Royal Caribbean the McDonalds of cruise lines?

[shelbydog2000]

She obviously has not been on the Allure or the Oasis.  I have been on MSC, Norwegian, Celebrity.   None of their ships have compared to the Allure or the Oasis.   I won't be going on Carnival based on the many things I have watched and read.  

I have enjoyed all the cruise lines I have been on.

[leisuretraveler223]

On 10/22/2018 at 2:05 PM, Robo1098 said:

I have to say I was kind of hurt by this.

 

Huh? You were "hurt" by this? Do you work for Royal? 

[BillOh]

On 10/22/2018 at 2:05 PM, Robo1098 said:

I was out with some friends this weekend. One of the women that has been on 22 cruises with NCL said that she thought that Royal Caribbean was the McDonalds of cruise lines. I have to say I was kind of hurt by this. Don't really agree with this either. I thought for the most part NCL was similar to slightly above RCI. Am I wrong on this?

 

I've never been on NCL, but I will go read some of the replies.  My daughter was on NCL sun once out of Miami, to me some might compare that ship to Majesty or Enchantment on the same itininary.    In 2016 I was in St Thomas with a brand new NCL (Escape maybe?)   and we were taking open air cab back to the ship (Oasis in Crown Bay) and we had to stop and a lady was just over the top telling everyone on the vehicle about that ship.  She said it was so much better than anything Royal had to offer. I asked her what Royal ship she had been on. She said she had sailed Monarch a few years back.  I asked her what made this ship so special, her reply was, " They have video monitors in all the cabin decks with videos of cartoon fish swimming and you can tell the front of the ship by which way the fish are swimming."  I laughed, I cried, it became part of me.    That said, if anyone wants to buy me an NCL cruise, I'll go and relate my point of view no charge!

[johnjen]

OMG to all of this.

My co-worker is a loyal Carnival cruiser. To each his own....yeah. So, one night, DD at home said she felt that Carnival was "the Dollar General" of cruise lines. One day at work during small talk I mentioned this to the co-worker. She went OFF. "How many cruises has your daughter done on Carnival, or on ANY cruiseline in general?" I replied, not wanting to argue, "well, not many" and left it at that, but she STILL rages on and on what DD said. I never realized up until now - the ONLY big difference between the two (for US anyway) is that the waiters on Carnival do not place your napkin on your lap, pull out your chair to be seated, and they don't read off the menu of the evening as well as the waiter's recommended dish. On RCL, we get all that, and probably more as it is. THAT came back in another discussion at work with co-worker; I thought she was going to have a coronary!

Edited October 29, 2018 by johnjen

[johnjen]

On 10/23/2018 at 12:23 PM, John&LaLa said:

 

I swear I've seen McRib patties in the WJ.  so easy to cook and they keep forever

YES!!! I saw them on the last cruise earlier this year on Anthem....even pointed them out to wife/daughter.....didn't try one though.

[John&LaLa]

2 minutes ago, johnjen said:

YES!!! I saw them on the last cruise earlier this year on Anthem....even pointed them out to wife/daughter.....didn't try one though.

 

You can often find them in the frozen food section of your local grocery.  They're pretty much the same.  

 

I quit working there about the time they first came out.

Edited October 29, 2018 by John&LaLa

[sfaaa]

On October 23, 2018 at 9:44 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

Barbeque Spam

With raw onion. Truly Mcheaven. Make that two and supersize my order please.

[sfaaa]

On October 23, 2018 at 10:36 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

University of Missouri, Class of '84 🍺

McD crew alumni. Class of '79. 

[John&LaLa]

47 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

McD crew alumni. Class of '79. 

 

About same age. Quit McD in spring 1980

[tetemcg]

Out of the cruise lines I've been on...I personally compared them to retail stores when someone who hasn't cruised asks my thoughts on a cruise.

• Disney - Neiman Marcus
• Royal Carribbean - Macy's
• NCL - Target
• Carnival - Walmart 

But I always tell them ..."guess what I can enjoy shopping in them all and I can enjoy cruising with them all."  Enjoying one doesn't mean you have to "hate" on the others. 

 

Sometimes you splurge with with some Jimmy Choos and a Gucci handbag and some times you just need a comfy pair of leggings and a pint of ice cream.  Sometimes you want the big fancy ship and all the bells and whistles and some times you just want a cheap fun vacation. Sometimes you want a specific itinerary and sometimes you just want to be anywhere but work! 
 

