Royal Caribbean Called Me

[Brad1185]

Great post Oceancruise. Hopefully with people like you, things in the future will be better for everyone. When you look at all the changes together, it really is a wonder that more people are speaking out against this.

[Catnip]

Bridal,

I don't beleive anyone called your friend a liar. I even posted that on my cruise on the Brilliance (3/29) the juice was free.

Why do you say "the statements made by the OP are just dumb"? Is there not any possibility they may be true and he actually experienced them? I don't beleive everything everyone says here on this board. But some folks here get so riled up if a poster has anything negative to say about RCCL. I have been cruising with RCCL since 1982 (about 17 cruises on RCCL), and I certainly have seen changes for the worse in all those years. But I still cruise them. And yes, when I post my review of our 3/29 sailing, I will have a few negative comments about my cruise. But that's all they are---comments! Beleive them or not, but don't slam me or the OP because I am giving out my own personal experice. I am happy that you and a lot other folks here have only had a wonderful experice on your RCCL cruises. But not all cruise lines are perfect and I think we are all "allowed" to post our experinces here, good or bad.

 

"To live on the land...we must learn from the sea" (Calypso)

 

(26 prior cruises. Nobody cares, so why list them all?)

 

 

[GinaDucey]

Overlooking one major point here - the OP has still never been on RCCL. OP canceled the cruise and booked elsewhere. The OP still has zero experience with actually being on the ship.

 

I am hearing far more negative than positive about RCCL being on this board this past few weeks - however - this is my 8th cruise in total and I am not about to let these comments spoil or cast a shadow over my upcoming cruise.

 

I am not slamming or doubting - however - the OP does seem a bit upset about things they have not actually been on board and experienced yet.

 

Fantasy 11/91

Ecstasy 1/98

Fascination 11/99

Paradise 2/00

Imagination 4/02

Ecstasy 5/03

Paradise 10/03

Sovereign of the Seas 4/04

 

 

Till we leave on the Sovereign

 

 

 

 

[john&kelly]

HOST CECILIA

Sorry, but I have to differ about your assessment of the RCI rep's comment saying that"if people talk with their pocketbooks, maybe things will change". He's not "talking himself out of a job", he is in fact talking about influencing corporate policy in the language that's understood- money! I would think that he would want change to make the corporation more responsive and more competitive- which translates into more success and profit.

John

 

Brilliance- Mediterranean- Venice

[volleyballmom83]

With the price we pay to cruise why in the world are we concerned about paying for juice!!??

[GaryWT]

Ocean, I would be alittle upset if the starting port was changed, for some this is the final factor in picking which cruise. As far as Labadee goes, this is a tough one, i love this beach but it is out of their control, I hope it is back by next April. as far as the fees, most of what you listed does not make a difference as I do not plan on needed corkages or eating anywhere but the dinning room. Anyway good luck in finding something else, unfortunetly for us Carneval owns everything else and I cannot make myself go that route.

 

3/98 Grandeur of the Seas

4/00 Grandeur of the Seas

2/02 Enchantment of the Seas

04/16/05 Navigator of the Seas

[KStevens79]

When Voyager first starting sailing Johnny Rocket's was not free, you paid extra. People complained and the charge was removed. When we sailed Voyager in Aug. 2000, JR was free. I guess RCI decided to charge for it again.

Labadee is being replaced with Coco Cay or Nassau (from what I've read).

 

I hope everyone enjoys their cruises. I'm sure going to let a few bad posts ruin my time.

 

Karen

 

Brilliance of the Seas

Carnival Ecstasy 8/2001

Voyager of the Seas 8/2000

Carnival 3/1998

Viking Seranade 1/1996

Viking Seranade 4/1995

[Sweetone]

We were on the Sovereign a couple of weeks ago and juice was free in the dining room. As for the Haiti change, if they substitute with Coco Cay, you would have been in for a nice treat. It's a very beautiful island. We also had fantastic service aboard the SOS. I'm so glad my hubby talked me in to the RCI cruise. I'm hooked now and already planning our next cruise!

 

Sovereign of the Seas 3/04

[OceanCruise]

I don't know why I must defend my original post but here goes. I was looking for a change after 6 Celebrity cruises and several Carnival cruises and thought it might be fun to try RCI. However, after some negative factors I decided it may not be right for us. I figured the new charges would cost me several hundred dollars than what I originally bargained for and I chose not to accept this. I also have no way of knowing if juice is actually being charged. I was merely reporting what the CORPORATE CSR told me. As most cruisers don't read these boards, I am sure they would accept as fact what RCI told them in response to their questions, especially coming from the corporate office. I fully agree that the Labadee situation was beyond RC's control. However, they could not guarantee that it would not be another sea day if Labadee was still unusable. My 9 day cruise already had 4 sea days plus another possible sea day for Grand Cayman. I certainly would not want to add another! I did not want to risk this and cancelled early enough so I could make other plans. I also did get the sense from the CSR that RCI was hearing from a lot of unhappy customers regarding all the changes.

