Royal Caribbean - The Nickel and Dime Cruise Line

[Ken at the beach]

Hi Ken, yes I have been trying to get the word out to those who have purchased cabins on future sailing of this ship, only because maybe if they know ahead of time what to expect, they will not feel so disappointed when they get on board and discover their cabin is 40 feet smaller than what they paid for.

Someone else was kind enough to warn me, and bring it to my attention. It saved us alot of money, as we were still able to cancel and get our money back.

 

I would not take issue if the difference in the cabin size were only a few feet, however if a person is going with a family that space could make a big difference. Maybe sharing my experience can save someone else some frustration ...

 

I would think that if you knew someone was being cheated....you would want t do what you could to help them out as well. It's should just be human nature to be kind to others...;)

 

 

Have a good day

 

I'm not saying that I disagree with your concerns I just don't think that you should be hi-jacking multiple threads with the exact same story that you Are just cutting and pasting. Start a new thread. By adding your comments to multiple threads you are not getting any new people to see your concerns just the same people over and over and over again.

[awhcruiser]

$900 a day! :eek:

 

We have cruised Royal caribbean several times before, but had gone to Holland America for our last two cruises to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Baltic. We had not cruised on Royal for 6 years. (We also have cruised on Disney.)

 

We just returned from the Bayonne to Bermuda trip. To say that we were highly disappointed in the seeming transformation of Royal Caribbean from a somewhat upscale cruise line to what I've now labelled as The Nickel and Dime Cruise Line may be an understatement.

 

Not only has Royal fallen down in its service levels, it has decided to scrap every possible penny it can from customers, changing the experience to a negative one. It has also decided that it will lead the industry in transforming how cruise lines charge, and profit, from its customers.

 

First, the cruise itself. Here is what $900 a day now gets you on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

 

Coffee - Royal used to make a good Starbucks available, but now it's merely a bad Seattle's Best coffee # 3, with no other coffee option on the entire ship. The coffee is truly awful.

 

My son broke his muster station band. We were sent to guest services to get a replacement, where we were told they had none for his station. They then us to go to Adventure Ocean to get one. Make the customer do the work. Good strategy.

 

The variety of the food in Windjammer is more limited than before and of poor quality.

 

Dinner in the dining room a majority of the time tasted like airplane food.

 

I ordered pancakes at breakfast and received 2 pancakes of 3 inches in size that were ice cold.

 

At breakfast, they tried to forced our group of six to one side of a large table (instead of at the same end so we couldn't have a relaxing conversation), then telling us they don't have a choice to do it differently.

 

My wife ordered hash browns for breakfast and was literally given one spoon full.

 

We requested half and half for coffee and were frequently being given milk instead.

 

We repeatedly asked to be given 3 silverware place setting sets for breakfast for room service and were consistently given 2 (we had three people in the room).

 

We had a suite so we had a coffee maker, but it had a coffee pre-made filter for 2 cups, but we only had a one cup coffee maker.

 

We bought the soda package. On one occasion we asked for diet coke and were told the boat was "out at this end of the ship...'you have to go to the other end to get diet Coke.'"

 

There was no room service menu in our room (it had been torn from the book). We were told there were no replacement books on the entire ship!

 

We were not given a final bill for check out; when we called we were told to go to Guest Relations to get one. We also could not review the bill interactive tv as it did not work.

 

The quality of the stage shows has deteriorated very significantly ( although, in fairness, we were very impressed with the ice show).

 

Beyond the boat itself, perhaps the most pathetic change is the constant nickel and diming of passengers at every opportunity. As if RCCLis not making high enough margins. It's clear that RCCL has made a strategic decision at the highest levels to move the cruise industry from a modified "all-inclusive" format to a "let's keep billing for everything and see how far we can take it" business model.

 

A few examples of the constant attempts to sell us something;

 

Selling bottled water at dinner the instant we sat down

Selling $35 cook books at dinner

Setting down to breakfast and having them immediately try and sell fresh squeezed orange juice

Though we did not partake, lobster and premium steaks are now only available for an additional price (e.g., $19.95

 

The contrast between Holland America and Royal Caribbean is now striking. One has fine ships with superior service, terrific food, and an overall enjoyable cruise experience. The other is a low scale, poor quality, nickel and dime outfit.

