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Explorer drydock postponed

NanciRDH

By NanciRDH,
in Royal Caribbean International

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little britain "Live from...." Rare

little britain

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, DREUX said:

 

Well, to hear you describe the cabins on the EOS as "holiday inn from the 80's" is somewhat disappointing to say the least.  You compare the current EOS cabins to 40 year old Holiday Inn rooms when the ship has not even been sailing for 20 years albeit with undergoing scheduled dry docks and refurbishments.  I find it hard to believe and that RCCL  would allow the EOS  to sail in such condition.  I have sailed on various other RCCL ships and although not perfect, would not describe any as having cabins that appear akin to a 40 year old Holiday Inn.  I, for one, would certainly expect better before I would consider rebooking the same accommodations  just a few months later.  Anyway, wishing you happy sailings.

Admittedly she is a bit bashed around the edges and has rather tired dated decor. But she’s a great ship. Our cabin last November. 

BEF924C8-ED4D-4D9F-A6F4-4C8BF76CE558.jpeg

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Mark_UK

Mark_UK

Posted
Posted

I'm due to sail both Explore and Allure in November/December this year, which we booked specifically due to the ships being 'amped', plus paid a premium for as the new features were being heavily advertised. I fully appreciate the difficult reasons why Royal had to postpone, but assuming things are back up and running by then do you think I'll be able to swap to another sailing, such from Allure to Symphony for the same week/cabin? 

 

The prices have gone up a lot since we booked a year ago so wouldn't want to be paying today's fares! 

 

 

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livylotte

livylotte

Posted
Posted

I would feel very peeved if I'd paid higher prices for a new amped ship and then didn't get the amp.  Especially if you booked to sail because of the new amped version.  In a perfect world RC should re-price and allow price drops for cruisers already booked.  Unlikely, I know.

 

For the right price I would happily sail again on an un-amped Explorer.  We paid a very low price when we sailed on in August 2019 and yes, the windows in the Windjammer need replacing as does the carpet.  The 2 spa pools in the Solarium don't work so could do with a fix.  There was a bad crack in the vanity unit in our bathroom but that is to be expected on a ship of her age.  But the price we paid reflected all that and we got what we expected.

 

Despite those things, we loved Explorer and had a great cruise on her and I didn't feel our cruise experience was any less than the one we had on an Oasis class a couple of months earlier.  

 

RC need to manage people's expectations here.  Perhaps a little OBC would help.

 

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NateUpNorth

NateUpNorth

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, livylotte said:

I would feel very peeved if I'd paid higher prices for a new amped ship and then didn't get the amp.  Especially if you booked to sail because of the new amped version.  In a perfect world RC should re-price and allow price drops for cruisers already booked.  Unlikely, I know.

 

For the right price I would happily sail again on an un-amped Explorer.  We paid a very low price when we sailed on in August 2019 and yes, the windows in the Windjammer need replacing as does the carpet.  The 2 spa pools in the Solarium don't work so could do with a fix.  There was a bad crack in the vanity unit in our bathroom but that is to be expected on a ship of her age.  But the price we paid reflected all that and we got what we expected.

 

Despite those things, we loved Explorer and had a great cruise on her and I didn't feel our cruise experience was any less than the one we had on an Oasis class a couple of months earlier.  

 

RC need to manage people's expectations here.  Perhaps a little OBC would help.

 

 

 

Two kids...... booked Explorer based primarily on the Amp and itinerary.

For now the itinerary is the same........ will have to manage the disappointment of no slides etc for the kids.

 

OBC would be great, but reality is RCL aren't in the habit of exceeding expectations, thus the fine print absolving responsibility regarding itinerary changes, inflexbility on payment schedules  etc etc etc. It's a company that provides decent value and prices to begin with up front, so I'm sure on the business side there isn't much room or inclination for "above and beyond", regardless of how they advertise.

 

I will be disappointed if the drydock doesn't fix windows and if carpets look like a herd of elephants have lived on it for a few years. My hope is a well maintained ship with good service and decent food. In my experience rarely does RCL fail on these points.

 

This is all assuming we sail in December. If not we'll hope they extend L&S, we'll move to 2021 and hope it's AMP'd by then.

Edited by NateUpNorth
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NateUpNorth

NateUpNorth

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, DREUX said:

 

Well, to hear you describe the cabins on the EOS as "holiday inn from the 80's" is somewhat disappointing to say the least.  You compare the current EOS cabins to 40 year old Holiday Inn rooms when the ship has not even been sailing for 20 years albeit with undergoing scheduled dry docks and refurbishments.  I find it hard to believe and that RCCL  would allow the EOS  to sail in such condition.  I have sailed on various other RCCL ships and although not perfect, would not describe any as having cabins that appear akin to a 40 year old Holiday Inn.  I, for one, would certainly expect better before I would consider rebooking the same accommodations  just a few months later.  Anyway, wishing you happy sailings.

