RCL Negativity...

[WhenIsLobsterNight]

Great post, though I have a question for you. We are both 42 yet, I was in college in 1991. If you were cruising as a kid, you must have been cruising in the 1980s correct?

 

Yeah, my first cruise was when I was 14 I think. It was the the Norway which was scrapped and torn down several years ago. So I was born in 1972 and my first few cruises were in the mid to late 80s yes. I mistyped when I said 90s in my post.

Edited February 9, 2015 by WhenIsLobsterNight

[DreamingBig1]

Message boards are great for debate. Its frivolous and fun. As long its civil. No harm in a little give and take.

 

The cruise industry has changed because the ships have changed. They are literally floating resorts now. A cruise line needs to pack the house to make money.

 

I started cruising in 2010. So I am a newbie. Looking back at what cruise ships used to be, its easy to see why service and food was better. There was one or two pools. There were a couple bars.

 

There weren't three sections of pools, Jacuzzi's and spas. There weren't rock climbing walls, flow riders, skating rinks, outdoor parks -LOL, you get the picture. All these big expensive things weren't on those ships.

 

The ships were only big enough to hold under 2,000 people. By today's standards they were small.

 

It's no mystery why service was better, because it probably really was. The cruise line wasn't spending money on amenities like they are today, so they poured more money into other things. It's easier to take care of less people as well.

 

In the end of the day, if people aren't on the cruise ship the cruise line isn't making money. To get the most people to cruise you have to find a proper price point.

 

The cruise line does owe the people who have cruised them for years extra attention. The loyal royals have been their bread and butter for years.

 

With that I would be bored silly if I ate off the same menu, saw the same shows, and danced in the same deck parties. Should I expect Royal to change for me, no. But, should see what else is out there.

 

So people really should give other things a try. Unless you like the same old thing, which there are many who do.

 

Royal does and has made the vast majority of their customers happy. There is a reason. They deliver a good product. Even that product can get old after a while.

[DreamingBig1]

I've never seen anything like the way cruisers defend/take offense to anything negative anybody says about "their" cruise line. It's mind-boggling. There are so many pople around CruiseCritic who literally take it personally if somebody has anything but utter praise for "their" line. It's so bizarre, as if the cruise line an offshoot of themselves. Royal Caribbean could dump a thousand passengers in the middle of the Atlantic and there would be a very vocal group on CruiseCritic arguing that it wasn't Royal Caribbean's fault and the passengers must have done something to deserve it.

 

I've said time and time again, I enjoy cruising with Royal Caribbean. I'm also not going to pretend Royal Caribbean is the jewel in the crown that people like to pretend it is. It's ok to acknowledge what a company is doing wrong, just as it is to acknowledge what they are doing right. I think Royal has a well rounded product but going down a slippery slope with questionable pricing schemes and blatant corner cutting.

 

I agree. I have noticed that as well.

[sassy0930]

I've never seen anything like the way cruisers defend/take offense to anything negative anybody says about "their" cruise line. It's mind-boggling. There are so many pople around CruiseCritic who literally take it personally if somebody has anything but utter praise for "their" line. It's so bizarre, as if the cruise line an offshoot of themselves. Royal Caribbean could dump a thousand passengers in the middle of the Atlantic and there would be a very vocal group on CruiseCritic arguing that it wasn't Royal Caribbean's fault and the passengers must have done something to deserve it.

 

I've said time and time again, I enjoy cruising with Royal Caribbean. I'm also not going to pretend Royal Caribbean is the jewel in the crown that people like to pretend it is. It's ok to acknowledge what a company is doing wrong, just as it is to acknowledge what they are doing right. I think Royal has a well rounded product but going down a slippery slope with questionable pricing schemes and blatant corner cutting.

 

I think what the problem is that you're definition and my definition and the guy down the hall's definition of good and bad are going to be sooo different. A cruiser who has been cruising for decades will obviously think it's bad if the things they are used to getting are reduced or the quality diminished. Newer cruisers will think it's good to focus on keeping prices lower or investing money in different features/amenities. Some people want more focus on food, some on suite perks. I agree that it is silly to be loyal to one cruise line and be personally offended when they change, as if it is some personal affront, when there are so many lines that can cater to what a passenger might want.

