Navigator....and what happened to the grand old days of cruising?

[Loracpin2]

what happened to the grand old days of cruising?

[Ocean Boy]

8 hours ago, Snowbird_in_training said:

I know my opinion won’t be popular among the frequent cruisers, but here goes.  
 

Royal is after the first time cruiser family.  Those families don’t know what all of you used to experience on their ships.   They look at the slides and other entertainment wants they’re in love.  
 

For those of you who are D+ or P, yes service has been reduced.  So has the quality of the food. Royal is gifting you several free drinks per day. I know many claim to have “earned” those drinks.   That’s your choice to believe that.  Most loyalty programs have changed drastically as of late.   Is Royal concerned about losing your business?  Not really.  Ships are sailing at mostly full capacity.  If you decide to take your discounted business, with many freebies elsewhere, they’ll  just replace you with a family paying full price and purchasing drink packages.  

i always wonder how many of the posters here who claim they’re never cruising again because of some freebie cutback have actually stopped cruising.  
 

I think it’s better to enjoy whatever type of vacation you’ve chosen.  

Your rational only holds true if newbies are being turned away because upper tiers are on the ships. My bet is it takes a combination of newbies and repeaters to fill the ships week after week. And a lot of new berths are soon coming on line that need to be filled.

 

And when the next pandemic or recession comes along and no one wants to go near a germ infested cruise ship we know who the cruise lines will be going after to fill berths. Yeah, we upper tiers have long memories to fall back on.

 

If RCI truly didn't care about repeaters they would have scrapped the C&A program yesterday. And if they take away the upper tier bennies then there is no carrot to keep those newbies from trying different cruise lines to see if they like those "other" ships better.

[Merion_Mom]

4 hours ago, Snowbird_in_training said:

(I can’t figure out how to quote anything, I’m not a frequent poster)

 

I can understand Royal needing the loyal cruisers in slow season, when it seems most of the higher loyalty class cruises.  I still think they’re making the most money from the newer cruise families. 
 

When it comes to the higher loyalty class jumping ship for another cruise line, I’m sure some have.  Royal’s product is not for everyone.  But for those claiming they’re leaving because of a recent change, they’ve gone through tons of changes already.   Midnight buffets, MDR experience that really could compare to fine dining.   For something now to trigger them to leave might suggest they’ve just tired of cruising.  It happens.  

 

Do you see the word "Quote" at the bottom of the post you want to quote?  Click on it.

[Tlbecker1]

2 hours ago, Morecruisesplz said:

Waited for you or were late leaving due to other circumstances? There is a difference. 

We didn’t leave late.  We were late because we waited for someone for about an hour(that never showed up) and then got stuck in traffic.

[Morecruisesplz]

17 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We didn’t leave late.  We were late because we waited for someone for about an hour(that never showed up) and then got stuck in traffic.

If the ship left the port later than scheduled, it left late. (In most ports the cruise line pays a penalty for that.) My point in asking is that something else was probably happening that caused the ship to wait 2.5 hours. Usually that would not happen, IMHO.

[Tlbecker1]

1 minute ago, Morecruisesplz said:

If the ship left the port later than scheduled, it left late. (In most ports the cruise line pays a penalty for that.) My point in asking is that something else was probably happening that caused the ship to wait 2.5 hours. Usually that would not happen, IMHO.

We also had it happen in Panama City, same scenario. The ship waited for our shore excursion and we were once again the very last people onboard.

[Snowbird_in_training]

Merion_Mom

 

Yes I see the quote button.    When I try that it doesn’t allow me to type anything. 
 

I do truly thank you for pointing that out and I truly appreciate whoever thought it was hilarious.  
 

This almost reminds me of my second suite sailing with my son and daughter in law.   It was their second cruise on Royal. They were yelled at (with truly raised voices) by a  name tag wearing seasoned cruiser for daring to walk towards CK because the SL was full of Pinnacles and their carryons.   Oh, how they felt welcomed by the seasoned cruisers.  
 

Have a wonderful cruise.  

[Biker19]

7 hours ago, Snowbird_in_training said:

Yes I see the quote button.    When I try that it doesn’t allow me to type anything. 

The other option is to use the @ call out - as you start typing after you insert it (no space after it), the poster names should start filling in and filtering the more letters of the posters' name you type. You then pick the name of the poster and it will highlight like this @Snowbird_in_training

[BlackForest]

Sorry, I am late to respond to my afternoon tea comment. My memory is poor but it may have been Celebrity? We are diamond plus on RC but have sailed many times on Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian, Princess and Carnival. It may have been Celebrity that offered the high/afternoon tea. Sigh, it was lovely.

