With all the recent changes of RCI ships - how do you feel now?

[LuvBNatC]

I sure hope they do not hire Ron Johnson to fill Adam Goldstein's former position as President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International.:eek:

 

Now that you mention it LuvBNatC, there's more to compare the Royal Caribbean changes to JCPenney. In addition to the boutiques (Dynamic Dining), they eliminated sales and coupons in favor of "Everyday Low Prices". C&A Savings Certificates have now been eliminated.

(My biggest problem with JCP under that CEO was that my size wasn't in stock. Now that he's gone and they reinstate the previous CEO, they have my size and I now continue to shop there.)

 

As for targeting a younger, hipper clientele with Dynamic Dining; it's a load of garbage. The real reason is to get people into eating at specialty restaurants, especially the extra $$$ ones. Other than Johnny Rockets for dinner on the first night of my first cruise, I do not eat at the extra $$$ restaurants for dinner. I enjoy the company of my tablemates at dinner in the MDR, and the menus elsewhere for an additional charge do not impress me. By taking away the MDR, Royal Caribbean is banking on more people eating at $$$ restaurants since choices are limited to 4 non-suite complimentary restaurants with limited niche menus that may not be appealing to some passengers. At least the MDR has a different menu each night of the cruise, along with classics to cater to most peoples' tastes.

 

TM38Rob, excellent point about the "Everyday Low Prices!" But RCI did JCP one better by instituting Everyday High Prices. I'd like to be planning a fall cruise, but sticker shock has me paralyzed at the moment. I'm sitting on an NCC I bought last fall on Vision, unsure what it's even worth anymore.

 

I was once a poster girl for NCL, but switched allegiance to RCI after dabbling in a few other lines. Now RCI's got me wobbling, just as I'm teetering on the brink of Diamond, to be achieved in May on Grandeur. In RCI's juggernaut to become the world's biggest Next Gen Cruise Line, I feel I may end up being collateral damage. :(

[Motorman23]

If ships continue to sail full, there's no revenue problem. The average customer has never been on a cruise before. They aren't going to care about most of these perceived "issues", because they aren't going to know about them. And even if they do find out, why are they going to care that a ship that was supposed to go to NJ is going to China instead?

 

New loyal customers emerge from the "average" customer all the time when someone goes on their first cruise and gets bitten by the cruising bug.

 

I honestly think this is making a mountain out of a molehill. If I was RCI, or even any other cruise line, I'd be much more concerned about the publicity on major news sites regarding noro outbreaks having an affect on revenues than any of this other stuff which is not making news on major news sites.

 

It took 75 posts before someone actually said something that is based on history, facts and reality. Thank you, now back to my trolling.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Looks like the poll respondents who are not happy with the announcement inched up to about 22% now...

 

At this point...it seems like we have a decent random sampling of people willing to vote their view. The Moderators can close the thread.

[mjldvlks]

Looks like the poll respondents who are not happy with the announcement inched up to about 22% now...

 

At this point...it seems like we have a decent random sampling of people willing to vote their view. The Moderators can close the thread.

 

Actually, the poll is pretty meaningless. There is nothing random about the selection. It was placed in the context of the complaints about the redeployment with multiple virtually identical negative questions, seeking voluntary responses, among a group of people who are likely to be very opinionated in the first place and constitute a small slice of the actual and potential cruising market.

 

Additionally, there are other problems with the structure of the poll. The questions are redundant and there are more negative options than positive ones. One of the negative options is "I can't even describe how angry I am about the RCI ship-switching." That doesn't really mean much so I would throw those responses out. The positive responses are buried in the middle of the options. Maybe most importantly we know absolutely nothing about the demographics of the people answering the questions [age, cruise history/frequency, cruiseline preference, location, etc.]

 

Having said the above, if I were the cruiseline and had any take away from this poll, it would be positive. Despite what appears to be a pretty clear attempt to encourage negative results, the overwhelming majority of respondents say the redeployment makes no difference to them. That's a pretty big win for RCI.

