Who at Royal might assist us?

[Stuart Suss]

Passengers on some journeys of Voyager of the Seas are scheduled to visit Riga, Latvia.  Except, we do not dock in Riga, Lativa.  Unlike most other cruise ships (e.g., Norwegian Dawn), the Voyager is too large for the main passenger port which is within walking distance of Old Town Riga.  Instead Voyager docks at a Soviet-era industrial port (KS Terminal), several miles north of Riga, and on the opposite side of the river.  Passengers can not walk anywhere and there is no public transportation.

 

Those who were on a recent Voyager stop near Riga report that a free shuttle bus was offered to transport passengers from the KS Terminal to Old Town Riga.  Unfortunately, there were not enough buses during peak hours.  Lines were long.  The schedule was not dependable because of traffic.  It is reported that some passengers were forced to take a taxicab back to Voyager when traffic prevented the shuttle bus from picking them up on time.

 

Prior to our arrival in Riga, we would like to ask that Royal Caribbean:

1. Provide a sufficient number of shuttle buses, especially during peak hours.

2. Provide frequent shuttle service during off-peak hours during the rest of the day.

3. Provide reasonable shuttle service in the evening.  On some journeys, Voyager remains overnight in Riga, Latvia.  Passengers on the Norwegian Dawn may walk off the ship after dinner for an evening in town.  Voyager's passengers need shuttle service to access Riga during the evening.

 

To whom do we make this request?

Should we try to contact the cruise director, currently onboard the ship?

Do we contact some official at corporate headquarters?  If so, who?

 

Suggestions are welcomed.  Thank you.

 

 

 

[Mapleleafforever]

Was in a hostel in Amsterdam in my early 20's (cliche I know) and met 2 awesome guys from Columbus, Ohio who had Canadian flags ironed on to their backpacks. This post helps me understand why. 

[klfrodo]

One suggestion might be to use your influence to help someone over in Riga to start a business. You have obviously found a need in a specialized market. Potential business venture.

 

Other suggestions would be to make this issue know on your comment cards, so Royal knows there is a specified need. (As if they didn't already)

[Biker19]

54 minutes ago, Stuart Suss said:

Do we contact some official at corporate headquarters?  If so, who?

mbayley@rccl.com.

 

Biker, who hopes this may help RCI consider the closer in location in future years  - there's no way anything will happen by OP's sailing.

[Cigar King]

I have a suggestion...

[Canadianmama3]

2 hours ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Was in a hostel in Amsterdam in my early 20's (cliche I know) and met 2 awesome guys from Columbus, Ohio who had Canadian flags ironed on to their backpacks. This post helps me understand why. 

As a fellow Canadian I had to laugh at this.  I get it. 

[time4u2go]

OP, in all seriousness, are you honestly expecting them to change anything?  I certainly would not count on that happening.  You might want to look into making other arrangements.

[LGW59]

3 hours ago, Stuart Suss said:

Passengers on some journeys of Voyager of the Seas are scheduled to visit Riga, Latvia.  Except, we do not dock in Riga, Lativa.  Unlike most other cruise ships (e.g., Norwegian Dawn), the Voyager is too large for the main passenger port which is within walking distance of Old Town Riga.  Instead Voyager docks at a Soviet-era industrial port (KS Terminal), several miles north of Riga, and on the opposite side of the river.  Passengers can not walk anywhere and there is no public transportation.

 

Those who were on a recent Voyager stop near Riga report that a free shuttle bus was offered to transport passengers from the KS Terminal to Old Town Riga.  Unfortunately, there were not enough buses during peak hours.  Lines were long.  The schedule was not dependable because of traffic.  It is reported that some passengers were forced to take a taxicab back to Voyager when traffic prevented the shuttle bus from picking them up on time.

 

Prior to our arrival in Riga, we would like to ask that Royal Caribbean:

1. Provide a sufficient number of shuttle buses, especially during peak hours.

2. Provide frequent shuttle service during off-peak hours during the rest of the day.

3. Provide reasonable shuttle service in the evening.  On some journeys, Voyager remains overnight in Riga, Latvia.  Passengers on the Norwegian Dawn may walk off the ship after dinner for an evening in town.  Voyager's passengers need shuttle service to access Riga during the evening.

 

To whom do we make this request?

Should we try to contact the cruise director, currently onboard the ship?

Do we contact some official at corporate headquarters?  If so, who?

 

Suggestions are welcomed.  Thank you.

 

 

 

Not happening for you, but you could hire a private driver.

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

mbayley@rccl.com.

 

Biker, who hopes this may help RCI consider the closer in location in future years  - there's no way anything will happen by OP's sailing.

You know that this email goes to an off shore call center where sun-minimum wage call center personnel respond with canned messages. That email address gets thousands of messages a week. 

[Another_Critic]

13 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You know that this email goes to an off shore call center where sun-minimum wage call center personnel respond with canned messages. That email address gets thousands of messages a week. 

You [don't] know that many people have gotten very helpful responses and resolutions to issues when contacting these nice people.

[LGW59]

17 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You know that this email goes to an off shore call center where sun-minimum wage call center personnel respond with canned messages. That email address gets thousands of messages a week. 

what does a persons wage have to do with their trying to assist and do their best!?

[BekkaW]

17 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You know that this email goes to an off shore call center where sun-minimum wage call center personnel respond with canned messages. That email address gets thousands of messages a week. 

