Cost Cutting Gone To Far

[marci22]

Royal Caribbean twitter question: How do YOU define luxury travel?

 

#nochickennecks

 

#noflintstonebeds

[John&LaLa]

That is a fairly large percentage of the earth.

 

And that is sad

[SelectSys]

You say something's gotta give, but why? If they could make me feel like a king at a great price five years ago, when fuel prices were double, why won't they do it now? They must be keeping a larger portion of my fare to run their company, and giving me less. A Royal Caribbean cruise is not what it was five or seven years ago. Even adjusted for inflation, prices are up and service is down.

 

 

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Because fundamentally the cruise lines serve their owners first and foremost. It looks like the line has been doing well for their owners:

https://www.google.com/#q=royal+caribbean+international+stock

 

Maybe the cruise lines are following the airlines in making it a "race to the bottom" except for the high-end suite guests. We shall see. If they do, perhaps someone new will enter the market like the ME3 and "steal" passengers away regardless of their previous loyalty.

 

The good news for me is that they still make me feel pretty good. In terms of fare, what I have been paying really hasn't increased much at all over the years. Sometimes it seems even less. This coming spring I am paying under $200/day for two people all in for 15 days. Can I really expect full gourmet food every day when just an OK dinner in my home town costs $75-100?

 

Because perhaps the passengers have a long experience with Royal Caribbean and are willing to let one bad experience go. Or perhaps they have seen worse on other cruise lines, including Celebrity. Or maybe despite all the issues they still had a great time.

 

That is me. I still have a great time and think it is a good value.

 

Oxymoron

 

There are other cruise lines that offer the product you seem to be looking for. However, they also cost a bit more.

 

Agreed - I could buy the ultimate drink package, dine in the specialty restaurants nightly and have a suite on RCCL for less than some other lines.

Edited December 17, 2015 by SelectSys

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

We are on Celebrity Silohuette right now, doing the second leg of a b2b. We did a b2b on the Allure. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. This is our last cruise. We, the consumer, decide quality levels and value for our travel dollar. After 35 cruises, and 403 days at sea, we have determined that none of the cruise lines currently meet our criteria. The first 30 were excellent, the last 5, not so much. We will take our $10,000 annual travel budget and go back to land travel. It might not be the best financial decision, but the enjoyment factor will more than make up for it.

 

Exactly what we've decided.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

You say something's gotta give, but why? If they could make me feel like a king at a great price five years ago, when fuel prices were double, why won't they do it now? They must be keeping a larger portion of my fare to run their company, and giving me less. A Royal Caribbean cruise is not what it was five or seven years ago. Even adjusted for inflation, prices are up and service is down.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Bingo!!

[Cuizer2]

But seriously, should you have to pay $5k per person to get a chicken leg instead of a neck or back? It's comical.

 

It depends on what it is being served with. You can get a chicken leg at KFC for a couple of bucks. However, it doesn't come with a cruise ship.

[Thetrail]

Post stuff like what? LOL and Seriously together (as you had the two words) is an oxymoron.

oxymoron 100%. And I found your post amusing........:)

[Cuizer2]

oxymoron 100%. And I found your post amusing........:)

 

Now we are both in trouble, and I've got the FBI knocking on my door. :eek:

[Paul65]

If I went to the WJ for lunch and the chicken option was 'necks and backs', prepared in any way, I would be pretty disgusted.

 

How did they get to this level?

 

They didn't. Someone didn't see the piece of chicken they wanted and are on here claiming "necks and backs." You can't believe everything you read.

[2ManyCruises]

But, in time, you may be offered some meal with a disguised chicken neck and like it.:eek:

 

Biker, who lately comes to CC for the entertainment reading threads like this.:cool:

 

LOL - you never know.

[Cabansail]

Agreed. I remember rolling into the WJ on Radiance 4 years ago on boarding day to a huge table FULL of fresh fruit, carved melons and a nice crown and anchor ice sculpture. Where did all that go? :o I said it once and will say it again. If someone really wants to see all the cutbacks that are happening, all you have to do is take a 3 year break from cruising. The changes and cutbacks from 2012 to 2015 have been numerous yet prices are as high as ever. I can only guess it will be even more from 2015 - 2018.

 

They keep on sailing at 104% occupancy though and most of the cruisers have no idea how things were 3-5 years ago.

 

I also hear that years ago there were far fewer people who had the higher statuses.When you have a group of customers with entitlement to free stuff at discounted fares and that groups is growing, you need to fund it from somewhere. All the free loyalty perks do have a cost. The money has to come from somewhere.

[SelectSys]

I also hear that years ago there were far fewer people who had the higher statuses.When you have a group of customers with entitlement to free stuff at discounted fares and that groups is growing, you need to fund it from somewhere. All the free loyalty perks do have a cost. The money has to come from somewhere.

 

Makes sense to me. When we were in the terminal on our last cruise, the diamond check-in line was longer than the normal line.