Landlocked Luke

I don't quite understand the point of the MDR unless there are some standards, but I assume that I am in the minority now which is fine. It has just become more important in our culture to preserve the individual right of choice instead of insisting on some arbitrary standard. While some people consider wearing flipflops, shorts, and tank top on formal night to be a perfectly acceptable choice, I just assume it is because they are a slob and can't be bothered to go back to the cabin and change for dinner. I don't get upset by it or glare at the people. That is just who we are now as a society. There is nothing special about going on a cruise that warrants any special care or planning. It may have been something that grandpa's generation cared about, but things change.

12 hours ago, joand452 said:

We sailed in an ocean suite on Carnival Vista last December -- FTTF was included.  We were with friends, who had a regular balcony cabin.  We did get on the ship well before they did, but our suite was not available to us for at least two hours after their cabin was ready.

 

So glad we hadn't paid extra for that!  

 

I've been reading this thread for since it began -- if pax think this program is worth it for them, why do so many of you complain?  The drink package is not worth it for us, but I don't care if someone else wants to buy it.  I'd never complain and try to talk someone out of it.  

 

If you don't like a for-fee add on, don't buy it.  Plain and simple.

The reason for the complaints is that many of the benefits provide the convenience to Key holders at the inconvenience of everybody else. It costs RC nothing but further restricts seating, ride operation time, and getting to port for those that don't pay up.

9 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Just my opinion, but it comes down to if RC took reasonable steps in determining whether the excursion operator was operating in a safe manner.  A recently done "mystery shopper" safety visit would absolve them of most wrong doing in my mind (assuming they found the operator doing things safely at that point).  But a "known" safety inspection at the same time would mitigate some wrong doing, but not as much as the mystery shopper.  If it can be proven that RCI said something like "we're sending a safety team out in three weeks, make sure (wink, wink) that everyone is on their toes.", then I would hold them more responsible. 

It is simpler than that.

RC is selling a service provided by a vendor. There is no relationship between the deceased and the shoddy zipline company. Waivers only protect from uncontrollables - like the guest getting sick, being struck by lightning... Once negligence or shoddy equipment occurs the waiver disappears. Ask every amusement park in the US. If someone dies on your ride, you are writing a big check.

Now RC can try to collect from the vendor after paying out to the deceased, but good luck with that. I'm sure RC's insurance is structured to take this hit.

Almost everyone positions the pricing value of a beverage package directly against the stadium prices that the cruise line charges a la carte. The same logic is used to sell time-shares.

In contrast, purchasing the deluxe package in advance with the typical discount will still cost you over $900 for two people on a seven day cruise. So most of the posters in this thread believe that $900 for alcohol is a good deal. If spending that much money for booze seems a bit much than maybe, just maybe, you should be budgeting better and consider what your actual needs are while onboard. Despite what you hear and read, a cruise is not a frat party.

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

It varies with ship and some times itinerary. Don't think it was ever available for the rock wall, but paid sessions for the Flowrider have been available for years, this new program just adds to the paid sessions.

So adding an additional exclusive time for key members they must do at least one of the following:

Begin operating the flowrider earlier in the day

Continue operating the flowrider later in the day

Eliminating a paid private and/or group lesson time period

Reduce the number of hours that the flowrider can be used by anyone

The first three either cost them more in labor or reduce their income. The fourth costs them nothing. I think it is a smart wager to anticipate an even more limited public hours of operation.

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

I don't think we have had reports of reduced times in places like rock wall or Flowrider - the two venues in the Key program.

I'll be able to answer that question in a few weeks.

What are the normal hours of public operation for Flowrider and Climbing Wall?

(Public being anyone on the ship can access without paying an additional fee)

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Being able to say no or simply ignoring does help not falling for all the marketing gimmicks.

Perhaps you don't understand the reference. Many time-share resorts require attendees to spend hours sitting in their high pressure marketing events - effectively wasting your time while on vacation - even if you don't buy anything.

By reducing public access times for many of their featured products they are effectively taking your time because now the public will have even longer waits during open access periods.

My takeaway from this is that a big chunk of the benefits for purchasing The Key is gaining priority over other cruisers for commonly available functions (tendering, ice skating, flowrider, climbing wall). RCI is selling the inconvenience of other passengers - kind of like FastPasses at amusement parks.

As someone that falls into the bottom 99% should I expect to wait a couple hours to get into port and only have public access to the skating, rock climbing, and flowrider for a couple hours a day so that more time can be blocked-off so important people can feel more important? I'm already regretting booking the cruise that leaves in a few weeks. What I thought would be a relaxing vacation is starting to feel like going to a resort that is marketing time-shares.

21 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

Dude, not the point at all. For one thing - the OP only has 3 people so you're "it's cheaper for 4 to have 2 cabins" is just useless.

I was trying to generalize for the situation many cruisers face with family. The OP is sharing a cabin with a MIL. That is a situation all by itself.

Just now, HBE4 said:

 

Oh, and $821 is crazy expensive for a drink package.  Last cruise I was on, it was a little over $330 for 7 nights.

For two. With the current 15% discount plus automatic gratuity.

