hac82

4 hours ago, Nic6318 said:

 

Hi

You will be fine using USD. If you were purchasing something in town at a store, you could also use a credit card. 

Thank you. 

15 minutes ago, LouChamp said:

Aloha. Have been sailing with Royal since the early 1980s. Besides the financial issues affecting the cruise lines and staffing issues, it is my opinion the ships are so massive that keeping the kitchens flowing properly is an additional issue with quality control.  Thus the new restrictions. It is simply a degradation of the overall cruise experience and therefore each guest has to decide whether they want the massive ship experience or not. Ive been on the massive ships a sufficient amount of time to have decided they are no longer for us. Of course we are older so the smaller lines will suit us fine although they too have their share of complaints. Finally, people who don’t know of Cruise Critic and/or are newbies may not even be awre of the changes, degradation, etc.  That said, smooth sailing to my cc friends!

Until you made this comment, I was thinking that the reasons were simply the fact that the "kinks" needed to be worked out between corporate statements indicating to employees that "we are serving only what is on the menu" and the fact that some employees interpret that statement differently based on their understanding of English and the fact that, in some countries, cultural differences do not allow people to do anything but follow instructions to the letter.

You have raised a new and yet viable consideration.  I have often wondered how it is that ships of the size that are being created today, are able to maintain the ability to create 30,000+ meals a day and at the same time be able to handle a "small" percentage of those meals needing to be special orders, whether they be for dietary needs and/or "off the cuff" special requests.  A normal, land-based restaurant may serve about 200 - 400 meals a day based on their size and number of table rotations and they too must provide the possibility of special requests because of allergies,  tolerances like gluten, dairy, low-salt, etc. and then even restrictions based on religious needs like Kosher, Halal, etc.  The difference is that, on land, there are far more restaurants to chose from and as a result, the impacts are most likely spread out across the board.

On a ship with 5,000 passengers, all looking for a meal within a 3-5 hour period raises the impact on the kitchen to a much higher level.  The numbers must be staggering with all the dietary needs that must come through on a daily basis and they must make sure that they are met without cross-contamination.  Add to that the special requests of a piece of salmon without the crust, and other similar requests, I can only start to imagine.    I do believe that the company has indicated to the wait staff that there are to be no deviations from the menu as printed but, what I do also believe is that if there is such a request as a baked potato instead of mashed, that that should be as simple as no potato, if and only if on that night the baked potato is available in the kitchen because of the menu.  The same would be true if someone wants a different sauce on their steak.  If the sauce is made for the menu that night, then having a steak with no sauce, but a different sauce on the side should be simple to accomplish.

I thank you for this additional insight and apologize for the lengthy response but it did make me more aware of the fact that not only does Royal Caribbean need to consider the possibility that some wait staff might take the orders too rigidly and see if there is a way to allow for some minor freedom in interpretation, we as the customer must be willing to accept some restrictions in order to allow the kitchens to make an ever increasing volume of food in a non-growing time-frame allowed to serve an ever increasing volume of passengers and, to Royal's statement, provide consistency amongst all the ships.  I fear that what has happened is that they have reached a point where the kitchen can no longer be big enough (equipment and staff) to handle the volume.  It appears that both sides need to compromise in the expectations.  Some may not agree with me, but I am now looking at this differently and I will need to adjust accordingly when we next sail in May on Liberty.  I hope that the "kinks' will be worked out by then.

46 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I wonder what would happen if you ordered the prime rib with no potatoes and then the steak plate with no steak.  SMH 🙄

Sorry I messed up the quote. Here it is."

What I gather is that if someone wants to do this now, they should order the Prime Rib, not eat the mashed potatoes, then order the thin steak plate and not eat the steak. "  ...

23 minutes ago, goldfish65 said:

... What I have seen in my own workplace, new staff who are from different cultures and languages often perceive new rules in an "all or nothing" sense. ...

