Engineroom Snipe

I am going to provide pictures and detailed descriptions of non MDR food per my promise to many faithful posters next week. The good news, Windjammer has stepped up their offerings. Breakfast is very good. Not 2018 but MUCH better than my Oasis cruise last September, 2022. Lunch has improved noticeably. Dinner is good. Still want for more quality beef protein but improved. Pictures and descriptions will be provided on a one week delay so I can do justice to the review and not take too much time from my current cruise. El Loco Fresh, improved and moving in the right direction. So far, the worse thing I can find is extremely watery sour cream. Five out of six is not bad. At least an 8 out of 10. In general, some stupid issues with trying to get a cup of ice without staff support. I will go into detail next week. Sigh, Park Cafe had many misses so far this week. Hoping to find it improved before I leave. All in all having a great cruise but not visiting Nest Cruise this trip. Will post next Monday with lots of pictures so you can judge for yourself. At Crown and Anchor event, about 2,000 repeat cruisers, cannot find a reliable number for total pax onboard yet. Seems less than last year. Aqua show was spectacular but very loud as reported by others. Starboard stern vibration which gets more noticable with height. No stern vibration amidship or on port side. A glass placed on a table will show a vrarion ripple. I could care less but not quite how this feels in a cabin in that area. I am in forward inside cabin deck nine. Only one cabin to my starboard and I think it is empty. I have a private hermit cave. Very good steward. Life is good. I could be bias. 🤣

There is so much "noise" surrounding RCI right now. I respect your decision making. Until your next cruise.......

I had an assigned inside cabin on the Oasis tomorrow. Bid minimum plus a bit for inside spacious, exterior view spacious, and panoramic spacious view. I was happy to be informed today I was unsuccessful on all of my bids. Why would I be happy? I was informed more than 24 hours before boarding that I was denied. I have no expectations of an upgrade and fully prepared to accept the original room that I picked. This is the way it should be. I have rarely been informed that I was unsuccessful until after the ship had left port. This is a step in the right direction for RCI.

I cannot add anything to this quote."I think it just depends on what your like." Regards.

I am of the camp, "pick the cabin you really want," and be careful what you wish for during your Royal-Up bid. For instance, I could pick the perfect balcony room near the elevators and stairs on a deck one or two levels below the pool deck. I get upgraded to a Junior Suite that is at the very end (stern) of the ship. At first glance, a JS is a huge upgrade but look at the Jewel of the Seas for example, the nearest elevator is midship. You have to walk half of the distance of the ship each and every time to get to your cabin from the elevator. Depending on your mobility, this could be a huge consideration.

I, like yourself, just want a good, solid cruise. Pay attention to the little things and I do not care about any perks. I was a "nothing" before they even invented Crown and Anchor on my first cruise and I think I enjoyed everything about it more than all of the "points" they have given me since then.

Yeah, show up at the equivalent of their "Diamond Lounges" and physical altercations would follow the verbal arguments. I would chalk the "high spirits" of passion being caused by liquid spirits. 😬

Will do. If I find anything outstanding in a good or bad way, I will try to take pictures to allow readers to make their own opinions.

I am in the same dilemma. I still have four more cruises booked from 2022: two this year and two next year. I am trying to keep an open mind but my last experience on the Oasis in September, 2022, before the announced dining and room service changes, was subpar. I got a good price on the cruise and still felt it was a fair value. I made more reservations at that time for 2023 and 2024 at what I felt were very good prices. I enjoyed my Enchantment of the Sea out of Baltimore last April. MDR and Windjammer food selections were reduced and quality of food did not seem normal. I had problems for two days trying to even find my cabin steward. Still a good cruise. Going on Oasis this weekend and only eating in Windjammer so I can make a full week of evaluations. On the Jewel in November, 9 days. We have reserved second seating in MDR and will eat all nights in the MDR for over 9 days of evaluation. These cruises are going to help me determine my future with RCI, especially if they keep future base cruise prices elevated from what I paid. I am hoping for the best. I will have a good time no matter what. I am now starting to ponder other cruise lines. I might have to pay more for those cruisers. I want to go back to an experience which includes more with the basic fairs and do not play games with add-ons. This "a la carte" airline type of pricing is confusing and starting to affect my desire to cruise with RCI.

For not being good at math, you do money percentages extremely well! 🤑😁

Yes, the Windjammer Sushi station would open early at 5:30pm which allowed time for a 6:00pm MDR and was a great snack if you had 8:00pm main dining.

I have doing Royal since my first honeymoon cruise in 1988. I enjoyed all of my cruises. My main point is that I take into consideration the price points when I critique. You are OK for the price you paid. You will have a great time. I am OK with the prices I PAID (emphasis past tense). If the prices stayed the same as I paid, I would book more even knowing some of the cutbacks. I am not paying 2 to 3 times more for the exact cruises with the cutbacks. That simple.

