Oasis April 7 - So. Many. People.

[Cdavis5110]

I am on a 3 night Perfect Day Coco Cay out of Miami April 7 to 10 and I am completely overwhelmed by the number of people. I asked two staff members and one said there were 5600 guests, the other said 5200 guests. Both said they are short almost 300 staff members. There are long lines for the main dining room whether you have reservations or not. Actually the line for those with reservations is snaking out of the main dining room and around the elevators. There is just simply not enough staff to service everyone.  Dinner last night took over two hours and everyone was just sitting around waiting for their meals. 
 

Aside from long delays for main dining we had a considerable wait at Playmakers for lunch as well. And the windjammer this morning was chaotic. 
 

I feel really bad for the crew because they are doing the best they can. It’s just unfortunate that they would pack out this ship knowing good and well they are understaffed. 
 

feel free to ask me any questions about Oasis currently 

[Scoobydobe7]

Shame on Royal ..Knowing that every ship is short staffed, they have got to limit the passangers... Not the employees fault if they cannot keep up with the number of passengers...Better to cruise with smaller passenger counts than to have a majority of passengers leave with bad reviews..just my opinion

[D4]

Its’s unfortunate that they packed the ship that full without being adequately staffed.  That’s not fair to the passengers or the crew.
 

We were B2B on the last two 7 night Oasis sailings (March 20 - April 3) before it switched to 3 and 4 night cruises. 

The week of March 20 had 4,400 people.  I didn’t hear the count on the March 27 sailing but it didn’t seem more crowded than the previous week.

[bonsai3s]

2 hours ago, Cdavis5110 said:

I am on a 3 night Perfect Day Coco Cay out of Miami April 7 to 10 and I am completely overwhelmed by the number of people. I asked two staff members and one said there were 5600 guests, the other said 5200 guests. Both said they are short almost 300 staff members. There are long lines for the main dining room whether you have reservations or not. Actually the line for those with reservations is snaking out of the main dining room and around the elevators. There is just simply not enough staff to service everyone.  Dinner last night took over two hours and everyone was just sitting around waiting for their meals. 
 

Aside from long delays for main dining we had a considerable wait at Playmakers for lunch as well. And the windjammer this morning was chaotic. 
 

I feel really bad for the crew because they are doing the best they can. It’s just unfortunate that they would pack out this ship knowing good and well they are understaffed. 
 

feel free to ask me any questions about Oasis currently 

Not good for you or the crew.

At the end of your cruise, you will receive a survey. It may be a good time to express your concerns.

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, Cdavis5110 said:

feel free to ask me any questions about Oasis currently 

 

Is Laser Tag open/running?

[Cdavis5110]

36 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Is Laser Tag open/running?

No laser tag listed anywhere in the cruise compass activities or the app but I’ll confirm tomorrow 

[Cdavis5110]

1 hour ago, bonsai3s said:

Not good for you or the crew.

At the end of your cruise, you will receive a survey. It may be a good time to express your concerns.

yes I will. Although I am enjoying myself and the ship is amazing, this does take away from the experience 

[PhillyFan33579]

5 hours ago, Cdavis5110 said:

I am on a 3 night Perfect Day Coco Cay out of Miami April 7 to 10 and I am completely overwhelmed by the number of people. I asked two staff members and one said there were 5600 guests, the other said 5200 guests. Both said they are short almost 300 staff members. There are long lines for the main dining room whether you have reservations or not. Actually the line for those with reservations is snaking out of the main dining room and around the elevators. There is just simply not enough staff to service everyone.  Dinner last night took over two hours and everyone was just sitting around waiting for their meals. 
 

Aside from long delays for main dining we had a considerable wait at Playmakers for lunch as well. And the windjammer this morning was chaotic. 
 

I feel really bad for the crew because they are doing the best they can. It’s just unfortunate that they would pack out this ship knowing good and well they are understaffed. 
 

feel free to ask me any questions about Oasis currently 

From talking to crew members on several recent cruises, from what I have read online, and from what I have heard watching YouTube videos, it is pretty well known ships are short staffed right now. If this is a concern, it might be a good idea not to cruise right now since this will likely be an issue for the forseeable future. 

