$7.95 Room Service Charge

[bUU]

Its sad, that all Royal is doing is to convince me to try more upscale/inclusive lines such as Windstar, Cunard, Holland America.

I participate in numerous threads on the Holland America board grounded in complaints about it not being "upscale" nor "inclusive". It isn't even clear whether Holland America is more or less upscale than Princess. It depends on who you ask, they're evidently so close in that regard.

 

CCL's upscale offering is Seabourn (and Cunard, of course).

[rvrocker]

I ferry interested in what MSS is doing

[bUU]

I ferry interested in what MSS is doing

In a nutshell they're trying to get some significant amount of additional market share. As they pursue that they're going to have some more competitive offerings, at least in the itineraries that they offer. If you're going where they're taking you it's probably a good idea to take advantage of what they're offering now while they are still working hard to grab some more market share.

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[LMaxwell]

It was indeed a typo due to use of voice recognition.

 

The term "overtly dupe" makes no sense, and so neither would anything based on it.

 

I think Ocean Boy's point is that the charge is clearly for the service, not for the food, since you don't pay more if you order more food. You are therefore effectively paying for the food in your cruise fare. It is included. This fee is strictly a fee for the service itself, which is no longer something that is included in the cruise fare.

 

Talk to Trash conversions are frequent in 2017, when in doubt I always check to see if it was a dictation.

 

That said, I strongly feel "overtly dupe" makes perfect sense here. Let's follow the logic here; items on the room service menu; can they be "picked up" from a source free of charge 24 hours a day? No. If you want the "free" food you are forced to pay the service charge; only way around that is to book a bucks up suite. So, okay, the food isn't actually free.

 

Royal states that a portion goes as gratuity; we don't know how much and it doesn't matter; Royal says it is handled. But we can be reasonably assured it is not $7.95 per order going to the delivery person; that is a point on which all will agree. So after some portion goes to the delivery person for the "service", what is the remainder going to Royal for? Double service fee? Or the food? Or just plain old revenue (which is fine).

 

Does the room service delivery staff still volunteer for this position; will they earn more or less under the new pricing?

 

But, for many people it is this; I used to be able to order a plate of cheese and iced tea mid-afternoon before showering for dinner. Nothing additional was charged to me, and for the efforts of the delivery person a few dollars cash was extended as a thank you. Very simple. Neat and clean. No one had to give it a second thought.

 

To "upgrade" the menu to include, again, some items that were on there years ago anyways and tell me the $7.95 charge helps ensure a timely delivery (which, it can't actually do. I sense you know a thing or three about marketing...) and that leads me to the term overtly dupe. You want to charge for something, charge. But don't try to play us and say the charge is for our benefit. You'll notice the descriptions are all around marketing terms that don't measure improvements, they just sound nice.

 

I do wonder about some unintended consequences of this; binge ordering resulting in significant wastage, and people disputing a service charge if it takes an hour to get food.

 

People with paid in full cruises that included room service at the time of final payment were absolutely, most certainly overtly duped as well.

 

And mind you, your disagreement with a statement does not mean that it is not valid, it just means you disagree.

[Biker19]

And mind you, your disagreement with a statement does not mean that it is not valid, it just means you disagree.

The standard statement that could be appended to just about any post on CC, bravo.

[bUU]

And mind you, your disagreement with a statement does not mean that it is not valid, it just means you disagree.

True but rarely do I find a comment to be so invalid that I don't even bother granting it the credence of a response.

 

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[LMaxwell]

True but rarely do I find a comment to be so invalid that I don't even bother granting it the credence of a response.

 

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

 

Very pithy. You may use all the extra syllables you wish, but many of us are quite adept at knowing a bad deal when it's a bad deal. If you don't know what being duped is, good chance you are the one being duped. Do you have some marketing jargon to convince people who were after final payment that they haven't been overtly duped? I'm giving full benefit of the doubt here and assuming you know mostly what you speak of.

 

Are the Royal Champions from years past returning?

[bUU]

Very pithy.

Sorry, but it is all the response your comment warranted. Have a good evening.

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[richstowe]

Very pithy. You may use all the extra syllables you wish, but many of us are quite adept at knowing a bad deal when it's a bad deal. If you don't know what being duped is, good chance you are the one being duped. Do you have some marketing jargon to convince people who were after final payment that they haven't been overtly duped? I'm giving full benefit of the doubt here and assuming you know mostly what you speak of.

