twangster

Navigator

At the moment there are 1,000 new feet that are willing to take the place of mine. Bookings are up, prices are up. We can all choose to vote with our wallet but at this moment in time that's a pretty weak stance to take.

Personally I wish the government would or could force all cruise lines to include it. As long as they are not required to include it there will always be one cruise line that will continue to advertise fares without DSC included so that they appear to be less expensive. If they are all required to include it only then is it a level playing field. Same with bag fees on airlines. Same with resort charges from hotels.

That is one approach and understandable why you feel that way. However also understand that at the end of the day the cruise line will always need to show investors what investors want and need to see - revenue targets, profit and expense statements, etc. One way or another the company will meet those revenue targets. Higher cruise fares, more chargeable items on board, higher internet fees, and so on. One way or another we all will pay more for something when people opt out of DSC. There is no free lunch, not even in the Windjammer. We all still pay for it, one way or another. Personally I'm leaving the DSC as is, and I prepay mine. It's part of the cost of my vacation.

Therein lies the problem. Someone who is/was in a position to know has offered their actual compensation at around $10k per contract, well short of the money trail. So are we being misled by all the cruise lines that provide the allocation of DSC? Where does the money really go?

The problem, as always, is the ambiguity surrounding DSC and how much actually gets paid to a particular crew member. We are led to believe a specific amount is given to a position such as a cabin attendant but then it's been pointed out by someone who knows, actual total compensation is really around $1,400 per month. So which is it? Please check my math. Based on the breakdown of gratuity in this post: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2914351-current-breakdown-of-gratuities-as-of-january-2023-with-increase/?do=findComment&comment=65038320 $4.05 of the new $16 daily gratuity charge goes to the cabin attendant. Others have posted $3.05 per day per guest. Will the cruise line continue to allocate $3.05 - $4.05 to each cabin attendant as they add more cabins to their assignment? I don't see why they would adjust the allocation for the cabin attendant when altering their workload but if they are reducing the cabin attendant allocation, where does the extra money go and will they provide new allocations for the DSC? It's been reported that cabin attendants are increasing from around 16 cabins to 22 cabins (not doubling as some have assumed). Old 16 cabins x $4.05 per day x 2 guests = $129.60 per day. New 22 cabins x $4.05 per day x 2 guests = $178.20 per day. OR, if you want to use the $3.05 figure, Old 16 cabins x $3.05 per day x 2 guests = $97.60 per day. New 22 cabins x $3.05 per day x 2 guests = $134.20 per day. Some cabins may have more than two guests but sometimes there are solo cruisers. With the industry wrapped around the concept of double occupancy we can leave the average at two guests per cabin to make the math easier. A typical 7 month contract has ~213 working days. They work every day. Old 16 cabins - 213 days * $129.60 per day = $27,604 per contract New 22 cabins - 213 days * $178.20 per day = $37,956 per contract OR, if you want to use the $3.05 figure, Old 213 days * $97.60 per day = $20,788 per contract New 213 days * $134.20 per day = $28,584 per contract Either way, on the surface that is a 37% increase for picking up more cabins. But is it? With 365 days per year if a cabin attendant has two months off and then returns for another contract they will work 304 days per year. There are no weekends off for these folks, they work everyday. Old 16 cabin - 304 days * $129.60 per day = $39,398 per year New 22 cabins - 304 days * $178.20 per day = $54,172 per year OR, if you want to use the $3.05 figure, Old 16 cabins - 304 days * $97.60 per day = $29,670 per year New 22 cabins - 304 days * $134.20 per day = $40,796 per year Has their total compensation really changed at all? Is it still the $1,400 per month figure? If so, that is $9,800 over a 7 month contract. Where does the rest of the $20,788 per contract (based on $3.05) or $27,604 per contract (based on $4.05) go? We are led to believe it goes to the cabin attendant but that is a lot more than the $9,800 that an insider has posted. If these amounts are not going to the crew member as suggested by the cruise lines then this is the whole problem with the gray nature of DSC. If I have made any mistakes or bad assumptions please correct me.

No. Just an empty cruise planner.

A TA sent me a screenshot for a cruise one time. It included the URL. It's not something I normally use, not very often. When I saw your post it jogged my memory and that made me think about Utopia.

You can also add a currency on the end of the URL &currencyCode=USD US Dollars &currencyCode=AUD Australian &currencyCode=CAD Canadian &currencyCode=GBP Pound Sterling etc. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/account/cruise-planner/category/beverage?bookingId=0000000&shipCode={ShipCode}&sailDate={YYYYMMDD}&currencyCode=(XYZ)

While subject to change the Monday - Friday - Monday rotation appears to continue for months. Turkey anyone? Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

You're not supposed to arrive at 8am! Just kidding!

