Fox News -Is Cruising still a good value?

[Cigar King]

Both of these were on the Quantum last month, so perhaps she's just been on a newer ship.

[BecciBoo]

As you can see by this article from March 16th, the majority of drinks froo froo, fancy or whatever, are still under $10 and most ''well under".

http://www.shipcruise.org/royal-caribbean-alcohol-policy-drink-prices/

 

We can find plenty we like in the $8 range still.

Edited April 14, 2015 by BecciBoo

[marci22]

As you can see by this article from March 16th, the majority of drinks froo froo, fancy or whatever, are still under $10 and most ''well under".

http://www.shipcruise.org/royal-caribbean-alcohol-policy-drink-prices/

 

We can find plenty we like in the $8 range still.

 

Your own poster says, "There is a huge increase in bar drinks prices (up to 40% on some beverages) compared to 2014 prices. For example, ALL cocktails now start at US$10 (compared to the old price of US$6,50)"

 

33 drinks >10, 62 in the $9 range. Add in the auto grat and yoyu are over $10 for 95 drinks.

 

51 in the 8 range. Add in the auto grat and you are at $9.44 and up.

 

4 drinks in the $7 range.

 

I didn't count beer, wine, cordials and whiskeys.

 

There wasn't any price listed for Kool Aid.

Edited April 14, 2015 by marci22

[Setting sail for fun]

Better take that price list you on the cruise - because my DH's Bloody Mary was $11 plus 18 % gratuity (3/20/2015). You will have to question the price of every drink you order at the time. (No prices on menus). Something I don't enjoy.

[Cigar King]

When the price of a drink is going to make or break my enjoyment of the cruise, I'll quit cruising. Right now, thankfully, drinks as well as the other incidental charges I incur, just add to my enjoyment of the cruise.

 

Don't get me wrong, if given a choice I would rather they be free. In fact, I'd like the whole cruise to be free. They're not, and I try not to let the money get in the way of my good time once I have made the commitment to spend it.

[Ocean Boy]

I agree with regard to the timing. We first noticed the drink prices missing from the menus in December. Cruised in January and February and the drink prices had not gone up yet. By our cruise in March, the prices had jumped.

 

Of course you are talking about the menus where the pricing was missing by "mistake". As Vicky said.... you might be able to fool them once....

[Setting sail for fun]

When the price of a drink is going to make or break my enjoyment of the cruise, I'll quit cruising. Right now, thankfully, drinks as well as the other incidental charges I incur, just add to my enjoyment of the cruise.

 

Don't get me wrong, if given a choice I would rather they be free. In fact, I'd like the whole cruise to be free. They're not, and I try not to let the money get in the way of my good time once I have made the commitment to spend it.

 

Agree. Just think the 40% increase (on some drinks) has sparked a lot of frustration.

[mlmbar]

Value is a BIG word. Value is also in the eye of the beholder. If you're not happy with RCL, then quit sailing with them. It's really quite simple.

 

I'm currently on a biz trip traveling across the country and checked into a Comfort Inn Suite for $95/night plus city, state taxes. It offers a window view, a coffee maker, fridge, microwave, a desk & king bed, full size shower. I could have got a room two buildings down for $59 but chose not too. Why not save the $36? I'm not a big spender, but I'm also not a penny pincher. I felt there was value at the Comfort Inn. Others, maybe not.

 

Look, I'm pretty sure that somewhere RCL has skimped a bit. But guys, IMO you simply can not find the same 'value' than what RCL is offering. I currently have three booked cruises with JS accommodations for less money than my balcony cabin cost me in 2013. The prices have gone up but there are good cruises w/ great itenaries out there if you look & study.

 

As far as Smoked Salmon goes, I personally have never booked a cruise based on this need. What I have done is to stop buying excursions via RCL. I've applied this savings on other goodies such as the beverage packages and two nights per cruise at Specialty Dining. That's my value. Yours may be different. So whatever it is, enjoy your cruise. :)

 

Good luck.

 

EXCELLENT post. So many cynics. We do exactly the same . We do not do RC excursions and use savings for drink package and specialty dining. We have a JS on Adventure for less than balcony on most ships as we booked early out and are not traveling in high travel season.

 

We began cruising because it was a better deal than land vacations. We did AI for years and the prices went up and up. A week on a ship is less than a week at most AI resorts.

 

I also agree with the comment about looking at flying. Talk about nickel and dimeing and no customer friendly atmosphere.

[Ocean Boy]

When the price of a drink is going to make or break my enjoyment of the cruise, I'll quit cruising. Right now, thankfully, drinks as well as the other incidental charges I incur, just add to my enjoyment of the cruise.

 

Don't get me wrong, if given a choice I would rather they be free. In fact, I'd like the whole cruise to be free. They're not, and I try not to let the money get in the way of my good time once I have made the commitment to spend it.