[tallnthensome]

Considering the cheaper price of a short 3 day cruise during spring break I am not surprised by the passenger count. Short booze cruises attract all the partiers that can afford a 3 day cruise. I would never book this cruise in a million years knowing it would be exactly as you described.  

[Scoobydobe7]

4 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

From talking to crew members on several recent cruises, from what I have read online, and from what I have heard watching YouTube videos, it is pretty well known ships are short staffed right now. If this is a concern, it might be a good idea not to cruise right now since this will likely be an issue for the forseeable future. 

And if it is a "corcern" then Royal should be addressing the problem...and come up with a viable solution that benefits  their "paying" passengers...js

[Cdavis5110]

2 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

Considering the cheaper price of a short 3 day cruise during spring break I am not surprised by the passenger count. Short booze cruises attract all the partiers that can afford a 3 day cruise. I would never book this cruise in a million years knowing it would be exactly as you described.  

Honestly there are a lot of families with small kids and not many college kids. I think college spring break is over. The type of people on this ship don’t give me a booze cruise vibe. I was just simply giving a perspective of the impact of the staffing shortages given that we are back at full capacity. 

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

If this is a concern, it might be a good idea not to cruise right now since this will likely be an issue for the forseeable future. 

Apparently, most didn't get the memo:

 

Royal Caribbean International set two new records with the largest single booking day and the highest volume booking week, March 26 - April 1, in its 53-year history.

 

 

The strong demand and new bookings come on the heels of more than 1.5m passengers having sailed with the line since January 2021, alongside consistently record-high guest satisfaction ratings.

 

Enthusiasm for cruising's return

'The enthusiasm and excitement for the successful return of cruising is undeniable. We could not have reached this incredible milestone without the unwavering support of our loyal guests, our valued travel advisors and partners and the Royal Caribbean International team around the world,' President and CEO Michael Bayley said.

 

The news came amid three Royal Caribbean milestones: Wonder of the Seas' inaugural season, the keel-laying for next-generation ship Icon of the Seas and the start of construction for Utopia of the Seas, the sixth Oasis-class ship and the first powered by LNG (Icon of the Seas is also LNG-powered).

 

The bookings were received through royalcaribbean.com, call centers and travel advisors with the support of the sales team. The line continued to encourage redemptions of future cruise credits through automation tools introduced in 2021 on its consumer site and its trade site, CruisingPower.com.

 

Royal Caribbean reports record booking day and week (seatrade-cruise.com)

[twangster]

Pre-shutdown there were lines at the MDR, and at elevators when shows let out, and in the WJ, and...

 

How quickly we forget.

 

 

[flamingos]

I'm still stuck on "Oasis" and "3-day booze cruise" in the same sentence.  🙂

[Bound4Bermuda]

29 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Apparently, most didn't get the memo:

 

Royal Caribbean International set two new records with the largest single booking day and the highest volume booking week, March 26 - April 1, in its 53-year history.

 

 

The strong demand and new bookings come on the heels of more than 1.5m passengers having sailed with the line since January 2021, alongside consistently record-high guest satisfaction ratings.

 

Enthusiasm for cruising's return

'The enthusiasm and excitement for the successful return of cruising is undeniable. We could not have reached this incredible milestone without the unwavering support of our loyal guests, our valued travel advisors and partners and the Royal Caribbean International team around the world,' President and CEO Michael Bayley said.

 

The news came amid three Royal Caribbean milestones: Wonder of the Seas' inaugural season, the keel-laying for next-generation ship Icon of the Seas and the start of construction for Utopia of the Seas, the sixth Oasis-class ship and the first powered by LNG (Icon of the Seas is also LNG-powered).

 

The bookings were received through royalcaribbean.com, call centers and travel advisors with the support of the sales team. The line continued to encourage redemptions of future cruise credits through automation tools introduced in 2021 on its consumer site and its trade site, CruisingPower.com.