That is exactly the same issues I faced during my years working with many from other countries.  In some cultures, as I was specifically told by one woman, "we are trained to follow orders and never question". Depending on how they were told about changed on the menu, that could be an issue. Some may be looking at the menu specifically as printed and others may be able to look at it and see that, for example, fruit salad is on the kids menu and they can grab two of them and put it together in a bowl for you.  I had to learn how to relay instructions in a completely different way to get around some of the cultural differences.  I'm beginning to see that this might take some time to work out the kinks.  If they can't, this will most definitely go the same route as Dynamic Dining

What caused me to ask this question was what the other person told my wife.  Honestly I found it quite strange but the comment was that they heard someone at their table ask for tartar sauce and was told "it is not on the menu so you cannot get it".  I don't know if it was a fish and chips night or not when this happened as I was not there.  I hope they are not becoming that strict.  As far as completely off menu, I can see that, but I hope they will allow substitutions with items that are on the menu like a larger salad, more vegetables, no starch, etc.

I heard from someone just getting off a cruise that there is a disclaimer on the new menus that you cannot get anything that is not on the menu. Has anyone had any issues like this with the new menus? If your cruise still had the old menus this most likely is not an issue. It only seems to be with the new menus. 

All I know is that they indicated that the ship must be docked for the maintenance.  I hope that this trip is all that is affected because I board her May 4 in Bayonne.

When we arrive in La Romana and Puerto Plata, is it necessary to convert US currency to Domincan Peso and if so, where can it be done?

I just saw a post that Capt Jaret Barry started rotation on the Adventure on 4-29-22.  According to the list now for the Adventure, Capt Erik Standahl is no longer listed.  Can anyone tell me if he is ultimately going to another ship or what his status is with the company?  We sailed with him several times before and we were looking forward to sailing with him again on the Adventure later this year.

Here is a question. PCR tests can have false positive results. If you were exposed, you could be asymptomatic or your could of had symptoms and completed quarantine and still shed virus particles for up to at least three months, and not be infectious because the particles are dead. The PCR test can't tell the difference.  How do you abide by the negative test within 72 hours knowing these false positives are extremely possible,?

37 minutes ago, wolfcathorse said:

the person informing me of the change said he said he was going shoreside

Thank you.

Where is Capt Henrik Loft Sørensen going?

Looking for information on what is available for pre-cruise packages in Rome that would also include transportation to the ship.  The intent is to be in Rome for two or three nights prior to boarding.  If there are any know deals with the cruise line, it would need to be on Celebrity.  Any and all assistance on this would be greatly appreciated.

11 minutes ago, Woobstr112G said:

 

Perfectly stated.....

Bob

 

looks like they got the Quote HTML code working....now for the rest.

Bottom line, text editing in this new version is horrible.  It appears that this was not adequately tested.  No choice of fonts, old HTML code not recognized to change text, copy/paste does not work correctly because paste gets pasted twice, Quote blocks are no longer shaded like they were (but you see the HTML code for the quote), we used to have some chance to make signatures individual but now extensive restrictions prevent that.  Bold selection for font does not appear to work.   Etc., Etc., Etc......

Test the changes before releasing them.  Also, along with the release, do not ask us for our help to find out what is wrong, tell us what has been changed and how to use it.

My comments come from experience.  I am a retired computer professional with over 40 years of coding and TESTING.  

This is now far more cumbersome than it was previously.  The text entry process does not allow for choice of fonts as it did previously. Also, when I do a cut and paste, the paste is entered twice.  It also appears that many of the HTML commands that were wrapped around previous entries are no longer being recognized as commands to format the text thus you see the HTML language commands as part of the posts.

I also do not like the restrictions now placed on the Signatures.  If members want to let others know what cruises they were on previously, six lines is a serious restriction in the ability to do that.  It seems as if you are forcing us to ignore our individuality for the cause of making everyone the same. 

I do not know if this is the case across all platforms or this is only true on my Macbook Air and Firefox browser.

I believe what you are referring to is directly at the port (as you walk off the ship). I am local to the area and do not know what other retail complex you could be referring to? There are several restaurants and one (that I know of) small retail store. I always suggest going to Jetty Park (extremely close by) or touring the Kennedy Space Center (which is a full day). You could also take a taxi/Uber to downtown Cocoa Beach which also has shops and restaurants. This is about 10 minutes or so away from the port depending on traffic. Maybe this is where you were referring?