 

When I plan a vacation I look for a good value for my money. That doesn't end once my vacation starts. I won't stop cruising over drink prices but I might not buy drinks because of the drink prices. Drinks just are not that important to me. I wouldn't buy a drink that I felt was unreasonably priced as I would not enjoy drinking it if I felt it was a rip off.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Ocean Boy

[awestover89]

I definitely feel it's still a good value. For land based vacations, we pay more per day for food and lodging alone than we do for the cruise, unless we stay in a cheap hotel and eat nothing but fast food, in which case it's close to the same. On a normal vacation for 2 on land, we'll spend usually 80-120 per night on a hotel (40-60pp), about 10-15 each for lunch (usually fast food, not always) and about 30-50 each for dinner, with one or two nights at a nicer restaurant where we can spend upwards of 100 each. So on the lowest end we'd pay about $80 per person for just food and a bed.

 

Maybe it's because I'm a new cruiser, but I was impressed with the food on board, both MDR, the buffet, and the various little cafes around the ship, and I definitely wouldn't compare it to the cheapest restaurants I used in my pricing above.

[Cigar King]

Agree. Just think the 40% increase (on some drinks) has sparked a lot of frustration.

 

Sure, but the real costs are negligible, when factored into the overall costs of the cruise. I do see that nobody, including me, likes to have to spend more money. Besides, this is cruise CRITIC after all. ;-)

[racerxspeedy]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=346215&d=1429022222

 

This attachment caught my eye. Celebrity menu from 1 year ago

[nbsjcruiser]

Hello - Check out this article if your interested. http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2015/04/13/is-cruise-still-good-value/

 

Does anyone here agree with Vicki Freed (Sr VP of sales for RC).?

 

I really enjoy cruising, but I'm having a hard time finding the "shrimp and smoked salmon" these days.

 

 

If I had Vicki in front of me, I'd call her a liar to her face. We've been cruising since 2001. There is no doubt that quality has gone down and prices have gone up. I remember our first RCL cruise. The service in the MDR and the food, man. Sorbet to clean your pallet in between courses - when was the last time we saw that? Never needing to pour your own wine. I remember the first time I reached fro a wine glass and poured myself a glass of wine. DW said the waiter had a look of horror on his face. He poured my wine for the entire week. Now? Maybe you might get that attention to detail but its a rarity.

 

Cruiselines have been cutting quality and driving people to speciality restaurants for years. It was never as evident as it was on our Indy cruise a couple of months ago. And now they're driving the price of Chops up and reducing the quality in there too! You want a top notch steak that was once free? There's an upcharge on that. An upcharge on an upcharge. I think they're taking lessons from the government.

 

And what about drinks? $12 now plus 18% gratuity! Let me put that in perspective for you non-Canadian folks out there. $12USD + 18% = $14.16USD. Converted to Canadian and if DW and I want to have a nice sailaway drink its gonna cost $36.18! Two drinks for nearly 40 bucks? Vicki's right about one thing, you can only fool a customer once. In my case it will be only once. We'll buy our sailaway drinks and that will be the only time we buy booze during the entire week.

 

I'll put this thought out there and its one I proposed for Carnival when they started sliding backwards a few years ago. Do away with the MDR. Convert it to 4-6 fee based restaurants and when you book a cruise you have two options:

1. I do not plan on eating in a fee based restaurant for dinner - you pay $200-$500 less for your cruise depending on the length. If you change your mind once you do cruise then its $50 a pop at a minimum.

2. I plan on visiting a fee based restaurant each night - you pay $200-$500 more for your cruise depending on the length.

 

That way, if someone wants to cruise cheap, eat in the buffet then they save $$. It also takes away the pretence that RCL still offers a high class MDR option for its guests for free. They're doing away with it bit by bit, I say yank it all away and make the move to where they want us to go anyway.

[Setting sail for fun]

Better take that price list you on the cruise - because my DH's Bloody Mary was $11 plus 18 % gratuity (3/20/2015). You will have to question the price of every drink you order at the time. (No prices on menus). Something I don't enjoy.

 

Sure, but the real costs are negligible, when factored into the overall costs of the cruise. I do see that nobody, including me, likes to have to spend more money. Besides, this is cruise CRITIC after all. ;-)

 

Depending on who is paying for the drinks and their budget, it might not be negligible. IMHO

[rbschultz]

Hello - Check out this article if your interested. http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2015/04/13/is-cruise-still-good-value/

 

Does anyone here agree with Vicki Freed (Sr VP of sales for RC).?

 

I really enjoy cruising, but I'm having a hard time finding the "shrimp and smoked salmon" these days.