[Guest OBAYbee]

Oceancruise, I for one hope you have a wonderful cruise, no matter what cruiseline you decide to use.

The purpose of a cruise to me, and probably many others, is the week of relaxation and hassle free environment you get. Something all of us need now and then. (After reading this thread and the responses to your post it would appear a lot of us need a vacation hehe)

I really hope you come back and continue to post here. I think it was probably an expected response by the posters here. Some agree with your decision others disagree. HOWEVER, I found it inappropriate for a host on the boards to insinuate (to put it mildly) that you were not being truthful.

I haven't seen that occur before so it surprised me to read her post.

Anyway, have fun, relax have an umbrella drink and let us know how your cruise went when you get back!

Peggy

[mbisson]

I don't doubt anyone saying that juice (at breakfast) is free. I also suspect that this could well be subject to change. If we think back to when they started charging for soda in the dining room it actually took a while from announcement that they would charge until they actually did.

 

I believe (and it's my belief only) that this might be done to increase sales of the soda cards. I don't expect my wife & I would buy the cards, and when we book, we consider all expected costs as our total price of the cruise. If one of the other mainline cruises offers us what we consider a comparable experience for a lower price, we'd probably go with that one. While we enjoy RCI, we haven't had what I would call a bad cruise thus far with NCL or CCL either. (although we also have yet to go on what I would call a "perfect" cruise).

 

-Monte

 

some of my cruising photos:

http://community.webshots.com/user/m1bisson

A bad day cruising is better than a good day at work.

 

The worst cruise I ever took was pretty damned good.

 

Platinum with RCI, a couple cruises with NCL and 1 with CCL

 

Who's coming with us on the Norwegian Sun?

[Facation Fanatic]

Geezz, the one thing I keep seeing that is consistent with RCI is it's inconsistency.

 

If the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing concerning an insignificant thing like OJ, wonder what is going on with shipboard security with ship personnel/vendor access and when they load up all their supplies before pulling out?

 

And I leave it 2 weeks???????

 

Facation Fanatic

 

Fantasy - 6/02 Bahamas

Fantasy - 12/02 Bahamas

Victory - 9/03 NE/Canada

Sovereign of the Seas - 1/04 Bahamas

 

Sovereign of the Seas

 

 

Carnival Glory to the Eastern Caribbean

 

[john&kelly]

FACATION

Your point is well taken about security. I hope it's better defined than their other policies. Having said that, I'm a police captain, & from what I can SEE, they seem to be conscientious about security- they pay attention to who & what is getting on & off the ship, etc. I don't know how vigilant they are about cargo & vendors.Usually, when security is good in one area, it carries over to other areas.

John

 

Brilliance- Mediterranean- Venice

[Travelw]

My wife and I just returned from AOS on Sunday 4-11-04. There was no charge for juice at breakfast.

We ate at Jonny Rockets and it is over-rated in our opinion, the shakes were average, burger the same. The only thing above average were the onion rings, again our opinion.

Portofino was fantastic, well worth the $20.00 per person charge.

Drink prices have not changed in several years, it was $4.75 for a drink in a regular glass, same drink in a souvenir glass was $5.95 to $8.95 depending on the souvenir glass. I think beer was $3.00 for domestic and $3.75 for import.

 

Dennis

[MAXCAT]

MAXCAT says: If you have to complain about price of juice and drinks, perhaps you are drinking just a little too much....Think of a cruise as the price of a wonderful hotel that moves on the sea. I can't figure why people complain about the cost of small items on a vacation....I wish I could go....MEOW.

 

Explorer of the Sea - November 2001

Nordic Empress - November 2002

Serenade - October 9

Trip was great...now looking for another.....

[ccletzgo]

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

I am confused. What has really changed? Nothing that would force you to have to spend more?
I suspect juice is being charged for at bars, which would make sense. So is soda.

What else has changed? I read, and re-read. You dont have to go to the special resteraunt or JR's to T&J's. So what changes would force me to have to spend more $$$'s then I am used too?

[ctsgop]

Just off the Majesty on Friday and juice, water, lemonade and ice tea were all free from the Windjammer. We last cruised about 4 years ago and were glad to see all of the added security measures put in place. Also, debarkation at Miami is much easier than four years ago--we were very glad to see baggage handled like the airport ,rather than the old hunt through the warehouse method. Thumbs up for this improvement.

Downside? Too many kids (Jr. High age) running rampant around the ship in the evenings. I think RCCL needs to crack down on this--it is distrubing to older cruisers (not that I am one of them [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] Elevators were used for entertainment with kids riding up and down and pressing all floors. Some kids were camped out in the elevators sitting on the floors. Anyway, a simple fix would be to hire Deck monitors to handle the over zealous kids. The teen disco was empty most nights-the kids hung out on the pool deck--a good number of them sitting at the bar! Oh well--all in all we had a nice cruise, but I may be looking at another cruise line in the future that doesn't attract sooooo many unattended children.

