New $9.95 + 18% grat for room service

[LMaxwell]

2 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

Some of what you say may be accurate but the Medallion on Princess is free.

It comes with a lanyard. You can put it on the lanyard, put it in your pocket or purchase a bracelet to wear it but that really isn't necessary.

And Princess tried that once a day room room attendants right after Covid and it didn't work so they're back to twice a day.

Not sure just how much crossover there is.

OK mea culpa; I misspoke regarding the wearables, but I stand by my overall point. 

[chamima]

1 minute ago, LMaxwell said:

OK mea culpa; I misspoke regarding the wearables, but I stand by my overall point. 

 

See my edit - Princess ADDED free delivery to your cabin and Celebrity's response is to subtract.

[kguerriero]

We just booked our first cruise with Celebrity and the new fees have my head spinning- this literally isn't what we signed up for a month ago. I believe someone mentioned it previously, but room service was a great help to the mobility-impaired. My boyfriend is hitting a rough patch with tendonitis in his foot, and can't always be on his feet. We specifically booked Celebrity for the comp room service in case he had to be down for a day or so. I feel for the people who didn't prepay gratuities or planned on purchasing a beverage package closer to the day of their sailings, their fares have essentially risen by hundreds of dollars.

 

For those wishing to learn more about the trajectory of the brand, I recommend reading through the RCL quarterly earnings call transcripts, this shows the strategy of the full company and some of the decisions being made behind-the-scenes. Here's the most recent one from Q3 2022, Q4 should be available 01/26/2023: https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/11/03/royal-caribbean-rcl-q3-2022-earnings-call-transcri/
 

Some unfortunate highlights:

 

"The value proposition of cruise remains incredibly attractive, I would say too attractive."

"Our commercial apparatus is seeing elevated booking activity across channels as we help our customers design their dream vacations. Our guests are willing to spend more than ever with us to create those memories."

"The value proposition of cruising remains incredibly attractive and we have an opportunity to close the gap to other land vacation alternatives as we grow our addressable market."

In summary, expect pricing to continue to go up, for less material substance, as the company positions Royal and Celebrity to compete more with theme parks and resorts.

[phoenix_dream]

I do not even order room service but am very disappointed with this change.  What next??  Hearing talk of doing the same thing as Royal and eliminating the Classics menu in the dining room (which will really, really affect us as our go-to's on every cruise are Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, french onion soup - we have it multiple times every cruise.  And we feel half the salads and apps in Luminae are godawful so rely on Classics).  And then hearing talk of charging extra for an extra lobster tail.  Rumor, not yet fact.  Portion sizes are already reduced (although I definitely don't go hungry and don't like waste so that isn't a huge change for me).  

 

I understand the need to recoup after Covid shutdown.  And I understand this is a business.  But with prices as high as they are recently they are already getting quite a bit more $$ from me than before.  I'm a very long time Celebrity cruiser (30 years) and it may be time to look elsewhere.  I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that.  We've loved Celebrity for many years but nice dining is one of the things we enjoy most.  If that changes we may as well.

[NutsAboutGolf]

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I think you are correct.  
when they first returned to service after the pause, I think they wanted people to order room service.  Now that things are somewhat back to normal, and shor staffed to boot,  I think they would prefer people got their own food.  

I do believe suites will continue to get their room service at no charge .. one of the perks for booking a suite.  

 

Pre-pandemic there wasn't a fee besides the late night charge

 

Now for dinner, you have only have two complimentary choices, the buffet/pizza and MDR(s).  My WAG ("Wild A$$ Guess) is on average the buffet is cheaper in both costs and labor than room service but room service is cheaper than a MDR visit.  So for dinner at least, this could actually cost X more money by steering pax to the MDR

[phoenix_dream]

1 minute ago, kguerriero said:

We just booked our first cruise with Celebrity and the new fees have my head spinning- this literally isn't what we signed up for a month ago. I believe someone mentioned it previously, but room service was a great help to the mobility-impaired. My boyfriend is hitting a rough patch with tendonitis in his foot, and can't always be on his feet. We specifically booked Celebrity for the comp room service in case he had to be down for a day or so. I feel for the people who didn't prepay gratuities or planned on purchasing a beverage package closer to the day of their sailings, their fares have essentially risen by hundreds of dollars.

