Can we please put the "Caribbean" back in Royal Caribbean

[beachbaby830]

I've read this thread with a great deal of interest.

 

We are sailing on the SOS for New Year's out of San Juan. I choose it for itinerary first, ship second. We don't cruise in the summer, we prefer fall and winter sailings as we like to travel with less kids around.

 

I've noticed that a lot of people complained about the airfare to San Juan. Conversely, the airfare there is MUCH HIGHER in the summer and lowers for the winter because of the Puerto Rican community that lives here and travels back in the summer. I watched the fares and paid $380 r/t pp, which I feel was a good price - I traveled back and forth from Fla for over 20 years and learned to play the game.

 

I'm not loyal to one cruise line - I've sailed Celebrity, Princess and RCI. We did Princess last November on a partial canal cruise (Fabulous!!!). I look at the itinerary and sea days (as we love sea days) then the ship (prefer smaller ships). Have no desire to go on Oasis or Allure.

 

Mimi:)

[negc]

I am glad you enjoy those ships and hope you continue to enjoy them. However, we have been cruising since 1982, and I quess we are still hanging on to the old style of cruising. If we wanted an amusment park with beautiful rooms we would go to Disneyworld. My wife and I still want traditional dinning, traditional show times and all the little things that made cruising so special to us. The Serenade gave us many of those special things last year, but she too, has left for Europe. I know we may be a dying breed, but my wife and I are like many uspset cruisers who will take are vacation dollars elsewhere.

 

Allure and Oasis are much more than floating amusement parks and traditional dining and traditional show times are just as available on them as on the older, smaller ships you and I prefer. I think that if you actually gave them a try, you might form a different opinion about them. I'm not saying you wouldn't still prefer ships like Serenade, but you might find a lot to like about the megaships as well.

[genegri]

Although as another poster also pointed out, they are trying to put the "International" back in Royal Caribbean International. :rolleyes:

 

Hey, last time I checked, Caribbean is very international with lots of countries! :p:rolleyes: :D

[QTBabyNurse]

We've been cruising with Royal Caribbean for many years and I have to say, this next cruise on the Allure in March will probably be our last with them until they start to change up some things, mainly their ports of call. How many times can we go to St. Maarten, Cozumel and Nassau, I mean really....:rolleyes: They don't even stop in CoCo Cay as much as they used to and that was a nice beach day.....

We've cruised with Princess and Carnival before and we will probably give them more of our business since we can see

different islands and change up our vacation a bit. The same on board entertainment and same ports with Royal Caribbean just starts to get old after so many years....

Edited September 24, 2011 by QTBabyNurse

[hmallett]

Hey, last time I checked, Caribbean is very international with lots of countries! :p:rolleyes: :D

Where does the "Royal" come from then? :p

[marielco]

But some people can't cruise just anytime of the year...

The side effect of pulling all your ships to Europe? Alienate American families who mainly cruise in the Summer.

 

It seems they built Oasis and Allure for the Carribean so they could move smaller ships to Europe to cash in on the huge growth in interest here. A company will take money wherever they can get it. Doesn't matter what the nationality of the cruiser, American or European, the cash in the bank is all the same.

[Brentonsmom]

I completely agree with you. We were on The Oasis last summer, this summer we went on Carnival and next summer we are on the Allure. I was looking at other RCCL sailings for next summer and found nothing good to the Carribean. So we chose the Allure ---which is ok with us. But there are no other offerings beside these 2 ships--at least for a 7 day cruise. There is the Freedom of the Seas but we have been on it also. I would live to do a euoropean cruise but can't afford the airfare for 3. Would love to cruise from San Juan, but with additional hotel and airfare for 3, thats a little pricey too. It looks like after next summer we will be on Carnival until RCCL gets some better itinararys back. Until my son graduates from high school, we have to cruise in the summer. Once he does so, we can then enjoy lower fares and different ships. I completely understand them going after the money but it makes it harder for those of us who have to cruise out of Fla.

 

Tina

[time4u2go]

But some people can't cruise just anytime of the year...

 

The side effect of pulling all your ships to Europe? Alienate American families who mainly cruise in the Summer.

