NYE Surcharges on Oasis...not for the faint of heart.

[teajak]

Sorry but I for one have no problem with the additional charges for NYE, yes the cruises are more expensive over that time, but nobody forces anyone to go, it is a choice. Just as making the choice to enjoy New Year in the prime spot on the ship ( if that is your thing ). Being on The Rising Tide on NYE on both The Oasis and The Allure on their first NY sailings, was one of the best New Years we ever had, we were able to enjoy the atmosphere, without being pushed around in the crowd.

Sure any surcharge is not always welcome, but if you are buying champagne anyway, I personally also want a table where i can enjoy that bottle, rather than standing around trying to carry the bottle in an ice bucket, more expensive Yes, but it is my money and i cannot take it with me.

Some people might choose to take say another cruise at another time, for the same amount, I can respect that choice as well.

Since you have the money and enjoy this it is certainly your choice and I agree with your post and attitude.I believe most of the complaints are from us average Joes that feel the cruise line is going crazy with extra charges and premium status. RCI is not considered a luxury cruise line as such and cannot expect most customers to go for this.

[bajathree]

Since you have the money and enjoy this it is certainly your choice and I agree with your post and attitude.I believe most of the complaints are from us average Joes that feel the cruise line is going crazy with extra charges and premium status. RCI is not considered a luxury cruise line as such and cannot expect most customers to go for this.

 

Yes...you are correct....while they can't expect "most" people to go for this, I believe they are finding that Oasis/Allure fall into a different category. This NYE sailing had plenty high roller folks....you had a pretty major actor aboard with his family....and you had one of the worlds top on-line poker players aboard who was in his early 20's and brought along 3 of his friends at his expense and dropped $16k on a watch in St Thomas....these ships get "players". This is the same kind of thing that Atlantis has gone thru for years....you get folks that pay $300/night for a room and others in $20K/night suites and they cater to both...some folks are packing coolers by the pool, others are drinking $25 mojito's and renting $1500/day poolside cabana's. While you may not have such extremes on Oasis/Allure you sure do have folks paying $799/pp/week and others in suites paying in excess of $10K/pp/week.

[Big_G]

Since you have the money and enjoy this it is certainly your choice and I agree with your post and attitude.I believe most of the complaints are from us average Joes that feel the cruise line is going crazy with extra charges and premium status. RCI is not considered a luxury cruise line as such and cannot expect most customers to go for this.

 

As an average Joe, I don't have a problem with this either. I don't feel as though the cruise line(s) are going 'crazy' either. They've been able to keep the pricing reasonable for cruises so if they want to up-charge for specialty restaurants and special events that fine. It's all about value. I don't see the value of paying $500 to eat and drink on the RTB but I might pay the cover for the Schooner Bar on New Years Eve. By all accounts there were still plenty of other venues to get a drink that didn't up-charge.

[tahqa]

Not true, I didn't pay a cent to use the gym on the Allure in December.

 

OMG they CHARGE for access to the gym?!?! And I had been reading about how the gym was moved on Oasis and Allure to a lower deck, no beautiful window views anymore... and I assumed it was because they had given over the better views for pay-venues... and now they're CHARGING for it?!?

 

And speaking of paying extra... all exercise classes used to be included in the cruise fare... then they started charging extra for Yoga, Pilates and Spinning... then the prices for these classes went from $ to $8 to $10 and now $12 per class, nearly the same as land-based rates (and again, you don't have to pay to be in the city where you take the class, though you do have to pay to be on the ship to take an ocean-going class, or drink an ocean-going drink)... and class lengths have shortened, from one hour to 55 mins and now to 45 mins. (while the remaining "free" classes have diminished from 40 to 30 and now 20 or 25 mins.). Argh!!

 

No, they don't charge to use the gym... however, they do charge to use the sauna and steam rooms. I think you can pay either daily or weekly. :(

[yknot13]

Not true, I didn't pay a cent to use the gym on the Allure in December.

