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Just back from Oasis - disappointed this time

Sun Lover

By Sun Lover,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Sun Lover

Sun Lover

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Sadly, we share some of the same disappointments. We made our 11th straight "Loyal to Royal" cruise last November on the Allure. Now, we're not feeling so loyal anymore. The up-sale is out of hand. We are balcony cruisers, I buy the drink package, photos, and excursions, but that apparently isn't enough for RCI.

 

First day, very first meal at the Windjammer, we were approached by a crew member as soon as we sat down. Instead of asking if we needed something to drink, we got hit up to buy a dining package. It seems the new Royal has a bigger mandate to up-sell and take even more money from your wallet than they are to provide great customer service for what you've already purchased.

 

I agree with everything you said. We experienced these same things and a lot more. On formal nights in the MDR very loud announcements would come on followed by the song "I Gotta Feeling" blasting so loud you could hardly talk to the person next to you. This seemed odd to do in the MDR on a formal night while trying to enjoy dinner. RCI is definitely more interested in making money than in providing decent customer service.

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CruisingNole

CruisingNole

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Really disappointed to read of the OP's experience.

 

We were on Oasis this past Fall and had a wonderful time. That being said, one walk through the Windjammer was enough to prevent us from eating there at all. First time in 20 plus cruises we did not eat even on meal in the buffet.

 

I typically don't touch buffet food for a variety of personal reasons. Perhaps this is why my dining experience on Oasis in the "regular" non-specialty restaurants has been generally positive.

 

I did however take a gamble on Oasis in December and attempted to eat lunch off the solarium buffet. It was so gross that we left mid-meal and went to the MDR, and the meal was fantastic.

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sarbah77

sarbah77

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I rarely get approached, but saved $20 on Izumi when they did. $$$

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

 

I was on the sailing the week after you (the second week of the OP's cruise) and I was never once approached. I was super bummed. I had onboard credit to burn and was looking forward to the opportunity!

 

I was also traveling with 5 other people and it wasn't worth it, otherwise, to plan to eat in specialty dining.

 

That said, yeah, the Windjammer was AWFUL if it wasn't lunch. Last year, on Freedom, my husband and I skipped the MDR and had dinner most nights in the Windjammer. It was a really great experience and we were both SO disappointed on the Oasis. So was the rest of the group - whoops. :-/

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CruisingNole

CruisingNole

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I was on the sailing the week after you (the second week of the OP's cruise) and I was never once approached. I was super bummed. I had onboard credit to burn and was looking forward to the opportunity!

 

I was on Oasis in December and also was not approached either. I did not visit WJ, only MDR.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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OP, in the future, please consider using paragraphs for such a long post. The words are well-written, but it would have been a lot easier to read if it had been split into paragraphs.

 

 

Agreed! I also with the new forum software had a easier to use REPLY function so people wouldn't QUOTE an entire posts to add one small point.

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joyhannah

joyhannah

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Hi can you tell me what room cabin number you had? want to make sure I never get that person.

I hope RCCL fix the problem. I have not sailed for 4 years and just book Oasis for September.

If its as bad as everyone is saying I may need to re-book for another boat.

Thanks for all the information and writing your review it was very helpful :):)

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sjb317

sjb317

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Hi can you tell me what room cabin number you had? want to make sure I never get that person.

I hope RCCL fix the problem. I have not sailed for 4 years and just book Oasis for September.

If its as bad as everyone is saying I may need to re-book for another boat.

Thanks for all the information and writing your review it was very helpful :):)

 

We just got off yesterday and had a very different experience than OP so either he just hit a bad week or we were lucky. We only went to WJ for breakfast and liked the food but we didn’t try the scrambled eggs.:')

 

Also, we both felt there was no problem with people trying to sell us stuff. We both agreed we were never approached.

 

Sherri:)

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CruisingNole

CruisingNole

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Hi can you tell me what room cabin number you had? want to make sure I never get that person.

I hope RCCL fix the problem. I have not sailed for 4 years and just book Oasis for September.

If its as bad as everyone is saying I may need to re-book for another boat.

Thanks for all the information and writing your review it was very helpful :):)

 

Do not change your reservation based on what you read here from a handful of people. I was on Oasis in December and had a great time. As did the vast majority of 6,000 other people.

 

Some of the people on this forum paint their experiences on these ships out to be like that of a third world country. I assure you it is not.

 

Think about what you're paying, and set your expectations accordingly. Expecting first class service at this price point would be like expecting a hot towel when you fly Southwest.

 

Have fun!

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Sun Lover

Sun Lover

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Hi can you tell me what room cabin number you had? want to make sure I never get that person.

I hope RCCL fix the problem. I have not sailed for 4 years and just book Oasis for September.

If its as bad as everyone is saying I may need to re-book for another boat.

Thanks for all the information and writing your review it was very helpful :):)

 

Our cabin number was 8170. Honestly, it seems to be that Oasis in particular is getting really bad reviews. I haven't seen many bad reviews about Allure, which we were on one year ago and it was fine. Maybe you want to look into switching to Allure for your upcoming cruise. I can't tell you how bad the customer service was on Oasis. I'm seeing many people complaining about that now. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

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Sun Lover

Sun Lover

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Do not change your reservation based on what you read here from a handful of people. I was on Oasis in December and had a great time. As did the vast majority of 6,000 other people.

 

Some of the people on this forum paint their experiences on these ships out to be like that of a third world country. I assure you it is not.

 

Think about what you're paying, and set your expectations accordingly. Expecting first class service at this price point would be like expecting a hot towel when you fly Southwest.

 

Have fun!

 

This is not a "handful" of people. I have seen numerous complaints and many were complaining about the same things we experienced. I was on Oasis previously and was completely satisfied. I couldn't wait to go on her again. I do not expect first class service. In fact, I don't have high expectations for anything and am not very fussy at all about food. I didn't have any complaints in the past about either Oasis or Allure. But this B2B was one issue after another. And when you have an onboard credit that you were given and you try for 2 weeks to get it resolved to no avail, that is very frustrating. We wasted probably half a day at customer service just trying to get our credit. If you read my past reviews, you'll see that I'm not in the habit of giving negative reviews. We talked to many people on our ship that were experiencing problems. If I had an upcoming cruise on this ship, I would want to be aware of these things and would appreciate someone letting me know.

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CruisingNole

CruisingNole

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This is not a "handful" of people. I have seen numerous complaints and many were complaining about the same things we experienced. I was on Oasis previously and was completely satisfied. I couldn't wait to go on her again. I do not expect first class service. In fact, I don't have high expectations for anything and am not very fussy at all about food. I didn't have any complaints in the past about either Oasis or Allure. But this B2B was one issue after another. And when you have an onboard credit that you were given and you try for 2 weeks to get it resolved to no avail, that is very frustrating. We wasted probably half a day at customer service just trying to get our credit. If you read my past reviews, you'll see that I'm not in the habit of giving negative reviews. We talked to many people on our ship that were experiencing problems. If I had an upcoming cruise on this ship, I would want to be aware of these things and would appreciate someone letting me know.

 

When a ship has 6,000 people on it, and (after a quick skim of this thread) at most 5 people from various sailing dates have major issues, I do consider that fraction of a percentage of passengers to be merely a handful.

 

In no way am I trying to discredit what you claimed happened on your sailing, it all sounds very plausible. The point I was trying to make is that considering rescheduling an entire cruise based on one thread from a message board is a little extreme.

 

From what I have noticed, as a reader, is that many recent complaints seem to be about Royal cutbacks across the board. A lot of these "incidents" don't appear to be isolated by ship.

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paross4

paross4

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Our cabin number was 8170. Honestly, it seems to be that Oasis in particular is getting really bad reviews. I haven't seen many bad reviews about Allure, which we were on one year ago and it was fine. Maybe you want to look into switching to Allure for your upcoming cruise. I can't tell you how bad the customer service was on Oasis. I'm seeing many people complaining about that now. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

 

We just got off the Oasis yesterday, our room was 8172 and the steward's name was Julius. He also covered room 8170. Not sure if they change stewards from week to week, but he was excellent. Any extra requests we had were always fulfilled and the room was always made up nicely. We had no problems and did tip him extra. As for towel animals - we saw 5 in the 7 days. :):D

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adamrosie

adamrosie

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Hi can you tell me what room cabin number you had? want to make sure I never get that person.

 

I hope RCCL fix the problem. I have not sailed for 4 years and just book Oasis for September.

 

If its as bad as everyone is saying I may need to re-book for another boat.

 

Thanks for all the information and writing your review it was very helpful :):)

 

 

 

I would rebook.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Cruisegirl6

Cruisegirl6

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We were on the October 29th cruise and everything was perfect overall. Granted, we never eat dinner in the MDR because all of the ships and cruise lines MDR is just typical banquet food with overworked staff, we always dine nightly using the Ultimate Dining Package. I can totally understand what the OP is saying regarding the MDR, but we made so many friends at the casino bar, champagne bar, rise and tide bar, all the service was perfect in every way, so much, we gave additional tips (we purchase the ultimate drink package but still give an extra $1 per drink) to our favorite bartenders during the last evening. We had two balcony cabins and our room steward was always perfect.

 

We were approached numerous times about getting the dining and drink package, but all we had to say we had it all and they left us alone. I do can see this to be bothersome to some, but all you have to say is no thank you and they leave you alone.

We enjoyed the ship so very much we are booked on her again for April 15th.

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