 

You're correct, it's more like a current Holiday Inn.

 

Holiday Inn Scottsdale and EOS room:

 

 

 

 

Scottsdale.JPG

holiday inn.JPG

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cadburysmom

cadburysmom

Posted
Posted
On 6/17/2020 at 6:31 AM, little britain said:

Admittedly she is a bit bashed around the edges and has rather tired dated decor. But she’s a great ship. Our cabin last November. 

BEF924C8-ED4D-4D9F-A6F4-4C8BF76CE558.jpeg

 

On 6/17/2020 at 1:35 PM, Airbalancer said:

We are on the TA in November so we really could not care about slides or any other frills like that 

good bar service and good food is all we care about 😁

Totally agree!

...holy cow, at this point, looks like the Taj Mahal to me!!😂

 

 

Fingers and toes crossed she sails in NOVEMBER!!!

 

 

 

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sellwingri

sellwingri

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, cadburysmom said:

 

Totally agree!

...holy cow, at this point, looks like the Taj Mahal to me!!😂

 

 

Fingers and toes crossed she sails in NOVEMBER!!!

 

 

 

We’re on the Oct 6th cruise from Rome so we’ve got our fingers and toes crossed as well.  Since the ship will be in Europe for refurbishing in Aug, is makes sense that it’ll stay there and start sailing again in Sept.  Guess we’ll have to leave it to the countries.  In our case it’s Italy, Malta, Greece, and Turkey.

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MADflyer

MADflyer

Posted
Posted

Interesting that Norwegian moved the ships that were held at Norfolk, VA over to the MED with 3 ships arriving last night, the Epic, Dawn and Spirit.  Epic is at Gibraltar with Jewel today and Dawn and Spirit anchored at Gibraltar. Breakaway and Getaway were already at Marseilles.

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LXA350

LXA350

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, MADflyer said:

Interesting that Norwegian moved the ships that were held at Norfolk, VA over to the MED with 3 ships arriving last night, the Epic, Dawn and Spirit.  Epic is at Gibraltar with Jewel today and Dawn and Spirit anchored at Gibraltar. Breakaway and Getaway were already at Marseilles.

 

Possible cheaper costs to hold them there / the ships will be moved around again to colder waters in Northern Europe?

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Jack McGowan

Jack McGowan

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, MADflyer said:

Interesting that Norwegian moved the ships that were held at Norfolk, VA over to the MED with 3 ships arriving last night, the Epic, Dawn and Spirit.  Epic is at Gibraltar with Jewel today and Dawn and Spirit anchored at Gibraltar. Breakaway and Getaway were already at Marseilles.

Not forgetting Bliss & Encore heading to Sweden 

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MADflyer

MADflyer

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, Jack McGowan said:

Not forgetting Bliss & Encore heading to Sweden 

Interesting indeed.  

 

That is a little too close to Germany where all those ships have their finance holiday though April 2021.

 

Just saw that all the RCI new builds after Odyssey will be delayed with at least 10 months. 

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bigrednole

bigrednole

Posted
Posted

When our Nov cruise is canceled, we are thinking of shifting to Explorer of the Seas. The AMP is not happening, but will that affect how nice the ship is in its current state? If it is in disarray, I would prefer not going this route. I am not one that looks for issues, but if they are blatantly visible and ignored that will cause me to start looking for issues. 

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NancyIL

NancyIL

Posted
Posted (edited)
22 minutes ago, bigrednole said:

When our Nov cruise is canceled, we are thinking of shifting to Explorer of the Seas. The AMP is not happening, but will that affect how nice the ship is in its current state? If it is in disarray, I would prefer not going this route. I am not one that looks for issues, but if they are blatantly visible and ignored that will cause me to start looking for issues. 

 

You don't have to wait until your Nov. cruise is cancelled to Lift and Shift to another cruise. You just have to do so by Sept. 30.  I think sooner is better in order to have more available cabins.

 

If you weren't referring to  L&S when you said "shift" your Nov. cruise - are you waiting for RCI to cancel it so you can get a 125% FCC?

Edited by NancyIL
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LXA350

LXA350

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Biker19 said:

No one will know that until the she comes out of dry dock and someone reports on the extent of any refurbishment.

 

If RCL wants or not, they will need to at least fix things that are broken / worn as it will not help them when people will avoid cruising / screaming for compensations while onboard. To be as cost efficient as possible the full amplification will be likely done in 3 years from now when the next madatory dry dock will be due (it's 3 years instead of 5 years after ships hit 20 years?)

 

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Biker19

Biker19

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, LXA350 said:

it's 3 years instead of 5 years after ships hit 20 years?

Twice in 5 years, not sure how much leeway there's on the timing of them - but the Vision class which are already there were doing it sorta in the middle.

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