 

Facilities of (Sauna/ Steam Room) not the GYM

[ChipLondon]

Thank you for your understanding, although I also consider myself an "Average Joe" in many ways. Yes I have been able to cruise often, but that is because I choose to hold my leisure pound ( dollar ) for that reason, I do not hit the bar night after night when at home, but reserve my money for what I enjoy, cruising. However I can also agree with some thoughts about higher prices, that is why this festive season, I chose not to cruise over Xmas and New Year, my choice.

I just think that many forget that whatever money they have chosen to spend on a cruise, has (generally) been earned through their own business, or by working for someone elses business, both of which rely on creating profit. Which in turn pays wages, which people choose to spend however they wish. Therefore on this subject all Royal is doing is maximising a profit opprtunity in order to continue paying its wages, and returning a profit on investment, which in turn keeps the company going.

The option to spend a greater amount on a New Year cruise, or a better dining experience, or a higher priced champagne, is no different from options offered in most restaurants on NYE. We as the consumer have the option to subscribe to that action or not.

Now if there was a forced extra purchase to those already on board, I would be the first one shouting, but No, a very small area of the ship was held for people to choose to spend an extra amount in order to enjoy their NYE experience. The Rising Tide is always where the Oasis or Allure Captains spend midnight, along with the CD who is doing the countdown, it is the best place to view the activity in the Royal Prom. So Royal do not expect most customers to go for it, nor do they expect most to book The Royal Suite, or a Crown Loft, but they are also options which some like to take. So this year I will continue to work hard, in order to be able to make my choices as to where I spend my cruise dollars.:)

 

 

Since you have the money and enjoy this it is certainly your choice and I agree with your post and attitude.I believe most of the complaints are from us average Joes that feel the cruise line is going crazy with extra charges and premium status. RCI is not considered a luxury cruise line as such and cannot expect most customers to go for this.

[Dave85]

Yes...you are correct....while they can't expect "most" people to go for this, I believe they are finding that Oasis/Allure fall into a different category. This NYE sailing had plenty high roller folks....you had a pretty major actor aboard with his family....and you had one of the worlds top on-line poker players aboard who was in his early 20's and brought along 3 of his friends at his expense and dropped $16k on a watch in St Thomas....these ships get "players". This is the same kind of thing that Atlantis has gone thru for years....you get folks that pay $300/night for a room and others in $20K/night suites and they cater to both...some folks are packing coolers by the pool, others are drinking $25 mojito's and renting $1500/day poolside cabana's. While you may not have such extremes on Oasis/Allure you sure do have folks paying $799/pp/week and others in suites paying in excess of $10K/pp/week.

 

I think that's an interesting point Steve. I've been kind of thinking about that but haven't really seen it articulated often on the boards... Oasis and Allure seem to have a different kind of draw than the rest of the fleet. They're almost like celebrities (like movie stars -- which Allure literally is hah -- not to be confused with Celebrity Cruise Line). Obviously even without Oasis and Allure different ships draw different cruisers. You're not going to see the same clientel on a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas that you'll see on a 14 night cruise in the Med... but the consistent premium at which Oasis and Allure are priced clearly demonstrates that the cruise line views them differently than... say... Freedom or Liberty (when she used to do the 7-night).

 

Oasis and Allure seem to have this celebrity status where they can draw higher-end cruisers (talking strictly in terms of money people are willing to spend on their vacation, not anything else) and draw people away from pricier vacations on other lines. I purchased a pedestrian watch on Oasis from "Regalia" and couldn't help but notice while I was patiently waiting for the crew member to remove links from my band that they were selling jewelry in that shop for tens of thousands of dollars!!! :eek: I don't know, maybe some of that is on other RCI ships and I just haven't noticed before... but I don't remember seeing it and made a mental note of it. People must be buying that stuff on Oasis! Same goes for watches, they had some really high end stuff in that store.

 

Alllll that said, I stand by my earlier statements expressing disappointment at the way RCI handled this -- more so worrying about the slippery slope that this could represent than one new years cruise on Oasis... though I do respect all of the opposing opinions.

[nolimits]

If the schooner bar champagne was not free art auction brand ,For decent unlimited drink that pay one price isn't so bad.Moet ,Dom and Pierre Juet where selling for how much a bottle?

[PickRC]

On the December 31st sailing, not sure about New Years night since I didn't pay the cover, but after that, they never actually had anyone playing on the piano in the Schooner Bar. I'd walk by at 10:30 and there wouldn't even be a bartender there. Very disappointing.

 

We too were on board. Day 2 we were in the Schooner Bar at 8:30 PM and the piano player was playing, but was complaining and holding his wrist. He told us he had sprained it and we did not see him for the rest of the week. Not sure if this is the reason.

 

We found this cruise to be the most unique experience we have had cruising. There was 6044 passengers last week. The Loyalty ambasador told me there was only about 1200 North Americans and that there was only 1100 Crown & Anchor members and only about 115 Diamond members. We went to the Diamond lounge 3 nights about 8:00 and there was never more than 8 people there.

 

The biggest complaint people had was the fact that they moved the 6:00 dining to 6:30 and the 8:30 to 9:00. We were told they moved dining later because of the abnormal number of South Americans on board. Apparently they prefer to eat later. The problem with them moving dinner was that they never moved any of the show times. Because they release empty show seats 10-15 minutes before showtime, we had to rush through dinner to make the show by 10:15. The is nothing worse than being rushed through dinner and not having time for 2 deserts.:)

[Denny_Crane]

I see the post for 500.00 tp have access to the Rising Tide Bar, but has anyone confirmed this to be FACT??????Just asking.....K.O. Near Philly;)

I was on the New Years Cruise.

 

To get on the Rising Tide was $500 per COUPLE and included a bottle of Dom Perignon.

 

To get into the Schooner Bar was $100 a person and it included champagne. They restricted the number of people allowed into the Schooner Bar to 100. Basically you were paying for a less hectic and more comfortable place to hang out for New Years. You could sit or stand and it was not crowded at all.

[PickRC]

I was on the New Years Cruise.

 

To get on the Rising Tide was $500 per COUPLE and included a bottle of Dom Perignon.

 

To get into the Schooner Bar was $100 a person and it included champagne. They restricted the number of people allowed into the Schooner Bar to 100. Basically you were paying for a less hectic and more comfortable place to hang out for New Years. You could sit or stand and it was not crowded at all.

 

I beleive it was $500 per couple and the Schooner bar was $105 per person. I know there were also a few hot appetizers at the schooner bar as well. Not that appetizers make it any better.

[Dr. Pam]

Yes...you are correct....while they can't expect "most" people to go for this, I believe they are finding that Oasis/Allure fall into a different category. This NYE sailing had plenty high roller folks....you had a pretty major actor aboard with his family....and you had one of the worlds top on-line poker players aboard who was in his early 20's and brought along 3 of his friends at his expense and dropped $16k on a watch in St Thomas....these ships get "players". This is the same kind of thing that Atlantis has gone thru for years....you get folks that pay $300/night for a room and others in $20K/night suites and they cater to both...some folks are packing coolers by the pool, others are drinking $25 mojito's and renting $1500/day poolside cabana's. While you may not have such extremes on Oasis/Allure you sure do have folks paying $799/pp/week and others in suites paying in excess of $10K/pp/week.

 

Hi again, Baja....I met Colm Feore from the "Borgias" (among other works) in the Concierge Lounge. I had recognized him immediately from "Trudeau". Some British guys recognized him and he was gracious enough to have a picture taken with him. After that, I thought that it was OK to say hi and that I really enjoyed his work... (after all, he was a fellow Canadian.) He was very kind and asked where we were from (Alberta) and he started chatting about his brother who lived in Alberta. Mr. Feore was very pleasant. :) ( I love the show "Borgias" that he is starring in with Jeremy Irons. I never want to intrude on some one's private space, but he seemd OK with the limelight. I did see him a few times after that, and he always said hello.