The Sunset Glow

On 4/21/2024 at 6:21 AM, not-enough-cruising said:

No, gratuities have increased for 2 reasons.

1. People keep paying them, so why not squeeze them a little more

2. The cruise-line is constantly increasing the pool of employees on salary assistance, ie. "other hotel services"

On 4/21/2024 at 7:29 AM, not-enough-cruising said:

Precisely 

I quit participating in the scam years ago, have never looked back, and never regretted my decision. 

Exactly this! We paid the auto grats when it first statred years ago and the "other hotel services" was around $1 then (I think I remember the first one being $0.90). We stopped auto grats when the "other" category went over $3-$4 but the other positions barely went up back then. We saw the writing on the wall in that RC had found a sneeky way to supplement salary positions by using money from the tip pool. "Other hotel services" is now around $6.50.

When auto grats were $14.50 per day Dining staff was about $6.25 and "other" was $4.70. Now at $18 per day Dining staff is about $6.95 (11% increase) and "other" is about $6.50 (40% increase). You don't have to be a genious to see what RC is doing here and I won't partake in it. Our $18 pp/pd (and more) will still be given out to the staff that serves us but it will be transacted from us to the staff directly.

We are D+ and have been sailing only Royal since our first cruise in 2000. We tried some other lines early on but settled with Royal as it fit our needs, preferences and price point the best. We have one more Royal cruise this year (booked when prcing was still very good) but that's it. This is the first time over a decade that we have not had multiple bookings in our planner. We will be looking at more higer-end/inclusive lines or land vacations going forward.

And this is not just because of the cost. Royal's pricing has gone way up but the food quality and service has been cut big time. The value for dollars is no longer there for us so we are moving on. This is not to say that we'll never be back - it would just have to be a better value than what they currently offer.

Been cruising with Royal since 2000 and can never remember the popcorn being free.

Every ship needs a food venue on the pool deck - one where you can get a quick meal with your bathing suit on.

36 minutes ago, cmich068 said:

 

I suspect the email was specifically targeted at people who haven't prepaid.

 

If you've already prepaid then the change doesn't affect you at all, you're already locked in at the old rates.

I have not prepaid for my May 2024 cruise and I have not received an email. 

7 hours ago, nelblu said:

You may be right, but my understanding from one of the many posts on this subject, is that RCL guarantees a certain amount of compensation to its staff and if the gratuity pool is short then have to make up the deficit.

IE pay them the minimum guaranteed wage as agreed in the employment contract. Maybe if there is often a deficit RC should re-evaluate the payment process and stop raising the gratuities to make up this deficit. Continually raising the gratuities only angers customers each time and causes even more people to remove them thus causing an even greater deficit. It's a never ending circle of cause and effect that won't change until the format changes.

36 minutes ago, New2Cruise76 said:

That's kind of a bummer to read. For the price of a cruise, I'd hope for better. It does seem like this is a change across most of the mainstream cruise lines. I'm willing to sacrifice food quality in exchange for a wider variety of amenities for my 3 kids.

 

My viewpoint is that every vacation has tradeoffs. There's a ton of cruise lines out there, and each person has to decide what they want to sacrifice to get something eles they desire.

 

At my stage in life (mid 40s, with 3 kids between 9 and 15), I'm looking for activities for my kids, some entertainment and bars for my wife and I, and the ability to see parts of the world I've never seen. In ten years, my desires are going to be completely different, and my vacation choices will change too.

 

I agree 100% on your last sentence, there is no need to drastically reduce quality levels. Doing that only alienates existing customers, and reduces a brand's reputation. I've never been able to understand why companies do that. I get that they're looking at improving quarterly sales and year over year profits, but the long term effects of that are almost always bad.

 

 

Well said. Agree with you 100%. The tradeoff comment is spot on. My tradeoff is I'm willing to give up my loyalty perks with Royal and cruise on a different cruiseline so I can get some decent food. If I have to pay more but get less on Royal then I will look elsewhere for better value/higher quality. 