 

Are the Royal Champions from years past returning?

They never left .

[knittinggirl]

. . .

 

I do wonder about some unintended consequences of this; binge ordering resulting in significant wastage, and people disputing a service charge if it takes an hour to get food.

Is this in writing somewhere?

People with paid in full cruises that included room service at the time of final payment were absolutely, most certainly overtly duped as well.

I'm not happy, because they added this extra service after I booked the cruise. But I doubt their computer system could handle who booked before the announcement and who booked after. They should have made the announcement effective 18 months out, not two.

[bUU]

They should have made the announcement effective 18 months out, not two.

It is unreasonable to expect any company, whatsoever, to delay implementation of such operational changes 18 months prior.

 

The cruise lines offer fully refundable fares, cancelable up until 90 days prior to sailing. That is the furthest period before a cruise that one can reasonably expect any advance warning about anything. And that would be extremely generous, since the terms and conditions say clearly that such things are subject to change without notice.

 

 

 

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[Loucat]

Talk to Trash conversions are frequent in 2017, when in doubt I always check to see if it was a dictation.

 

That said, I strongly feel "overtly dupe" makes perfect sense here. Let's follow the logic here; items on the room service menu; can they be "picked up" from a source free of charge 24 hours a day? No. If you want the "free" food you are forced to pay the service charge; only way around that is to book a bucks up suite. So, okay, the food isn't actually free.

 

Royal states that a portion goes as gratuity; we don't know how much and it doesn't matter; Royal says it is handled. But we can be reasonably assured it is not $7.95 per order going to the delivery person; that is a point on which all will agree. So after some portion goes to the delivery person for the "service", what is the remainder going to Royal for? Double service fee? Or the food? Or just plain old revenue (which is fine).

 

Does the room service delivery staff still volunteer for this position; will they earn more or less under the new pricing?

 

But, for many people it is this; I used to be able to order a plate of cheese and iced tea mid-afternoon before showering for dinner. Nothing additional was charged to me, and for the efforts of the delivery person a few dollars cash was extended as a thank you. Very simple. Neat and clean. No one had to give it a second thought.

 

To "upgrade" the menu to include, again, some items that were on there years ago anyways and tell me the $7.95 charge helps ensure a timely delivery (which, it can't actually do. I sense you know a thing or three about marketing...) and that leads me to the term overtly dupe. You want to charge for something, charge. But don't try to play us and say the charge is for our benefit. You'll notice the descriptions are all around marketing terms that don't measure improvements, they just sound nice.

 

I do wonder about some unintended consequences of this; binge ordering resulting in significant wastage, and people disputing a service charge if it takes an hour to get food.

 

People with paid in full cruises that included room service at the time of final payment were absolutely, most certainly overtly duped as well.

 

And mind you, your disagreement with a statement does not mean that it is not valid, it just means you disagree.

We are just off an RCC ship in a Grand Suite. Our "bucks up" accomodations still stated a charge of $7.95 for room service. No thank you RCC.

This started with NCL and other lines looked to see passenger reactions. NCL pax took this with objection (forget that!) as the company is devoted to your money.

It worked and RCC picked it up.

We stopped sailing NCL due to these ongoing upcharges and new management.

We previously stopped sailing RCC 5 years ago due to poor food quality. We recently sailed on Rhapsody and do not know what to do next. Guess what? Poor food quality and a $7.95 room service charge for a Grand Suite.

 

I may get myself a floating tube for my pool :eek:

[soccer2010]

Its sad, that all Royal is doing is to convince me to try more upscale/inclusive lines such as Windstar, Cunard, Holland America.I remember Princess & Disney as being much more inclusive, so really I need to start looking elsewhere.

 

You know with MSC, you can pay for the Fantasia Cabin Level and both room service & 12 drink coupons are included. Did I mention, that MSC is much less (even with the upgraded fare) that Royal and the Seaside is coming to Miami late this year!

 

I booked MSC (Fantasia Cabin) on Seaside for next year for a few reasons ... Cruises at the time we can go are about $300 higher next year and Adventure is moving from San Juan. The way that I understand MSC Fantasia is that the room service delivery is free but the room service food is not.

