How could RCL Improve?

[Ladysilver]

I would appreciate it if the RCI website worked on the weekends! :mad:

[CruiseAddict1982]

The windjammer stats open pretty late. 24 hours would be a bit much and food would be wasted. Room service is available after hours and you can always get pizza or a sandwich.

[knittinggirl]

Things to Keep

 

1. Larger staterooms overall with excellent storage organization.

 

2. Free room service

 

3. Risotto, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Vidalia Onion Tart

 

4. Excellent perks for C & A members

 

5. Wow Card Rewards for Superior Service

 

Things to fix

 

1. Don't cancel cruises once they're advertised on Royal Caribbean. We just had this happen on the May 2, 2015 Rhapsody and we're NOT happy.

 

2. Stop adding more rooms to ships. This worsens congestion.

 

3. Return to the ship shape menu offerings. Used to be 3 courses under 500 calories, then changed to under 800. Now, it's just healthy.

 

4. Better Itineraries. Pacific Coastal had a blast on Celebrity. RT Hawaii from California, done it on Princess and had a blast! Longer Alaska cruises RT out of Seattle. Also, more itineraries out of Galveston. Been on the two offered so many times. Why not longer ones, or cruise to the Bahama's with a stop in New Orleans? At one time, Carnival had a Bahama's cruise out of Galveston so it's possible. Also, would like to see a South American itinerary out of Galveston.

 

5. Give us choice(s) of appetizer at Giovanni's table instead of dumping them all on the table.

Edited November 17, 2013 by knittinggirl

[grab007]

More HC accessible suites. Freedom class ships only have two JS suites w/balconies. You'd hope that larger ships had more. They could easily book them if HC passengers didn't. We have to book well over a year in advance.

[smeck]

I think I've mentioned this before, but I wish the MDR was open on embarkation day for lunch. NCL does this and it was so nice to walk onto our NCL ship and sit and have a relaxing meal w/o having to drag our carryon all over the place. (And for the record, I think RCCL beats the pants off NCL in almost every other way, but that MDR lunch was great.) We're going on Allure in a couple of months and made lunch reservations at Giovanni's Table for embarkation day so we don't have to do the Windjammer obstacle course.

 

Totally agree re the pool towels - what a pain! - and would love to have a lemonade/iced tea station available 24 hours somewhere like the promenade cafe or pool deck.

 

Agree one million% about main dining room being open for lunch on embarkation day.

[teddie]

 

In terms of on board issues. I would like to see them remove all the sales people from the Windjammer area. I hate having to run the gauntlet just to get into the windjammer. They have people trying to sell wine, water, dining packages, and camera's. I think it's a little tacky. They should have an area down in the promenade for that stuff rather than trying to shanghai guests as they are passing through or just going in for a meal.

 

Hey, it's a business, and they are out to make money. I have never felt "shanghai'd"; I just smile and keep walking, unless I'm interested. Have you ever been to Cancun? Now, THAT'S another story. Even then, "No, Gracias" and keep walking.

 

Teddie

[Paulette3028]

The windjammer stats open pretty late. 24 hours would be a bit much and food would be wasted. Room service is available after hours and you can always get pizza or a sandwich.

 

For instance -- on Majesty of the Seas; after Windjammer closes they have a small pizza bar Sorrentos that stays open....to get to it you need to go thru WJ (or thru the outside via a dark walkway) and up a winding staircase....and the choices are super limited; many times they don't have 'sandwiches'....yes to coffee,tea, Hot Cocoa and soft drinks;

 

If they took that and had it in a small section of Windjammer it just would be easier...Yes, I can call for room service, but if I am walking around the ship, I just want to walk over and choose something for a late night snack.

 

Fruit would be nice; cookies and small pastries -- it would not need to be elaborate for 'overnight snacking'.

 

And yes, I have stated this on my satisfaction surveys....we have cruised MOS - 9 times....it doesn't stop us from going again -- we will be on her over Thanksgiving weekend.

[CruiseAddict1982]

Lol I understand ur concerns but people will always complain about something. Can't satisfy everyone I guess. All I know is I don't have to cook or clean did the days I'm on the cruise. I'm satisfied with that and anything else is a bonus.

[Paulette3028]

Lol I understand ur concerns but people will always complain about something. Can't satisfy everyone I guess. All I know is I don't have to cook or clean did the days I'm on the cruise. I'm satisfied with that and anything else is a bonus.

 

I can easily agree with this POV; the small things that I would suggest to RCCL to improve the cruise experience are just that.....super small. In so many ways, I have a blast and as you point out....don't have to cook, clean up or overly plan for entertainment....it is all right there....just need to figure out what to do from the choice list...its all good.