Royal has awesome ships, especially for families, and I'm sure you will have a great time. Our kids are grown and in University so the bells and whistles are not as important as they used to be. My hubby loves the FlowRider but even that will no longer keep us coming back. We've hit the breaking point for us.

I hear about lots of Loyal to Royal cruisers that are also moving on. Royal still has record breaking bookings but will those bookings continue? Will the bubble burst at some point and will Royal need those Loyal cruisers again? If that does happen will those once loyal customers come back? Some will, some won't. Some will have found another product that they are happy with. To me they are taking a gamble in alienating their long-time frequent cruisers by focusing on the new cruisers who are willing to pay more for less - and I'm not disbararging new cruisers, I just mean that they don't know what it once was so their perspective is different. Many first-time cruisers are one-and-done - a bucket list item for some. Other first time cruisers will try different cruise lines for their next ones - we did. So how many of the new cruisers will become loyal repeats and will it be enough to offset the loyal cruisers they lose? Time will tell. I hope it works for them - I just won't be a part of this new era.

I still remember our first cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas in 2000 - we were amazed! Now that ship is the smallest class they have. So many things have changed since then - but the only constant in life is change. I hope you and your family have an absolutely fantastic cruise. 

55 minutes ago, New2Cruise76 said:

I find these reviews on the fiod interesting. We've never been on a cruise before, and I've been pouring over both RCL and CCL and both have tons of posts about how bad the food is.

 

I'm a little picky when it comes to food, if it's prepared poorly I'm not very happy. To be honest though, one of my family's treat restraunts pre-covid was Golden Corral (in my defense, it was never my choice, primarily because it's a 40m drive to the nearest one, but you know what they say, Happy wife, happy life). And a special occasion calls for Olive Garden, Red Lobster, or Outback.

 

I'm personally far more concerned about service. The chefs and wait staff have little control over what materials they're allowed to start with, that's a bean counter decision. It seems my backwoods family will probably be just fine with MDR fare.

 

We're also doing a cruise for the ship and the ports, to a lesser extent, and not necessarily the food. But i would hope for at least a slight increase in service and food quality compared to the restaurants above.

I have not eaten at Golden Corral but Olive garden, Red Lobster and Outback have way better food than the MDR on Royal ships now. I've eaten better food in a hospital cafeteria than what I had on my recent B2B. 

Now, since this your first curise, you may think it's fine but for those of us who have been cruising for 20+ years it is hard to accept the current offerings.Truly disappointing.

Making record profits but killing the brand. They had a good product but the deep cuts in the food budget have made me look elsewhere for the first time in 15 years. Other than the cruise I have booked for next year (booked at a reasonable price before the huge increases), I'm done with Royal. High prices, reduced service and crap food has no value for me. The 5 free drinks per day and 2 days of internet will not keep me loyal to Royal the way it is now.

29 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

Keep in mind , one thing that seems very clear from many reports , along with my own experience , the food quality can vary greatly from ship to ship . Therefore regardless of your experience in may I don't feel it would be conclusive to anything . If you have a good experience it is not necessarily indicative of a fleet wide improvement , and vise versa for a bad experience. One thing is near certain ... You won't have an epic "Wow , that dining was through the roof"" experience !

Gl

 

Cheers

Totally agree. I wil keep an eye on food reviews and see what the general concensus is throughout the fleet. But if we have 2 bad experiences in a row then the odds are not in our favour and we will switch to something where we have a better chance of getting decent food - If that makes sense. I don't want to spend a lot of money and maybe get decent food. I'll take my money elsewhere.

23 hours ago, LobsterStalker said:

 

I personally would prefer Early to seat in the 5:45-6:15 range. It may not seem a big difference to some , but the extra hour is a lot for us as we find ourselves cutting pooltime short at the end of the afternoon to go get ready for dinner. If there was a functional "MY time"option I would definitely choose it but not after what I have seen recently

The Steak on both ships ( ordered multiple times ) , were horrid cuts , so thin they looked hammered out like a chicken parm or something.... Very disappointing !