 

Per Vicki:

 

“When you look at everything that a cruise includes – wonderful cuisine, outstanding entertainment, and your hotel-- and you look at the price you pay on a per day basis,” explains Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales for Royal Caribbean, “you couldn’t find a better deal on land.”

 

And she balks at the idea that the lines have begun to “nickel and dime” their customers or – worse – lower the quality in the dining rooms in order to encourage guests to eat at the for-a-fee specialty restaurants.

 

“You can fool your consumers once, but they won’t come on board again,” explains Freed. “If they don’t see shrimp or smoked salmon, they won’t be fooled. Today, consumers have the power of social media, and they’re smart. They’re savvy.”

 

“You can fool your consumers once, but they won’t come on board again.”

 

Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales for Royal Caribbean

 

There was smoked salmon in the Windjammer every morning for breakfast on my Quantum cruise.

[BecciBoo]

Even with the 18% grat all the drinks we normally do (don't like really fancy ones, just Vodka with a twist in soda, hubby drinks scotch on rocks and me Mojitos) are still around $9.50 or less. THat concurs with the pricing all over my home town of San Antonio. The highball may be a little less, but a few cents is not going to break our bank.

 

And most of what we drink is free (DL) On Allure we got acquainted with a bar keep from the Philippines and my DH was stationed there and loves to engage any Pilipino....we always went to his stations and while we did not solicit this, he began to give us heavy pours and eventually would not accept our cards at all, even after I frowned at him. Tipped him really well though.

 

I'm not saying 'cozy up to your barkeep friend to comp you' for the patrol or cynics but it can happen. Being pleasant always has its rewards:)

 

The point I'm making is, drinking or not drinking is not why we cruise. But I don't mind paying that price for the few drinks we have to pay for. When all is said and done, I think most people waste a buck or two here and there throughout the day, we'll continue to waste it onboard:D;)

Edited April 14, 2015 by BecciBoo

[pseudoware]

For any remaining value, the trade-off is having to spend time/money traveling from/to the ship at each port and being restricted to limited cheap lounge acts and other cheesy entertainment options, as opposed to enjoying attractions on land in the late afternoon and into the evening.

[Cigar King]

Depending on who is paying for the drinks and their budget, it might not be negligible. IMHO

 

IMHO, if a few bucks is not negligible you should probably not be spending any of your money on a cruise.

[grandgeezer]

IMHO, if a few bucks is not negligible you should probably not be spending any of your money on a cruise.

 

I hope you don't charge for telling people how they should spend their money.

[BecciBoo]

Ha, our cruises have trumped any land vacations we've taken by a long shot expense wise, if you factor in travel to get there, food, hotels and entertainment, which in most cases we couldn't afford at all.

 

If you travel, transportation is always a factor, land or sea...but to visit several countries, see free shows, and I think many of them are great entertainers, not all cheesy (love my ice show); and eat most times better than I cook, dollar for dollar even with the drink prices and loss of some quality a cruise wins hands down. Food, you can't even compare since most of our land vacations include fast food. On cruise I'm at least eating better, its' just not 5 star.

 

Pouring my wine?... never even though about it, the waiters we've had still do that. I still get service with a smile and just haven't needed most any of what has been mentioned here. Don't need no chocolates, heck, don't even need no towel animals! My beds made with fresh sheets every day, I walk out on my private balcony every morning and eat with the Ocean in front of me, and I don't have a care in the world except "what to do or eat next"....its all good for us.

[Setting sail for fun]

IMHO, if a few bucks is not negligible you should probably not be spending any of your money on a cruise.

 

Doesn't hurt my feelings. I know a reasonable price when I see it!

Edited April 14, 2015 by Setting sail for fun

[grandgeezer]

FWIW, I have far less concerns about my cruise dollar than I do about my airfare dollar. You want to talk nickels and dimes? Try flying.

 

Cruising and flying the same in the sense that you don't have to cruise and you probably don't have to fly. If the nickel and diming bothers you, don't do it.

[Cigar King]

I hope you don't charge for telling people how they should spend their money.

 

I don't. I'm generous that way. ;-)

[Setting sail for fun]

I guess we will see in the coming months reaction to the increased drink prices. It has only been about a month. So not everyone has experienced it yet.

 

Maybe there will not be a negative reaction.

 

Anyway, happy sailing everyone!

[setsail]

 

Maybe there will not be a negative reaction.

 

Anyway, happy sailing everyone!

 

I doubt there will be, just a lot of noise on cc. we buy around 30 drinks on a 7 day so we figure we might have to pay out an additional 60 to 75$ total for a 7day. No where near enough to whine about on CC:D. When you are spending thousands for the cruise and air.

 

Spa and bingo prices have gone up more than this in the last 5 years and the ships continue to sail at 104% capacity

Edited April 14, 2015 by setsail