Potential Utopia start date July 15, 2024 4 night / 3 night PDCC & Nassau https://www.royalcaribbean.com/account/cruise-planner/category/arcade?bookingId=000000&shipCode=UT&sailDate=20240715

Preliminary Inaugural Date July 15 - 19, 2024 - 4 Nights July 19-22, 2024 - 3 nights And so on, and so on, and so on.... https://www.royalcaribbean.com/account/cruise-planner/category/arcade?bookingId=000000&shipCode=UT&sailDate=20240715

RCCL Earnings Call , May 4, 2023 Q and A Michael Bayley -- President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Caribbean International Hi, Benjamin. Yeah, I mean I think we're truly delighted with Perfect Day, and I think the comments earlier, we spoke about the volume that we're attracting to Perfect Day. This year, we'll take around 2.5 million of our guests to Perfect Day. And the pricing premiums continue to be really robust, and the spend on the island continues to be really robust as well. So, we've seen -- as we've increased the volume, we've seen no decline in the power of the pricing. And in fact, it continues to accelerate. With Hideaway Beach, that will accommodate approximately 2,500 more guests. So, today, we're -- I think in March, we had close to 250,000 guests in Perfect Day. And on average now, we're having around 11,000 guests a day in CocoCay. With Hideaway, we can add another 2,500, 3,000 guests. And that's really for design to be open in time for Icon of the Seas. And, of course, Icon we'll visit at the end of January, and Icon will be going to Perfect Day every single week. We've also got Utopia coming online in June. We haven't announced the deployment, but Utopia will also be going to Perfect Day. And the demand is just very strong. I mean we've seen -- there's a lot of demand for that particular product in any of our ships that have Perfect Day on their itinerary demanded, and there's strong pricing premium that we see there. Jason Liberty -- Chief Executive Officer Just one point on Hideaway for modeling purposes, just keep in mind that it's coming online at the very end of this year. But its ramp-up of operations and so forth, as Michael said, is kind of in line when Icon comes online, which will be toward the end of January. So, just as you're thinking about yielding costs, just keep that in mind.

No one goes to Walmart expecting it to be like Nordstroms. No one buys a entry level economy car and expects it to perform like a luxury vehicle. Royal tends to cost more, they are rarely the cheapest cruise option. Even if that is just slightly more, people have higher expectations that come with a slightly elevated price.

Probably medical.

Could you imagine an Oasis class ship plugging into shore power to satisfy CARB in CA? Half the state would go dark. 🤣

Screenshot of a YT video posted by Royal Caribbean Blog dot Com They toured Icon in the shipyard recently. During a cabin tour they caught this shot of an access point within a cabin. Looks like a Cisco 9105AXW. Royal seems to have settled on Cisco wireless going forward.

Tender ports in HI. Not going to work with OA class. Better to keep her in the Atlantic.

Refundable OBC is automatically applied to your CC assuming you have one on file. No fees applied in my experience. Non-refundable OBC is lost if you don't spend it or cash it out one way or another.

Royal puts between 8 and 18 systems on each ship. Plus I doubt consumer conditions apply. I'm sure they have negotiated a master contract that applies to all RCG ships.

Yes. Three of us all had our contracted raise go up. One was able to get it fixed within 24 hours. One was able to get it fixed but it took more than 10 phones calls over two weeks. I was never able to get mine fixed. Since it was a short cruise the final payment was due 75 days out. On day 90 thinking I had two weeks left to fix it I checked my booking and discovered someone set my final payment day to 90 days (invoice says 75 days). If I didn't cancel it that day they would cancel it for non-payment the next day so I canceled and took the refund. All of my friends kept their 75 day final payment due date. I am convinced someone adjusted my final payment due date because I called and tried to get my rate adjusted back to the contracted rate. They were trying to get me canceled so I'd lose my deposit. They are a terrible sleazy company. This was to be my 4th cruise with them. I did get to drive my friend to the port today to board the ship I was supposed to sail on were it not for MSC shenanigans. We talked about it in the car on the way there.

Bayley said they'd open Utopia for booking in June 2023. Of course Bayley has said stuff before...

My bad, on Seascape in November from PCN. Probably cancelling that though. Just a matter of time before MSC raises me rates again, Dreadful, terrible company.