 

Cheers

We just did a B2B on Explorer and I couldn't agree with you more. We are NOT foodies, by any stretch of the imagination, but we appreciate some decent quality food while on vacation. Our standards are a bit above "well I don't have to cook or clean and I won't starve so I'm good". We, as a minimum, want to at least enjoy what we are eating. I don't like complaining so after a few times I just gave up because I figured this was the quality we were going to get so what's the point? Complaining only to get another crappy meal did nothing but cause more work for the servers and extend our dining time.

On our cruises the steak quality hit a low - and I mean low. The New York Strip looked similar to the McDonald's McRib (if anyone remembers that). It looked like fake meat or poached meat with a grill stamp on it. It was only about 1/3" thick and the texture was similar to a sponge - all the beef we tried seemed to have holes(porus like) except the tenderloin but you only got a very small portion of that.

There was no point in asking for another one becasue they were all the same. I suspect the wait staff knew this as well because I took 3 bites of my steak and was done. They took my plate and never asked me why I didn't eat it, nor did they ask if I would like something else instead (but that's another story). I ordered the WARM chocolate cake and it was ice cold. We left that night and went to the windjammer (the food there was slightly better than the MDR but not by much - the beef was too tough to chew).The side veggies in the MDR were always 1 scoop of mashed potaotes, 1 piece of broccoli and 2 slices of carrot. It looked and tasted like something served at a hospital cafeteria - no joke

Some of you will say I'm eaggerating, but I'm not. And some will say they were on the same cruise and had a different experience - I'm happy if you were satisfied and all was good for you. It was not good for us - Food was consistantly bad. We've been cruising on Royal since 2000 (when the food was great) and up to this point we've always said the food on Royal was good and we were happy with it.

We had MTD with a reserved time of 7:15 every evening but there was always a wait. We often heard the staff that were checking on available tables tell the staff at the podium that there were no tables currently available. 10-15 mins would go by with no one being seated and the line just kept getting longer. Once seated, dinners were at least 90 mins long and up to 2.5 hours one night. It was jsut the 2 of us. We've been doing MTD since it started and, with just 2 of us, dinner was always 45-60 mins. Whaterver they've done to MTD they've completely screwed it up.

The food was so bad and the dining room so disorganized, we only ate there twice the second week - both times we had a bad experience.

We have one more Royal cruise booked for May and we're hoping things have improved by then. After this last experience we were going to cancel the May cruise but my in-laws are going as well and have already purchased airfare. If the food and MTD experience has not improved by then, our sailings on RC will be very few going forward. I can't believe the drastic drop in food quality - and don't come at me with the excuses of the money they lost with COVID or the cost of food due to inflation - look at what they are charging for cruise fares now! The 5 free drinks per day and 2 days of internet we get for CAS loyalty is not enough to keep me cruising on Royal if this is what they are providing for food and cruise fares through the roof. For us, the value is no longer there. YMMV

Sorry about the long, ranting post. I am truly sad about my favorite cuise line's race to the bottom with their food. The bean counters are killing the brand.

On 10/23/2023 at 6:51 PM, screwsmcernst said:

 

I bow my head and say a silent grace at every meal.  I would never expect/demand my table mates join in.  On 2 separate cruises we sat with people who were quite insistent that the whole table say grace.  Both times were quite a lot.  🙁   

Wow - that would be a hard no for me. I am an athiest but I respect that others are not. If someone expected/insisted that I partake in their grace then we are going to have a problem. That would be the same as me insiting they cannot say grace - it doesn't work that way. We have to respect each other and understand that your beliefs are just that - YOURS. Religion and politics do not belong at the dinner table. Like you said, bow your head and say a silent grace and everything is fine. Heck, I don't even care if you say it out loud. I just don't want to partake in it.