 

[karmacats]

This thread just made me laugh because we crashed a McDonald's cruise on Royal once.  I think it was on Liberty. Most of the passengers were McDonald's employees; many were there for hitting sales records etc and had never cruised before. It was interesting (in a good way - people were nice, and super excited to be there).

 

As far as cruise quality, there's a reason I'm diamond plus on royal but have only been on one norwegian cruise. I'll leave it at that. To each their own.

[johnjen]

13 hours ago, karmacats said:

As far as cruise quality, there's a reason I'm diamond plus on royal but have only been on one norwegian cruise. I'll leave it at that. To each their own.

 That's how we felt about Carnival. Went on one, we came back to RCL! Poor service, got stuck seated by ourselves under a staircase, no proper table etiquette deployed by the waiters - never again.

[John&LaLa]

McRib is back in Central Florida.😀

For a limited time.

[BNBR]

20 minutes ago, johnjen said:

 That's how we felt about Carnival. Went on one, we came back to RCL! Poor service, got stuck seated by ourselves under a staircase, no proper table etiquette deployed by the waiters - never again.

 

Interesting hearing these comments about Carnival dining.  I found the dining almost identical to Royal.  Our waiters were fantastic on Carnival and they had a great bar server that did a very good job getting us drinks.  On Royal, while they have a drink runner, I often found it difficult to order additional drinks from the wait staff.  Both Carnival and Royal provided an overall excellent experience but I have a hard time with the idea that Royal is above Carnival in this regards.  At best, I think they are pretty similar.  You can find equally as many horror stories about bad service on Royal, too.

[CruisingSince1982]

19 hours ago, tetemcg said:

Out of the cruise lines I've been on...I personally compared them to retail stores when someone who hasn't cruised asks my thoughts on a cruise.

• Disney - Neiman Marcus
• Royal Carribbean - Macy's
• NCL - Target
• Carnival - Walmart 

But I always tell them ..."guess what I can enjoy shopping in them all and I can enjoy cruising with them all."  Enjoying one doesn't mean you have to "hate" on the others. 

 

Sometimes you splurge with with some Jimmy Choos and a Gucci handbag and some times you just need a comfy pair of leggings and a pint of ice cream.  Sometimes you want the big fancy ship and all the bells and whistles and some times you just want a cheap fun vacation. Sometimes you want a specific itinerary and sometimes you just want to be anywhere but work! 
 

 

 

 

I was not impressed with Disney at all.  Food and service were both sub par.  As for Carnival, you couldn't pay me to sail that line again.  Once was enough! 

Edited October 30, 2018 by CruisingSince1982

[Robo1098]

2 hours ago, BNBR said:

 

Interesting hearing these comments about Carnival dining.  I found the dining almost identical to Royal.  Our waiters were fantastic on Carnival and they had a great bar server that did a very good job getting us drinks.  On Royal, while they have a drink runner, I often found it difficult to order additional drinks from the wait staff.  Both Carnival and Royal provided an overall excellent experience but I have a hard time with the idea that Royal is above Carnival in this regards.  At best, I think they are pretty similar.  You can find equally as many horror stories about bad service on Royal, too.

I've had pretty similar experiences between Carnival and Royal also. Sometimes one has better service that the other but it goes either way. For some reason I don't like the lack of tablecloths on Carnival but it's not the end of the world. 

[pacruise804]

On 10/30/2018 at 11:39 AM, johnjen said:

 That's how we felt about Carnival. Went on one, we came back to RCL! Poor service, got stuck seated by ourselves under a staircase, no proper table etiquette deployed by the waiters - never again.

That was our experience on NCL (except it was by ourselves by the busing stations.

 

I've sailed Carnival, Royal, NCL, and Princess.  I find them to all have good points and all have negatives - no such thing as a perfect ship (and as tetemcg said different times I want different experiences).

 

My comparison metaphor is the auto industry.  Carnival, Royal and NCL are Chevy, Ford, and Dodge (in no particular order) for me.  Celebrity, Princess, and HAL are more like Buick/Pontiac, Lincoln/Mercury, and Chrysler.