 

The question for we consumers is: are we going to allow RCCL to do this and ultimately make the owners even richer than they already are, or will we stand up and say "no," your profits are already more than adequate? To say that we were disappointed with our experience is an understatement. But it goes beyond that. If we as consumers allow Royal Caribbean to charge for the smaller things, pretty soon it will be everything.

 

I realize that many cruisers become very loyal to a particular line and will defend it against a negative review. To those loyal to Royal I would only say I hope you can look at where it has gone objectively and don't take this decidedly negative review personally. If we keep taking it, we'll keep getting it. And more.

 

As for my family, we are taking our Royal Caribbean Platinum status and moving to Holland America permanently.

[cruzincurt]

HAL is better? Hardly.:rolleyes: We won't step foot on those old curmudgeon filled ships again.

[joepeka]

HAL is better? Hardly.:rolleyes: We won't step foot on those old curmudgeon filled ships again.

Well, your signature indicates you set foot on them five times.... it took that long for you to decide they weren't to your liking? :confused:

[Big_G]

 

I would not take issue if the difference in the cabin size were only a few feet, however if a person is going with a family that space could make a big difference. Maybe sharing my experience can save someone else some frustration ...

 

I would think that if you knew someone was being cheated....you would want t do what you could to help them out as well. It's should just be human nature to be kind to others...;)

 

 

Have a good day

 

LMAO! Yea, that's what your doing, helping others. :rolleyes: Opening a thread would be helpful. Hijacking irrelevant threads is on a mission. How's that bitterness taste? :D

[setsail]

LMAO! Yea, that's what your doing, helping others. :rolleyes: Opening a thread would be helpful. Hijacking irrelevant threads is on a mission. How's that bitterness taste? :D

 

Clearly, whats going on here. The exact same thing/message has been posted on at least 6 different meet and mingle threads for Legend, none of which the poster is doing.

 

CC guidelines clearly state

 

"Postings that have been placed on the boards to disrupt the flow of conversation or otherwise disrupt Cruise Critic members' enjoyment of the Community will be removed and you run the risk of losing your posting privileges. This would include, but is not limited to, the posting of essentially the same message over and over in response to different threads on the forums"

[Alexat2]

I've sailed both, and the food is better on HAL - much better. HOWEVER HAL does something I consider completely sleazy (even worse than upselling) and I have stopped sailing with them because of it: Their onboard deposit policy.

 

HAL REQUIRES each guest to put $65 per day down as an onboard deposit - this can be as an authorization on a CC or CASH - but the FULL AMOUNT IS REQUIRED. It used to be you could give them whatever cash amount you wanted - they stopped that a few years ago and now DEMAND the $65 per day.

 

This might not seem like a big deal, and for a 7 day cruise it's not that big of a deal. My average cruise with them was 24+ days - that's an onboard deposit of $1560 :eek:. Those of you with gold/platinum cards and AMEX are saying "What's the big deal?" "Who cares? It's just an authorization". Well, not all of us have gold/platinum CCs or Amex - some of us don't use credit cards (by choice) we use debt cards. So that's $1560 in cold, hard, cash I have to give them (either in cash, or blocked off on my bank account via debit) - even if I get it back, even though I don't do the ships shore excursions, and I've NEVER had an onboard account that was more than $500 - and that was on a 47 day cruise.

 

Now, some of you are saying "But it's to cover their butts on charges" - no it's not, especially not on long cruises. If an authorization is done, it clears in, at the max, in 7 days. So, why do they do it? They're setting their passengers up psychologically to spend a minimum of $65 per day per person onboard, or as much as they can get out of them.

 

Lets say that your onboard budget for your 7 day cruise is $250pp, you've given HAL an authorization of $455pp - you had to have that amount either available on your CC, or you've given them to it in cash. Either way - you have it available and it's already authorized to them. Day 5 of your cruise, you've spent $200 on board and there's a last minute tour you really want to take that's $150pp -that will put you over your $250pp you wanted to spend by $100pp, but..... well, you do have it... you already blocked off $455 to HAL... so the odds are a lot better that you'll part with that extra $100pp. If you'd only give them what YOU wanted to spend to begin with OR they settled accounts nightly like RCCL does. It's just the way the brain works. And I know - there are some out there that are too disciplined to fall for it, but most people aren't that disciplined. It's psych 101.