31 minutes ago, Capt_BJ said:

Thanks Don. I have been wondering about Viking - don't know much about them though. What's the big differences when compared to the mass markets lines? Obviously, they are more expensive but what is included etc.?

 

Funny ... I was about to recommend you take a look at VIKING ...... they have become our 'choice' after cruising a BUNCH of lines since the mid 80's (see signature). 

 

what is included

 

- beer and wine at dinner and lunch and the full 'drink package' is $25 per person per day <last RCCL cruise it was $75>

- specialty restaurants at no extra charge

- all veranda cabins on Ocean ships . . .

- one 'included' excursion in every port .... 

- WiFi / Internet access

- spa facilities (pools / snow room / sauna) <ocean>

- depending on your room category - restock of in-room fridge with snacks/soft drinks/ and maybe even booze (category)

 

I'd suggest you check out VIKING and check out BOTH ocean and RIVER.

 

We did a river first ... now two oceans and are booked for another river ......

Thank you for this. I will definitely check them out. River cruises are on the bucket list so they may check two boxes for us.

12 hours ago, donaldsc said:

There are lots of excellent choices with lines that have ships that have <1000 people.  Give one of them a try.  They are more expensive than the Genormous of the Seas monstrosities but when you figure out what is included in the package they are not as expensive as they seem.  The only time that I will ever sail on one of the big ships is when I don't have a good small ship option or when I am taking the grandkids w/o their parents on a cruise to Alaska.  People have suggested several options.  My go to small ship used to be Azamara and we would sail w them again if the itinerary was right.  Right now however we lean to Viking.  

 

DON

Thanks Don. I have been wondering about Viking - don't know much about them though. What's the big differences when compared to the mass markets lines? Obviously, they are more expensive but what is included etc.?

I think Jason Liberty's email address is

killingthebrand@rccl.com

or

deathbyathousandcuts@rccl.com

From our latest cruise experiences, either of those are fitting😒

1 minute ago, Spudd said:

HAL's food seems to be still getting good reviews. Currently the Celebrity board is all in a tizzy over the food having taken a serious downturn lately. I haven't sailed with either yet but I have looked at the new Celebrity MDR menus and would agree they are mostly uninspiring.

See that's my concern with Celebrity - it's under the RCG umbrella and the head guy (who used to be the CFO I think) is cutting everything to save money. He is killing the brand. Celebrity used to have great food - maybe I need to check out the Celebrity boards.

HAL had the best food of all the cruiselines we've tried but we haven't sailed with them since 2006 so a lot has probably changed over there as well. Guess I will check their boards as well ☺️

12 hours ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

Sounds like you are describing Regent Cruises.  It really isn't as expensive as many people might think it is.  Price it out.

 

Thanks, I'll look into it - Regent just always seemed way too "Rich" for us lol

12 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Try MSC, particularly in the Yacht Club.  MSC will also status match, but the perks for the highest match are trumped by the Yacht Club perks.  I like MSC, although I don’t sail YC, just regular cabins.  EM

We've been interested in trying MSC for awhile now. How is the food in the MDR and buffet? Do you need to sail in the YC to get quality included food?

Are they still matching black card for Diamond plus on RC? And what perks do you get for that?

13 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

I know you said you tried other lines early on, but a lot has changed.  I highly recommend you try Celebrity or HAL again, and on their new ships.  Plus, on Celebrity, they will match your RCI status.  The ships are beautiful, and it'll be a nice break from the same-ole, same-ole.  

 

I'll go against a couple of the recommendations, suggesting trying the more luxury or more premium lines. I don't totally know you, but I'm basing that on hubby's love for the Flowrider.  😉  

Thanks Aquahound. I've thought of trying Celebrity and HAL again because they were good back then, it's just we were younger with young kids so RCI was a better fit. The food on both Celebrity and HAL were better than RCI back then but RCI was still very good so it worked for us. I've heard the food on all the mass market lines have gone downhill but to what extent, I don't know. That's my biggest concern - the food quality. Then I'd say it's the atmosphere - more laid back and less chaotic. So I think Celbrity and HAL might be a better atmosphere than RCI but what about the food? Have you sailed on them recently to give an opinion?

