topnole

It only works for me.

Every single thing about cruising is massively wasteful. Other than for the workers, it’s entirely unnecessary pleasure travel. As far as towels, I don’t care, but they put a lot of smiles on faces every day in every cruise and that is the reason many love cruising (the joy of the experience). They aren’t going to charge for them anyhow, so it’s irrelevant. Nothing wrong with Royal doing surveys to determine what customers want and more importantly what they are willing to pay for. This is a sign they are behaving strategically with justification as opposed to just guessing and implementing strategies without data to back up the choice.

4-7 days out depending on the concierge. Patience.

Maybe I’m wrong, but from your post it sounds like you might have had one child. Put yourself in the shoes of those of us with several children. Should I wait until my daughter’s is 10 because my youngest won’t remember much? Of course not. And who cares how much they remember. It’s about being together as a family and enjoying time together. My kids would never want to go if we left our youngest behind (assuming we even could). I love traveling with all three of my kids and that includes my 2 year old. We all have a blast together and that is why I travel with them. It’s really a pretty simple thing.

This is spot on! You aren’t creating memories. You are providing them experiences that allow them to learn and develop. By the logic of some in this thread, should 2 year olds not go to the zoo or a museum because they won’t remember it? Of course not, they love zoos and learn even if it isn’t evident each time you go. Same with any type of travel, they are learning from the experience and most likely having a ton of fun with all of the new and exciting things on a cruise. It’s also a great opportunity for them to try new and less common menu items not typically served at home. By the way, on our last cruise my 7 year old asked me about something we did on a cruise when she was….wait for it…..2. So yes, experiences gained can lead to memories for even a 2 year old.

Hmmm. Because you can’t leave them home alone and you want to get away. Two year olds are humans, not pets. Not everyone has a nanny or a grandparent to leave them with and many wouldn’t even if they do. Having a few kids, I’ve cruised with a two year old many times. Had a blast every time and so did they (even if they won’t remember it)

My experience is the same.

I’ve read that too and apparently it is true based on reports I read on a different star class forum. However, that is a cabin specific perk and lord knows anyone staying in that suite is paying some significant $$$ for it. Significantly more than most Star class cabins which are already expensive. I priced it out once for my family and I think it was between 50-60k for a week. It was less than half of that for a different star class cabin.

They are already close to doing that. Many cruises can be found for dirt cheap (not all) and the food is of course solid at best and far from anything special. In essence, to have a true nice dining experience you have to go to a specialty restaurant. It wasn’t always that way. Like airlines, for standard fares (seats/cabin), the prices are way cheaper than they were 30 years ago. So, they make their profits elsewhere. I doubt they ever do as you mentioned because it would be to complex to efficiently implement. But who knows.

It was a 14 day cruise so a bit over $8 extra per day. Had it been a week long trip, it would a $60 on top. I really don’t think that is some type of huge extra tip. People tip a bartender a buck or two per drink, but somehow $8 extra for someone that cleans the room and bathroom is too much? Honestly, rare is an occasion where I wouldn’t tip at least $60 extra to a room attendant for a week long cruise. Who knows about his reaction. Maybe he was tired, got confused who gave it to him/her, or he was distracted/busy. But I guarantee he/she appreciated it. If you are happy with the service and feel tipping is appropriate, don’t stop because there many on here who chide anyone on here who tips or tips extra.

And there was a time that many thought it was crazy that some people would pay extra for an upscale dinner experience. Honestly, the survey seemed wise to me so that they have a feel for what people want and more importantly what they are willing to pay extra for while on a cruise. That is one of the keys to executing strategy well. Cruising went from be expensive up front with most everything included other than alcohol, to mostly cheap up front with many a la cart up charges. It’s a different business model now for all of them than it was 30 years ago. It’s smart to figure out what customers feel is the bare minimum required for them to cruise on Royal.

It can vary based on many things including cabin location. So one experience can’t really be used to predict future experiences for others. The best thing to do I assume there will be some slow times/spotty issues and plan accordingly for one’s job. I’ve sailed a couple times since the Star link went in. It is great for a ship, but in my experience it isn’t anywhere near being like at home in terms of reliability. Peak use time periods are going to slow it down on a ship. Just a matter of when that happens and when you are trying to use it.

This! Did a TA this year with starlink. It was spotty/slow at times and I’m glad I didn’t need it for work for real-time meetings etc. At times email would choke on simple attachments as an example. Simply tasks took much longer than they would have otherwise.

Absolutely nothing extra as Star class. They even charge extra for the pay food, so don’t assume it is included like specialty restaurants.

Thanks. Glad to hear it.

Can anyone with recent experience on Enchantment chime in on how your internet has been working. Slow? Spotty? Time of day makes a difference? Have a little work to do on a future cruise as just want to prepare accordingly. No high demand stuff like video calls, just want to get ahead of some things if it takes 10 minutes to pull up a file.

Officially it has. But still in their best interest to keep sick folks off the ships. Per the OPs words, they would’ve gone otherwise which could’ve easily caused illness to other people. So the in practice method (unofficial policy) must be working with some folks at least. I still can’t understand why anyone would knowingly board a ship with Covid (or other things like the flu) regardless. Glad Royal does refunded them so others didn’t get sick as well.

No soda machine. Just the bar when open. Ask for a few sodas to go and leave a dollar or two. They will be happy to give them to you.

The thousands walking around aimlessly with their nose in their cell phones are more annoying to me. So are the folks talking on them or listening to music/video on speaker mode. Reminder folks. Pull of to side if reading something on your phone on the promenade. Get some earphones/buds and no need to shout when on a phone call. 90+% of folks are clueless about how loud they are or they are just plain rude. Either way, they are annoying bozos.

3 and 7. Wow. Can’t imagine leaving a 3 year old with a 7 year old in charge. At some point that strategy is going to fail miserably.

What? You said everyone is alway paying more? Your current comment has zero to do with your prior comment. And how can you say every suite guest buys Internet? It is 100% fact that isn’t true.

Wrong and wrong. Not everyone does any particular thing and they certainly don’t always do it.

You do realize many wouldn’t want to pay the extra Royal would want for including the additional perk? If everyone was willing to pay extra for the perk, they would build it in. They have been excluding it for a reason for a while. Maybe they will change when everyone wants and will pay the extra for the perk.

Suites are cheaper on the older ships. They would just charge more if they started adding sky class benefits to all ships. You get what you pay for and for some that is good because they don’t want or need internet for everyone in the suite.

We did several week long cruises before my daughter turned one. I think most week long in the Caribbean are no problem for this. You can always call or ask a travel agent to confirm.