 

For those wishing to learn more about the trajectory of the brand, I recommend reading through the RCL quarterly earnings call transcripts, this shows the strategy of the full company and some of the decisions being made behind-the-scenes. Here's the most recent one from Q3 2022, Q4 should be available 01/26/2023: https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/11/03/royal-caribbean-rcl-q3-2022-earnings-call-transcri/
 

Some unfortunate highlights:

 

"The value proposition of cruise remains incredibly attractive, I would say too attractive."

"Our commercial apparatus is seeing elevated booking activity across channels as we help our customers design their dream vacations. Our guests are willing to spend more than ever with us to create those memories."

"The value proposition of cruising remains incredibly attractive and we have an opportunity to close the gap to other land vacation alternatives as we grow our addressable market."

In summary, expect pricing to continue to go up, for less material substance, as the company positions Royal and Celebrity to compete more with theme parks and resorts.

Very disturbing.  I am not a CEO certainly, but as just a lowly passenger, I wonder why they are not considering that the post-Covid surge of travel will likely not continue for very long.  Credit card debt is higher than it's ever been according to the news.  People were willing to splurge and treat themselves after being shut down for so long.  It's painfully obvious that this trend can't reasonably continue.  They keep building and building bigger and bigger and bigger ships they need to fill.  Where does it end??  If they keep cutting benefits and adding more and  more surcharges a lot of what made cruising an ideal vacation will dry up.  

[Lena11033]

2 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Very disturbing.  I am not a CEO certainly, but as just a lowly passenger, I wonder why they are not considering that the post-Covid surge of travel will likely not continue for very long.  Credit card debt is higher than it's ever been according to the news.  People were willing to splurge and treat themselves after being shut down for so long.  It's painfully obvious that this trend can't reasonably continue.  They keep building and building bigger and bigger and bigger ships they need to fill.  Where does it end??  If they keep cutting benefits and adding more and  more surcharges a lot of what made cruising an ideal vacation will dry up.  

 

I think companies think it will continue, it won't. I have trips booked into 24, but my 2 week trip home to the UK in April I'm currently looking for a new hotel. I wanted to splurge for a decent hotel but with the cost of just day to day living right now and general inflation, not to mention the Canadian $ not so good against the £ compared to a few months ago - I'm looking at changing my hotel to save some $.

[LGW59]

4 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Very disturbing.  I am not a CEO certainly, but as just a lowly passenger, I wonder why they are not considering that the post-Covid surge of travel will likely not continue for very long.  Credit card debt is higher than it's ever been according to the news.  People were willing to splurge and treat themselves after being shut down for so long.  It's painfully obvious that this trend can't reasonably continue.  They keep building and building bigger and bigger and bigger ships they need to fill.  Where does it end??  If they keep cutting benefits and adding more and  more surcharges a lot of what made cruising an ideal vacation will dry up.  

It only ends when we stop booking or book much less frequently, until then they will do whatever the market will bear and accept.

[kguerriero]

3 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Very disturbing.  I am not a CEO certainly, but as just a lowly passenger, I wonder why they are not considering that the post-Covid surge of travel will likely not continue for very long.  Credit card debt is higher than it's ever been according to the news.  People were willing to splurge and treat themselves after being shut down for so long.  It's painfully obvious that this trend can't reasonably continue.  They keep building and building bigger and bigger and bigger ships they need to fill.  Where does it end??  If they keep cutting benefits and adding more and  more surcharges a lot of what made cruising an ideal vacation will dry up.  

 

Very much agreed, this isn't sustainable. I guess they figure if Disney World and hotel sticker shock is turning people to less expensive options, they can get away with it for now. Plus so many have invested $$$$ in loyalty status that they may continue booking as long as they get benefits. There's going to be a lot of brand equity going up in flames over the next 12-18 months.

 

We did a cruise with Princess in 2019 and I got a lot of flack from my friends (in my late 20's) but we had a wonderful time. I was hoping for a repeat of that experience and the relaxation we had, but I'm already feeling a headache coming on. This might be our last cruise. 

[stellarose]

havent done celebrity in 10 years. no pressure. 

