COMPLAINERS UNITE! What Can Royal Do Better?

[Donut23]

I would like to see them, at least attempt to, return to prior staffing levels. I know every corporation is cutting payroll. "Biggest controllable expense". I wouldn't mind paying a little more to have the ship a little less frantic. Ah heck. I guess I'm an old poop.

 

I realize it is far more affordable to operate the "big girls" - avg. cost p/passenger is less. However, I would love to see a continuation of the Radiance Class. Hubby and I find the Panamax size is perfect for us. How cool would a Radiance Class ship be with all the new innovations in the last 10-15 years. Yes, old poop again!

 

Allow DD to go the way of New Coke.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Donut23

[rubrrick]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

 

Kewl........Tony, what has been suggested, about terminating the beginning of this thread, that you started in 2007, and maybe ending in 2013, as there are issues today that were not a problem in 2007

 

I truly believe that Michael Bailey will have a much better ear to the ground, and help make Royal Caribbean a better product, than when the corporate ship was commanded by Adam Goldstein. Bean counters, even Harvard educated sometimes cannot listen and move with the feel to continue to retain some of the Royal Loyalist, and they should either forget us, and tell us to go elsewhere, instead of continuing to tell us that we are the mainstay of the system, where as in reality, their marketing program is geared toward first time customers, and families.

 

I'm certainly giving Michael a chance to make Royal Caribbean a better product. He did that for Celebrity, and in the short time he was there

gave it a bit of pizazz, and turned it into a money maker.

 

Rick

[GOIN2C]

Bring back the chocolates on my pillow and crown and anchor gifts, better service overall, on the wash and fold laundry deal please do not destroy my clothes and at least have them come back in good enough shape to wear. The shopping needs to improve onboard. Same sales and junk each cruise. Need more nice logo wear from men & women. I still love to cruise RCCL but things are changing and not all in a positive way.

 

 

 

Good points.

 

Please keep this thread going. Freedom is being able to voice our opinions.

RCCL should listen to the masses instead of the cheerleaders

[hellsop]

3.) Add some better drink options, some craft cocktails perhaps. None of that Island Oasis syrup garbage.

 

R-Bar, Champaign Bar, and Vintages all serve excellent cocktails and seem to mostly use real ingredients. Got an amazing daiquiri from Vintages on Indy last week, after reassuring the staff that we wanted a real one, on the rocks, not the frozen foolishness.

[nomadiccrocodilehunter]

Waterslides would be awesome!

[lucymorgan]

I would like to see better lectures on a wider variety of topics and on the ports. The port lectures should include information about their history, culture, literature and interesting facts rather than just what to buy and who are the RCI vendors. These could even be prerecorded by experts on the areas.

 

On a repositioning cruise from Sydney to Hawaii there were craft classes, cooking classes, etc and these were good. Haven't seen much on the port intensive cruises.

 

The onboard shopping is boring - RCI merchandise, 'cheap' sale items or luxury goods which can be bought anywhere. There doesn't seem to be anything innovative or unusual at all.

 

Edit: I also dislike the way that Aussie cruisers are blocked from viewing the US RCI site and facebook page - what is being hidden? Most companies let you choose which website to view if there are separate sites

Edited December 26, 2014 by jenibor

[Trainman-2]

Hire and train some crew members to be "professional announcers!"

 

We are unable to understand the vast majority of announcements on the ships. Some announcers know how to do it right, but most don't!

[Barecove]

I totaly agree with Darrel. w

we were on BOS repo last October from Boston and saw the problems

[ocav]

Allow DD to go the way of New Coke.

 

 

They should return to traditional dining and let dynamic dining remain everywhere else but the United States?

[Aldeya]

I

The onboard shopping is boring - RCI merchandise, 'cheap' sale items or luxury goods which can be bought anywhere. There doesn't seem to be anything innovative or unusual at all.

 

 

The shops are beyond boring.

 

You have a captive audience if you will. If they had a real variety of quality items available for purchase it would be flying out the door in no time.

 

Obviously there is something we are not aware regarding onboard shops because as it is right now it just doesn't make sense.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Aldeya

[westwingjazz]

Add a Caribbean style restaurant, have hot tubs open 20 hours in a day, add more Indian style dishes, small midnight buffets, add more variety to the clubs, Caribbean, Indian music etc. Not everyone enjoys the piano bar, karaoke, etc. How about adding a luau to the sail away parties (and watch the drink sales increase).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AtlFolks]

Dude, impressive cruise history. Do you live on the ships? Does Adam call you to see how things are going?

[BekkaW]

Edit: I also dislike the way that Aussie cruisers are blocked from viewing the US RCI site and facebook page - what is being hidden? Most companies let you choose which website to view if there are separate sites

 

I can see the US site. It auto directs to the Australian site but you can change the country at the top right.

[lucymorgan]

Thanks BekkaW. I found a way to stop redirect to the Aus facebook site as well (add /ncr to the end of the url)

[crusinwen]

1.) Get rid of the Diamond + pins.

 

2.) Keep real bartenders, not mechanical ones.

 

3.) Add some better drink options, some craft cocktails perhaps. None of that Island Oasis syrup garbage.

 

4.) Ban all Raiders fans. There is no place for these individuals on any of the ships.

 

5.) It would be cool to have a true "sports bar" that serves food/beverages. Lots of passengers are huge fans of European Football, NFL, NCAA football & basketball, NBA basketball, and MLB.

