The good, bad and a comparison, Oasis April 16th, 2023

[Ocean Boy]

5 minutes ago, PWP-001 said:

 

 

So Pinnacles (aka Barnacles) do your part, mail in your gold name plates so they can melt then down and strike a good deal with Cash for Gold. 

If those name plates are what RCI is counting on then I hope they are not made out of the same material as that inch of gold stuff they sell on the ships.😉

[PWP-001]

11 hours ago, BennyandBo said:

Not me. There debt shouldn't become my problem with cut backs. Go out of business. Someone else will buy the flet and Start over debt free.

Who?  All the major players are in similar situations.  

 

Don't get me wrong:  I'm with you on debt responsibility.  Yet I am sympathetic to the situation.  RCI and the other major players don't find themselves in this situation because of mismanagement.  The COVID shutdown of the industry created this problem.  

 

I think it's responsible of any line to focus on enhancing profitability, but I think it's foolish to become incentive to guest perception of value.

[Engineroom Snipe]

5 minutes ago, PWP-001 said:

Bankruptcy isn't out of the question.  

 

Quarterly results were published yesterday for the period ending March 31, 2023.  While compared to last year revenues appear to have almost tripled and the operation turned a profit, it wasn't enough to service debt.  Furthermore, a comparison to last year's first quarter is non-equivalent given the fleet's reduced capacity, not returning to full operations until mid-year 2022.

 

I haven't yet read the commentary and notes to the financials:  maybe there's a glimmer of light.

 

But from what I had recently reviewed in their annual report from February 2023, I think I understand that they haven't secured 100% of the financing needed for  delivery of Icon.  

 

So Pinnacles (aka Barnacles) do your part, mail in your gold name plates so they can melt then down and strike a good deal with Cash for Gold. 

I read the same report and others.

 

RCI can make it if all of the stars align. I think they are being too optimistic to project the extreme amount of vacation dollars being spent on "revenge vacations" during this time period after the pandemic as a "new normal."

 

Time will tell.

[BennyandBo]

37 minutes ago, PWP-001 said:

Who?  All the major players are in similar situations.  

 

There's always people and companies out there with money looking to make more. Wasn't referring to any of the "players" already in the industry.

 

But again, I just have no patience for people who bring up this companies debt as an excuse for cut backs / bad service etc. I've gone belly up and nobody made excuses for me. There debt or any other problems are not mine. They did not ask me about my other financial responsibilities when they took my money. I simply don't want to know about there's. It's not my problem. 

[live2beontheseas]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:41 AM, Donsyb said:

OP couldn’t comment in the new menu on oasis - they said they didn’t eat in the MDR.

 

OP - did you try to switch to early dining once onboard?

We did  not try to switch.  In the past we were happy with WJ.  We probably should have looked to see.  WJ just needed some variety.

[live2beontheseas]

On 5/1/2023 at 1:59 PM, PACrew said:

I agree with the OP on the room situation. These stateroom attendants appear to be working harder than before. Ours on our Harmony cruise (4/1-4/8) was nice but the guy never stopped and looked stressed to get it all done. I also think that if there is 4 in a room, they should make it a standard practice to open/close bed. 

 

 

I think the new amount cabins is hard on them.  When  your attendant meets you the first time and says there are so many kids on board and then says hi to your own, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

24 minutes ago, live2beontheseas said:

I think the new amount cabins is hard on them.  When  your attendant meets you the first time and says there are so many kids on board and then says hi to your own, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

This is the difficult part to evaluate. My last cruise and the one before it (September 2022, before any announcement of reductions in cabin service or food choices) was "off"

 

My wife and I were close to confirming another spring cruise next year and told our TA we needed to do the cruise in September of this year to make a decision. He accurately reminded me that the price would most likely only go up. The price had already gone up a considerable amount from this year's cruise. He is a good agent. 

 

Somehow I sensed a bit of fear during that conversation. I hesitated to quickly book the next cruise, as if they have been selling like hotcakes but suddenly have met some price resistance.

 

I think the spring 2024 cruises have met a tipping point.