Regular price is $60/day + 15% or $483 for a seven day cruise.

8 minutes ago, gatour said:

 

Actually the cheapest thing is cutting the cruise.

 

If you think about it.

2 drinks with lunch or there abouts

a pre dinner drink while your wife is getting ready in the cabin.

then 2 drinks with dinner.

During the main show a drink or two.

Afterwards stopping in a lounge to listen to some live music another drink or two.

Spread over a full day getting up to 7-8 drinks without getting falling down drunk is not hard to do.

 That only works out if you are on a cruise to nowhere.

A typical seven day cruise has two sea days where you could get those seven drinks in. If you actually go ashore you are falling behind. People often forget that when calculating if a package is worthwhile. If you have the money and it is part of your budget then why not. However if you are already making sacrifices to cut costs the easiest cost to cut is booze. For my upcoming cruise in four weeks adding the alcohol package is just slightly more than the actual cost of the cruise (not including gratuities). If I wanted to add it the cost would be $821.10 right now (that includes a 15% discount right now)

As I said, if dropping over $800 on alcohol is a necessity and fits in the budget that's great. If you are looking to keep costs in line that would be the easiest choice to make.

4 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

I dunno, how much time do you really spend in your room? Unless you're one to sit on a balcony for hours - your room is often the place you use the least on a cruise. Makes sense to cut costs on the things you use the least. 

Can't think of a single reason to not having young children or a parent in your room with you?

Putting the kids/parents across the hall or in an adjoining cabin doesn't cost that much more and definitely has some rewards.

I know from experience that having two adjoining Promenade cabins is quite a bit less than four sharing a single oceanview cabin.  

I'm always amused at the idea of a couple sharing a cabin with kids or in-laws to save money, yet then drop serious money on two alcohol packages. if you can't have a nice vacation without over a half dozen drinks a day you might have a problem. If money is an issue the cheapest thing to cut is booze.

Actually if you are undressed or performing a sexual act and can be seen from the street the cops will come and haul YOU away for public indecency. 

The towel situation is baffling.

I have been in hundreds of hotels (travel for work) and pretty much every chain has piles of towels available freely at the pool, spa, exercise room. If the lodging industry has moved beyond worrying about the towels what does that say about RCI?

And the net result of this will be fewer actual orders, but the orders that they receive will be for far more food. Encourage more waste and generally increase the dissatisfaction based upon feeling nickeled and dimed.

I've gotten fairly good results from my Fujifilm XP90. Fairly inexpensive and purchased as a P&S that my daughter can take camping and into the water. Not so expensive that if it is destroyed or sinks to the bottom of the ocean I will be put out. The low-light performance isn't so great though, but it does have an optical zoom (5x). Uses the full sized SD cards and charges with a microUSB port.

If you just want something for snorkeling, pool, or beach it should perform adequately.

Decent Gin and Whiskey choices. Scraping the bottom of the barrel with the vodka and tequila.

Your cruise is going to the Bahamas. Where do you think Nassau is? You want to see the real Bahamas, it's not a Coco Cay, which is a private beach island in the Bahamas. Nassau is the real Bahamas.

Coco provides all of the usual 'day at beach' excursion benefits at no fee. Purchased drink packages are also honored on the island. It doesn't offer an actual culture to experience though.

I will also point out that there are no similar excursion options available at Miami. Most Miami excursions are in-transit offerings which don't apply. Since the time in port is limited (I think the ship leaves Miami at 4) there is risk getting off the boat (and going through customs), getting a cab, and then finding an equivalent beach experience. Not cheap, that's for sure.

RC could have solved this issue by just going to a different island in the Bahamas.

Okay, my family was impacted in the exact same way. My wife surprised me with a nice balcony room for the four of us (11&13 year old kids included) on the Vision.

I was very excited. A little cautious about having kids on a small ship with three sea days, but stopping at Coco was a huge plus.

A nice beach day in which we would still be eating and drinking on the cruise's dime. Getting the same experience the next day at Nassau would cost hundreds.

Then the change arrived. Miami is a point of departure, not a destination. Can't just walk off the boat and enjoy the city. All the places worth visiting are a decent Uber drive away. And I'm not sure taking kids to South Beach would be very wise.

So after thinking about it the day in Miami would probably be a third sea day in a row. The small ship would have my kids highly bored by that time and bored kids can wreck a vacation. We had already paid a $1000 deposit and ALL of that would be forfeited if we cancelled. So after learning that I had entered the pissed stage.

However, unlike the original poster, I had an ace up my sleeve. My wife is an attorney and it took her two calls to find someone with a clue. We traded a balcony for four on the Vision for two joining Promenade rooms on the Liberty AND got a Fare reduction, an additional discount, and all transfer fees waved.

So I got a happy ending. If the original poster is reading this maybe you can get the same change. It changed the departure port from New Orleans to Galveston and pushed the departure day back one day. I'm still a little pissed at RC over this. Changing ports when things happen at the last minute and out of their control is one thing, changing an advertised feature because you won't pay enough to get the work done on time is another.

Also, first post! I had been lurking and learning for a while, but I finally registered once I had something to add.