 

But these conversations/debates come more from feeling like your values are being attacked (cruisers valuing more perks, some people valuing lower prices, etc) than the cruise lines themselves.

[Deptacon]

This is an interesting thread. I have cruised for several decades and the cruise ship experience has changed dramatically over the years. People that complain are not "negative" or "unhappy" people. They are simply veteran cruisers who are nostalgic for how they remember cruise experiences from years past. Though I still love to cruise, I too miss some things that have disappeared over the years. Some people have asked on what old timers miss on cruising. Here are some of the big changes (both positive and negative) to cruising off the top of my heard.

 

1. Price - Cruise pricing has pretty much stayed flat for several decades now. When I was kid back in the early 90s, my dad said it would cost around 4-5k for a family of four to stay in an inside stateroom for a week. This price would include airfare which was commonly sold with the cruise ticket price back then. In comparison, my family is staying in an aft balcony room on the Independence on the May 31st sailing for $3700 total. This price does not include airfare which will add another $1700 to our bill. Not much of a difference in the price really which is pretty amazing when you think about it.

 

2. Food - I remember my mom having caviar nightly when she requested it. There was no charge for this. Breakfast use to have a guy walk around with small glasses of fresh squeezed orange, apple, cranberry, pineapple and other juices. Those no longer exist. Would you like a steak not listed on the dinner menu tonight for dinner? Just ask the waiter and they will make one for you special order. The new fad now is specialty restaurants. The cruise ships love that people eagerly pay $30-45 a person each evening to pay for marginally better food that they cruse lines would give away for free by request several decades ago.

 

3. Entertainment - The evening shows are still similar. Smaller events throughout the day have disappeared though. Who remembers wooden horse racing (and gambling) on the pool deck? Remember when Bingo cost $5 a card? Now we get these electronic things that you rent for $30-$40 a session. The Bingo room is filled with hundreds of these units, and yet the winning Bingo jackpot they just called out was only $250. It is hard to even imagine how much profit they keep these days off Bingo. Remember the cruise talent show? That show was once a lot of fun. Remember the free behind the scenes tours of the ships? Gone. The list of things that have disappeared or now exist only for a price is a very long list.

 

4. Freebies - If anything has changed with cruising, this is it. Cruise ships once gave things for free and now they don't. It is as simple as that. Mints on the pillow. A free welcome aboard drink when you walk on the ship. Remember Ship Shape dollars that you could save up and get a free t-shirt at the end of the week for attending exercise classes? Now if you want to do yoga on the cruise, that is an additional expense. Remember walking into your room and having a free repeat passenger gift waiting for you? That was pretty cool. This is just a small partial list. There are many of these type of perks that are now gone.

 

5. Drinks - Drink prices were pretty expensive several decades ago and still are so today. The difference is you use to be able to offset that easily if you wanted to drink. My dad would buy a bottle of Chivas at the cruise liquor store (for a duty free price) as soon as the ship sailed. He would then make himself Chivas and water out of his room the rest of the week. They have eliminated that little trick. Today we have $50 a day drink packages for those that want to do a lot of drinking.

 

6. The ships themselves - Ships have become huge and are modeled to attract families these days. Ships these days are engineering marvels and are breathtaking to view as you pull into the port on departure day. Cruise ships use to be more elegant on the inside, but were tiny and pretty much dumps compared to the monsters that sail these days.

 

7. Dress Code - Cruising use to be more vastly more upscale. Dressing up 3-4 nights out of a seven day cruise was common. Men wore suits and ties. There were no jeans or shorts in the dining room ever.

 

8. Service - The wait staff use to not be so busy. They could stand at your table and chat. You would learn about their homeland if you asked and it often would not be a short story. The maitre d would drop by your table nightly to check on you. I honestly cannot even remember the last I have seen a maitre d. Does that even still exist on RCCL? If so, they have not stopped by my table in many cruises. RCCL works their employees like almost slave labor these days. People that remember service being better 15-25 years ago are 100% dead right.