 

Previously sold out balcony cruises for November of this year are becoming available. The prices are lower than the last posted prices according to my records. Some cruises are cancelling their reservations far ahead of time and taking a full refund.

 

Just my observations.

[Loracpin2]

2 hours ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

This is the difficult part to evaluate. My last cruise and the one before it (September 2022, before any announcement of reductions in cabin service or food choices) was "off"

 

My wife and I were close to confirming another spring cruise next year and told our TA we needed to do the cruise in September of this year to make a decision. He accurately reminded me that the price would most likely only go up. The price had already gone up a considerable amount from this year's cruise. He is a good agent. 

 

Somehow I sensed a bit of fear during that conversation. I hesitated to quickly book the next cruise, as if they have been selling like hotcakes but suddenly have met some price resistance.

 

I think the spring 2024 cruises have met a tipping point.

 

Previously sold out balcony cruises for November of this year are becoming available. The prices are lower than the last posted prices according to my records. Some cruises are cancelling their reservations far ahead of time and taking a full refund.

 

Just my observations.

I think your observations are spot on. We will be taking our last RCL (on the Oasis) cruise this August. Only reason this one was booked was to sail with family members. At our age we don't chose a ship for all it's "bells & whistles". We take a cruise for the luxury experiences we had when we first starting cruising and these experiences were not on luxury cruise lines...they were on both Celebrity and  RCI ships.      

 

   

Edited May 7, 2023 by Loracpin2
addition

[NateUpNorth]

On 5/5/2023 at 7:45 AM, PWP-001 said:

Bankruptcy isn't out of the question.  

 

Quarterly results were published yesterday for the period ending March 31, 2023.  While compared to last year revenues appear to have almost tripled and the operation turned a profit, it wasn't enough to service debt.  Furthermore, a comparison to last year's first quarter is non-equivalent given the fleet's reduced capacity, not returning to full operations until mid-year 2022.

 

I haven't yet read the commentary and notes to the financials:  maybe there's a glimmer of light.

 

But from what I had recently reviewed in their annual report from February 2023, I think I understand that they haven't secured 100% of the financing needed for  delivery of Icon.  

 

So Pinnacles (aka Barnacles) do your part, mail in your gold name plates so they can melt then down and strike a good deal with Cash for Gold. 

Previously we would book a cruise as soon as the itineraries were released, months and months in advance.
Based on what I've seen going on......... no way am I taking an 18 month risk on a deposit.

So yes, current sailings are full and and at big number sticker prices... but it's the ones just over the horizon that could be at risk.

Will they get Icon over the finish line? They have to. Failure to deliver that prize would spark a run on the bank if you know what I mean.

[sabrefan15]

On 4/30/2023 at 11:55 AM, live2beontheseas said:

I usually do not write reviews or post much as you can see, but rather use Cruise Critic to answer my questions about the current situation of cruising.  I feel compelled now though to write a review/comparison of our recent Oasis cruise on April 16^th; comparing with our Symphony cruise a little more than 6 months ago.   

 

A little background on my family.  This was my two daughter’s (8 and 7) second cruise (first being the Symphony) and my wife and I’s ninth I think.  We have cruised solely on Royal as I have never been able to find a comparable cruise/prices on other lines like Carnival or NCL.

 

Condition of Ship:

While I do understand that the Oasis is much older than the Symphony, it just was not up to par as the Symphony.   I know that it was refurbished in 2019, very close to when the Symphony came out, but it just does not have the sparkle.  There a noticeable rust on some of the metal parts of the ship (balconies, upper decks, etc) that I did not notice on the Symphony.  Room condition was actually quite poor for the standards that Royal usually sets.  Stains on the carpet, hard surfaces with scratched/dents.  Vanity chair looked like it was glued together several times and the bathroom needed a full overhaul (finishes coming off the metal fixtures, toilet with scratches and rust on the bottom of the entry and shower door.  Don’t get me wrong the cleanliness of the room and the whole ship was great, but there is a lot that needs to be torn out and replaced.  Now I do understand that the weather plays a role in a condition of a lot of the outdoor areas, but this stuff we just did not see on the Symphony.  And the room layout is far superior I feel on the Symphony.  There is also a severe vibration on the rear of the ship especially on the top decks.  Noticed when they were moving at full speed.  Was shaking quite a bit at El Loco Fresh.  Not too bad in our cabin in the back half on deck 11.

