Bradison

27 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

Things that will happen before I buy.

 

1. Both WHO and CDC declares the pandemic to have ended.

 

2. Cruise lines resume operations.  

 

If you could only know this info the day BEFORE it happens.  Not suggesting insider trader or anything...wink...wink🤨

On 3/13/2020 at 3:55 AM, Merion_Mom said:

On the bright side, there are no threads on the front page about formal nights, formalwear, tipping or chair hogs.  😁

I was just about to post about the time on our last cruise when I tripped over a towel half draped on a lounge chair and fell in the all too small pool, in my tuxedo on my way to formal night.  I didn't notice it because I was arguing with my over served and under dressed wife about the size of tip to leave our cabin attendant.  Naturally this all occurred on our cruise out of San Juan and none of the locals jumped in to help me because they were too busy singing some song in Spanish.

I guess I can't tell that story 🙂

20 minutes ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

MT now says Southampton, my guess is they are going to park her and not do the dry dock until there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Agreed.  Cash is king right now for every business.  

3 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

When talking about vacations and spending disposable income who else would I be talking about?

My point is that RCI seems to be shifting away from your demo.  I am sure they still want your disposable income but they are certainly casting a wider net now.

10 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

The question was why does RCI think WE want that at every single port. The question was not why is RCI doing it. 

Pretty sure they aren't going to invest $300,000,000 without some solid market research.  Who is exactly WE?  You and your demographic or the one RCI seems to be focused on?

Places like this and Coco Cay mean little to me (although I don't seem them as the abomination many here seem to) but I don't begrudge RCI for having a vision for maximizing their appeal and therefore revenue stream.

44 minutes ago, schmeed said:

Yep, absolutely agree!  It's a pure money grab (make more money at their own destination than an ordinary port).  Why does RCI think we want theme parks at every single port?  I don't get it.

Vertical integration.  Same reason ball parks have concession stands and charge an arm and a leg for a hot dog and a beer.  As long as cruise lines try to deliver a great customer experience that people want and will return for then does it matter how profitable.  There is no such thing as price gouging for luxury items.  The market will determine the appropriate value.  

Profit is not an evil concept.  You have the right to buy stock and be part of the "money grab".

It amazes me what an underrated invention wi-fi was.  We really seem to take it for granted.

We have used FaceBook messenger to communicate on board and now can even call home from the middle of the ocean.

On a side note. Does anybody even try to used walkie-talkies any more?  Never heard a single success story. 

16 minutes ago, tennislvr8 said:

Sure hope that's scarsam, or a failed attempt at humor, which was missed by me, if not idiotic comment. 

Thank you to those who answered with sense. 

Don't mind Mac.  Probably overindulged on cheap Scotch

This has been a limiting factor when travelling with family in the past.  No real good solution other than to save money by not booking a full suite.

John you are killing me.  Will have to keep my DW off CC because she loves to see your little dog and she absolutely loves the Aqua Theater suites.  We have a CLS booked for Allure later in the year and she is pressuring me to upgrade to a AQ1.  I tell her I want to try out the 17th floor one time and then we can go try the big balconies.  I know she will hate the walk so play that up in your review 🙂

20 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

The most logical way would be first come first served based on when you booked the cabana. And like cabana for like cabana.  The offer should have been made for a straight swap to like cabana or a refund.  After that, open sales.  

Royal Caribbean has become absurdly money oriented.  I have always defended their first obligation to be profitable.  But they have gone to extreme in my opinion. 

As a service oriented business I think customer experience should be right there with being profitable.  Many companies sacrifice profit in a small way to enhance or improve the experience of their customers.  Think Chick-Fila.  They give away food and hold special events all the time. 

If RCI makes customer experience their number 1 priority and make it the principle tenet of their corporate culture then the profits will follow and brand loyalty will increase without the use of gimmicks like Diamond lounges.

The OP's experience is just another anecdotal example of a lost opportunity by RCI to do the right thing and make their customer feel like they care about his experience and satisfaction. 

14 minutes ago, cured said:

Convenient for us to have all the costs already paid before we board the ship. We have two cabins of our kids and we don't want them to have to worry if Mom and Dad are going to get mad if they order one more drink or smoothie or premium coffee.  Convenience of not having to settle a bill.  Convenience of ordering orange juice in the morning, downing multiple sports drinks, without having to think about what is going on a bill. Convenience of ordering something else if we don't like the drink. Last cruise, I ordered a drink in the MDR and it was just awful. I ordered the wrong drink in the Solarium.  I didn't feel obligated to drink them just because I paid for them and just ordered something else instead. One of the kids likes to taste test lots of different drinks. I prefer they don't feel obligated to have to finish them because they are going on our bill.  I want everyone to be able to order what they want (they are responsible drinkers,) when they want without having to worry about a bill at the end of the cruise. Convenient for me to overdose on lattes without guilt.  I also like the idea of having the fridge stocked in the cabana at CocoCay. WE find it way more convenient to have a mindless vacation :), no budgeting, no worries. Your mileage may differ.   