 

On another note, we just got off Anthem and the food was better than last year on Adventure.

[LMaxwell]

Our "bucks up" accomodations still stated a charge of $7.95 for room service.

 

There is supposed to be no charge, but then again, my comments are not worthy of your eyes reading them, so choose carefully if you believe me.

[ONECRUISER]

This backs us into the question of what is the definition of fairness. Strip away the overly-emotionalized pretenses of unjust expectation, and fairness, specifically, would best be served by metering everything - i.e., charging a la carte for everything; nothing included that a reasonable person may choose to do without. Inclusions explicitly force everyone to subsidize the overuse, over-indulgence, and casual advantage-taking of what's offered. Don't get me wrong: I like a little overuse, a little over-indulgence, and a little casual advantage-taking - but the fact that people capitalize on such things in different amounts means that the system is unfair.

 

So just think about it: The cruise line is in the business of satisfying customers: Only an idiot would be satisfied by the fact that they're subsidizing other passengers, so given that the system is unfair, what can the cruise line do to satisfy those who are subsidizing the excess of others? The cruise line is effectively forced to engage in arguably ridiculous exercises to make every customer feel like they're getting as least as good of a deal as others, even though it would be nonsensical to claim that everyone is getting as good as a deal as everyone else.

 

Every time you see something that was included (you are mistaken, richstowe: Nothing was ever "free") turned into something with a fee, you're seeing the cruise line recognizing that they can no longer dupe enough weak-minded customers into believing that their subsidizing other passengers is a good deal, i.e., the amount of money from fares to cover operating costs associated with that specific "inclusion" was no longer justifiable by the satisfaction passengers derived from it, and so it was better to unbundle those costs, charge separately for what used to be included, and use that money from fares to cover other operating costs or to keep fare increases down year-to-year. The latter can plainly be seen just comparing the average fare paid in 2017 to the average fare paid in 1997.

Well said... I actually know price for 2 passengers, 7 nite cruise on Sovereign in 1988 for a deck 2 tiny porthole cabin was over $3000. So cruising is cheaper now even without considering inflation...

[wesnliz]

it's funny, the very few times I'll order room service was always minimal stuff and they always got a tip. I guess now I'm going to place a huge order to feel like I'm getting what I'm paying for, even though I'm sure I won't eat it all. I don't mind paying for something but this charge was implemented within my non refundable period.

 

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[BEENSAILING]

We are just off an RCC ship in a Grand Suite. Our "bucks up" accomodations still stated a charge of $7.95 for room service. No thank you RCC.

This started with NCL and other lines looked to see passenger reactions. NCL pax took this with objection (forget that!) as the company is devoted to your money.

It worked and RCC picked it up.

We stopped sailing NCL due to these ongoing upcharges and new management.

We previously stopped sailing RCC 5 years ago due to poor food quality. We recently sailed on Rhapsody and do not know what to do next. Guess what? Poor food quality and a $7.95 room service charge for a Grand Suite.

 

I may get myself a floating tube for my pool :eek:

 

You should not have any room service charges in a Grande Suite. If there was a charge added to your statement and you did not go to guest services on the ship to get it removed then you should call Royal and they will refund that amount to your credit card.

[CHIEFFY]

Not in the UK will lose all their deposit

 

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[Ocean Boy]

Well said... I actually know price for 2 passengers, 7 nite cruise on Sovereign in 1988 for a deck 2 tiny porthole cabin was over $3000. So cruising is cheaper now even without considering inflation...

And if the same supply of cabins existed now as in 1988 what do you think that 2 tiny porthole cabin would be going for with present day demand?

[funship freddy]

Last week on Empress room service took over an hour and the offerings were not worth the wait.

 

 

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[Suzieanna]

When I booked my upcoming cruise it had a "Free" drinks package included... was called Select.

 

When I booked my upcoming cruise it had "free" room service

 

We do not have the luxury of being able to cancel in the UK... and of course I would not cancel over room service becoming available. But the drinks package ---- Select no longer exists but will be "honoured"... My research however shows that drink prices have now gone up, and there is virtually nothing within the price range that is classed as "select". So the "free" drinks package has actually become worthless/useless.

 

I am not sure "overtly duped" covers how I feel about changes

 

I am also looking with interest at MSC.