 

Possibly, but I don't think that really matters to them if they pick up enough European families in the process.

[05mak05]

We actually had that 11 night Southern Caribbean route booked in 2006 and had to cancel. Figured we'll do it another time. Boy, was I wrong on that one. :(

 

I love the routes out of San Juan, it's just the Flights are so darn expensive.

Flights from San Antonio to San Juan are price prohibitive. And, we have 3 grown children with families who all live in Florida. Flying to San Juan just doesn't make sense for us. We also want better Caribbean itineraries out of both Texas and Florida. Thanks for your post.

[debache]

My MIL and I want to do the Panama canal in January 2013 and RCI has discontinued doing that cruise...So we will book Celebrity....Also wanted to do a round trip from California to Hawaii, RCI only does one way from Vancouver to Hawaii...so for May of 2013 we are looking at Princess...

[negc]

We've been cruising with Royal Caribbean for many years and I have to say, this next cruise on the Allure in March will probably be our last with them until they start to change up some things, mainly their ports of call. How many times can we go to St. Maarten, Cozumel and Nassau, I mean really....:rolleyes: They don't even stop in CoCo Cay as much as they used to and that was a nice beach day.....

We've cruised with Princess and Carnival before and we will probably give them more of our business since we can see

different islands and change up our vacation a bit. The same on board entertainment and same ports with Royal Caribbean just starts to get old after so many years....

Perhaps you should do a little more research or look at cruises that are longer than 7 days or that sail from other US ports than those in Florida. We are on a 14 night repositioning cruise out of Boston that stops at a number of ports besides the ones you list, and our 9 night New Year's Eve cruise on Navigator out of Fort Lauderdale included Coco Cay as one of her ports of call.

In the past few years we have been on RCI cruises that included such ports as Bermuda, Portland, Maine, St. John, NB, Halifax, NS, Barbados, Dominica, Aruba, Curaçao, St. Kitts, St Lucia, St. Croix, Cartagena, Puerto Limon, Belize and several others in addition to San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Key West and Cozumel. Unless you limit yourself to cruises of 7 or fewer nights out of Florida, cruises that are intended to appeal primarily to first time cruisers, your menu of possible ports in the Caribbean is almost unlimited.

[Desert Cruizers]

We would love to do another Caribbean, but coming from the West Coast, it is to costly to fly for a 7 day cruise out of Miami or FLL and more so out of San Juan. So we wait until we see something that works for us.

[Maraprince]

I've never been to St. Thomas, so if you'd like to buy me a ticket for research purposes... ;)

I don't know specifically about Naples, but I was told by an RC source that many of the ports weren't big enough. I suppose that could mean that they aren't long enough, deep enough, or don't have the capacity for that many visitors. Don't forget that for a week-long cruise you need several ports which can accommodate the ship. Especially as in Europe we tend to have ports most days, with few sea days, unlike the Caribbean cruises.

 

 

Years ago on many European ports with much smaller ships, tendering was the norm. However, with over 6,000 passengers on the Oasis and the Allure that just is not possible!:(

 

Interesting that RCCL would invest so much money on these 2 ships who are so limited in the ports they can fit into! These ships will never be truly "international" if they are forced to stay on one side of the Atlantic for their sailing life. Even the Cunard ships once in awhile do more than just a transatlantic sailing since they are able to fit in Canadian ports, Caribbean ports and European ports.

 

How many times can you go to the same limited number of ports using the excuse that the ship "is the destination"? Seems repeat passengers are not what RCCL wants anymore but rather the "newbie" first timer who is not cruise savy and will book at any price level and buy everything in sight on the ship.

 

MARAPRINCE

Edited September 26, 2011 by Maraprince

[forsberg]

Nah, I actually think cruise lines should pull more ships OUT of the states. Cruises leaving from US only have Caribbeans and Mexico as their destination, which is extremely boring because all the ports look similar. It's good for a first-timer, but that's about it.

 

I'd love to see more cruises in Europe, Middle East, India, and Asia because you get to see a lot more different countries and cultures in a close proximity.