I have made comments about how a majority of repeat, regular cruisers, book years in advance. I am one of those cruisers. I booked my 2023 cruises (three) around July, 2022 when the prices were half of the current 120 days before departure prices this year. In some cases these prices are almost three times more than what I paid. That is not inflation or the cost of operations. That is supply and demand, I got it. I would be paying almost three time more ($3000 versus $1000) to select an interior room. My balcony rooms are a minimum of half the current prices in premium locations which I picked. I booked two cruises for 2024 in September of 2022. Again, one cruise is almost 1/3 of the current asking price and the other is between 1/2 and 1/3 and these again were selected rooms. This is the scenario. Regular repeat cruisers snapped up very good prices last year for reservations for 2023 and 2024. Combine this uptick in reservations with "revenge cruising vacations" where money was no object" at the end of covid situation. No vaccine requirement or testing after about December, 2022. Cruisers were informed that they had to use their future cruise credits that they might have had for two years. I believe that this year will be a banner year and next year will be a good year for RCI occupancy. The current prices being offered in 2024 are substantially higher than what I have paid. Add to the continuous money saving cuts to meals and service (my opinion after thirty-five years of cruising, mostly on RCI), I am holding off on any more 2024 reservations and not making any 2025 reservations at this time. RCI will only start to see people like myself disappear about February of next year (2024) because I normally would have at least three more reservations for later 2024 and 2025. They will try and hold the prices up as long as possible. If more cruisers, like myself, start doing the same thing, there is going to be a big hole in confirmed future reservations. The prices will probably start coming down in 2025. RCI needs to lure those cruisers who commit in advance so they can raise prices as the cruise gets closer to embarking. This has been the cruise model, early reservations get the best price but one must commit money up-front for years to get that price and the room location of choice. I do not mind doing that but I am not committing early money on a deposit for a price I feel is not proper. I feel these prices will go down in 2025 and I have nothing to lose by waiting. If they go up from now, than I was not going to purchase them anyway. No loss. I spend the money elsewhere. I am not committing to pay existing prices for the quality of food now being offered. If you are going to offer me lower quality food offerings as part of the base price, I want a lower price than they think it is worth. That is my reasoning.

For 2023, the CEO thinks things are great and going in the proper direction. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/royal-caribbean-just-raised-earnings-guidance-for-the-second-time-this-year-heres-why-im-bullish-on-the-stock/ar-AA1fucMR One especially pertinent quote to the small add-ons addressed in this economic post: Despite an encouraging increase in onboard guest expenditure, the amount passengers spent on experiences aboard Royal Caribbean cruises "remains lower than the long-term trend line," according to Liberty. (CEO Jason Liberty) They need to get more money out of the passenger during the cruise using any method possible. RCI is already charging more for the items that have an additional fee. The only way to make more money is to start charging for items that were previously included in the cruise price. Supply and demand. I cannot wait until 2025. This is going to get interesting.

Yes, It was late 1960's, many larger discount stores, (Garwood, at Race Track Circle, in Cherry Hill, NJ) did the same thing at the time. I remember it so many years ago because I had to do the same thing you did. I hope we do not go back to those times again. 🫣

I am one of those frequent cruisers. I am thinking along the same lines. I feel that RCI is targeting younger families with their newer ships which is a great thing for them. I just do not need all of the bells and whistles of the newer ships to enjoy myself. I do appreciate good food. I do not need large quantities but I appreciate quality. I am holding off on RCI future cruise reservations for the year 2025. I have my 2023 and 2024 reserved. I am going to use my remaining cruises as a test of RCI quality versus pricing against some of the competitors.

You have read many of my previous ideas on this subject. We are going to have to wait about two years for the backlog of long term cruise reservations to reflect these decisions. By the time RCI notices the lack of reservations which are not occurring one and two years in advance, it will be too late to "balance" the prices and then they will finally have the supply being greater than the demand.

So I should celebrate that I never noticed it before because I never considered paying for something so simple. I am happy again. I hope my lack of participation does not cause RCI's stock to collapse. 😁

Everyday, I learn something new about my life that makes me thankful for surviving all of my idiocy and bravado during my lifetime. Today, I face the most challenging life danger both in the morning and evening. My drive to and from work. It is o-dark-thirty in the morning, I am in a narrow construction lane on the far-right with concrete barriers 6 inches off of my passenger rear view mirror with no shoulder going over a small bridge. All of this occurring as a gasoline tanker is passing me at 70 mph in a 45 mph construction zone slowly drifting into my lane. Makes those memories of following the mosquito foggers on a bicycle seem rather tame and enjoyable. 🫠

OMG! Please say another attempt at nickel-and-diming is not happening! We are getting to the point that $2.00 plus gratuity for a hot cookie on Celebrity and $1.50 for a gelato on RCI are becoming the norm. 😢

You will also get a great perk: A behind the scenes tour with the engineering officer as he gives you hands-on exclusive operator's rights to the MSD (Marine Sanitation Device) control area. This is once in a lifetime privilege to make sure that the vacuum flushes make it to their final resting place keeping everything shipshape for your fellow passengers. Please make sure to dress accordingly (Tyvek hazmat suite, preferably dress white on formal night and matching organically filtered face-mask is recommended but not required). You must sign a waiver to be eligible for this 16 hour tour and everyone in your tour party must be present for the entire tour. There are no age limits but everyone participating is expected to be able to pull their weight and your hands will be checked for callouses. Those with observable callouses will be made honorary officers and supplied a keepsake whip which will have to be surrendered to the captain before being cleared on the final day of the cruise. 🤣

"But honey, you forgot your pants......", to which he responds dryly, "I have on sporty underwear." I like the man just from your description.

On second thought, the walkers would not be feasible for the MDR since the tables are so close to each other. Maybe there could be a small fee to have additional room around your table, similar to airlines charging more for seats that have more legroom. 🤔

RCI could make a fortune selling mandatory embroidered Tennis balls to protect the deck on the walkers. "Only official scuff-resistance tennis balls approved by RCI (available at the towel station for a fee) will be allowed for any walker races performed on-board." 😉

Your husband would have been very happy in a Viking dining hall! I can appreciate that! 😁