 

Side Note: we used to be biased against Carnival for the longest time...we had a negative attitude that Carnival was a cheap version of the other cruise lines with rowdier passengers. But over the past 5 years or so we have sailed on Carnival (when the price can't be beat) and the food was excellent. We are still loyal to RC and Celebrity but we will sail on other lines.

Edited December 9, 2023 by BlackForest

[bonsai3s]

1 hour ago, BlackForest said:

Sorry, I am late to respond to my afternoon tea comment. My memory is poor but it may have been Celebrity? We are diamond plus on RC but have sailed many times on Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian, Princess and Carnival. It may have been Celebrity that offered the high/afternoon tea. Sigh, it was lovely.

 

Side Note: we used to be biased against Carnival for the longest time...we had a negative attitude that Carnival was a cheap version of the other cruise lines with rowdier passengers. But over the past 5 years or so we have sailed on Carnival (when the price can't be beat) and the food was excellent. We are still loyal to RC and Celebrity but we will sail on other lines.

 

@BlackForest...I'm just trying to remember where else afternoon/high tea and scones were served. Guessing it may have also been on Princess. Yes, it was lovely. 

 

* If I remember correctly, Princess also served fresh baked cookies every afternoon...hot off the oven. Sorry, I know this is the RCCL forum.

[happy cruzer]

In the good old days, there was smoking allowed in the cabins and balconies.   The formal dress code was enforced as well as the informal dress code.  The cabins were smaller.  The pools and decks were simpler.  There was the buffet and the dining room with assigned seating and they had limited hours.  No drink packages.  The entertainment was the big shows twice per night, some strings or big band music, and the disco at night.

 

Don't think a cruise line can exist that has not changed in some way from the very traditional model.

[RoperDK]

4 hours ago, BlackForest said:

Sorry, I am late to respond to my afternoon tea comment. My memory is poor but it may have been Celebrity? We are diamond plus on RC but have sailed many times on Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian, Princess and Carnival. It may have been Celebrity that offered the high/afternoon tea. Sigh, it was lovely.

 

Side Note: we used to be biased against Carnival for the longest time...we had a negative attitude that Carnival was a cheap version of the other cruise lines with rowdier passengers. But over the past 5 years or so we have sailed on Carnival (when the price can't be beat) and the food was excellent. We are still loyal to RC and Celebrity but we will sail on other lines.

Carnival used to have high tea with all the trimmings!  I believe it was only on sea days.  Waiters wore white gloves and there was live music.  Over time the tea and food selections decreased along with the formal atmosphere. It was still a nice event.  They did away with high tea at some point.  Don't remember when.   

[Cruising89143]

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

In the good old days, there was smoking allowed in the cabins and balconies.   The formal dress code was enforced as well as the informal dress code.  The cabins were smaller.  The pools and decks were simpler.  There was the buffet and the dining room with assigned seating and they had limited hours.  No drink packages.  The entertainment was the big shows twice per night, some strings or big band music, and the disco at night.

 

Don't think a cruise line can exist that has not changed in some way from the very traditional model.

Sounds just like my first cruise back in 1986 except there was no buffet. All meals were taken in the MDR. All three meals had set times and if you were more than fifteen minutes late, too bad. The doors were shut. No such thing as room service. We did have a midnight buffet but we were not ones who wanted to dine again at midnight. The majority of our entertainment was a few dancers and the cruise director singing. Glad to see that cruising has changed/progressed. 🙂

[Snowbird_in_training]

@Biker19 thank you so much for that!    I’m so accustomed to being in read only, I don’t know the ins and outs of posting.   Thanks again.  

[lazydayz]

5 hours ago, RoperDK said:

Carnival used to have high tea with all the trimmings!  I believe it was only on sea days.  Waiters wore white gloves and there was live music.  Over time the tea and food selections decreased along with the formal atmosphere. It was still a nice event.  They did away with high tea at some point.  Don't remember when.   

It’s back on Carnival.  

[happy cruzer]

5 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

Sounds just like my first cruise back in 1986 except there was no buffet. All meals were taken in the MDR. All three meals had set times and if you were more than fifteen minutes late, too bad. The doors were shut. No such thing as room service. We did have a midnight buffet but we were not ones who wanted to dine again at midnight. The majority of our entertainment was a few dancers and the cruise director singing. Glad to see that cruising has changed/progressed. 🙂

Yes, and for many years when they added the buffet it did not have many choices and had very limited hours.

[Ocean Boy]

On 12/8/2023 at 10:54 PM, Snowbird_in_training said:

Merion_Mom

 

Yes I see the quote button.    When I try that it doesn’t allow me to type anything. 
 

I do truly thank you for pointing that out and I truly appreciate whoever thought it was hilarious.  

It was not you that the laughter was directed at. Sorry if it came across that way.