 

Entertainment:

I feel that I can compare the entertainment since both ships are Oasis class.  The aqua show was cancelled for our sailing which was a bummer and they tried to fill the void with a “variety” show of musician, ventriloquist and the high-wire part from the aqua show.  It was ok, but somewhat cheesy and a lot of people left the show.  I can still not understand how there are two production and two ice shows on the Symphony and not on the Oasis.  The shows on the Symphony were probably some of if not the best shows we have ever seen.  My kids enjoyed the content of them.  On Oasis you only have Cats, which was so weird and we could not understand what it was about.  The scenery never changed and there was little dialog to try to help you get the plot.  We have never seen Cats in any form and I hope too never again.  Not sure why there was not another production show like Flight on the Symphony.  Ronn Lucas was good and the girls enjoyed him.  We did not go to the Aeromyth as I did not think my girls would enjoy that type of music.  Ice show was comparable to Symphony, but I think that Symphony has more technical aspects.  I also wish that there would have been some type of family comedy show.  I think several years ago they did have on one evening in the main theater; this was before we had kids.  We just found ourselves somewhat bored on Oasis versus Symphony.  I think if they added another production show or kid friendly shows on the Oasis it would help to match the Symphony.

 

Food:

As I know this topic is always subjective I will preface by saying the my family and I and nowhere near foodies.  Our dining out consists of places like Red Robin, Chili’s, occasionally the Cheesecake Factory and our local “Chinese” buffet.  We are not fine dining in the least.  The food on Oasis was the worst that I have ever encountered on any of our cruises and was much worse than 6 months ago on the Symphony.  I could not believe how much has changed in this time.  I will say pizza at Sorrento’s was fine and similar to Symphony as was the Park Café, but I did notice that they were not toasting sandwiches to order like on the Symphony, but they were under a lamp and crew just grabbed them.  We went to Playmakers for the first time and the food was “meh”.  The onion rings were good, garlic fries were a little soggy and not like the steak fries from Red Robin and the wings were ok.  I will add that we live in the Buffalo, NY region and are spoiled as to true chicken wings.  The ones at Playmakers were a little small and over cooked, but the sauce was tasty.  I do appreciate that they included blue cheese, but people, please stop with all the ranch for wings.  All the tables around us asked for extra ranch.  People, blue cheese is for chicken wings and ranch is for salad.  We had lunch at Giovanni’s Table and it was not like we had had on cruises before.  I felt the flavors were a little bland.  Chicken picatta lemon sauce had no lemon flavor and the garlic “prawns” were not that strong.  And they were not prawns they were shrimp.  I remember several years ago they were actual prawns that you had to remove from the shell.  It left us with a “meh” feeling.  Glad I did not pay full price as I do not feel it is worth the money.  We did not go to the main dining room as I had selected my time and I did not understand that it doesn’t start until 6:45, much to late for my kids.  I should have taken early dining as the menus looked nice and had enough choices for my family.  This was our first time eating at El Loco Fresh and it is great.  I would steer clear of the burritos as they were too many beans for my liking but all the meats were flavorful and the nachos with all the toppings you wanted was a treat.  Kind of upset we passed this up on Symphony.  They are always very busy but the line does move reasonable fast.  Be careful though as it can get windy and you may lose your chips.  That leaves us with the Windjammer, which was pretty bad in comparison to the Symphony.  There are several stations that are missing on the Oasis, like the nightly ice cream and show cooking stations.  Breakfast was decent, but the number of selections has definitely dwindled in the last 6 months.  And I do not know why they cannot cut up the fruit.  Some days it was nicely cubed and others it was just sliced rind and all.  Not really the way I want to eat my pineapple.  I would stick with the fired eggs or the omelets as the scrambled some days were more like “soup”, very runny and no flavor.  I missed the packaged yogurts as my girls enjoy them; but all that I saw was the parfaits with a fruit jelly.  They was not even fresh fruit in them that I saw.  Dinner was abysmal when compared to the Symphony.  There was little variety.  1 station with breads and salad bar.  Another with Caesar salad and other pre-portioned salads that looked like the same every night.  Then you had the American station that most flocked to that had the same every night with a few rotational items.  The last station said Asian, but there was usually always Indian food and only what I would classify as Asian a couple nights.  Then you only had burgers, dogs and chicken fingers.  It seemed like they had larger bowls of food so they didn’t need to have as much variety.   The quality and flavor were just not there and I rated it quite low on my cruise survey.  One good thing was that we usually had very little trouble finding a table as compared to the Symphony and the staff cleaned off tables much faster than on Symphony.

