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thrifty99

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About Me

  • Location
    Nashville area
  • Interests
    Astronomy, woodworking, genealogy
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Royal Caribbean
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Caribbean

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  1. On Odyssey this week. Had dinner at Izumi under the UDP and got only 4 pieces of sushi per roll as expected under the new terms. The interesting thing is I got it to go another night under the UDP and each roll had 8 pieces. Not sure if that was a mistake or not. Getting it to go tomorrow probably too as wife wants to eat at PlayMakers so I will get my Izumi dinner to go and eat it there with her.
  2. I enjoy Izumi for sushi as part of the UDP so not sure how this cut of the number of pieces by 50% will work for me. We were on Odyssey in early December before the change and enjoyed the portions. I don't recall feeling it was an excessive amount of food. We are back on Odyssey in 2 weeks and will give it a try one night. I can always go to another restaurant later for something extra if not enough food. But maybe the new portions will still be enough and help cut back on my typical weight gain on a cruise. One of my goals is to eat healthier / not excessively while cruising.
  3. I've read similar negative reviews / experiences with some of these large groups sailing in January. Back in 2019 I found out we were going to be on one in January 2020 and moved our reservation to another ship. Reviews of the January 2020 cruise we transferred out of were not good.... group rude to staff, kids running around unsupervised, etc. Glad we moved our reservation. We learned then to do research if sailing in January to try and avoid some of the large groups. I'm sure there are many large groups that behave just fine. But we spend a lot on cruising / airfare and don't want to have it ruined by one of the groups that behaves poorly.
  4. Thanks for sharing - never seen this before. A great way to see if a cruise we have reserved has anything theme associated with it.
  5. You can also use the Diamond vouchers for specialty coffee at the Royal coffee counters (not the stand alone Starbucks). You can get the largest size, add in extra shots, etc. up to the $14 limit per drink. On ships with the Vitality Cafe (Oasis Class) you can also use it on smoothies. If ordering something inexpensive like a soda during the day and you don't want to use one of your Diamond vouchers, be sure to let them know when ordering.
  6. Most of the changes we are seeing are due to the change in the financials for cruise lines. Costs for everything are higher (food, fuel, labor) and the cruise line can raise prices and/or cut expenses. I expect Royal is doing both. The cruise lines experienced a huge increase in their debt loads while shut down for Covid. Some were probably close to bankruptcy if they stayed shut down much longer. Royal’s debt is now over $23 billion which is over 2 times (maybe 3) what it was pre-Covid. Much of this debt was short term loans that will need to be replaced in the next few years when interest rates may be higher. These are significant costs that have forced the industry to cut staffing and make other changes to save money. There are other issues such as a shortage of workers wanting to be employed in the cruise industry since Covid. The “new world” we are in seems to be higher prices and lower service. I see this in many places… stores, gyms, restaurants, etc. When we cruise now we have made some changes to keep the experience positive. We now buy the Unlimited Dining Plan on every cruise. The MDR was becoming less enjoyable. Lines to get in longer as there were fewer waiters to take guests to their tables. The extra cost for a more pleasant / intimate dining experience is worth it to us. We also keep our expectations lower / realistic for the current situation. We know there are fewer staff who are working harder so we go out of our way to thank them EVERY time we interact with a crew member. We cruised 5 times last year and seen passengers screaming at crew for things outside of their control (screaming about the slow internet speed for example). When I have the chance, I step up after the angry passenger leaves and tell the crew member they are appreciated and they should not have been treated like that. Happy Cruising Everyone!!!!
