We will always be loyal to royal, but what is happening????

[ano]

My personal feeling is that if you want things to feel more like "the good ol days" service, food quality, space ratio's wise, you need to up your game going on Azamara, Oceania, Seabourne, Silverseas, Crystal or Regent.

 

I hear this often, but its not true. Cruising on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity 15 years ago is nothing like Oceania, or SilverSeas today. Certainly I have nothing against those cruise lines, they offer a good product, its just NOT like what the mainstream cruise lines offered 15 years ago. That seems to be gone for good.

 

I'm also not saying the mainstream guys don't offer a good "value." McDonalds offers a good value too, but its sure nice restaurants exist between McDonalds and those 5 star places where you need to wear a suit. Unfortunately in the cruise world your choice is bargain basement or stuffy smaller ships.

 

 

The cruise industry's solution is to make every ship like a McDonalds, but sell high-priced add-ons to make you think your in a nicer restaurant. We'll just charge extra for padded seats, and if you are a "Diamond" member, we'll give you real silverware. You can also pay extra for the steak and lobster, and maybe we will hang a curtain around your table (Haven) so you don't have to watch the other guests eating their hamburgers, but in the end, your still in a McDonalds.

[HicksRA]

The main purpose RCCL exists is to make money for its owners/investors.

It will perpetually morph into the model that produces the most revenue.

That’s where it is now and where it will go.

The good ole days are irrelevant to them.

[cltnccruisers]

I hear this often, but its not true. Cruising on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity 15 years ago is nothing like Oceania, or SilverSeas today. Certainly I have nothing against those cruise lines, they offer a good product, its just NOT like what the mainstream cruise lines offered 15 years ago. That seems to be gone for good.

 

I'm also not saying the mainstream guys don't offer a good "value." McDonalds offers a good value too, but its sure nice restaurants exist between McDonalds and those 5 star places where you need to wear a suit. Unfortunately in the cruise world your choice is bargain basement or stuffy smaller ships.

 

 

The cruise industry's solution is to make every ship like a McDonalds, but sell high-priced add-ons to make you think your in a nicer restaurant. We'll just charge extra for padded seats, and if you are a "Diamond" member, we'll give you real silverware. You can also pay extra for the steak and lobster, and maybe we will hang a curtain around your table (Haven) so you don't have to watch the other guests eating their hamburgers, but in the end, your still in a McDonalds.

 

Maybe it's that I don't have you cruising background, ano, but you seem somewhat jaded. Just my humble opinion.

[island lady]

Your welcome. Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. :wine-glass::wine-glass:

Thank you....And the same to you and your family! :D

[island lady]

Back then we heard oh "try XYZ cruise line. Its much better." Since then we have been on Norwegian, Princess, and recently Celebrity. In the end, they are all the same

 

Exactly this ^

 

And while others are looking for the greener pastures...we are sticking with Royal, enjoying a higher level of perks while we progress up the loyalty level. Been there done that on other lines...Royal still offers more for us IMHO.

Edited December 23, 2017 by island lady

[island lady]

I always visualized RCI as being classier than this. Better to find out now that it's not rather than when onboard. I'll keep my expectations more reasonable that way.

 

OK...whatever works for you. ;)

[LuCruise]

Nothing is ever going to be perfect and 100% to one's liking. We have done 1 Disney cruise, 3 Royal cruises, and we have 1 Royal cruise booked for the future. I often take a peak at other lines, and perhaps one day we'll try another cruise line, but we just keep coming back to Royal. We like their style, quality, shows, variety, class, etc etc. Cruises cost a lot of money (plus flight) so for vacation, we like to go where we know what we'll be getting and we'll be happy. There is comfort in that and value for money.

[sparks1093]

OK...whatever works for you. ;)

 

It's a good thing you don't work in RCI marketing, your passive aggressive responses wouldn't attract much business;). I still want to give RCI a try, but realize that it may not live up to the hype of the loyal Royals (many of which are friends here in town).

[island lady]

It's a good thing you don't work in RCI marketing, your passive aggressive responses wouldn't attract much business;). I still want to give RCI a try, but realize that it may not live up to the hype of the loyal Royals (many of which are friends here in town).

 

Gosh...thanks. :cool:

Good thing I am retired so I don't have to work and worry about it then. ;p

 

What I am saying is choice is a good thing...if you don't like it...don't use it.