 

9. Total price paid - This is the one that personally annoys me most about RCCL these days. You once stepped on a ship and could go the week without spending much money if you chose to. As mentioned, many things have an upcharge these days which gets really old to me. I hate being nickel and dimed and that is exactly what RCCL does these days.

 

These are things that popped into my head. I am sure I left out many. I am 42 years old now and was lucky enough to start cruising at age 12. Things have changed and unfortunately many of them are not for the better. People that remember how RCCL once was are just nostalgic and remembering how things use to be. It is what it is.

 

 

Nailed it

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

Seems to me there is lots of it lately...I have been on several different cruiselines before and of course there are ALWAYS some things on each you don't like....but all around RCL is the best!

 

Hi CockyMark, yes I agree with You. RCCL is a great cruise line.

Compared to what you pay for others, Royal is by far the better.

 

 

That is your opinion and that is fine but as someone who has cruised many many times with Royal they have lost the plot .

 

Isnt it nice that people can post their opinions and express the good and bad points ?

Some people (not you of course ) come on here to attack, attack and attack.

.

Cruising is cheaper now than it was in the early 1990's when I first started cruising. Yes we can look back at the "little extras" we got, but not the facilities are much more.

 

 

.

Edited February 9, 2015 by P&O Lynn Knickers
lynn doe not wear knickers, its nearly valentines day, and getting in the mood Darling !!

[Charger2008]

People ARE going with the ship that offers the most.............to them?.

 

EXACTLY :) We will only sail on ships with a Flowrider because that is what we like and personally, we are just fine with not many others liking the Flowrider because that means more time for us :D

 

Do what makes you happy, vacation where you want and with whatever cruise line or ship you like because unless someone else is paying for it, it's really not for them to say where you should go or what you should do or like :p

[kruzerci]

WhenIsLobsterNight- Good points

[time4u2go]

I've never seen anything like the way cruisers defend/take offense to anything negative anybody says about "their" cruise line. It's mind-boggling. There are so many pople around CruiseCritic who literally take it personally if somebody has anything but utter praise for "their" line. It's so bizarre, as if the cruise line an offshoot of themselves. Royal Caribbean could dump a thousand passengers in the middle of the Atlantic and there would be a very vocal group on CruiseCritic arguing that it wasn't Royal Caribbean's fault and the passengers must have done something to deserve it.

 

I've said time and time again, I enjoy cruising with Royal Caribbean. I'm also not going to pretend Royal Caribbean is the jewel in the crown that people like to pretend it is. It's ok to acknowledge what a company is doing wrong, just as it is to acknowledge what they are doing right. I think Royal has a well rounded product but going down a slippery slope with questionable pricing schemes and blatant corner cutting.

 

Very true. I especially liked the statement in bold.:D

[SteelMagnolia9]

I'm not 'loyal' to any cruise line. I do like Royal's product and I've never been disappointed in any of the cruises I've been on with this cruise line.

 

I've been on cruises with NCL, Holland America and Cunard as well and have had good experiences on those cruise lines.

 

I'm going to Alaska on Princess in July. I'm looking forward to being aboard the 600 passenger Pacific Princess vs. a larger cruise ship in Alaska. I selected this cruise for the small ship experience in Alaska, the itinerary/ports, land tour offerings, and that Princess has a permit to go into Glacier Bay (only a few cruise lines have this permit) which I wanted on an Alaska itinerary.

 

My experience on the Norwegian Sky this past weekend to the Bahamas was very different from my experience on the Queen Mary 2. I had a great time on both ships. Is one cruise line better than the other? I say no, it depends on what you are looking for in your cruise experience. There's something for everyone.

[baldercash]

This is an interesting thread. I have cruised for several decades and the cruise ship experience has changed dramatically over the years. People that complain are not "negative" or "unhappy" people.