[travelplus]

Here is a way Royal Caribbean Can Improve

 

1. Take off the surcharge for Room Service if people forgot about the room Service then thats their problem. Sorry late night people who want Room service should be able to get it at no cost to them. Those who fall asleep and find their food cold then thats their problem not mine.

 

2. Have 24 hour venues including the Windjammer.

 

3. Upgrade food in the Windjammer and have signage with calories, what is Gluten Free, Vegetarian etc.

 

4. Keep the consistency of the Main Dining Room and let us specify how we want our meats cooked.

 

5. Keep the Main Dining Room open on Port Days not everyone goes ashore or some want to come back for lunch. At least have the Tutti Salad Bar setup in the Windjammer.

 

6. Make the Tutti Salad Bar a mainstay in the Windjammer too. A lot of times I ate a lot at lunch and just want salad, cheese and crackers etc.

 

7. Have Kiosks setup at checkin where I can fill out my SetSail Pass or print it out if I forgot to. On the Kiosk I could update my Credit Card info too and swipe my Passport to update the information stored. You could even have the Health Questions as part of the process. For those who completed their Set Sail Pass they can scan it or look it up by reservation number and swiping an ID Card or Passport to look up the reservation like the airlines.

 

8. On boarding day have a Salad Bar setup on the Pool Deck with other food such as BBQ Ribs so that way I don't have to change to eat in the Windjammer.

 

9. Take away this stupid Towel Check in Check Out and just place new towels every day in your Stateroom and have extras setup in bins like they do at hotels. It takes more time to refund the money for a mistaken taken towel than it does for you to replenish them. Don't make it the Guest's responsibility to return and check in towels. Hotels don't do it.

 

10. In the Port on Checkin Day offer snacks and drinks for Gold Members on up in the C&A Area of the Checkin Area with Coffee, Iced Tea, Flavored Water etc and easy to eat snacks/sandwiches especially if there is a delay in boarding. Perhaps offer the Drink of The Day at Port before boarding if there is going to be a delay.

[Bookish Angel]

so water would flow out but sample-size shampoo packages do not fall through. Also, a small pull-down seat would be handy for leg-shaving

 

Agree with another poster about putting calorie counts on every dish as well as fats, sodium and cholesterol content. I'd love to see certified organic foods and know from where it is sourced.

 

I'd like to see some volunteerism excursions offered; helping others in some tangible way.

 

Enforcement of no children under posted age in adult-only areas.

[fortyniner1340]

RCL is quite good actually. If they fail consistently at anything, in my humble opinion, its listening to customer's complaints, I'm talking about the folks at the front desk that have the worst jobs on the ship, I think. They hear customers talk but don't really listen. But enough of that.

 

We've taken RCL many times usually for the longer cruises. RCL and Celebrity(owned by RCL) have the best frequent cruiser perks, free cocktails WAY before you'd ever get them on Princess or the CCL lines. Princess is pretty good, you can do your own laundry on Princess, pack less and save a few bucks! Overall best cruise line for us has been Celebrity no question, they anticipate your needs and are trained in excellent customer service. Overall worst cruise line for us has been Norwegian "freestyle cruising" is for inexperienced saps, institutionalized waiting in line, they're the lamest of all we've been on.

 

Looks like you're on the right track with Celebrity and RCL. Happy Cruising!

[Stateroom_Sailor]

We've taken RCL many times usually for the longer cruises. RCL and Celebrity(owned by RCL) have the best frequent cruiser perks, free cocktails WAY before you'd ever get them on Princess or the CCL lines. Princess is pretty good, you can do your own laundry on Princess, pack less and save a few bucks! Overall best cruise line for us has been Celebrity no question, they anticipate your needs and are trained in excellent customer service. Overall worst cruise line for us has been Norwegian "freestyle cruising" is for inexperienced saps, institutionalized waiting in line, they're the lamest of all we've been on.

 

Looks like you're on the right track with Celebrity and RCL. Happy Cruising!

 

Oh thanks, and you too! I've done a lot of reading, youtube people watching, and listening to a couple seasoned cruise friends. Norwegian we are absolutely going to avoid. Their MDR seems like a scam to get you into their specialty restaurants, I would have to get a free cruise just to break even! RCL and Celebrity seem like the lines we will most fit in with, but I wont' turn a good deal down from Carnival. We also want to try HAL for the Gold Rush Alaskan tour.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Stateroom_Sailor

[Upandadam]

In my opinion, they could improve with enforcing their own rules. Like keeping adult-only-areas on the ship child-free, no kids in specialty restaurants after 7pm, taking towels and belongings to towel-stations after 30 minutes etc.