Please don't think I was being critical.  I understand your rationale completely.  Just have a different definition of convenience.  We are trying the UDP for the first time on our next cruise (thanks to the intern) and other than trying new drinks versus our tried and trues I doubt we will act much differently.  Our son is a heavy drinker and got the package on his last cruise with us.  Did not break even despite his best efforts to try new drinks.  To each their own.

1 hour ago, cured said:

We were in a Loft suite on Oasis last summer. We had 4 in it, 2 parents and 2 young adult children. Since the kids were of opposite sex, there is no way they were going to share the couch, so we had them bring in a rollaway.  Even with the rollaway bed we had an amazing amount of room with 4 adults so you should be fine with 2 younger ones.

 

Same 4 people in a loft suite again this summer on Oasis.  We did purchase the drink package due to the CocoCay day and 3 sea days. We are not heavy drinkers either but do like the convenience of ordering a drink anywhere on the ship or on CocoCay without having to trudge up to the 17th floor.  We will probably lose money, but convenience has its price. 

Curious about how a drink package is more convenient?  If I don't get the package I can still get the same drink in the same place but I just pay as I go.  To me the biggest advantage is that I will be more likely to try new drinks.  Not sure about the convenience advantage though.

1 hour ago, SAmome said:

Wow, some of these comments surprise me, I don't think I've ever missed Coco Cay, and most visits were pre-dock.  But, then again, I'm pretty sure I've never sailed Dec-March to Coco Cay.    

 

 

Slated to try again in late Nov.  Crossing our fingers as I would like to try it out for once.

6 hours ago, jandj1224 said:

We spent the day at the coco cay beach club last week.  We paid approx. $60 adult $40 kid.  It was a great day and our first time at the renovated coco cay island.  Walking back through the free areas I don't think we would do the beach club again.  There seems to be several places to enjoy the beach without the extra expense.  We also had the unlimited dining package so we were eating well all week.  The special lunch was good but not really a novelty.  It was convenient not having to carry towels off (they are provided at the beach club). 

Was it less crowded and more relaxing?  That is what I have in mind.  I had some extra OBC and reserved it for $79pp.

Obviously none of you risk takers are married or partnered with someone like my wife.  I was willing to take the risk for an early flight (8:30am) to save over $300 and she insisted we spend the extra to go at 2:00pm+ for peace of mind.  

Side note: I am planning to do an RCI excursion that morning to kill time as well as handle our bags.  Tour of the city kind of thing, IIRC.  Anyone done this in Miami?

First time we were in a JS was for Anthem out of Cape Liberty.  I was so excited to use our "JS Suite Perks" and the RCI worker refused to let me join the priority boarding line for suites.  I was trying to persuade that we were entitled to be in that line when my wife said "come on" as she saw that there was virtually no line for regular boarding and the priority line was a few couples deep.  This was around 10:30am IIRC.

Last year we had a JS for Freedom out of SJ and our daughter was in the room next door in a regular balcony.  There seemed to be so much chaos that I told her to just follow us in the priority line and she and her fiancee used the lane next to us.  No one cared.  This was somewhere around 1:00pm so that may have had something to do with it.

Missed our one chance in March of '17.  No dock back then and we went into Nassau a day earlier so we got to walk around for half a day since we had a full day at Atlantis scheduled the following day.

7 minutes ago, Big_G said:

We've had issues texting from iPhones to Androids so we've been using Voxer for a texting app with pretty good luck.

Thanks for reco.  Will try it out.  Seem to remember issues with WhatsApp but that was a long time ago.

How early can you get there?  Does it open at 9:00am (assuming your ship arrives early in the morning)?

We have done the following:

$60 for the cabin steward

$40 for our waiter

$20 for our assistant waiter

My research (reading CC) tells me we tend to be on the high end.

Since we have had a mix of Android and iPhones we have relied on FB Chats and it has worked well.  Have not experienced a noticeable delay.  When we tried sharing "devices" it was somewhat of a pain so the last 2 cruises we just got everybody their own "device".  While the teens were very happy with this I think my DW was the most happy as she seems to live on FB anymore. 

7 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Sabor is replaced by Playmakers

Wipeout Cafe is replaced by el Loco Fresh

Samba is replaced by Solarium Bistro

Portside BBQ is new

Giovanni’s and Vintages are replaced by Giovanni’s Kitchen table and wine bar 

 

 

Thanks.  Not sure what to think as we really liked Sabor.  I am somewhat of a BBQ snob so my expectations are tepid on a RCI version.

I see the lists of new restaurants but don't know what they replace.  Sabor and Samba are gone I assume?  Replaced by BBQ and sports bar?  What other food changes are there?

On 2/9/2020 at 11:28 PM, kruzerci said:

Nothing was done to most staterooms. There were a few balcony cabins which will become the spa balconies that got refreshed, but the vast majority are completely 2009. A major reason I would book Symphony over Oasis. The Oasis staterooms were ugly and out of style when they were new, now they’re ugly and tired 🙂. 

Safe to assume they repair items not functioning correctly like TVs, thermostats, electric blinds?  Obviously referencing a CLS with the fold down tv and the blinds you can close from the loft.