 

Now just imagine on a ship of 2000 passengers that 10% went $150 over their budget because of this, that's an extra $30K the ship just made on the cruise, that otherwise those 200 passengers might not have spent.

 

Lydia

[bplazo]

I have never felt "nickled or dimed" on any cruiseline. There are options that are extra and if you want it then it is your choice. I rarely spend any money on the ship because all I need is a lounge chair and a book.

[Paul65]

A few examples of the constant attempts to sell us something;

 

Selling bottled water at dinner the instant we sat down

Selling $35 cook books at dinner

Setting down to breakfast and having them immediately try and sell fresh squeezed orange juice

Though we did not partake, lobster and premium steaks are now only available for an additional price (e.g., $19.95

 

I didn't notice this "nickel and diming" on my recent cruise, but it may just be a matter of perception. For example, thinking back, I do think our waiter asked on the first night if anyone wanted bottled water (San Pellegrino). We declined, and didn't hear any more about it the rest of the cruise. This is not a new thing in the last few years, though, because I remember having San Pellegrino (for an additional cost) almost every night with our dinner on my first RCI cruise in 1993.

 

I remember passing by the fresh-squeezed OJ stand every morning on the way into the Windjammer for breakfast, and maybe even being offered it once by a server, but never felt like they were pushing it.

 

I was never asked to buy a cookbook, though I vaguely remember a sign outside the dining room advertising that they were available for sale.

 

And, yes, I did see that Maine lobster and filet mignon were available on the dining room menu for an additional fee. Never felt the need to try them, because there was always something on the regular menu that sounded good to me.

[Paul65]

$900 a day! :eek:

 

I'm thinking maybe the poster got "day" and "week" mixed up.

[travellady09]

Alexat2-thanks for the details about HAL..I've never cruised that line before and was considering them for future travel. Nice to know things like this ahead of time.

[cjdixon4]

I have never felt "nickled or dimed" on any cruiseline. There are options that are extra and if you want it then it is your choice. I rarely spend any money on the ship because all I need is a lounge chair and a book.

 

...and there you have it. I'm with you on that one. Why do so many people have difficulty with the word, "NO"? :confused:

[artypharty]

Dinner in the dining room a majority of the time tasted like airplane food.

 

 

I would love to know what airline you fly?? Never had airline food as good as what we find on board. That comparison just doesn't "fly" with me.;)

[cruzincurt]

Well, your signature indicates you set foot on them five times.... it took that long for you to decide they weren't to your liking? :confused:

Yes, got worse and worse. Finally gave up on them. You can also see who my favorite is. Nothing like a bit of comparison shopping.

[jimmy2x]

Alexat2-thanks for the details about HAL..I've never cruised that line before and was considering them for future travel. Nice to know things like this ahead of time.

 

Maybe I'm a bit dense, but so far as I recall, the credit hold has occurred on EVERY cruise we've taken regardless of line.

[Alamogirl]

We've only cruised RCI so have no comparisons but have had no reason to try others. Every cruise has been great. Our last cruise there were delays in getting checked in and then again with disembarking. I sent an email stating that the disembarking was really an issue as people were blocking the stairways by sitting and waiting and elevators were extremely slow. I got a response back within 24 hours, very apologetic and to my surprise a "nice" credit for a future cruise. We are only emerald but truthfully we don't pay much attention to that. Also lobster night was great, my DH was brought 2 nice size tails right off that bat, there was no charge for lobster that night. We will stick with RCI!

[caribbean sailor]

What kind of cabin did you have for $900 a day? At that rate, I don't understand why you didn't have a special place for breakfast, ie Chops grill or some place as you would have to be in a suite. Also, I guess if I paid $900 a day going to Chops or Portofino would be a no-brainer to me. I would expect a lot more from a cruiseline if paying that much.