But honestly, not much else comes to my mind, I love to cruise with RCCL.

 

Agreed. Last cruise we had a diapered infant in the adult only hot tub as well as it's topless 10-12 year old sister. Not cool at all.

[CruiseAddict1982]

Being adults we should police ourselves. A 10-12 year old and an infant in an adult area is terrible parenting but not the full fault of royal Caribbean. It's a vacation so I'm sure they don't want to go around reminding people of rules 24/7

[voyager89]

Serve wings. Thats how they could improve :D

[Upandadam]

Being adults we should police ourselves. A 10-12 year old and an infant in an adult area is terrible parenting but not the full fault of royal Caribbean. It's a vacation so I'm sure they don't want to go around reminding people of rules 24/7

 

You're right that the parents never should have allowed this but since they did, who should be in charge of enforcing the rules if not the cruise line? They are the ONLY ones with the authority to so. If nothing else, it's a health risk, vacation or not.

[Paulette3028]

Being adults we should police ourselves. A 10-12 year old and an infant in an adult area is terrible parenting but not the full fault of royal Caribbean. It's a vacation so I'm sure they don't want to go around reminding people of rules 24/7

 

Royal Caribbean doesn't want to anger one guest, but they truly need to be concerned about the OTHER guests they anger by NOT softly speaking with the family/parents and enforcing the rules.

 

You could say RCCL is between a rock and a hard place...because someone will be made unhappy...better to make unhappy, the person violating the rules...Rules are there for everyone's enjoyment, safety and HEALTH!

[Jimnbigd]

I'd like to hear more big band concerts from the ship's orchestra. They have always been very talented.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Jimnbigd

[Cruisegirl6]

Re CHOPS:

 

We dine at the specialty restaurants at least 5 out of 7 nights and I do not eat seafood and I must be gluten free for medical issues.

 

Chops does not offer anything for me other than the smoked duck salad. They do have salads but to me that's not a starter. Both the cheese n onion soup and the mushroom soup contains gluten. I would like to see non gluten items added to the starters such as chicken lettace wraps, cheese platter or mozzerealla and tomato, fruit cup, prosciutto and melon, etc.

 

We generally will dine at Chops 203 evenings and it be nice if they offer people such as myself who can't eat seafood and have gluten other options.

[CruiseAddict1982]

I agree with the wings idea. Nothing better than an ice cold beer and wings to go with that.

 

You're right they should enforce the rules, but as adults that pay good money to go on cruises we shouldn't have to be told to follow the rules especially with kids around, but sadly some adults don't follow the rules and could care less about anyone else.

[luvscruising2007]

I would like to see more cruises that are 10 or more nights. Also more variety in many of the itineraries. Longer cruises might allow for this.

Also, it might be nice to see cruises along the West coast. Maybe not all year long but NE cruises aren't all year long either. Say RT Vancouver to San Diego, or North/South itineraries. Maybe use the smaller ships or put Explorer there.

[cynt]

I would be thrilled if RCI would improve their website. Give me a deck plan with all the available cabins lit up with icons. Don't make me scroll back and forth trying to find what I want.

 

Ohhh this! I hate all the cruiseline websites. Show me each deck and which cabins are available. All this picking and choosing and fliping back and forth drives me crazy. Show me the deck highlight the available cabins. If I put my mouse over that cabin it will show me the total price for the number of people I selected. Easy peasy!!! KISS - Keep it simple stupid!!

[CruiseAddict1982]

Being in law enforcement myself, I would love to see more security patrolling the ship. Unfortunately, some people do horrible things onboard ships and I want to feel safe and protected while I'm on vacation. I've never had any problems personally, but you can never have too much security personnel.

[bradsnana]

* I would like to see Royal change the production shows on a regular basis - like maybe 3 years on each ship. If it is a monetary issue for Royal, they could just swap shows amongst ships.

 

* Go back to the original way of getting a pool towel - have the cabin steward leave 2 in the room for you.

 

* Keep the Windjammer open 24 hours.

 

* On ships with a Royal Promenade, have a drink station set up with iced tea and lemonade 24 hours.

 

* Get rid of those expensive hand-held Bingo machines. Bingo used to be more fun when everyone had the same chance to win with just the paper cards. Most of the winners are playing on the machines, and at $50+ for each Bingo session, it is ridiculous.

 

* Give us some more varied Caribbean itineraries to choose from - maybe 10 & 12 days to the Southern Caribbean or Panama Canal partial and full transits. I'm tired of the same old 7 day eastern and western itineraries.

 

Love the towel idea and the bingo idea for sure! I love playing bingo on sea days but the cost is just insane!

Love the itinerary idea also!

 

 

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