 

Richard Fain said a couple of years ago that one of the great things about the cruise industry from a business perspective is that the company can move its capital assets [ships] pretty easily and quickly in response to the market. So if this doesn't work for the company, they can redeploy again without much difficulty.

 

Frankly, I have a hard time seeing where this changes my options much at all. The only thing I can think of that is off the table is a Quantum class ship from NJ to Bermuda. That was precluded by the physical characteristics of the harbor and the port's unwillingness to dredge. As I think I said above, on a big deal little deal, no deal scale, this is maybe one tick above no-deal.

[coordinator23]

I sure hope they do not hire Ron Johnson to fill Adam Goldstein's former position as President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International.:eek:

 

Now that you mention it LuvBNatC, there's more to compare the Royal Caribbean changes to JCPenney. In addition to the boutiques (Dynamic Dining), they eliminated sales and coupons in favor of "Everyday Low Prices". C&A Savings Certificates have now been eliminated.

(My biggest problem with JCP under that CEO was that my size wasn't in stock. Now that he's gone and they reinstate the previous CEO, they have my size and I now continue to shop there.)

 

As for targeting a younger, hipper clientele with Dynamic Dining; it's a load of garbage. The real reason is to get people into eating at specialty restaurants, especially the extra $$$ ones. Other than Johnny Rockets for dinner on the first night of my first cruise, I do not eat at the extra $$$ restaurants for dinner. I enjoy the company of my tablemates at dinner in the MDR, and the menus elsewhere for an additional charge do not impress me. By taking away the MDR, Royal Caribbean is banking on more people eating at $$$ restaurants since choices are limited to 4 non-suite complimentary restaurants with limited niche menus that may not be appealing to some passengers. At least the MDR has a different menu each night of the cruise, along with classics to cater to most peoples' tastes.

 

I realize that RCI would like to attract a younger, hipper clientele - many of those who have children also (by offering flow riders, merry-go-round's, nice kids clubs, etc), but many of those cannot afford to take frequent cruises or are constrained by school calendars. My own children are in this bind. Day care/after school care eats up a lot of their paychecks, leaving little for cruising. ( 6 figure wages are quickly consumed by 25k child care, mortgage, either car payments or repairs on the older car, groceries, life in general). I've seen comments in the past about older cruisers on board. Often those 50+ have mortgages paid off, kids out of college, more vacation time, more flexibility to travel, and I could go on. In our first 25 years of marriage, we went on a few, brief land trips which is what we could afford. My parents have since treated us to a few cruises, and we have cruised on our own. It is much cheaper for the two of us to cruise than it would have been for our family to have cruised. RCI needs to take a look at who their "bread and butter" customers are. I too stopped shopping at JCP when I couldn't find what I was looking for (and I also had shopped there for grandkids who's sizes/brands disappeared) but have now come back - because they meet my needs. I am also reminded of the "New Coke" fiasco. For those of you too young to remember, Coke decided it wanted to include a younger perceived "Pepsi" generation so they switched up their formula. Didn't work out too well. Stories were even printed about young Amy Carter, in the White House, hoarding the real Coke. Coke had to bring back "Coke Classic". Haven't seen new Coke in years. To keep me coming back, you have to meet my needs. There are other choices out there. Some that are more attractive at times. While I mostly cruise Royal, it is not my exclusive line. Those who fail to learn from history (the history of others and their own), are doomed to repeat it (both mistake wise and not learning from "good" judgments of others) As an aside, I read through the QN's menus and they were a real turn off, so for that reason, I would not have cruised her (along with not needing all the "golly gee" bumper cars, etc)

[mark290]

I could care less and will still continue to cruise Royal and other lines

 

Think you mean couldn't care less.

[alfaeric]

Looks like the poll respondents who are not happy with the announcement inched up to about 22% now...

 

At this point...it seems like we have a decent random sampling of people willing to vote their view. The Moderators can close the thread.