  7. We just finished a great cruise on Odyssey. Only hiccup was the use of our 15-punch coffee card from an earlier cruise this year. In case you are told by someone on your cruise that the 15 punch coffee card cannot be used on your next sailing / different ship, that is incorrect information. We purchased a couple cards on our February 2022 Navigator cruise as we had some extra OBC remaining to spend. We used those cards with no issues on Ovation and Voyager this year. I had heard Odyssey staff had caused some issues for people using them so I did my homework before our cruise this week In October I reached out to the executive office staff to be sure there were no changes to the coffee card being used across the fleet. They responded that the cards were always able to be used on multiple sailings and nothing had changed. Well, sure enough on the first morning I tried to use my card. A supervisor (Fernando) ran over and started “interrogating” me. Where did I get this card? What ship is it from? When did I purchase it? I answered his questions and he said it can’t be used on any ship except where you buy it. I explained that was not true and showed him the e:mail from Executive Offices saying they have always been allowed on multiple sailings. He then said “Oh, that e:mail was in October and there was a call last month (November) stating the cards are no longer transferable.” He then used the analogy that it was the same as buying the beverage package on one cruise and peeling the sticker off your card and applying it to your next cruise card to get a free beverage package. He said this was stealing. I explained that was a ridiculous analogy as this is a 15-punch card and I didn’t appreciate being accused of trying to steal anything. He said he would honor the card this one time. I saw him doing the same thing to another passenger trying to use their 15-punch card. I followed up with an e:mail to my contact in the Executive Offices. He replied that the information from Fernando was incorrect and apologized for Fernando’s aggressive way of handling this. He was going to make sure a fleet wide communication was sent to all beverage managers that the coffee card can continue to be used on all sailings. The beverage manager (Vivian) on Odyssey reached out to me and apologized for the confusion. She said the policy was changed and they had stopped accepting them from other ships after re-opening from Covid last year and had not seen any message about them changing it back again. I mentioned that was a totally different story than Fernando’s as he said they just changed it last month to not honor them. That tells me Odyssey was just not following the rules and making up stories to passengers. Bottom line is they should be able to be used across any ship still. Hopefully the message has been delivered fleet wide and is followed.
  8. Unfortunately it only seems to work sporadically. We were on Ovation in August and Voyager in September. Tried chatting with my family (Apple to Apple) without a wi-fi plan and using the free ship wi-fi only. Used the Apple Messages app. Worked for free maybe 30% of the time so not something to rely on.
  9. Most of the Tall size drinks are $4.25 - $5.00 and with the card they are $2.07 ($31 / 15). A nice 50%+ savings. Yes, if you add a shot that costs $1.75 it makes them $6.00 - $6.75 normal price and 2 punches costs you $4.14. Still costs less with the card, just a smaller % savings.
  10. It’s a great deal for specialty coffee as you are getting them about 50% off the normal price onboard.
  11. Thank you - glad it is still working. I just hate the wording as they could start enforcing that anytime they wanted. Appreciate your fast reply as alway.
  12. Biker, Can you confirm that Royal is still doing price adjustments prior to final payment date for cruises booked now? You stated it only apples to bookings made inside of final payment date, but they mention outside final payment date in the the 48 hour policy: "Our Best Price Guarantee lets you take advantage of a better price within 48 hours from the time you booked— just give us a call or use our online form. You’ll receive the difference as a non-refundable onboard credit inside final payment or rate adjustment outside final payment." What confuses me is it specifically mentions "rate adjustment outside final payment date" under the the 48 hour policy. I've also seen some posts about people being denied rate adjustments prior to final payment date for things like "that rate is for new sailings only". With all new call center staff, it's hard to know what the correct answer is or if it is an uninformed new employee. I only have one cruise booked after the Cruise with Confidence ended and it has not dropped in price yet so I haven't been able to call and try it myself. Has anyone called and received price adjustments on cruises booked in the past few months and before final payment date? Not cruises booked before March 31, 2022 that fall under the Cruise With Confidence program.
  13. We missed a port on our Voyager cruise in September (Bar Harbor, Maine) due to hurricane Fiona. Water too rough for us to tender. We got on our account that day about $10 each in returned port fees.
  14. Sorry to hear this. I’d be upset too as we love hanging out in the solarium. And with a pretty full ship and 2 pools out of service, the pool experience is now ruined. Not sure what “fair” compensation would be but some future cruise credits would be appropriate in my opinion.
  15. Thank you - that makes sense. I prefer a lower deck - will keep checking to see if / when they open those up.
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