 

I had never considered Carnival at all... but I think the way Royal is going, I'm not sure there's that much in it any more.

[knittinggirl]

It is unreasonable to expect any company, whatsoever, to delay implementation of such operational changes 18 months prior.

 

The cruise lines offer fully refundable fares, cancelable up until 90 days prior to sailing. That is the furthest period before a cruise that one can reasonably expect any advance warning about anything. And that would be extremely generous, since the terms and conditions say clearly that such things are subject to change without notice.

 

 

 

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

I picked 18 months because that's how early we can book a cruise. We should know the perks when we first put our deposit down. By the time we've waited till 90 days before, we've already paid our travel insurance, plane tickets, pre-cruise hotels (for those with advanced pay). So, it's really too late to cancel. Too many times, I've booked with certain perks that I expect, only to see them disappear when I board. Charging for room service is no different from the airlines making us pay to check luggage and meals on the plane. Once those perks were included in the price of a plane ticket. In fact, once I flew with my parents in the 1970s, and they gave us a $25 discount for "No Frills Flight." By no frills, we still got free luggage, but we brought our own lunch.

 

 

First they removed the perks such as the commemorative gift, dining room flowers, turn down chocolates. Then they downgraded the food, and added specialty dining (better food that used to be in the MDR). Now they have another money grab, room service.

 

 

I did two cruises about five months apart. The first before specialty dining, and the food was wonderful. Then five months later, I saw a notable drop in food quality with the addition of those specialty restaurants.

[Cel_cruise]

When I booked my upcoming cruise it had a "Free" drinks package included... was called Select.

 

 

 

When I booked my upcoming cruise it had "free" room service

 

 

 

We do not have the luxury of being able to cancel in the UK... and of course I would not cancel over room service becoming available. But the drinks package ---- Select no longer exists but will be "honoured"... My research however shows that drink prices have now gone up, and there is virtually nothing within the price range that is classed as "select". So the "free" drinks package has actually become worthless/useless.

 

 

 

I am not sure "overtly duped" covers how I feel about changes

 

 

 

I am also looking with interest at MSC.

 

 

 

I had never considered Carnival at all... but I think the way Royal is going, I'm not sure there's that much in it any more.

 

 

Are you sure that Royal is not providing a selection of beer and wine suitable for your select package? I was under the impression that they still were and better yet - there was the super cheap option to upgrade for $10 a day to the deluxe package which is pretty much a steal if you drink more than the basic beer and wine originally on your plan?

 

I understand your frustration in general - but I thought Royal was doing a decent service with the select package stuff? Maybe that changed in recent months?

 

 

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[bUU]

I picked 18 months because that's how early we can book a cruise. We should know the perks when we first put our deposit down.

Again: I don't agree that that is reasonable. This is the mass market. Even more premium brands like Seabourn and Azamara reserve the right to make operational changes.

 

By the time we've waited till 90 days before, we've already paid our travel insurance, plane tickets, pre-cruise hotels (for those with advanced pay).

Yes, we have. Yet the mass market only works because of this flexibility afforded the service providers.

 

Truly, if you want to unequivocally avoid the standard pitfalls of the mass market, you have to avoid the mass market.

 

The reality is that the value of the changes that occur, even including this one, are relatively small as compared to the value of the entire service.

[clarky213]

When I booked my upcoming cruise it had a "Free" drinks package included... was called Select.

 

When I booked my upcoming cruise it had "free" room service

 

We do not have the luxury of being able to cancel in the UK... and of course I would not cancel over room service becoming available. But the drinks package ---- Select no longer exists but will be "honoured"... My research however shows that drink prices have now gone up, and there is virtually nothing within the price range that is classed as "select". So the "free" drinks package has actually become worthless/useless.

 

I am not sure "overtly duped" covers how I feel about changes

 

I am also looking with interest at MSC.

 

I had never considered Carnival at all... but I think the way Royal is going, I'm not sure there's that much in it any more.

 

I also got the free select package on my recent Liberty cruise but I always planned to upgrade to the Premium package which was available when I booked. The upgrade cost was approx $17 per day.

When they removed select & premium packages the upgrade to the Deluxe package should have been around $25 per day.

The actual cost for the upgrade from the select to Deluxe was $10 per day (+18%).