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=000080&cdt=2004;4;5;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

[Hlitner]

Geez! What a thread! I do believe the original poster was given this info (much of it incorrect) as customer service folks are not always the best source for info (guess this is a contradiction). No, they do not charge for juice in the dining room, windjammer, or via room service! Drink prices are a bit high (daily specials sometimes help reduce the cost) but than they have been high for a few years. Wine prices are even more outrageous. We have cruised on 12 cruise lines (more than 45 different ships) and loved them all, but found this kind of thing on all cruise lines. The original poster mentioned Holland America and even they have their problems. They just announced that their so-called "no tipping required policy" (another cruise contradiction in terms) has been elimnated in favor of a new policy that charges every passenger $10 per day for tips. If you don't like this "tip" you can assertively go to the pursers desk and "request" an adjustment. HA also advertises Starbucks coffee, but this is only available at their coffee bars "for a fee." Bottom line is that all the cruise lines are doing their best to increase on-board revenue. If this really bothers the original poster they might try Radisson or the other upscale lines that really do include most things in the cruise fare (or course they charge up to $1000 per passenger day).

Hank

[ERsecurity]

John,

Good comment on Security. Being in the business myself, I make it a point to talk with the Security Officer. I am very satisfied with how things are done.

Some changes are good....

John

Royal Caribbean - Platinum
Princess - Platinum
Celebrity - Classic
HAL - 50 Days
Others - Yes
Delta - Million Miler

[OceanCruise]

I'm curious- would any of you mind if they instituted a $3.95 charge for room service or for pizza?I don't see that as being any different than the JR fee. Another downside to the JR fee is having to give your child a sign and sail card.

[abridalmaven]

Your child will need the card to drink soda also.

[img]http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/stone/27/names/b/barbara02.gif[/img]
My vacation pics
[url="http://community.webshots.com/user/abridalmaven"]http://community.webshots.com/user/abridalmaven[/url]
Norwegian Dawn May 23
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff0000&cdt=2004;5;23;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

[Host CMLA]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by john&kelly:
Sorry, but I have to differ about your assessment of the RCI rep's comment saying that"if people talk with their pocketbooks, maybe things will change". He's not "talking himself out of a job", he is in fact talking about influencing corporate policy in the language that's understood- money! I would think that he would want change to make the corporation more responsive and more competitive- which translates into more success and profit.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I think you have a valid point John. I guess I should have said that his language could have been different. We all know that if enough consumers speak with their dollars, changes will happen. But as a representative of the company at issue, I don't think the wording used was the best choice. That's just my opinion.

[ccletzgo]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by OceanCruise:
I'm curious- would any of you mind if they instituted a $3.95 charge for room service or for pizza?I don't see that as being any different than the JR fee. Another downside to the JR fee is having to give your child a sign and sail card.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


how in the world can you compare charging for room service to Jonny rockets? come on! It is completely differant. A large part of cruising is knowing you have the luxery of room service with no fee. (other then tip)'
Jonny rockets is not one of the reasons people cruise. I'm sure people could take it or leave it, which is being proven by how little people are using it, when they have to pay for it.
Its nice to have the choice. But room service??
If I couldnt get breakfast in my cabin every morning, I seriously wouldnt cruise............I look forward to it. (for no extra charge, of course)

Lets Go!

Royal's Viking Seranade 1/94
Carnival, Holiday 12/95
Carnival, Jubilee 12/96
Royal's, Song of America 11/98
Celebrity Galaxy 9/99
Royal's, Viking Seranade 6/00
Celebrity, Millennium 12/00
Royal's Vision 2/02
Royal's Vision 12/02
Royal's Monarch 6/03
Celebrity Galaxy 9/17/04 !!

[Catnip]

OC,
Yes, I would object. Once you start charging for every little thing, then everything will end up being ala carte. A cruise amany years ago was an "all-inclusive" vacation. The only thing you had to pay extra for was souveniers & the casino.
~Just my feeling and my opinion on question asked~

"To live on the land...we must learn from the sea"

(26 prior cruises. Nobody cares, so why list them all?)

[Ocean Boy]

ccletzgo...

There is no real difference between JR's and room service. The problem is that JR's doesn't affect you so you don't care about the charge. I never use room service. Personally, if they got rid of it there would be no effect on my cruise enjoyment what so ever. But I agree there should be not be a charge for it just for people like you. A late night snack for me and my family at JR's means just as much to us as your cabin breakfast means to you.

And just as I try to take into account what is important to you on a cruise maybe you could give some thought to the fact that other people have other priorities.