Loyal to Royal... but what's next

[ToroAzul]

Meh, it's a multi-billion dollar company who are loyal to their shareholders.

 

That being said, we just started with Royal with three cruises in the last 15 months and two more booked in the next nine months.

 

We hop different cruise lines based on dates and price; except Disney, the mouse got PAID twice! RCCL in Sept and Feb (maybe X in Feb based on my host). NCL in Sep 2021. I have yet to decide if I'll take the kids on a cruise over summer and leave my Wife at home (sorry honey!). Maybe RCCL, maybe not.

 

We always looked at Royal's pricing and thought 'nope.'  We did not realize how much they change their cost from week to week/kids sail free. Granted we've had loads of refunds up until final payment. The games they play with pricing drives me nuts as far as booking food/bev/excursions through the cruise planner.

Edited May 30, 2020 by ToroAzul

[bouhunter]

19 hours ago, msmayor said:

My husband and I discovered the joys of 10-11 night cruises...and there are significantly fewer kids on board than 7-night trips.  It's sometimes harder for families to justify taking their kids out of school for that long.

Exactly.  We were on Serenade B2B last winter 10 and 11 nights.  Great eastern/southern Caribbean routes and few kids.

Edited May 30, 2020 by bouhunter

[jean87510]

We started cruising later (actually our 20th anniversary was our first) and have been on rccl, celebrity, carnival and ncl. I have 5 kids and all have been with us at one point. We started in 2009. Before that, it was the week at the jersey shore. 

My husband and I tried the shows, the restaurants, games, trivia, ... We discovered we liked the smaller ships like the Summit on Celebrity, Vision, Rhapsody. And we like the TAs as well as port intensive carribean. Longer schedules over 9 days. 

When he retires, we will go to the galapogos. I just retired due to COVID so Im waiting for him to call it quits.

[Ocean Boy]

19 hours ago, pcur said:

Don't know about brilliant, but I do know I have similar opinions to the OP's.  The Adventure is our exception.  The cruises are less expensive, and the crew is AMAAAAAAAAZING!!!

I have so many great family memories over the years from that ship and you are right about the crew. And even though crews turn over with time they just seem to be doing something right on that ship. This past January, on the first day, I walked into the Windjammer and as I was getting close to the back of it I heard someone call my name and it was one of the crew who remembered me from a past sailing. And that was the beginning of another great week aboard the ship.

[2chiefs]

19 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

 

😃 2chiefs, you got us smiling.  We also like to cruise early December (found it to be cheaper as well)......then sailed in Australia in December.  It felt like 2000 of the 3,800 were children.  Found out December in Australia was school break for kids.

 

Wetmib...we are the same.  We became loyal to Royal after trying other cruiselines.  Royal was a nice fit.  We love Royal when we have the children and grandchildren with us.......but now prefer some "quiet time" when by ourselves.

 

Funny how "time and getting old" changes all of us.  When we were much younger, we sailed with Celebrity more than we did with Royal.  We switched to Royal because we were younger and wanted more activities.

Fast forward to now...older...more laid back............😄 we sail with Celebrity when we are by ourselves.

Interesting story.  When I was working we decided  to take a Christmas cruise that would fit my schedule without using up a lot of valuable vacation time. It was great and didn't seem to have an excessive amount of kids. Based on that experience, we took another Christmas cruise. OMG! What a difference! The ship was crawling with kids. No offense to you families with kids but it was way too many for us. No more Christmas cruises for us!

T

[2chiefs]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

But has all the looks and ambiance of an Ikea showroom 😄

LOL!!!  Agree

[2chiefs]

20 hours ago, pcur said:

Don't know about brilliant, but I do know I have similar opinions to the OP's.  The Adventure is our exception.  The cruises are less expensive, and the crew is AMAAAAAAAAZING!!!

We've been on Adventure 3 times. We really liked it as well.

T

[pcur]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I have so many great family memories over the years from that ship and you are right about the crew. And even though crews turn over with time they just seem to be doing something right on that ship. This past January, on the first day, I walked into the Windjammer and as I was getting close to the back of it I heard someone call my name and it was one of the crew who remembered me from a past sailing. And that was the beginning of another great week aboard the ship.

I wonder if it was Angelo.  He was incredible.  He had one of those side seating areas in the 'Jammer, and would literally welcome you to his section as you walked in.  It was like "his" restaurant.  We fell in love with him.

[bouhunter]

4 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

We've been on Adventure 3 times. We really liked it as well.

T

We did a B2B on Adventure last February.  Have cruised it a lot and like it.  But it's showing some deferred maintenance.  Carpeting in the hallways was getting BAD, and not a lot better in the two rooms we had.  After all the fond memories on Adventure, we'll hesitate to sail it again until I've heard it's had some good refurb.