 

Service/Crew:

It was very evident that there are staff cuts/hiring on the Oasis especially with the cabin service.  We knew that we would be down to one service so that was not a surprise.  The surprise was that I had to pick a time to have the service and we needed to make sure we were out of the room.  When the steward introduced himself to us, he had a clipboard that he was filling in times for everyone’s service.  We told him that we wanted evening so that he could get the bed ready for the girls and he was like “oh good” as I have no room for service in the morning.  He seemed so spent and overworked.  He did was he needed to and nothing more.  Not very pleasant and professional; always calling me “man” when passing in the hallway.  He knew our names.  He instructed me on how to close up the bed because he said that he would not come in the morning to close it up.  Staff in Playmakers were slow and uninterested.  We had to wait a while before we got menus and then almost immediately were asked what we wanted.   Other staff around the ship were cordial but not nearly as friendly as the Symphony.  They all seemed like they were super busy and over-worked.  Windjammer staff was nice and quick too clean tables and sports staff were pleasant and patient when my girls did those activities.

 

Fellow Passengers:

We saw some of the worst behaviors I have ever witnessed by a select few passengers.  I will say that this was a relatively small groups and most we encountered we pleasant and friendly.  I think that maybe they need to have a video on cruise etiquette that you watch before you leave like the muster station one.  Some of the stuff I would not expect from people on land either.  Windjammer etiquette was just silly at times.  Picking up food with hands, cutting in line for one thing they want; well, hey I am waiting in line too for one thing like a responsible person.  We ever say a lady put a baby on the condiment table while she got her ketchup or whatever.  And the water bottle filling is ridiculous.  Big signs say not to do it and yet there are always people doing it, are they that ignorant.  Use a cup to fill your bottle like I do.  People not pulling in chairs so others could get by and some even taking things off table that someone else had put there to hold table so they could use it.  Surprisingly elevator etiquette was quite well, no unsupervised kids that we encountered.  Shows were a different story.  People coming in late, waving their hands in the dark so that they could show someone where they are (makes not sense to me), and standing up during the show.  Loud talking during performances or being on their phone.  Why are you there if you are going to be on your phone the whole time.  Unsupervised kids my kids’ age that have no patience or consideration on the mini golf and when asked to wait they look at you with a blank stare.  I know there can be a language barrier, but when this is just basic stuff that no matter what nationality you are is universal.  Again these behaviors were limited and have happened on every cruise we have taken, but they seemed more extreme this time.  It is funny when my kids ask why adults were doing these things as we have raised them to be courteous and polite in public.

 

I really hope that things turn around the other way for Royal.  We really love their ships and amenities but I just don’t think the value for the money is there right now.  Their prices are really getting out of hand even with all their “promotions” and loyalty discounts.  My kids want to go on Icon, so hopefully in a few years things will be back to the good old days (not likely) and we will have a great time like we used to.

