, but an earlier poster noted that it seems to be mainly affecting Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries. I have not checked that out.

Perhaps we should start a list of ships not offering a hold.

Hi, everyone. As the OP of this thread, my intent was to inform everyone of the phase-in of the new policy and hopefully to create a list of those ship/sailings already affected by the policy. It was not to provide an opportunity for being judgmental, for bashing, or any other unkind comment. Let's try to keep it informative.:)-

Sailings/ships known to have no holds:

Oasis of the Seas - April 2016

Freedom of the Seas - November 2016

Please add any you come across. Thanks.

We have been doing this for the last 3-4 years when 24 hours is not enough time for a hold. C&A really has no bearing on any of this. It's amazing how many people actually think because they are diamond/+/super duper onyx or whatever that they are special to Royal. It's a LOYALTY program that is just enough to keep you LOYAL. How many times a year do you cruise? Try cruising 3-4 and 2 or 3 of those are b2b always in full suites. Do this for 5 years straight and see where it gets you. How much do you spend onboard? How much do you actually gamble on a cruise? If you spend a minimum of say 10k onboard a cruise outside of your cabin expense it gets noticed. Just like Royal calls us to see if WE want to cruise last minute. Just to give you an idea, my soon to be 4 year old son is 7pts away from being diamond plus on his own.

If this post was directed at me, then you misunderstood the tone of my reply to the poster who stated "and will continue to do so," who by that statement seems to feel that the new policy will not apply to him/her. The point I was trying to make is that the new policy will apply to everyone, regardless of loyalty status, money spent on past cruises, or a relationship with Casino Royale.

P.S. I do average 5 to 6 cruises a year in suites, but don't feel any more entitled than the next person.

This is a joke. Some of us travel frequently for business and have higher priorities. I am one that does use the 24 hour hold to confirm schedules because yes...it does take that long. Usually my bookings come on a whim not planned months/years in advance. There are things that need to be confirmed prior to booking. Just to make you smile, I have held cabins for 3-4days just by talking directly with RC not through the courtesy hold and will continue to do so. I can careless what you believe is the right or wrong practice. Royal is a highly customer centric organization if you spend enough money :)

Please let us know how you make out if you try to book a cruise via RC that is on the "no holds" list since I (not a millionaire by any means) do cruise often, am a higher tier loyalty member, and was told that there will be no exceptions from the D+ C&A desk, the Consumer Sales Supervisor, and Casino Royale. I wish you better luck than I had.

It does not appear to be limited to any "random" or specific ships but rather to their itineraries. The courtesy hold option still appears for all itineraries I've checked except for Caribbean/Bermuda/Bahamas. I don't know why they started with them or if it will eventually be rolled out to the others like MaritimeR&R stated.

 

I do know I'm not particularly happy about it. :(:(:mad:

 

I don't use a TA. I like to "shop around" and have used the courtesy hold quite a bit. Not every hold resulted in a booking but probably most, if not all, of my cruises started with a hold. I like to "shop" in the late night hours but, if I need to call in for any reason to book the hold, I like to do that in the morning. Also, you are (or were) limited to a maximum of 4 cabin holds at a time so I don't see how these 24 hour holds really had that big an impact on inventory.

 

I don't know about the Casino Royale sales staff, but I thought the CVPs and C&As didn't get commissions. :confused:

 

There has to be a better solution.

 

~ Judy

Not sure about commissions for those depts. either, however I got the sense that when the Rep. was speaking that she was lumping the issues together. Receiving "Credit" is likely to be about meeting some magic number, a quota, which may entitle the dept. (or person within that dept.) to some sort of recognition which is common in businesses involving sales.

There should be better internal ways to resolve this problem than hurting the customer, is my personal opinion.

 

One would think so. The Casino Rep also said that other Cruise Lines are also dealing with the same problem and are changing. She was not specific as to which Lines. I would assume those that RCI owns will be following the same path shortly: Celebrity, Azamara, etc.

Called Casino Royale this morning and upgraded my D2's to JS's on my B2B for $250. more on each sailing, so I am happy.

While I was on the phone I questioned them regarding the discontinuing of "holds" on cabins and RC's rationale for implementing it. This is what I was told:

1- Yes, it is definitely going fleet wide

2- Phasing-in will take place over the next few months

3- The ships selected for discontinuing "holds" are not being done by class, ie, All Voyager, etc. They are random.

4- Both the removal of inventory and subsequent non-booking as well as resentment from the different internal departments (casino, loyalty, consumer sales, etc.) over revenue and commissions from bookings being switched between departments are the reasons. For example, A hold placed online is credited to one department, but then the consumer calls loyalty to finalize it and the credit/commission is switched over to loyalty.

Apparently, this causes a lot of resentment and paperwork internally.

5. - As a result of the implementation, new hours for certain departments like Casino Royale and Loyalty may be instituted. This is still in the talking stage.

Hope this helps.

Perhaps we should start a list of ships not offering a hold.

Freedom of the Seas - Nov 2016

Oasis of the Seas - April 2016

According to the rep - Freedom is among one of the first and the phase-in is just starting. I noticed the "hold" button missing the latter part of last week when I first started looking for a Nov. 2016 cruise.

Perhaps we should start a list of ships not offering a hold.

So what are the ships excluded I have not had problems with Allure, Freedom and Jewel

According to the rep - Freedom is among one of the first and the phase-in is just starting. I noticed the "hold" button missing the latter part of last week when I first started looking for a Nov. 2016 cruise.

Just an aside: It would be interesting to know if RC places all the deposits received into an escrow account until final payment or whether they just lump into their general revenue fund. In either case, it's either a lot of interest they are earning on other people's money, OR they are making use of funds that are technically not theirs until after final payment.