[Cruiseman2003]

There some on this board who keep saying they will never try Carnival but you guys need to. Carnival has some good caribbean iteniaries during the summer of 2012. They have southern that leaves Miami and goes to Aruba, Curacao Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk. Then it alternates and does an 8 night east that goes to Antigua, St Thomas, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, and Nassau. They have been going to the Panama Canal during the summer as well. You guys need to just look at other lines.

[caribbean sailor]

I am glad you enjoy those ships and hope you continue to enjoy them. However, we have been cruising since 1982, and I quess we are still hanging on to the old style of cruising. If we wanted an amusment park with beautiful rooms we would go to Disneyworld. My wife and I still want traditional dinning, traditional show times and all the little things that made cruising so special to us. The Serenade gave us many of those special things last year, but she too, has left for Europe. I know we may be a dying breed, but my wife and I are like many uspset cruisers who will take are vacation dollars elsewhere.

 

I agree 100%. We love the voyager class ships,guess we are a part of the dying breed also.I want no part of Oasis or allure.Love the Caribbean if these two ships are the only way to get there,we will take our vacation money elsewhere.You have already said everything i feel.

[wblynch]

Like several others have mentioned, our next cruise is scheduled for the Allure in January 2012.

 

Since I had a lot of unused RCI Visa points, we are going for 1/2 price.

 

I don't look forward to this monster ship but DW insisted. I like ships to be ships. There are plenty of concrete malls on land, I don't need them at sea.

 

This will probably be our last Royal Caribbean cruise. They left California a few years ago and now seem to be abandoning the Caribbean. No more round trip Hawaii either.

 

We sailed on the Emerald Princess in 2009 and I think we will be moving over to Princess. I would like to try Celebrity but overall I have grown tired of Royal Caribbean and their continuous move down market.

 

So, one more and then Good Bye RCCL. :(

Edited September 27, 2011 by wblynch

[Maraprince]

I agree 100%. We love the voyager class ships,guess we are a part of the dying breed also.I want no part of Oasis or allure.Love the Caribbean if these two ships are the only way to get there,we will take our vacation money elsewhere.You have already said everything i feel.

 

 

Build some smaller ships that can fit into different Caribbean ports!

 

MARAPRINCE

[Kokomo91165]

Was just in San Juan where they have lengthened the pier to accommodate a Quantum/Oasis size vessel. Was also in Barbados where our taxi driver pointed out a construction zone near the port that was under contract by RCL to build a dock able to accommodate oasis class.

[The Grumpus]

Sugar Point: http://www.sugarpointbarbados.com/

 

Phase one - the cruise ship piers, due to open in 2016.

[American Bear]

One suggestion, if you're sailing in the Caribbean, you wouldn't mind seeing some Caribbean food, who's the dumbbell at RCL who thinks Caribbean cruises should be loaded with Indian Food! Curry YUK!:D

[Missus Makkem]

Thought curried goat was very Caribbean

Yummy

[ewenix]

And there you have it ... pure and simple. As I previously noted, if the demand and profitability were here, the ships wouldn't leave. There isn't ... so they do.

 

They have a limited number of ships. They will pull a ship from a profitable

itinerary in order to develop an alternative market. It's a longer term strategy

than just 'where can I make the most money right now.'

[KansasK]

I enjoy the Oasis and Allure and the Freedom is one of my favorite ships. Like others have said, in the summer this is what you have to cruise on. The summer before last, we found the prices on all three ships too high for us.

 

We ended up booking on the Carnival Liberty and had a good cruise. We were even given an upgrade from an inside room to an aft balcony. I prefer Royal Caribbean, but sometimes they price themselves too high for us, or we want to try a different ship.

[Donut23]

I have been having trouble finding a cruise out of Florida for next January. I was looking for at least a ten night but might have to settle for seven nights. I saw much better itineraries on another line but have already left a deposit for Royal Caribbean on the Jewel of the Seas a few weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

Checkout Serenade - alternating 10 and 11 night Southern Caribbean departing from Ft. Lauderdale. We grabbed a few aft facing balconies (our Radiance Class favorite cabins) at a dirt cheep earring booking price for January 2016. Very happy!