That is not my experience. I once needed to use this address for a reasonably serious matter and it was resolved swiftly - of course I don’t assume Mr Bayley himself deals with these emails but someone from his office did, definitely not a canned response. 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

That email address gets thousands of messages a week. 

And sometimes, they even fix your issue. Amazing. 

[Missusdubbya]

Good grief.

 

OP there are many ports far from towns, use a taxi.

 

Perhaps next time if it is so important to you to dock in town, do your research and book a smaller ship.

 

 

[cured]

5 hours ago, Stuart Suss said:

Passengers on some journeys of Voyager of the Seas are scheduled to visit Riga, Latvia.  Except, we do not dock in Riga, Lativa.  Unlike most other cruise ships (e.g., Norwegian Dawn), the Voyager is too large for the main passenger port which is within walking distance of Old Town Riga.  Instead Voyager docks at a Soviet-era industrial port (KS Terminal), several miles north of Riga, and on the opposite side of the river.  Passengers can not walk anywhere and there is no public transportation.

 

Those who were on a recent Voyager stop near Riga report that a free shuttle bus was offered to transport passengers from the KS Terminal to Old Town Riga.  Unfortunately, there were not enough buses during peak hours.  Lines were long.  The schedule was not dependable because of traffic.  It is reported that some passengers were forced to take a taxicab back to Voyager when traffic prevented the shuttle bus from picking them up on time.

 

Prior to our arrival in Riga, we would like to ask that Royal Caribbean:

1. Provide a sufficient number of shuttle buses, especially during peak hours.

2. Provide frequent shuttle service during off-peak hours during the rest of the day.

3. Provide reasonable shuttle service in the evening.  On some journeys, Voyager remains overnight in Riga, Latvia.  Passengers on the Norwegian Dawn may walk off the ship after dinner for an evening in town.  Voyager's passengers need shuttle service to access Riga during the evening.

 

To whom do we make this request?

Should we try to contact the cruise director, currently onboard the ship?

Do we contact some official at corporate headquarters?  If so, who?

 

Suggestions are welcomed.  Thank you.

 

 

 

Since you seem to reference the Norwegian Dawn several times as an example, my suggestion is to just go ahead and book the Norwegian Dawn.

Edited June 14, 2022 by cured

[loman]

I would call an Uber 😄

[Bound4Bermuda]

Rather than depending on the free shuttle bus, surely they must have paid excursions to Riga. I would just do one of those to ensure you get to see the town you want to see. I’m actually surprised they have anything for free, but if they added more buses I bet they’d start charging for it.

[GEORGIEGIRL]

This is not an RCCL issue. This is a "PORT" issue. They provide the transportation, not RCCL.

Try contacting them. 

[broadwaybaby123]

21 hours ago, Stuart Suss said:

Passengers on some journeys of Voyager of the Seas are scheduled to visit Riga, Latvia.  Except, we do not dock in Riga, Lativa.  Unlike most other cruise ships (e.g., Norwegian Dawn), the Voyager is too large for the main passenger port which is within walking distance of Old Town Riga.  Instead Voyager docks at a Soviet-era industrial port (KS Terminal), several miles north of Riga, and on the opposite side of the river.  Passengers can not walk anywhere and there is no public transportation.

 

Those who were on a recent Voyager stop near Riga report that a free shuttle bus was offered to transport passengers from the KS Terminal to Old Town Riga.  Unfortunately, there were not enough buses during peak hours.  Lines were long.  The schedule was not dependable because of traffic.  It is reported that some passengers were forced to take a taxicab back to Voyager when traffic prevented the shuttle bus from picking them up on time.

 

Prior to our arrival in Riga, we would like to ask that Royal Caribbean:

1. Provide a sufficient number of shuttle buses, especially during peak hours.

2. Provide frequent shuttle service during off-peak hours during the rest of the day.

3. Provide reasonable shuttle service in the evening.  On some journeys, Voyager remains overnight in Riga, Latvia.  Passengers on the Norwegian Dawn may walk off the ship after dinner for an evening in town.  Voyager's passengers need shuttle service to access Riga during the evening.

 

To whom do we make this request?

Should we try to contact the cruise director, currently onboard the ship?

Do we contact some official at corporate headquarters?  If so, who?

 

Suggestions are welcomed.  Thank you.

 

 

 

No, you do not contact the Cruise Director. I do their job on land, it's not in our purview to arrange transport like this since it has nothing to do with Activities.

 

Requests like this need to be done by folks in charge of the Port Authorities. Why would you ask Royal about something that had nothing to do with them? This is a PORT issue, not Royal's.

Edited June 15, 2022 by broadwaybaby123

[rudeney]

Wow, @Stuart Suss seemed to be asking a valid question and some people seemed to attack him for suggesting RCCL's might do something about a problem their passengers are experiencing.  I do understand that unless it's part of an excursion they sold, RCCL isn't responsible for ground transportation at the port.  Regardless, I would think that if it's such a problem to get transportation, RCCL might want to work with the local port to help them understand how many passengers they may need to plan for and the timing of that.  If RCCL finds that the port just can't adequately handle their passengers, maybe they should not stop there on future cruises.  

[broberts]

21 hours ago, Stuart Suss said:

....  Instead Voyager docks at a Soviet-era industrial port (KS Terminal), several miles north of Riga, and on the opposite side of the river.  Passengers can not walk anywhere and there is no public transportation.

 

.... a free shuttle bus was offered to transport passengers from the KS Terminal to Old Town Riga.  ... Lines were long.  The schedule was not dependable ...

 

Just part of providing the full Soviet experience. 🙂