 

Royal Caribbean reports record booking day and week (seatrade-cruise.com)

 

Whelp, sorry. I think I helped to break this record. I booked 3/22…on Oasis! I haven’t cruised since 2016. Around Jan 2020 we were planning on booking something for that summer–but we all know what happened then. People have been cooped up for 2 years and are desperate to go anywhere.   Last summer we did do a road trip to Boston/Salem but masks were still required—and we are lucky enough to have a beach house. I think a lot of people are still afraid to fly to another country because you don’t know what could happen to change a country’s quarantine rules—and you don’t want to get stuck there. Yes, a cruise ship is a floating Petri dish, and we’ve all heard the early horror stories from early in the pandemic. But if you’re not necessarily afraid of contracting it on board, it seems like a relatively safer way to travel because at least they’re not going to strand you somewhere. I can imagine the travel industry is going to blow up this summer with everyone wanting to get out. The cruise industry completely shut down for how long? Meaning, all of these people were put out of work. You can’t expect that 100% (or even 50%? I’m curious if there are any articles)  were waiting to come back. So, they are not yet fully staffed, and probably a large percentage of the staff that’s there have never done this work before. And of course the service industry in general is still very much depressed, so there’s going to be a huge gap in the level of service one would have expected prepandemic. I think we all just need to lower our expectations to mitigate disappointment. I’m sure we’ll all still have a great time, but passenger to crew ratio may be higher, you’re going to have to wait longer for service, and they might not have all of the food/drinks/supplies you want. But I’ll be out of my living room, so I won’t complain!

Edited April 9, 2022 by Bound4Bermuda

[At Sea At Peace]

30 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Apparently, most didn't get the memo:

 

Royal Caribbean International set two new records with the largest single booking day and the highest volume booking week, March 26 - April 1, in its 53-year history.

 

 

The strong demand and new bookings come on the heels of more than 1.5m passengers having sailed with the line since January 2021, alongside consistently record-high guest satisfaction ratings.

 

Enthusiasm for cruising's return

'The enthusiasm and excitement for the successful return of cruising is undeniable. We could not have reached this incredible milestone without the unwavering support of our loyal guests, our valued travel advisors and partners and the Royal Caribbean International team around the world,' President and CEO Michael Bayley said.

 

The news came amid three Royal Caribbean milestones: Wonder of the Seas' inaugural season, the keel-laying for next-generation ship Icon of the Seas and the start of construction for Utopia of the Seas, the sixth Oasis-class ship and the first powered by LNG (Icon of the Seas is also LNG-powered).

 

The bookings were received through royalcaribbean.com, call centers and travel advisors with the support of the sales team. The line continued to encourage redemptions of future cruise credits through automation tools introduced in 2021 on its consumer site and its trade site, CruisingPower.com.

 

Royal Caribbean reports record booking day and week (seatrade-cruise.com)

 

As with the Carnivals Press Release, a lot of chosen context available could also be left out in Royals Press Release.  Not going to analyze but do wonder if March 31, 2022 was some kind of due date for something (FCC's bookings or bookings to be covered under the Cruise With Confidence Program*)?

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-with-confidence

 

Select cruises booked on or before March 31, 2022, enjoy the protections of the Cruise with Confidence program, including the option to cancel your cruise close in or get an adjustment if you spot a better price.

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said:

Not going to analyze but do wonder if March 31, 2022 was some kind of due date for something (FCC's bookings or bookings to be covered under the Cruise With Confidence Program*)?

CWC new booking protection ended then - so yes, that could have been incentive to book.

[icemanoneaatl]

Yup, the human flood gates have opened up with reports of lower Corona cases, increased availability of vaccines and reduced/removed cruise line limits/safety-measures.  
 

The  masses are ready to ‘let their hair down and party’… the new, for now, normal

[Ourusualbeach]

11 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said:

but do wonder if March 31, 2022 was some kind of due date for something (FCC's bookings or bookings to be covered under the Cruise With Confidence Program*)?