Please feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Just got back from a b2b on Oasis, April 23rd 7 day and April 30 4 day. Too bad Aqua show was cancelled for you as this is probably the best show IMHO on Royal. Pablo in Globe and Atlas was also very good. Unfortunately we had no tribute band at Music Hall, as a matter of fact Music Hall was closed due to private function every night on our 4 day. Laser tag was a blast. As for the food I agree with your review of Park Cafe. We had good service at Playmakers and also being from the Buffalo, NY area we felt the wings were pretty good, small but what should we expect for $25 for 50 wings. El Loco Fresh was good as long as it wasn't the premade burrito's. No specialty dining for me but I felt like Main Dining was fine. Portside BBQ was excellent. We had a room change after 1st cruise and had total different experience in cabin stewards. 1st cruise he asked if we wanted morning or evening service and we chose morning. As it was hot and humid we were taking 2 showers per day, he would ask if we wanted clean towels in evening as well. We said yes please but only received them once. On 2nd cruise we weren't given the option of when we wanted service but he did a good job. Had no problem with other passengers.   

,  

Edited May 9, 2023 by sabrefan15

[live2beontheseas]

5 minutes ago, sabrefan15 said:

Just got back from a b2b on Oasis, April 23rd 7 day and April 30 4 day. Too bad Aqua show was cancelled for you as this is probably the best show IMHO on Royal. Pablo in Globe and Atlas was also very good. Unfortunately we had no tribute band at Music Hall, as a matter of fact Music Hall was closed due to private function every night on our 4 day. As for the food I agree with your review of Park Cafe. We had good service at Playmakers and also being from the Buffalo, NY area we felt the wings were pretty good, small but what should we expect for $25 for 50 wings. El Loco Fresh was good as long as it wasn't the premade burrito's. No specialty dining for me but I felt like Main Dining was fine. Portside BBQ was excellent. We had a room change after 1st cruise and had total different experience in cabin stewards. 1st cruise he asked if we wanted morning or evening service and we chose morning. As it was hot and humid we were taking 2 showers per day, he would ask if we wanted clean towels in evening as well. We said yes please but only received them once. On 2nd cruise we weren't given the option of when we wanted service but he did a good job. Had no problem with other passengers.   

,  

Did you get to see the show on you cruise?  We have seen on many other sailings and we like it for a change of pace from the usual production shows.  Never saw many people at Portside or Johnny's but glad you enjoyed.  Seems like there is a lot if difference between cabin attendants.   Some may be adjusting better than others to the changes. I think sometimes too that the mix of guests can have a bearing on the crew attitude.

[sabrefan15]

1 minute ago, live2beontheseas said:

Did you get to see the show on you cruise?  We have seen on many other sailings and we like it for a change of pace from the usual production shows.  Never saw many people at Portside or Johnny's but glad you enjoyed.  Seems like there is a lot if difference between cabin attendants.   Some may be adjusting better than others to the changes. I think sometimes too that the mix of guests can have a bearing on the crew attitude.

Yes, I seen Aqua show twice. I didn't go to ice show or Cats. On sea days the line at Portside BBQ was very long. I ate breakfast at Johnny Rockets 3 times and was good, no wait at all. Ate at MDR once and it took 25 minutes for omelets. I read on another post that attendants went from 8 rooms to 14 but on 2nd leg of B2B our attendant said he had 14 rooms to do.

[BK79]

Check out Medling World on YOUTUBE. He is currently on Oasis and says his MDR on first night was great. He has great reviews and seems to be pretty level headed. He has only posted the first night so far so will be eager to see what he says about the next few nights.

[seasidemama]

On 4/30/2023 at 3:22 PM, MysteryKnight said:

 The food and dining is definitely a very importance aspect to the ship I choose so hearing how poor it was on Oasis is definitely a red flag and something I want to avoid. 