[Mittens101]

21 minutes ago, kguerriero said:

We just booked our first cruise with Celebrity and the new fees have my head spinning- this literally isn't what we signed up for a month ago. I believe someone mentioned it previously, but room service was a great help to the mobility-impaired. My boyfriend is hitting a rough patch with tendonitis in his foot, and can't always be on his feet. We specifically booked Celebrity for the comp room service in case he had to be down for a day or so. I feel for the people who didn't prepay gratuities or planned on purchasing a beverage package closer to the day of their sailings, their fares have essentially risen by hundreds of dollars.

 

For those wishing to learn more about the trajectory of the brand, I recommend reading through the RCL quarterly earnings call transcripts, this shows the strategy of the full company and some of the decisions being made behind-the-scenes. Here's the most recent one from Q3 2022, Q4 should be available 01/26/2023: https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/11/03/royal-caribbean-rcl-q3-2022-earnings-call-transcri/
 

Some unfortunate highlights:

 

"The value proposition of cruise remains incredibly attractive, I would say too attractive."

"Our commercial apparatus is seeing elevated booking activity across channels as we help our customers design their dream vacations. Our guests are willing to spend more than ever with us to create those memories."

"The value proposition of cruising remains incredibly attractive and we have an opportunity to close the gap to other land vacation alternatives as we grow our addressable market."

In summary, expect pricing to continue to go up, for less material substance, as the company positions Royal and Celebrity to compete more with theme parks and resorts.

I just signed up for our first celebrity Cruise before all these new charges. I’m completely spinning at this point. I think we are done with cruising after this one. 

[Joebucks]

7 hours ago, Jobeth66 said:

 

Or people who would have ordered room service will now just carry more stuff down from the buffet and leave dishes all over, instead of room service knowing they delivered to a cabin and therefore expecting to go back and pick them up.

 

This is reaching. Do we really expect the room service people to be running down the halls with troughs full of food? And room service wasn't keeping a list of return pickups for trays. 

 

Compared to waste from having everything effortlessly delivered to your room. That's a tough sell.

[cruisemom42]

On 1/1/2023 at 8:01 PM, mahdnc said:

Oct 31 was a sea day--our 5th sea day in fact--and the 15 night cruise was a little more than half over.  

 

In my experience, many fewer people order room service on sea days. It's much more common on port days and especially where there are a lot of early excursions.

[stellarose]

we are doing Bermuda. heavy port cruise.  only used late night if I was really hungry late a night, but always looked for pizza (when on carnival. )

[Norwaylady]

Absolutely not happy about this🥺🤯😳😤

If concierge cabins and AQ must pay extra, it’s really a bad decision. 
They price for the cruise has gone up, up, up and they charge extra for more and more. 
If I want to pay extra and add all things, I can do msc, Costa or royal instead. 
Really hope they stop this soon. They mark them self as a premium product, then they must act as a premium product…..

[Torfamm]

Looking for the next 12 months the app is showing as no charge except late night for my upcoming cruises.

[CU64]

On 1/1/2023 at 1:21 PM, retird said:

I seldom use room service.   But the new charge will not change my cruising habits.    I have an upcoming 9 night southern Caribbean cruise in a midship balcony.   When I was deciding on the cruise, i shopped for an all inclusive land based Island getaway, with an equivalent  rated accommodation.   I found that even  after including airfare and other expenditures I anticipate for the cruise, the land based vacation would have cost me $1000 to $1500 more for the two of us.    I still find cruising a good bang for the buck , even with some of the cutbacks.

Absolutely agree

[CU64]

18 hours ago, Pinboy said:

1--- How the hell can ya sit up in bed with a tray on your lap ? What if the coffee spills " you know where " ? Who's gonna get ya the jam sitting on the table or the coffee pot , or the plate of danish , or, or etc? 

2--- " romantic dinner for two  on your private veranda"---- Based on the demographics I've seen on Celebrity ---- I doubt it.

Mind you, I just thought of that " old fart " with the 32 yr old ---- Yup, that would work.

LOL-- We tried breakfast on our balcony once--- the stuff blew everywhere , the coffee was semi-warm , and my golf hat flew off into the ocean.

Idea--- What Celebrity should do is give us a discount of $9.95 ( no tip ) for every day we don't use room service.

 

Hilarious. Much prefer food in buffet or MDR & coffee at specialty. 