 

 

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I see that Port Canaveral has a small retail/dining/etc complex. We are arriving possibly on Adventure of the Seas. Are there any shuttle or taxi services to take us from the pier to the retail complex or other close by locations? I am open to suggestions for best things to do close to the ship while in port.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2619088

Thank you

See the end of this thread:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2473025

Since it appears that the above linked thread is now closed, has there been a new one created yet? Looking for Adventure of the Seas CD for May 18, 2018.

I believe that RCI got into this muddle because no one in the front office has ever had to use the website. The site they are trying to mend was already in deep trouble probably for this very reason. The site has a few intricate sections that have to play together and I doubt that the IT programmers come close to comprehending the purpose and needs of we the customers who rely on using the website components.

I would highly suggest that they form a committee of frequent guests to work with the programmers to ensure the site works as required in all facets of its operational requirements!

I suggested that in writing to Michael Bayley and Richard Fain as well as to the agents I spoke to on the phone....you can see where that is going....NOWHERE.

I'm tempted to suggest that the lack of a note is due to the inability of the company to correctly alter its web site. But I won't :rolleyes:.

 

Were the company to post a note it would confirm that web site issues are endemic. Much better to leave customers thinking they are the only ones having problems.

I actually think the issue is more serious than that. I think the reason they did not post a message is because they really did not know the full extent of the issues and how long it would take to correct. So, instead of putting out a message that they would have to be held accountable for, they said nothing. It strikes me as an "if we ignore it, it will just go away" type of response.

I'm still waiting for this new system to remove the "one night" cruise Royal assigned to my list of cruises.

I have one too. I called them and they told me it was a future cruise credit we bought on a past cruise. You might want to check with them to see if that is the same thing for you. If it is' date=' then it will be stay there until you convert it to a full cruise.[/font']

I have a huge group sailing on Thursday and another in April. I have not been able to sign in since last Thursday. Fortunately, I did find a "back door" that allowed me to log in and change something in my cruise planner. It also enabled me to talk people through it who had not yet printed their documents. Even that no longer works. I've cleared my cache and cookies, tried three different browsers and changed my password twice. All I get is "We are unable to process your request right now. So, please try again later." I am honestly shocked that they didn't do more testing before rolling it out. Also, once they discovered this disaster, could they not have reverted back to the old site until they could work things out?

This is RCI we are talking about. When have they admitted they did anything incorrectly? Everything is a inconvenience that they are sorry about.

As a retired IT professional after 40 years in the business, I can truly say I am glad I was not involved in this website launch disaster. Not only would I have been embarrassed to be connected with it, the companies that I had worked for over all those years would not have been pleased either. It is obvious that RCI rushed this to their production system without adequate testing.

Now, with that said, I can say that this morning, for the first time since Wednesday when this all started, I was able to get in and have a look around because I did the new logon in process a couple of days ago and did use my e-mail address (even though they say we can use our ID) BUT, I found out that the only browser that I managed to used successfully was Chrome. I have noticed that there are still components missing, for example the C & A preferences are still not there and there was a hint from a phone agent they might not (HUH), also when I followed the link to the cruise planner, there was no way to do it by first selecting a cruise. This meant when I got to the cruise planner, I had to enter my cruise details for it to bring up the options available to me for that cruise. This is not the most efficient way of doing things, but at least there is a "working" link. The Dashboard also gives me a working link to the on line sign in (thank goodness).

Bottom line, RCI messed this up "royally" and they, as typical, have not stepped up to the plate and admit it. Instead they hide behind the "sorry for the inconvenience" line and hope that we will just bide our time until they get this into some semblance of a working order. Considering how long the old site was running and people were still having issues with it, my hopes are not that high.

I have already written my thought on all of this to Richard Fain and Michael Bayley. I would suggest that additional letters to them would not hurt the situation as this roll-out process is unacceptable to their loyal customers and it certainly does not bode well for new customer confidence.

That is just MHO.