 

 

Dining quality has been substantially downgraded across the entire RCCL fleet. Aside from my personal experiences on three separate ships over the last 10 months or so, it's been widely reported in every single group and review... I am sure It's just part of their strategy in cutting costs and securing greater on board spend (specialty dining bookings) along with raising cruise prices to make shareholders happy. They are riding the wave of post covid lockdown bookings.  The fact they are artificially creating hype by holding back inventory - making people book very well in advance thinking rooms will sell out - and then release more rooms slowly, each at higher price points is also a part of this strategy. I really wonder how long they can ride this "wave" before inflation/recession hits their customers' discretionary spend and people realize that the current pricing is about 3X higher with today's dollar value than it was 2019.   Don't get me wrong, I like the company and product but I don't see the value in it I used to and plan accordingly.  Regarding your plans and dining - I wouldn't decide on a ship thinking dining would be better on one ship rather than another. You can plan on itinerary and ship but not on dining unless you do the specialty (and even that has gone down in quality from what I read).

[Engineroom Snipe]

5 hours ago, seasidemama said:

 

Dining quality has been substantially downgraded across the entire RCCL fleet. Aside from my personal experiences on three separate ships over the last 10 months or so, it's been widely reported in every single group and review... I am sure It's just part of their strategy in cutting costs and securing greater on board spend (specialty dining bookings) along with raising cruise prices to make shareholders happy. They are riding the wave of post covid lockdown bookings.  The fact they are artificially creating hype by holding back inventory - making people book very well in advance thinking rooms will sell out - and then release more rooms slowly, each at higher price points is also a part of this strategy. I really wonder how long they can ride this "wave" before inflation/recession hits their customers' discretionary spend and people realize that the current pricing is about 3X higher with today's dollar value than it was 2019.   Don't get me wrong, I like the company and product but I don't see the value in it I used to and plan accordingly.  Regarding your plans and dining - I wouldn't decide on a ship thinking dining would be better on one ship rather than another. You can plan on itinerary and ship but not on dining unless you do the specialty (and even that has gone down in quality from what I read).

You have  exactly described why I am going from three cruises this year to one next year. I have noticed all of your points this year. I am waiting for revenge travel to peak and then reconsider booking more than one cruise next year.

[Reina del Mar]

On 5/2/2023 at 3:00 AM, Liljo22 said:

  The only issue was MDR service was slow but that is a complaint across pretty much all ships on the mass market cruise lines.  

I would disagree..we ate in MDR ( Savoy restaurant) on Sapphire Princess at 7pm most evenings and were in and out in less than an hour. We had a table for two which might have helped.

 

Having read the reviews here, am rather concerned about our RCCL cruise in August.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Reina del Mar

[Jerseygirl1416]

I sailed Oasis last September for the 3rd time and definitely saw a downgrade in the WJ and Solarium Bistro at breakfast and lunch. Didn’t do the MDR and felt the specialty restaurants were mostly good except Giovanni seemed off. Izumi was probably the best IMO. Just got off Liberty and found the food to be very good in WJ and MDR for breakfast and dinner so I don’t think the food downgrades are fleet wide.

[Ocean Boy]

8 hours ago, seasidemama said:

 

Dining quality has been substantially downgraded across the entire RCCL fleet. Aside from my personal experiences on three separate ships over the last 10 months or so, it's been widely reported in every single group and review... I am sure It's just part of their strategy in cutting costs and securing greater on board spend (specialty dining bookings) along with raising cruise prices to make shareholders happy. They are riding the wave of post covid lockdown bookings.  The fact they are artificially creating hype by holding back inventory - making people book very well in advance thinking rooms will sell out - and then release more rooms slowly, each at higher price points is also a part of this strategy. I really wonder how long they can ride this "wave" before inflation/recession hits their customers' discretionary spend and people realize that the current pricing is about 3X higher with today's dollar value than it was 2019.   Don't get me wrong, I like the company and product but I don't see the value in it I used to and plan accordingly.  Regarding your plans and dining - I wouldn't decide on a ship thinking dining would be better on one ship rather than another. You can plan on itinerary and ship but not on dining unless you do the specialty (and even that has gone down in quality from what I read).

You raise some very good points. I don't usually book too far out but I was looking at 2005. The sailings I am looking at show very few cabins available and the pricing makes me feel that I would not be getting value for the money spent. So I will continue to watch rather than give RCI my deposit this far out. And if pricing does not improve then I simply won't cruise as I would not enjoy the experience anyway if I feel the cost is excessive.