 

6.) How hard is it to make a good pizza? Not hard.

 

7.) Build an expedition size ship to go on very exotic itineraries. 200 passengers max.

 

8.) Stop all itineraries that visit Russia. Russians are not to be trusted, why would RCCL promote tourism there.

 

Ban all Raider fans???? My husband and I are huge Raider fans and we are really nice people....why would you want to ban us?

[delirious9876]

1. Open the MDR every day at lunch time so I can get my fix of Tutti salad bar.

 

2. Not run out of White Zinfandel in the DL or bars (which has happened several times)

 

3. Make sure all the theatre vocalists can at least sing in tune together (a few dodgy cruise experiences here)

 

4. Make sure the interactive stateroom account function on the TV system works

 

5. Make sure there is more than a 6" gap between tables for 2 in MTD

 

6. Train the shop staff to be more friendly

 

7. Install Coke Freestyle machines on every ship

 

8. Send some Voyager or Freedom class to Europe again so that there is a programme of decent transatlantic voyages again every year

 

9. Stop removing the fabulous nightclubs from Freedom & Voyager class vessels

 

10. Have heated swimming pools in the solarium

 

11. Stop putting all your energy and special offers into attracting first time cruisers and split your energy up between making first time cruisers happy and KEEPING your loyal long term cruises happy and satisfied

 

12. Bring back the original red velvet cake to Chops

 

13. Bring back flaming Crème Brûlée to Chops

 

14. Put decent toiletries back in stateroom bathrooms

 

15. Buy new black pepper grinders for the ships MDR's so that waiting staff don't have to buy their own off Amazon

 

16. Take lessons from MSC and Princess in how to drastically improve the pizza onboard

 

17. Reduce the price of the alcoholic drink packages

 

18. Teach everybody the words of the 'Wash Your Hands Song'

 

19. Reduce tips by 50% for children under 12 years old

 

20. Re-think the recent reductions of OBC made to onboard or decide later bookings - make it worthwhile financially and a loyalty perk to do this again.

[delirious9876]

:) :) :)

[cruisenfever]

20.Re-think the recent reductions of OBC made to onboard or decide later bookings - make it worthwhile financially and a loyalty perk to do this again.

Below you will find the new OBC structure as of March 15, 2014 for booking a specific cruise while on board. It has increased as your OBC is now determined not only by length of cruise but also by cabin category.

 

Length of

Cruise ............... Interior.............. Oceanview.............. Balcony .............. Suite*

5-7 days .............. $25 ..................... $50 ......................... $100 ................. $200

8-10 days ............ $50..................... $100......................... $150.................. $250

11-14 days........... $75 .................... $150 ........................ $200...................$300

15 + days ........... $100.................... $200......................... $250...................$400

*Includes JS cabins and above

 

Prior to March 15, 2014, the OBC structure for booking both a specific cruise or creating an open booking was:

OBC From Booking On Board (per cabin)

$25 for sailings of 3-5 nights

$100 for sailings of 6-9 nights

$150 for sailings of 10-14 nights

$200 for sailings of 15+ nights

 

Now, when creating an Open Booking you get the following, which is quite a reduction from what it used to be.

 

Length of Cruise

5-7 days ........... $25

8-10 days ......... $50

11-14 days........ $75

15 + days...........$100

 

Edited January 11, 2015 by cruisenfever

[Gwendy]

One thing they could do is improve web page interaction. Have had to change user name and password just about every time I log on. Enough to keep me cruising with Princess. No problems there.

[Paulette3028]

One thing they could do is improve web page interaction. Have had to change user name and password just about every time I log on. Enough to keep me cruising with Princess. No problems there.

 

There are lots of things to complain about regarding the Royal website. With all the complaints I have heard or personally experienced - having to change a users name and password each time someone tries to log on -- has never before NOW been one of them.

 

Perhaps it has less to do with Royals website and more to do with something on the user end, such as your service provider or computer. I am no computer geek, but this isn't something that I have ever heard before.

[davy jones]

Stop blocking the Royal Promenade with those tables loaded with trinkets for sale. I am always amazed by the hordes who think that they are getting treasures.

 

Either make the shops larger, or move the trinket sales to an unused lounge, like they do with the art sales.

[macrac]

I would like to see them not change ports after final payment unless an emergency and more important at least tell the customers, they have no problem trying to up sell me daily on emails for drink/dinning/spa but do not find it important to notify me of a change of port which I only found out through cruise critic.

 

I am also finding all the obc like drink packages etc have just been added to the base package and since I don't use a lot of these items and prefer to just pay for them instead of being charged in advance for them at the base price.

[jstraw20]

Stop blocking the Royal Promenade with those tables loaded with trinkets for sale. I am always amazed by the hordes who think that they are getting treasures.

 

Either make the shops larger, or move the trinket sales to an unused lounge, like they do with the art sales.

 

This is a terrific idea although I have to admit that I buy a $10 watch every cruise. They last just long enough to make it to the next one.

[ocav]

One thing they could do is improve web page interaction. Have had to change user name and password just about every time I log on. Enough to keep me cruising with Princess. No problems there.

 

 

Have you tried using a PasswordManager like 1Password? That might help

[davekathy]

Give a Veterans OBC like Princess does.

Edited January 12, 2015 by davekathy