 

OP - try not to be offended.  While I wouldn't classify any major cruise line as McDonalds (or any other fast food if using that analogy) they are a very successful company that appeals to families, at a reasonable value, with options, but you know what you are getting.  It doesn't have to be an insult (unless your friend just is that way).

[scpirate]

On 10/22/2018 at 3:08 PM, BNBR said:

 

It's really not true that it was better decades ago.  Almost all of their changes since 40 years ago has been in how quickly they can push out fresher food.  They have always been about speed, which means they weren't cooking made to order, even in the very beginning.  Decades ago they were making sandwiches and keeping them in warming racks.  15 - 20 years ago they were able to assemble the sandwiches to order, with meat from a holding tray. They have only improved since then how they can get closer and closer to cooked to order, to the point where they are actually cooking quarter pounders to order now.  I say this as a former McDonalds manager.  It's way better today than it used to be.

As a consumer I disagree.mcdonalds is crap.even the ice cream that I loved doesn't taste so good.have to stick with Wendy's or Sonic.

[BNBR]

3 minutes ago, scpirate said:

As a consumer I disagree.mcdonalds is crap.even the ice cream that I loved doesn't taste so good.have to stick with Wendy's or Sonic.

 

You can disagree all you want. Quality isn't really debatable.  Taste is.  McDonald's famously switched to low quality milkshake/ice cream mixes long, long ago.  After Ray took over. It was even mentioned in the recent film. Your feelings that it was better long ago are nothing but nostalgia. 

Edited November 2, 2018 by BNBR

[John&LaLa]

13 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

You can disagree all you want. Quality isn't really debatable.  Taste is.  McDonald's famously switched to low quality milkshake/ice cream mixes long, long ago.  After Ray took over. It was even mentioned in the recent film. Your feelings that it was better long ago are nothing but nostalgia. 

 

Is the recipe in 2018 the same as say 1990? I really doubt it.  

[BNBR]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Is the recipe in 2018 the same as say 1990? I really doubt it.  

 

Considering their rather consistent focus on improving quality, I doubt it would be worse today than in 1990. This topic is kind of funny, and it's exactly like the cruise lines.  People are so nostalgic.  The idea that companies are just getting worse at cooking and processes as time progresses makes no sense at all. I'd guarantee that if you put a quarter pounder from 1990 standards and today in front of someone, they probably wouldn't even want to eat the one using old standards.  But sure enough "gosh, it was so much better back then, I preferred it when they made the entire sandwich and stuck it in a warming rack for 30 minutes before I got to eat it."  right...  It's that same nonsense with this topic about cruising.  You think the cruise lines have regressed when it comes to figuring out how to get food to tables hotter and fresher? Come on..... 

[John&LaLa]

Look, all I know is that when I made/ordered a qtr cheese in 1979, the cheese was melted by the hot grease.  Now it's a 50/50 possibility and nothing you say can change that.  Maybe it's the lack of foam clamshells

 

And don't get me started on quality control of bun dressing.  The employees don't care.  And to tell you the truth, it starts with front line managers, they don't care either.

Edited November 2, 2018 by John&LaLa

[MrFunInTheSun]

9 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Look, all I know is that when I made/ordered a qtr cheese in 1979, the cheese was melted by the hot grease.  Now it's a 50/50 possibility and nothing you say can change that.  Maybe it's the lack of foam clamshells

 

And don't get me started on quality control of bun dressing.  The employees don't care.  And to tell you the truth, it starts with front line managers, they don't care either.

 

 

Don't forget the fries, now that they took the chicken flavor out of it to make them more healthy, the fries are not as good as they were many years ago. 🙂

[John&LaLa]

16 minutes ago, MrFunInTheSun said:

 

 

Don't forget the fries, now that they took the chicken flavor out of it to make them more healthy, the fries are not as good as they were many years ago. 🙂

 

If hot, and covered in ketchup I'm fine. 😎

 

Wendy's new fries are awful compared to the old ones.

[sfaaa]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

Look, all I know is that when I made/ordered a qtr cheese in 1979, the cheese was melted by the hot grease.  Now it's a 50/50 possibility and nothing you say can change that.  Maybe it's the lack of foam clamshells

 

And don't get me started on quality control of bun dressing.  The employees don't care.  And to tell you the truth, it starts with front line managers, they don't care either.

This must be some kind of misunderstanding.  QSC&V. Know what I'm sayin'.