[Seville2Cabo]

I always thought that if Royal put a Vision size ship into adults only service, they could get a premium.  I assume they would sales less full, not as many 3 and 4 to a room, but they could use the kids club space for another revenue spot.  I just think they will have no problem filling all the rooms and the revenue per passenger would go up.  

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I always thought that if Royal put a Vision size ship into adults only service, they could get a premium.  I assume they would sales less full, not as many 3 and 4 to a room, but they could use the kids club space for another revenue spot.  I just think they will have no problem filling all the rooms and the revenue per passenger would go up.  

Works for us. 

[2chiefs]

18 hours ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I always thought that if Royal put a Vision size ship into adults only service, they could get a premium.  I assume they would sales less full, not as many 3 and 4 to a room, but they could use the kids club space for another revenue spot.  I just think they will have no problem filling all the rooms and the revenue per passenger would go up.  

Agreed. I mentioned this once on a thread a couple years ago and I got flamed because RCI already has adult oriented ships - Celebrity. But still, Celebrity ships allow kids too. I think Royal or Celebrity ought to try it with one of their smaller ships just to see if it is viable. Imagine a cruise where all the elevator buttons aren't pushed at the same time!

T

[Ocean Boy]

17 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

 Imagine a cruise where all the elevator buttons aren't pushed at the same time!

T

You mean that isn't actually a service offered by the cruise line in anticipation of our needs?

[2chiefs]

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

You mean that isn't actually a service offered by the cruise line in anticipation of our needs?

Love it!!

[Wetmib]

Thanks ALL !  I believe you all confirmed my gut instincts.. We're scheduled for a late jan, 9 night on Explorer - we'll see..

Again, thanks all for responding.

[LMaxwell]

Their service standards and basic amenity inclusions seemed to drop in lock step with ever increasing prices. Some areas they continue to excel, some they have slipped significantly. The value proposition with RCL is getting a little out of whack to me but will see what next year pricing and what cruisings new normalcy looks like; reserving judgment as they make changes to the product. 

[canadianjovigirl]

45 minutes ago, Wetmib said:

Thanks ALL !  I believe you all confirmed my gut instincts.. We're scheduled for a late jan, 9 night on Explorer - we'll see..

Again, thanks all for responding.

We did 9 nights on Explorer Jan 23 of this year and only remember seeing a few kids so if there were a bunch on board they must have all been in the kids club.  We had a great variety of ages on our cruise and really enjoyed it.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Another vote for Celebrity.  We loved Royal's product but for many of the reasons you cited, moved on to Celebrity.  Our loyalty status transferred so it was a no brainer.  When we have grand kids someday, I'm sure we will venture back on a Royal ship as Celebrity doesn't offer much for young children.

[SNJCruisers]

11 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Another vote for Celebrity.  We loved Royal's product but for many of the reasons you cited, moved on to Celebrity.  Our loyalty status transferred so it was a no brainer.  When we have grand kids someday, I'm sure we will venture back on a Royal ship as Celebrity doesn't offer much for young children.

Could not agree more. We were on the Edge this past January and it was one of the best cruises we have taken.  Enjoyed it so much that we booked a cabin on it's new sister ship the Apex for January of 2023.  For this January we will try Princess for the first time on their newest build, the Enchanted. We got an all inclusive rate including drinks, gratuities and Wi-Fi far cheaper than comparable packages on Celebrity and even NCL.

[nlsgmk]

Have done Carnival, Royal and Disney as the kids grew up.  As we have gotten older and no more kids - love, love, love Celebrity!  Royal has always been a cattle call - too many people too little service, and nickel and dimed throughout the experience.  

[LibertyBella]

All of the mainstream cruise lines will welcome children and provide special activities for them, but there is a difference between those programs and making children the center of the cruise experience, similar to Disney.

For the most adult and refined experience, I prefer Cunard, and then for more intricate itineraries, I will select Celebrity, Princess or Holland America.  If I just want a fun cruise and getaway I choose RC, NCL and Carnival, whichever best fits my calendar and budget.  I think loyalty is good, but because I belong to six different cruise line loyalty programs now, I can pick and choose as to whatever appeals to me!

[cruiselvr04]

We’ve done 35 cruises with Royal.  We have also sailed with Carnival, Princess and NCL.  Royal fits us best.   We love the evening entertainment and the solarium.  We were to try Celebrity in October but I don’t think that  Cruise is going to happen.  

 

We cruise in the off season, late April and May, November and early December to avoid kids and lower prices.  We think any cruise less then 8 days isn’t long enough.  We also prefer Freedom class and smaller. 

 

We plan to try Oceania and Viking after we retire.  They are more then twice the cost but will try them to see if it’s worth it.  We did a river cruise with Viking that had fabulous service.

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by cruiselvr04