 

1. Price - 2. Food - 3. Entertainment - 4. Freebies - 5. Drinks - 6. The ships themselves -

7. Dress Code - 8. Service - 9. Total price paid -

These are things that popped into my head. I am sure I left out many. I am 42 years old now and was lucky enough to start cruising at age 12. Things have changed and unfortunately many of them are not for the better. People that remember how RCCL once was are just nostalgic and remembering how things use to be. It is what it is.

 

Enjoyed your observations on how cruising has changed I am 20 years older then you but my 1st cruise was also on the Norway and it is still fondly remembered as one of our best cruises.

Our 1st trans- Atlantic was on the Sunbird and the price I paid back then for an inside would get me a suite on a Solstice class ship today. Being a British ship all entrees were served with the same brown gravy, entertainment was often a sing along in the lounge but still a wonderful cruise.

 

I like most have noticed diminished perks and added costs but what impacts us most is the cuts in staff which impacts service and civility.

The sense of entitlement combined with rudeness of seasoned cruisers is escalated by the fact they are no longer special.

On our Oasis trans Atlantic last fall 4,000 of the 6,000 pax were C&A members with 60+ Pinnacle on board. You cannot cut to the front of the line when all have the same privilege.

 

One of our favorite activities on board is stepping back when a problem occurs and watching the entitled have at it, it does not fix the problem but it is amusing to observe though we feel for the staff.

Watching pax totally loose it, being arrogant, condescending, yelling and then leaving frustrated how do they not know that this is a damaging approach?

 

If one bothers to read the Cruisers Choice awards then Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are still the best of all competitive cruise lines or is that just the best of the bad?

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?src=nav

 

We are Elite+ X, Diamond+ RCI and Platinum on Princess and have sailed MCS, NCL, Azamara, Oceania, P&O. and Holland.

We sail mainly for the itinerary and are beholding to no cruise line as we have free will.

 

Some have mentioned the glass half filled as opposed to half empty, I prefer to live more in line with the following quote.

 

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."

William Arthur Ward

[yolanda1]

If RCL can no longer fulfill the quality that people are looking for and those people are willing to spend more, then why not give the next level up a go. Book Oceania, Regent, Seabourn or Azamara. You get better service, but you also pay for it.

 

If you personally are willing to pay more, for better quality and service, then there are options for that. Why not take advantage.

 

I think too many people seem like they are hostages to a cruise line (pick one) loyalty program. Break the loyalty handcuffs and try other cruise lines. Spice of life.

 

 

I agree with this. Loyalty to a company when it isn't meeting your needs or expectations, just doesn't make sense. Azamara is better quality, as is Regent, but if it's bells and whistles and razzmatazz you're looking for, they don't compare to some of the big ships. Personally, sometimes we like to go to the smaller, classier ships too. It depends on the company we're in, the itinerary, duration, preferences in terms of food, service etc, and what we're looking for on that particular trip.

 

If people are disappointed in the quality of RCI (and sometimes we are), and if they can afford to pay extra to move up to a higher level to give it a try, they should go for it! :)

[jayblue]

RCL will always be my first choice for cruising and I will always enjoy them. But, the door is now open for other cruise lines.

 

I was disappointed that so many questions were not answered during the live chat this morning.

[jayblue]

We have freedom of choice when it comes to cruises.

[george35]

If everything about RCL is going downhill then why am I still choosing RCL????

[Sea-debris]

Seems all the other cruise lines are facing the same problems.

I have been reading Quantum cruise reviews and they are not pretty and the Royal Princess is at about 62% "Loved it" same as NCL Breakaway and when you read even 4 and 5 star reviews they sound pretty miserable.

The new ship offerings seem to be pretty sad.

 

Oasis is in the 80's similar to Celebrity Solstice class ships.

These ships are rated best of class not so Royal, Breakaway and Quantum.

Seems the planners who brought us these "smart ships" forgot about the human element?

[bigque]

Some have mentioned the glass half filled as opposed to half empty, I prefer to live more in line with the following quote.

 

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."

William Arthur Ward