 

 

Two points:

 

1) 4 of the 6 choices were negative. IMHO, the fact that 22% of the respondants chose one of those 4 isn't nearly as negative as you think. Had you worded the choices more on a normalized scale of questions, I bet that the number of high vs. the number of low would be even, whereas the number of neutral or middle would be the highest. In other words, your questions were loaded to give you the answer you want.

 

2) now that you have this so called random sample, what are you going to do with it? Send it to RCI? The total number of respondants is fewer than the number of passengers on the smallest RCI ship. I don't think I would make any change based on that sample or sample size. This is a specialized board, and does not represent the average consumer very well. I see that on many other boards I participate in, too.

[akcruz]

Looks like the poll respondents who are not happy with the announcement inched up to about 22% now...

 

At this point...it seems like we have a decent random sampling of people willing to vote their view. The Moderators can close the thread.

 

If you feel the post should be closed, please email the mods with the link at the bottom of the page.

 

BTW, if you had not added this comment it would have faded into oblivion by itself. There was no activity for the last few days until you brought it back up to the top. Doesn't feel to me like you really want it to go away . . .

[jp30338]

Think you mean couldn't care less.

 

I COULDNT care less cos I sail away tomorrow!!

[CRUISEFAN0001]

If you feel the post should be closed, please email the mods with the link at the bottom of the page.

Been there...done that (right after my post)...thanks.

[3dog]

The positive responses are buried in the middle of the options. Maybe most importantly we know absolutely nothing about the demographics of the people answering the questions [age, cruise history/frequency, cruiseline preference, location, etc.]

 

FWIW, there are actually no "positive" options in the poll, as there is nothing there for the "I'm very happy!". The two options that are considered positive on this thread are really neutral responses: "makes no difference to me."

[mjldvlks]

FWIW, there are actually no "positive" options in the poll, as there is nothing there for the "I'm very happy!". The two options that are considered positive on this thread are really neutral responses: "makes no difference to me."

 

Maybe I was interpreting "positive" loosely, but "I will stay the course" or "nothing has changed here" sounds a little bit stronger to me than "I don't care."

Edited April 26, 2014 by mjldvlks

[3dog]

Maybe I was interpreting "positive" loosely, but "I will stay the course" or "nothing has changed here" sounds a little bit stronger to me than "I don't care."

 

It's just my opinion (and we all know the adage about opinions), but "I don't care" is not a neutral response, but one of disinterest which should fit in the same category of "I choose not to answer" or "none of the above" (and maybe the poll should have had the option of "I don't care").

 

Considering the poll has options to the effect of "I'm reducing my sailings on RCI" (or some level of unhappiness), the opposite would be "I'm sailing more on RCI" (or some level of happiness), so "nothing has changed" or "stay the course" seems more like something in the middle (neither happy or unhappy).

[Paulxyz2004]

I think we can agree on how badly worded the poll is to begin with, that the poll has no relevance anyway, that numbers can be tisted any way you like it anyway and that the OP after having bumped up the thread more than once now thinks the numbers are in his favour enough to have the thread closed;)

[BecciBoo]

As Doris Day used to sing:

 

Que Sera Sera, whatever will be...will be........

[CRUISEFAN0001]

I think we can agree on how badly worded the poll is to begin with, that the poll has no relevance anyway, that numbers can be tisted any way you like it anyway and that the OP after having bumped up the thread more than once now thinks the numbers are in his favour enough to have the thread closed;)

Go ahead and start a poll about what people think about the poll then...Geez... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

What the poll clearly shows is not everyone agrees and not everyone is happy or unhappy with the announced decision on musical ships. It's nothing more than a random sampling...not unlike what the pollsters do themselves.

 

Apparently the hundreds of people who actually voted felt is was worthy of expressing their opinions...no arms were twisted in voting within this poll. :cool:

 

Since the general poll voting % ranges have not changed now in more than a week...it was time to close it.

Edited April 26, 2014 by CRUISEFAN0001

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Thanks to ALL of the participants for taking the time to voting and posting your views. :)

 

I have asked the Community Moderator to close this poll at this time.

