Symphony - terrible / no shows / Covid ?

[DevonfromAcme]

16 minutes ago, coaster said:

PR blocking cruise ships now… What ports are left now? Mexico, Bahamas and St  Maarten only?

You are conflating two different issues— ports that have changed their entry requirements with no exceptions for cruise ships, and ports that have turned away individual ships with numbers of Covid cases too high for those comfort. 
 

As far as has been reported, it’s only been a couple of ports that have actually changed their entry protocols. The rest are just turning away individual ships after having received real time numbers. 

[danielwje1]

Headliner showtime cancelled due to the performer getting on in PR. Only thing we were looking forward to.

 

entertainment non-existent today. 

[tcneal]

1 hour ago, danielwje1 said:

Headliner showtime cancelled due to the performer getting on in PR. Only thing we were looking forward to.

 

entertainment non-existent today. 

I agree with the entertainment.  Wanted to do simple trivia activity today.   Overcrowded and they stopped letting people in.  They didn't adjust to this being a sea day now.  Just move the venue.   Not a lot of activities so the ones that they have are packed.  The casino is also still closed.  We are sailing.  It should be open.  No adjustments. 

[RFerrington]

8 minutes ago, tcneal said:

The casino is also still closed.  

Casino's closed ?  Even on sea days ?  Symphony ?

 

If so, boy am I glad I cancelled and got my money back !

[danielwje1]

Basically we are sitting in the sun at a very overcrowded pool. Using very overpriced WiFi to complain about it. 
 

Should have just stayed in Miami! At least on land you are not stuck in the same place. 

[sandebeach]

19 minutes ago, tcneal said:

I agree with the entertainment.  Wanted to do simple trivia activity today.   Overcrowded and they stopped letting people in.  They didn't adjust to this being a sea day now.  Just move the venue.   Not a lot of activities so the ones that they have are packed.  The casino is also still closed.  We are sailing.  It should be open.  No adjustments. 

Why is the casino closed? Did they say when it will be open?

[SheSailsFL]

On 12/25/2021 at 8:40 AM, danielwje1 said:

Thanks all. I think given the marketing (all is back to normal and the royal promise etc) and the price paid for this cruise, we should be within our rights to expect a relatively normal cruise.

 

i also understand if the crew catch Covid etc there’s not much that can be done. Not blaming anyone, with all the lack of entertainment and facilities it’s just very disappointing and I expected so much more 

Sorry but respectfully disagree.  Everything has changed since most of us booked our cruises.  A new variant is burning its way through the world and the cruise industry will inevitably be impacted.  The news has been all over this for a month now and it should come as no surprise that it would eventually impact crew and passengers on board ships.  If you aren’t open to change and willing to be flexible, it would have been better to cancel and rebook for later.  
I would love to be next in line when you go to guest services to complain.  How will you in any way blame what is happening on Royal?  They are reacting to a constantly changing situation while trying to manage a growing number of infected and isolated crew, leaving them severely short staffed.  
Your expectations just don’t match reality right now.  You made a couple of errors in judgment in the days & weeks approaching your sailing and you own responsibility for those.  
The best thing you can do now is relax, find places on the ship that aren’t crowded, and have a few drinks. 

[danielwje1]

[Borat]

54 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

Casino's closed ?  Even on sea days ?  Symphony ?

 

If so, boy am I glad I cancelled and got my money back !

how long did it take you to receive your refund?

[tcneal]

20 minutes ago, SheSailsFL said:

Sorry but respectfully disagree.  Everything has changed since most of us booked our cruises.  A new variant is burning its way through the world and the cruise industry will inevitably be impacted.  The news has been all over this for a month now and it should come as no surprise that it would eventually impact crew and passengers on board ships.  If you aren’t open to change and willing to be flexible, it would have been better to cancel and rebook for later.  
I would love to be next in line when you go to guest services to complain.  How will you in any way blame what is happening on Royal?  They are reacting to a constantly changing situation while trying to manage a growing number of infected and isolated crew, leaving them severely short staffed.  
Your expectations just don’t match reality right now.  You made a couple of errors in judgment in the days & weeks approaching your sailing and you own responsibility for those.  
The best thing you can do now is relax, find places on the ship that aren’t crowded, and have a few drinks. 

I'll try to respond because we are getting the same type of response from people who are not here saying we should be grateful with whatever provides.   At this point, no complaint is going to get things open.  I think we should be compensated for this partial cruise.   It doesn't matter who is responsible.  It's not all Royals fault although there have been some very questionable decisions.  If I pay for any service during Covid, if they can't provide a lot of the product I shouldn't have to pay full price.  It doesn't matter the reason.   I don't think any error in judgement was made.  If crew went down during the previous cruise get more crew or let people before the next cruise starts and offer refunds.  I don't understand why that is so hard.

[tcneal]

58 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

Why is the casino closed? Did they say when it will be open?

It is open on normal sea days.  My guess is that since is supposed to be a port day they didn't open even though port was canceled.  They could have adjusted but maybe that's asking for too much.

Edited December 27, 2021 by tcneal

[bajathree]

My thoughts are the casino being closed is a staffing issue since today was supposed to be a port day.