[gold1953]

2 hours ago, Torfamm said:

Looking for the next 12 months the app is showing as no charge except late night for my upcoming cruises.

Each cruise will show the change as time gets closer. Not showing on my Jan 21 cruise yet

[rj59]

I can see how with full ships, room service demand is going up and taxing capabilities, which I especially noticed on my last Princess cruise, where people were ordering a slice of cake delivered to them in the buffet, and the poor delivery people had to track people down using their Medallion. At the same time, if a line like Princess allows you to order any room service item or drink anywhere, anytime, for free, that gives them an advantage, although it seems all the lines are following each other in cuts and increased fees, such as gratuities, just as most of the airlines went with basic economy and cut out most meals, and unfortunately, cruise lines seem to be following that trend, by making the basic service so unpleasant than people are urged to upgrade, and ships are becoming larger and fuller, with public space like outside promenades and Sky lounges removed. Fortunately, consumers have choice, so if the race to the bottom continues, I can look at all-inclusive resorts or other forms of land travel, or as I did during Covid, enjoy the world through travel videos.

[KandMB]

Changed for our cruise February 25th, in Aqua class, disappointing really but will just use it for a quick continental breakfast on port days. 

[Cruise Raider]

12 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Pre-pandemic there wasn't a fee besides the late night charge

 

Now for dinner, you have only have two complimentary choices, the buffet/pizza and MDR(s).  My WAG ("Wild A$$ Guess) is on average the buffet is cheaper in both costs and labor than room service but room service is cheaper than a MDR visit.  So for dinner at least, this could actually cost X more money by steering pax to the MDR

This make sense but, I think it is all about labor costs and shortages for them.  I know they don’t get paid much but I know that when we had spoken to Jan Schwartz at Princess during the initial restart, she gave us some insight to the challenges with so very many passengers ordering room service.  Because there was only one ship in their fleet at sea at that time, they were pretty much fully staffed.  They greatly expanded the room service menu and passengers were allowed to use their beverage package perk for room service.  Coupled with passengers wanting to stay in their cabins as much as possible, those crew running from room to room with their rooms service orders were being run ragged.  
We’ve been on cruises since that time that were at 30% capacity all the way to 90% capacity.  We were on a B2B where one leg was nearly sold out and the next leg was like we had our own private yacht.  I can only imagine that staffing for such fluctuating capacity must be very challenging because they have to staff the ship where they are able with limited staff since all their ships are now back in service, sharing the staff that was once abundant when only a few ships were in service.  I understand they are having a hard time getting sufficient staffing onboard some ships.  On the Ruby, they have alternated the dates that the two specialty restaurants were open.  The hostess at the Crown Grill delivered our room service tray one morning.  She stated she was really running!  
Anyway, I’m not arguing with your theory, but just factoring in the labor/staffing that is involved.  

 

[Cruise Raider]

19 minutes ago, KandMB said:

Changed for our cruise February 25th, in Aqua class, disappointing really but will just use it for a quick continental breakfast on port days. 

I’m with you .. I really only like a bagel or piece of toast in the morning anyway.  

[chamima]

15 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I’m with you .. I really only like a bagel or piece of toast in the morning anyway.  

 

We mostly use room service for breakfast (and, looking at the menu,  everything we order falls under the continental breakfast anyways) but I still find it tacky that the charge is being added. It isn't the extra money  (which, as I said probably won't affect us) it's the idea. It's also the direction I see Celebrity going in.

Time will tell how many cruisers this alienates.........

 

*

Edited January 3, 2023 by chamima

[LGW59]

13 hours ago, kguerriero said:

 

Very much agreed, this isn't sustainable. I guess they figure if Disney World and hotel sticker shock is turning people to less expensive options, they can get away with it for now. Plus so many have invested $$$$ in loyalty status that they may continue booking as long as they get benefits. There's going to be a lot of brand equity going up in flames over the next 12-18 months.

 

We did a cruise with Princess in 2019 and I got a lot of flack from my friends (in my late 20's) but we had a wonderful time. I was hoping for a repeat of that experience and the relaxation we had, but I'm already feeling a headache coming on. This might be our last cruise. 

Don’t disagree with you about the nickle and diming, but once get past that, Celebrity is a quality product and once onboard I’m sure you’ll have a great time.