Hubby does love the flowrider and we are just common people. But I think his obsession is waning a bit so we are ready to try other things. I'm not sure a luxury line would suit us but I'd be willing to try it if the price was right. Oceania might be an option.

BTW To me, you still hold the award for "Best thread on Cruise Critic"  with your tale about the lost camera. Especially loved the part about the turtle😂 Great detective work on your part👍

Sorry, this is a little long but I want to give enough info so that your suggestions would be more fitting.

We have been cruising mass market lines since 2000 but have become disenchanted and looking for something different. We tried RCL, Celebrity, Carnival and HAL early on and settled with RCL as it fit our preferences best at the time. We have sailed RC about 30 times. We typically sail in balconies but will choose a suite for special occasions or when the price is right. Before the pandemic we were noticing the food quality dropping and started to pay for specialty dining some nights. The last couple of cruises this year the included food has completely lost its luster to us and even the specialty restaurant offerings have declined while the price has gone up.

I believe the combination of the drastic drop in food quality and sailing the same cruiseline all this time has caused us to lose the wow factor we once felt and I think it's time to try something new. We should have changed things up about 5 years ago when we first started to feel this way but the Loyalty program perks from being Diamond plus with Royal made us hang on longer than we should have (They know how to get ya 😉). We are now ready to let that go. Now, my hubby loves the FlowRider so I'm sure we will go back to RC every now and then but we want to try something else that offers a more suitable experience for us and I, honestly, don't know where to start and need some guidance.

We are just regular people, not rich by any means, but we want something more inclusive. We don't drink heavily but we do enjoy an occasional drink by the pool and evening wine or cocktails. We are not foodies but the MDR and buffet food is not cutting it for us anymore. We are also at the stage where a quieter, less chaotic environment is appreciated and we prefer to dine as a couple instead of with a group of strangers. We enjoy getting dressed up for some formal dinners but would not want to deal with ball gowns or tuxedos or HAVE to dress formal on certain nights (formal optionial would work - sometimes you just don't feel like getting dressed up). We wold also be ok with no formal nights at all. We both still work full time and typically cuise around 3-4 weeks per year.

What are your experiences with different lines and do you have any suggestions on what might be a good fit for us? I appreaciate any and all feedback☺️

10 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Is that for the Lavender Daiquiri? That’s my favorite…. I didn’t see the recipe in this thread.

Yes, this is for the Lavender Daiquiri. I make them at home and they taste just like on the ship☺️

On 6/28/2023 at 10:53 AM, gadaboutgal said:

Wish I could find the Monin syrups; have tried everywhere but no luck.

I bought some Monin Lavender syrup on Amazon (Canada)

14 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Look for the 2025-2026 deployment thread later this summer- it will discuss this. Nothing will likely come out before Nov. 

Thanks Biker!

When are fall 2025 TA sailings supposed to be released? And what ships are likely in the mix? Looking for ones with a FlowRider.

19 hours ago, FireEMT978 said:

Not an apples to apples comparison. No bar service, and a tiny horrible selection of machines is not a way to "Gauge" Non-smoker vs. Smoker revenue for the casino. It's ridiculous how many people walk around the Non-smoking section of the actual main casino smoking and vaping. 

16 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

I like that it is totally non smoking but it is small with limited machines both in number and variety.  Most of the popular machines are in the regular casino.   

 

M

I agree with these comments. This is not a fair gauge of a true, full non-smoking casino. I only play a few types of slots and if they are not in there then I won't play in there. Simple. 

It's a great start but it's just that, a start. I don't know why they just can't make the smoking sections completely closed in. The smoke smell goes everywhere, including into the elevators (up to deck 12 sometimes) and also in the dining room on Oasis class ships. It permeates onto the promenade and in the centrum on ships with those. Just confine the smoke and the smoking complaints will stop for the most part.