[time4u2go]

Thanks to ALL of the participants for taking the time to voting and posting your views. :)

 

I have asked the Community Moderator to close this poll at this time.

 

Didn't you ask them to yesterday, too? ;)

[The Big Booper]

OP is clearly pi**ed off, a feeling not clearly shared with many other posters here as well as the general public.

 

Most people are more pi**ed off at the high prices rather then the fact that there will be 2 different Q class ships operating out of Bayonne with a 5 month break in the middle when Bermuda is needed as a port and the Bermuda government is playing games, so the smaller Liberty OTS is rotated in and then out. Big Whoop!

 

At least NY gets a different ship after many years of the Explorer. Of course now that it's finally happened we live in Florida. We did take the EX 4 times and were ready for a change.

 

<<edit>> Actually if we still lived in NY we would likely be in favor of the change in plans since that would mean a different ship would be there in the second year with a different Broadway show and different set of secondary shows. So there.

Edited April 26, 2014 by The Big Booper

[Loyal2Royal1995]

I agree with Bermuda, why dredge the coral so a ship can fit. Adjust the ships and stick with it. The updated navigator would work for year round from Bayonne, The EOS needs a dry dock, Can't wait to see 2016 with Bermuda

 

 

Cruising is an addiction, I am an addict. Darn proud of it

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Didn't you ask them to yesterday, too? ;)

More than once.

 

Hopefully the powers in place act upon the request.

 

We can put a fork to this thread. :)

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Most people are more pi**ed off at the high prices rather then the fact that there will be 2 different Q class ships operating out of Bayonne with a 5 month break in the middle when Bermuda is needed as a port and the Bermuda government is playing games, so the smaller Liberty OTS is rotated in and then out. Big Whoop!

This poll or thread doesn't deal with the impact of prices or Bermuda.

 

What it does show is that more than 1 in 5 people who felt strongly enough to take the time to vote felt the announcement had a negative affect in how they viewed the contents in the announcement.

 

It's that simple...and now that nearly 500 people voted and many posted...it's simply time to move on.

[cruzfitter]

 

Change is generally a good thing...many of us live and breathe it every day. Change based on deception, however, is not a good thing as it leads a lack of trust - bad for any business.

 

You seem to believe that RCCL purposely say it was putting ships at a port, knowing that they were not going to leave them there, just to deceive some of their customers. Unless you can prove something like that, you're just blowing smoke.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

You seem to believe that RCCL purposely say it was putting ships at a port, knowing that they were not going to leave them there, just to deceive some of their customers. Unless you can prove something like that, you're just blowing smoke.

Clearly some people don't understand the history on this issue.

 

That's OK.

 

But telling the United States public via numerous media ads and promotions about one ship (Quantum) for about a year (including setting itineraries for bookings that were cancelled)...only to move that ship to China...and also to promote Anthem being ported in Ft. Lauderdale for months...only to move that ship to another report...

 

Those are misleading at bare minimum, deceptive practices to others...especially after lengthy promotions reflecting something entirely different than the end result...and in parallel doing that while they were moving to execute these announced changes (which didn't happen overnight as some seem to think - that took months of planning where they were saying one thing publicly and planning something else).

 

Call it what you will - but RCI was not being straight with the public. No sugar coating it.

Edited April 26, 2014 by CRUISEFAN0001

[KarinaGW]

The announcements (lately) that several ships (including Quantum & Anthem) are having their port locations changed has clearly caused some cruiser angst.

 

How do you now feel about your RCI loyalty and future cruising plans?

 

Please vote in the poll.

 

You didn't include "Thank every god that's been, is, and will be" as a poll option. I am so glad that Liberty will be going to Cape Liberty, however briefly. I am not, particularly, anti-Quantum Class and I'm actually interested in how Dynamic Dining will be handled (frankly, I suspect it's the reaction to Dynamic Dining that have had them switch out Quantum until they can figure out how to get people here more on board with it)