Edited December 27, 2021 by bajathree

[danielwje1]

4 minutes ago, tcneal said:

I'll try to respond because we are getting the same type of response from people who are not here saying we should be grateful with whatever provides.   At this point, no complaint is going to get things open.  I think we should be compensated for this partial cruise.   It doesn't matter who is responsible.  It's not all Royals fault although there have been some very questionable decisions.  If I pay for any service during Covid, if they can't provide a lot of the product I shouldn't have to pay full price.  It doesn't matter the reason.   I don't think any error in judgement was made.  If crew went down during the previous cruise get more crew or let people before the next cruise starts and offer refunds.  I don't understand why that is so hard.

Just to add to this… here is the only bit of communication received before the cruise. It wouldn’t have been so hard to add a “what to expect” section, ideally stating most entertainment would be unavailable. From some further research the entertainment crews are in isolation for 10 days until 31st, Meaning RC knew 2 days before our cruise that most would be unavailable 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

1 hour ago, tcneal said:

I agree with the entertainment.  Wanted to do simple trivia activity today.   Overcrowded and they stopped letting people in.  They didn't adjust to this being a sea day now.  Just move the venue.   Not a lot of activities so the ones that they have are packed.  The casino is also still closed.  We are sailing.  It should be open.  No adjustments. 

I'm sorry, that sucks!

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, danielwje1 said:

It wouldn’t have been so hard to add a “what to expect” section, ideally stating most entertainment would be unavailable.

That's not how RCI rolls.

[flyguyjake]

3 hours ago, danielwje1 said:

Headliner showtime cancelled due to the performer getting on in PR. Only thing we were looking forward to.

 

entertainment non-existent today. 

Hi do you know if Playmakers is showing NFL games? Are you seeing Playmakers crowded regularly?

[jalves]

1 hour ago, bajathree said:

My thoughts are the casino being closed is a staffing issue since today was supposed to be a port day.

I don't buy this.  The staff is on board, they could have easily worked an extra shift.

[JT1962]

2 minutes ago, jalves said:

I don't buy this.  The staff is on board, they could have easily worked an extra shift.

Unless most are quarantined due to Covid protocols.

[Jarmo]

16 minutes ago, jalves said:

I don't buy this.  The staff is on board, they could have easily worked an extra shift.

I believe there are limits to how many hours staff can work in a week.

[LGW59]

19 minutes ago, jalves said:

I don't buy this.  The staff is on board, they could have easily worked an extra shift.

sure after already working for 12 hours...

[tcneal]

Not about any crew working extra hours.  I know there are casino crew working multiple shifts.  This is about the company.  Everyone believes we should have predicted this and expected the worst but shouldn't Royal have been prepared?  I still say increasing capacity increased the crews exposure, apparently without a backup plan.

 

[cured]

25 minutes ago, tcneal said:

Not about any crew working extra hours.  I know there are casino crew working multiple shifts.  This is about the company.  Everyone believes we should have predicted this and expected the worst but shouldn't Royal have been prepared?  I still say increasing capacity increased the crews exposure, apparently without a backup plan.

 

And exactly how would RCL have done this? Maybe their magic 8 ball, predicting Omicron was out of order.  

 

Omicron was first reported by South Africa on November 24, a mere 4 1/2 weeks ago. In that short time, it has exploded across the world to be the dominant strain. 

 

Even if Royal had more knowledge than the scientists about Omicron and started increasing the crew availability on day 1 of Omicron, there still has not been enough time to get new crew fully vaccinated and boosted. 

 

Or maybe that Magic 8 ball should have told them that they needed to keep a practice squad of fully vaccinated, trained crew on a ship floating around for other ships to pick from, just in case a variant like Omicron shows up?  The magic 8 ball also failed by not predicting that the protocols for Delta, that were working well and pointed to a successful expanding of capacity, would not work 4 weeks later due to a new, crazy contagious variant.  

Edited December 27, 2021 by cured

[dswallow]

Staffing to run tables in a Casino may be something problematic to arrange on short notice. It may be possible to get enough staff to operate slot machines, though. But in any event, you have to give them a chance to adjust to a last-minute change. It's just unreasonable to not expect some disruption of plans when plans are disrupted.

[zpdw484]

8 hours ago, danielwje1 said:

Captain announced Due to a change in entry requirements, turned away from Puerto Rico this morning. Now sailing towards St Martin. 
 

I wonder if it was a change of requirements or we were turned away due to positive cases onboard. 
 

What do you think the chances of us being turned away from St Martin are? 
 

 

 

Not what anyone wants to hear while they are onboard explorer expecting to disembark in San Juan next Sunday and spend two days in old San Juan.... 

Edited December 27, 2021 by zpdw484

[dswallow]

Thinking about how this was sprung on the cruise lines at the last minute for ships calling in these few days after announcement, think about how it could be addressed and what has to be negotiated and arranged...

If San Juan won't allow anyone to debark at the port without testing negative in the previous 2 days, should they be getting port fees based on the full 100% complement of passengers? Royal Caribbean could provide testing to those wishing to disembark, even at a cost, but they would need staffing aboard to handle that, as well as testing supplies.

So there are things to negotiate that impact both costs for the passenger/cruise line, as well as staffing needs they didn't previously expect to have. Give them a chance.