And here you are on a Royal forum. :D

 

I have been on "several" ;) Royal ships....and somehow base my opinions on actual personal experience. Ever judge a book by it's cover.? :o

[tullers]

I started sailing for my first time with royal around 2007[emoji682] or so. I can tell they are cutting corners to save money [emoji408]and I applaud most of their decision ex, chocolate on your pillow [emoji933], midnight buffet etc, but sometimes they seem really ridiculous in some of their strategy.

 

2-3 years ago we had enough [emoji1361]and wanted to try something different. [emoji52]MSC was our experimental cruise line and although the ship was beautiful and more elegant that royal in my opinion the crew was really rude with a visible face of I don’t care.

 

[emoji1600]So what are my options?

 

🛑Carnival ? I won’t even give you my opinion

[emoji6]MSC? Nice ships, amazing MDR food but a negative vibre around the ship

[emoji13]NCL? Maybe but it’s completely different to Royal concepts and the crew can be a hit or miss

[emoji851]Celebrity cruise? 0 experience with them but doing a little reacher will I be bored onboard due to the target demographic ?

🤡Disney? Saving it for my kids, not now

 

So what is really left?

Yeah we are continuing heading back to royal[emoji127]

 

 

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I’m with you on Carnival, I’ve found NCL to be somewhere between Carnival & Royal Caribbean. For Celebrity, think upscale RCCL with better dining all around. Disney is awesome for families and Disnoids with great food. You’ve left out HAL & Princess, both offer excellent experiences although I’ve found the crews on Princess to be inconsistent.

 

Thanks for the info on MSC, the one line I’ve not experienced yet.

[CrossBluePerchance]

Finally, I do not understand the "We will always be loyal to Royal." Why? Companies should be loyal to me, to earn my dollars... not the other way around. The minute I am not happy with any company or product, is when I stop using it. No "loyatly perk" is worth a product that I am not happy with.

+1 We shop around for what is the best deal for us, not the best deal for a corporation; and shopping around keeps them all on their toes.

[tullers]

I can think of more than one. And even for those that do have a non-refundable option, some will make it refundable for past guests.

 

I currently have 3 cruises booked on other cruise lines. All of them with refundable deposits without having to pay extra for that privilege.

 

 

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It’s all about perspective: are you paying more for a refundable deposit, or are you paying less for a non-refundable deposit? The option is yours.

[sparks1093]

Gosh...thanks. :cool:

Good thing I am retired so I don't have to work and worry about it then. ;p

 

What I am saying is choice is a good thing...if you don't like it...don't use it.

And here you are on a Royal forum. :D

 

I have been on "several" ;) Royal ships....and somehow base my opinions on actual personal experience. Ever judge a book by it's cover.? :o

 

LOL, you are so funny! I still want to give Royal a try, if I didn't I certainly wouldn't be on this forum, but now my expectations are more reasonable and I realize that Royal will be more like CCL and NCL so I won't expect too much to be different.

[island lady]

LOL, you are so funny! I still want to give Royal a try, if I didn't I certainly wouldn't be on this forum, but now my expectations are more reasonable and I realize that Royal will be more like CCL and NCL so I won't expect too much to be different.

 

Thanks....and please come back and give your personal opinion and review once you have actually cruised on Royal. ;)

 

You may love it...you may say "eh"...or you may hate it. It's all in the eye of the cruiser and what works for you. After trying many other lines...RCI works the best for us. It's all a matter of choice...and choice is a good thing. Have been on several Carnival and NCL ships...was not to our liking at all and for us is nothing like RCI. Once again...IMHO.

 

Enjoy your cruising. :)

[sparks1093]

Thanks....and please come back and give your personal opinion and review once you have actually cruised on Royal. ;)

 

You may love it...you may say "eh"...or you may hate it. It's all in the eye of the cruiser and what works for you. After trying many other lines...RCI works the best for us. It's all a matter of choice...and choice is a good thing. Have been on several Carnival and NCL ships...was not to our liking at all and for us is nothing like RCI. Once again...IMHO.

 

Enjoy your cruising. :)

 

Absolutely!

[crzndeb]

People will always choose what makes them comfortable. I tend to get bored with same ole, same ole, so I alternate between Carnival and Royal, just for a change of scenery. I travel solo, so Carnival worked for me to Australia in 2012 on the Spirit and 2014 on the Legend. Last year I spent 33 day on the Vista doing 2 Meds and a TA...I have never had any issues with Carnival. I wanted some new itineraries, so I booked the Serenade next year for the Baltics and TA. I just got off from the Allure because I wanted to do an Oasis class at least once and I am finally Diamond.