FCC's have an apply by and sail by date of Dec 31, 2022.

 

CWC did end on March 31, 2022 but only covers sailings through Sept 30, 2022 so that might have had a small impact.

[Submariner]

I bought a ton of Royal Caribbean stock at the peak of the pandemic when it was battered. I knew this time would come. i intend to cash in big time!

 

[At Sea At Peace]

14 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

CWC new booking protection ended then - so yes, that could have been incentive to book.

 

5 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

FCC's have an apply by and sail by date of Dec 31, 2022.

 

CWC did end on March 31, 2022 but only covers sailings through Sept 30, 2022 so that might have had a small impact.

 

Yep, I only noticed that there were incentives / due dates for such by the March 31, 2022 date.

 

They did not release the data on what number or % were new (from scratch) bookings or were from FCC's.

 

I believe RCCL's are more legit than wat CCL put out as noted in that lines thread where I commented; it was rife with claims that appeared to not be mathematically scaled for ships and capacities.  Again, although apparently much less transparent, they too didn't lie, they just didn't tell.

 

RCCL's appears to have TIMED the March 31, 2022 CWC program end period smartly for booking and reservations (business) but also for the benefits that such would lend to the Quarter Ended March 31, 2022 SEC reporting (pressured (washed) window dressing.

 

Again, pretty smart.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, At Sea At Peace said:

RCCL's appears to have TIMED the March 31, 2022 CWC program end period smartly for booking and reservations (business) but also for the benefits that such would lend to the Quarter Ended March 31, 2022 SEC reporting (pressured (washed) window dressing.

 

Again, pretty smart.

Personally I don't think the end CWC had much of an impact.  Sure it had some but not a significant impact.  CWC only covered sailings through Sept 30 and the vast majority of bookings are for sailings in 2023 and 2024

[At Sea At Peace]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Personally I don't think the end CWC had much of an impact.  Sure it had some but not a significant impact.  CWC only covered sailings through Sept 30 and the vast majority of bookings are for sailings in 2023 and 2024

 

Just to be fair, there isn't any data presented to know how many of the historic bookings were FCC, will be covered under the September 30th CWC program, or for 2023 and 2024.

 

I've read the RC blog quoted and see no such data.

 

[Biker19]

12 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said:

 

Just to be fair, there isn't any data presented to know how many of the historic bookings were FCC, will be covered under the September 30th CWC program, or for 2023 and 2024.

 

I've read the RC blog quoted and see no such data.

 

From their SEC filing last month (covering up till 12/31/2021):

 

As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $3.2 billion in customer deposits. Approximately 32% of the customer deposit balance as of December 31, 2021 is related to FCCs compared to 35% of the customer deposit balance as of September 30, 2021, a positive trend indicating new demand.

 

We have provided flexibility to guests with bookings on sailings cancelled due to COVID-19 by allowing guests to receive future cruise credits (“FCC”) or elect to receive refunds in cash. As of December 31, 2021, our customer deposit balance includes approximately $600.0 million of unredeemed FCCs. As of December 31, 2021, the expiration date of the FCCs was extended until April 2022 for sailings departing on or before December 2022. Given the uncertainty of travel demand caused by COVID-19 and lack of comparable historical experience of FCC redemptions, we are unable to estimate the number of FCCs that may expire unused in future periods and get recognized as breakage.

[Ourusualbeach]

31 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said:

 

Just to be fair, there isn't any data presented to know how many of the historic bookings were FCC, will be covered under the September 30th CWC program, or for 2023 and 2024.

 

I've read the RC blog quoted and see no such data.

 

Very few of the FCC's can be redeemed for 2023 and none are or will be eligible for 2024 sailings. 

 

Only bookings with a sail date of Jan 1, 2022 or later that had FCC applied and then cancelled under CWC or those that had bookings after Jan 1, 2022 and cancelled under CWC will have FCC's that can be used in 2023