 

If you paid $90 a day, then you are not paying that much and for that amount I would expect just regular service on a mainstream cruise line which is sounds like you received. HAL isn't all that great in my opinion, but to each his own.

 

I'd sooner do Celebrity, as we have done many times, before HAL again. By the way, I think Seattle's best coffee is good. I am definitely not a Starbucks fan.

 

I agree with you on the coffee,We like the taste of strong coffee. :)To poster hope your next cruise is a better one for you.

[KBRADFORD79]

We are longtime RCI customers (C&A Em.) and we just canceled our Aug 31st trip on the Legend of the Seas. We discovered recently that the Cat E cabin we purchased was not the 193 SF as advertised on the RCI website. It is in fact only 153 SF . However when we attempted to resolve this issue with RCI, they would not step up to the plate and provide us with a comparable room in order to provide u...s with the quality of reservation that we purchased. But in fact wanted us to pay even more money to get it resolved. This is their error. Not the customer's. We will not be using RCI or any of their other cruise companies in the future.

 

A company needs to accept ownership of their mistakes and not ask the customer to pay MORE money to get something that they have already paid for. Bad Business practices such as this will end up hurting their business in the long run. I was always their biggest advocate in the past....but not anymore.

I'm so disappointed in RCI.....I don't feel like I can trust a company that has bad information on their sales site (false advertising?) and when they are confronted with it, tries to then get out of meeting their obligation to the customer. How could I ever trust them to do the right thing, if I were on one of their ships and something bad happened? I have lost all trust in RCI.

 

 

CC Please dont beat me up for saying this but WHY WOULD YOU CANCEL YOUR WHOLE CRUISE OVER THE SIZE OF A CABIN? I'm sorry but that just doesnt make sense to me. You gotta appreciate all things, little and big. Some people can't even afford a vacation/cruise. Be grateful.

[Paul65]

CC Please dont beat me up for saying this but WHY WOULD YOU CANCEL YOUR WHOLE CRUISE OVER THE SIZE OF A CABIN? I'm sorry but that just doesnt make sense to me. You gotta appreciate all things, little and big. Some people can't even afford a vacation/cruise. Be grateful.

 

If you make a purchase decision based on the value for one thing, then find out you're getting something different, it is not unreasonable to decide to cancel the transaction.

 

I doubt this means that they'll forgo having a vacation. It's more likely to mean they book something different - perhaps a different vacation altogether or a different cruise line.

[time4u2go]

CC Please dont beat me up for saying this but WHY WOULD YOU CANCEL YOUR WHOLE CRUISE OVER THE SIZE OF A CABIN? I'm sorry but that just doesnt make sense to me. You gotta appreciate all things, little and big. Some people can't even afford a vacation/cruise. Be grateful.

I believe they said there were health reasons.

[worldspan]

All cruises are deteriorating be it Royal Caribbean or Holland America. Cruisings' best days are over in terms of a quality product. The cruise lines are following the "airline model" to a tee.

 

Worldspan

132 cruises strong

[awhcruiser]

I totally agree with this.

 

CC Please dont beat me up for saying this but WHY WOULD YOU CANCEL YOUR WHOLE CRUISE OVER THE SIZE OF A CABIN? I'm sorry but that just doesnt make sense to me. You gotta appreciate all things, little and big. Some people can't even afford a vacation/cruise. Be grateful.

[grand isle joe]

All cruises are deteriorating be it Royal Caribbean or Holland America. Cruisings' best days are over in terms of a quality product. The cruise lines are following the "airline model" to a tee.

 

Worldspan

132 cruises strong

 

 

.....and we walked in blinding snow storms up hill both ways to and from school....................:rolleyes:

[TahoeBob]

 

Selling bottled water at dinner the instant we sat down

Selling $35 cook books at dinner

Setting down to breakfast and having them immediately try and sell fresh squeezed orange juice

Though we did not partake, lobster and premium steaks are now only available for an additional price (e.g., $19.95

 

All you have to do is say NO, really it is that simple...

[Big_G]

.....and we walked in blinding snow storms up hill both ways to and from school....................:rolleyes:

 

Thankfully, with global warming and all, those days are gone. :D;)