 

I’ve never quite understood why people put down cruise lines if they have never sailed them. One bad cruise doesn’t make a cruise line bad. Experiences can differ greatly from ship to ship.

 

After almost 40 years of cruising, my cruising days are starting to wind down. I have been on most of the mainstream cruise lines, and I have enjoyed all of them. What others choose to do is neither right or wrong. We should all feel privileged to have the choice.

[Rocketlady]

was on the independence a couple weeks ago and noticed alot of smoking around the pools. And I also would run into the chairs at the casino that were being saved. That upsets me too. And also I don't like it on land casinos.

But those people usually are pouring in alot of money on the slots. So I doubt it will change.

[cltnccruisers]

was on the independence a couple weeks ago and noticed alot of smoking around the pools. And I also would run into the chairs at the casino that were being saved. That upsets me too. And also I don't like it on land casinos.

But those people usually are pouring in alot of money on the slots. So I doubt it will change.

 

I've heard of the chair thing in the casinos but never actually seen it. If I did I'm not sure I would acknowledge it as a legitimate thing to do. On EOS a couple of years ago I did find a friendly slot machine one evening. I went back the next afternoon and started to play it. Next thing I know this tiny Asian lady starts screaming at me. It took forever for her husband to calm her down. She was nuts.

[ano]

The cruise business really isn't different than any other. If Royal can get enough customers of any type, and make money off of them, they really couldn't care less about any other group. If you look at the movie industry in the US, the numbers of those attending movies drops every years, so movie theaters have installed reclining seats, which have halved the capacity of a movie theater, but they compensated by raising prices. The cruise industry is the opposite, they have increased and increased their capacity and cheapened their product. It appears to have worked for them, but only time will tell.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

Keep hoping RCI will finally notice their product is not attractive anymore.... and start to change things for the better.

Eventually the cruising boom will pass with all the new ships and lines building new ships!

[srlucado]

I hear this often, but its not true. Cruising on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity 15 years ago is nothing like Oceania, or SilverSeas today. Certainly I have nothing against those cruise lines, they offer a good product, its just NOT like what the mainstream cruise lines offered 15 years ago. That seems to be gone for good.

 

I'm also not saying the mainstream guys don't offer a good "value." McDonalds offers a good value too, but its sure nice restaurants exist between McDonalds and those 5 star places where you need to wear a suit. Unfortunately in the cruise world your choice is bargain basement or stuffy smaller ships.

 

 

The cruise industry's solution is to make every ship like a McDonalds, but sell high-priced add-ons to make you think your in a nicer restaurant. We'll just charge extra for padded seats, and if you are a "Diamond" member, we'll give you real silverware. You can also pay extra for the steak and lobster, and maybe we will hang a curtain around your table (Haven) so you don't have to watch the other guests eating their hamburgers, but in the end, your still in a McDonalds.

 

This is about how I feel as well. Thanks for posting.

[cltnccruisers]

Keep hoping RCI will finally notice their product is not attractive anymore.... and start to change things for the better.

Eventually the cruising boom will pass with all the new ships and lines building new ships!

 

We're not thrilled with the big ships- Freedom is about it for us and we prefer a little smaller. But the one thing they could do to improve for us is eliminate smoking in the casinos. We're on Celebrity this coming March and this will be our first comparison. Yeah, they're both the same corporation so maybe they don't care but there is so much more out there.....

[CrossBluePerchance]

We're not thrilled with the big ships- Freedom is about it for us and we prefer a little smaller.....

À chacun son goût I guess, I had to look up the size of Freedom, it's about four times as big as we'd like, and I couldn't see us going on it unless we were comped the cabin. :D

[CruisingNole]

"Once again, we are loyal to RC....we will not change"

 

 

That's exactly what they, and every other corporation wants to hear. It's the equivalent of saying "I don't like that you're ripping me off, but don't worry, I'll keep coming back for more!"

 

 

As long as the consumer pledges loyalty to a brand and not the product or service, the consumer will always lose at the end of the day.

[cltnccruisers]

"Once again, we are loyal to RC....we will not change"

 

 

That's exactly what they, and every other corporation wants to hear. It's the equivalent of saying "I don't like that you're ripping me off, but don't worry, I'll keep coming back for more!"

 

 

As long as the consumer pledges loyalty to a brand and not the product or service, the consumer will always lose at the end of the day.

 

We're only going into our 6th cruise so we still feel like we're shopping. Then again, DW ALWAYS feels like she's shopping. :hearteyes: