What's going on with Royal Caribbean?

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, Ret MP said:

 

Based on what

[rodndonna]

22 hours ago, Peachestravels said:

Everything is going up in price. We have to try and enjoy cruises as much as we can and do a little budgeting in the process.. You can't even go the grocery store without paying $7 for a dozen of cheap quality eggs anymore. 

 

 

I guess our inflation has not been as bad here, we're a looonnngg way from $7US for a dozen cheap eggs.

 

[smokeybandit]

18 hours ago, rphamh said:

I'm honestly tired of the die-hards defending every single thing Royal does, and just saying "well inflation."  Statistically (as of December 2022) alcoholic beverage prices have only risen 5% over the past year.  The fact that consumers are getting gouged way more than that 5% increase is not "inflation."  That is greed.  If Royal raised prices with inflation, the drink package that was $52 last year would only be roughly $55 this year.

 

Yet people still happily pay for a drink package.  That's called supply and demand, not gouging.

[sandc4e]

On 1/10/2023 at 9:06 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

We have had several wonderful cruises in 2022.   Last one on Anthem in December, no food issues, no complaints, crew did a great job!   

Same for us!  We had a great cruise in December on HOTS and enjoyed every minute.  We aren't going on vacation with a microscope to find things to complain about.  

 

Loyal to Royal.

[mac66]

We did three make up/carryover cruises from the covid years on Celebrity last year. A 7 nighter and two 12 nighters.  Frankly, the food and service wasn't very good on any of them.

 

To be fair however, a couple of those cruises were affected by outbreaks of covid (not us).  I think supply issues, personnel issues, inflation all affect the outcome. Each ship, time of year, departure point, crew is different.

 

We then booked a cheap late Nov/early Dec 7 night cruise on RCI Explorer. The food and service were very good. No issues... Had a great time.  Based on that we booked another RCI 7 night cruise in early Feb. If the food/service are good on that one we are back to RCI for the foreseeable future.

 

At some point however  increased costs and lower service/food quality will have to be taken into consideration to determine if we will continue to cruise.

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, sandc4e said:

Same for us!  We had a great cruise in December on HOTS and enjoyed every minute.  We aren't going on vacation with a microscope to find things to complain about.  

 

Loyal to Royal.

 

On 1/10/2023 at 7:06 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

We have had several wonderful cruises in 2022.   Last one on Anthem in December, no food issues, no complaints, crew did a great job!   

Same with us and looking forward to our 2023 cruises.

 

But we sleep around. 😉

[Ret MP]

3 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Based on what

Based on humor, geeeeeeeeesh!

[Diego Da Monkey]

For those that say they are tired of reading everyone’s complaints…..you can read into it what you want to and call it as you choose….but I still see the title of this site as “Cruise Critic’….and that’s how I see it. Simply folks. Criticizing their cruises…and that’s ok.

[CruisingNole]

On 1/10/2023 at 9:48 PM, renza said:

The quality has gone downhill in every business in America. Inflation has effected everything. You can even eat good at home without shelling out big money. What do you expect. It’s not just cruises or royal. Common sense 

Nonsense. Quality at my local restaurants has not changed whatsoever. Royal has made a business decision and it has nothing to do with inflation.

[CruisinNole]

37 minutes ago, CruisingNole said:

Nonsense. Quality at my local restaurants has not changed whatsoever. Royal has made a business decision and it has nothing to do with inflation.

I agree. The nicer restaurants in our area adjusted to the lack of wait staff by requiring reservations and by no longer serving breakfast and/or lunch or by offering brunch on weekends. Some raised prices but not to the point where they lost customers. 

[grandgeezer]

2 hours ago, CruisingNole said:

Nonsense. Quality at my local restaurants has not changed whatsoever. Royal has made a business decision and it has nothing to do with inflation.

Same here in AZ, we go out to eat quite often and have seen no dip in quality and service, and the prices have only raised modestly. We go to a sports bar fo fish, on Fridays, at least once a month. The price of the meal and the happy hour for beer is exactly what it was pre pandemic. 16 oz tap beer $3 plus tip, just like on the ship, in your dreams.

[Tatka]

On 1/10/2023 at 8:29 PM, ksuyen said:

Is it only me or Royal Caribbean cruises are going downhill? Or is this the trend for other lines as well? Entertainers are lacking, and the reason as quoted by the Director, not enough people willing to work on cruise post pandemic. Food quality is going downhill. Drinks are more expansive. And the big one: Customer Service is either bad or non existence.

 

I have upcoming cruise in 2 weeks, and frankly I am quite worried.

 

We just returned from Anthem's cruise and we have nice entertainment.

It was our #9 on her and I do not see anything going downhill.

 

However I heard that all cruiselines have trouble hiring people for many positions.

 

As for food quality, we started cruising with RCI in 2004 and first 4 cruises were not impressed. From mid 2010s food went up in quality quite a bit, now we see some downs, but still very enjoyable.

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Tatka

[jbjunior]

for the people who haven't seen any changes at all in their routines or lives, that's great.  truly happy for you and you're very fortunate.  however, that does not track at all with any of the widely available data and is not my experience traveling across North America by plane and on the highways for my job in the food biz and traveling for pleasure the past few years, including cruises before and after the pandemic.  things have changed, they just have.  i also don't ever expect food or beverage on vacation to be the same quality or the same price as my corner bar. 

 

i expect better and also more expensive food, but i will also say cruises are still a really great deal compared to a land based vacation on an island resort in the kind of place you can cruise to.  we looked at grand cayman for a getaway this january and pricing a resort on the beach vs a 4 night cruise, it wasn't even close and that's before figuring much more expensive flights and paying for all the food and drinks at the land based resort.  just not even close.

[bonsai3s]

Experienced cruisers will notice the changes...a new cruiser won't know the difference.

 

[Tatka]

Entertainment on Anthem is

 

We Will Rock You

Gift

Spectra's Cabaret

 

These three have not changed since 2016 when we sailed on her for the first time

 

In lounges

 

• The Billboard - Terrific group!
•  Latin group Monnina . We saw 4 different Latin groups on our cruises on Anthem from Thanksgiving 2021. 3 were very good, one during Thanksgiving 22 not so much.
•  Aerosmith Tribute - we did not attend as we are not huge fans
• Perry Grant - Schooner entertainer - he is great although a bit repetitive .
•  Two guitar players - one in pub and another in Schooner.

 

In main theater we had

 

• Illusionist Scott Alexander - Very entertaining
• The Great Dubois - juggling, unicycle, aerial etc - Very entertaining
• Comedians

 

I am not a newbie, but I do not see entertainment going downhill...

 

Aside from Anthem we were on Enchantment, Oasis and Adventure this year and all were more than satisfying in this department.

 

[alphawave1]

On 1/10/2023 at 7:29 PM, ksuyen said:

Is it only me or Royal Caribbean cruises are going downhill? Or is this the trend for other lines as well? Entertainers are lacking, and the reason as quoted by the Director, not enough people willing to work on cruise post pandemic. Food quality is going downhill. Drinks are more expansive. And the big one: Customer Service is either bad or non existence.

 

I have upcoming cruise in 2 weeks, and frankly I am quite worried.

I share your concerns. I cruise in 2 weeks as well, (Radiance), and already are having issues.
I tried to purchase wine to be delivered to cabin, and on line was simply not working. Made a call to RCCI and they supposedly took care of it. Well, they triple billed me and it took an act of Congress to delete all but the original order. Now, they said they can’t reimburse me (my credit card)until after cruise. The entire time I spoke with rep # 4, he kept bugging me about table size for MDR. I kept saying we had purchased the unlimited specialty dining. He told me that price was for 1 nite only.(500$) He started getting mad and told me I need to know what I am buying before I spend the money. He would not quit until I told him the seating number.Finally in desperation I said 2 people. 
I still never got email confirmation for the triple ordered wine/ cancellation. 

[time4u2go]

On 1/13/2023 at 9:21 AM, CruisinNole said:

I agree. 

Lol you agreed with yourself! 😁

[Ocean Boy]

3 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Lol you agreed with yourself! 😁

Better than disagreeing with yourself. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

54 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Lol you agreed with yourself! 😁

 

"Dancing with Myself" (Billy Idol, 1981)

 

[Verse 3]
Well, if I looked all over the world
And there's every type of girl
But your empty eyes
Seem to pass me by
Leave me dancing with myself
So let's sink another drink
'Cause it'll give me time to think
If I had the chance, I'd ask the world to dance
And I'll be dancing with myself

 

Billy made dancing (and agreeing) with yourself quite profitable. 

 

I would say that RCI would welcome him aboard because he is going to purchase an Unlimited Premium Drink package as he and a friend "..sink another drink" as long as the ship stays afloat🤣.

[Ret MP]

3 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Lol you agreed with yourself! 😁

LOL

 

I think there are two separate people here.

 

CruisinNole and CruisingNole.  Note the "g"

Edited January 14, 2023 by Ret MP

[jamestown478]

On 1/10/2023 at 8:15 PM, billslowsky said:

They have been testing reducing menu options in the dining rooms and changing the lobster night so that a person can get one larger tail and be charged for additional.  The gluttons who would eat as many as ten are up in arms.

Normally I could care less if people want to order more food as long as they eat it. Ive seen way too many times where people order all this extra food, eat one or two bites of it and waste it. That is just dumb.

[nelblu]

22 minutes ago, jamestown478 said:

Normally I could care less if people want to order more food as long as they eat it. Ive seen way too many times where people order all this extra food, eat one or two bites of it and waste it. That is just dumb.

Did you ever consider that the food was not to their liking.  On my December 4 Oasis sail, I was dying for tuna salad in the WJ.  They put out chicken and egg salad, but alas no tuna.  One day they had seafood salad.  I said to myself wonder what the ingredients are.  So, I took a couple of spoons, and the damn dish was bland and no taste--simply disgusting.  I was in no way eating such garbage.

I remember prior to pandemic they used to have wonderful and tasty sandwiches made with wraps, rolls and subs.  Now they just put the stuff out.   

[Engineroom Snipe]

On 1/10/2023 at 9:15 PM, billslowsky said:

They have been testing reducing menu options in the dining rooms and changing the lobster night so that a person can get one larger tail and be charged for additional.  The gluttons who would eat as many as ten are up in arms.

 

RCI has now added a "clause" to their MDR dining policy. This is creating a lack of "claws" so pax have no other option than to be "up in arms" because they have no claws.😁

 

Some pax in the MDR reservation line might turn "tail" when they hear about this and hightail it to the Windjammer only to find the rumors of lobster tails were just tall tales of cruises gone by.

 

After this, the passengers said their evening went into a tailspin.  🤪

[jamestown478]

11 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Did you ever consider that the food was not to their liking.  On my December 4 Oasis sail, I was dying for tuna salad in the WJ.  They put out chicken and egg salad, but alas no tuna.  One day they had seafood salad.  I said to myself wonder what the ingredients are.  So, I took a couple of spoons, and the damn dish was bland and no taste--simply disgusting.  I was in no way eating such garbage.

I remember prior to pandemic they used to have wonderful and tasty sandwiches made with wraps, rolls and subs.  Now they just put the stuff out.   

Yup I have considered that. I would find it hard to believe the amount of people I saw doing it had an issue with it not being to liking. The waste was going on well before they started to cut cost corners and the quality went down.

Edited January 14, 2023 by jamestown478

[Ret MP]

21 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

RCI has now added a "clause" to their MDR dining policy. This is creating a lack of "claws" so pax have no other option than to be "up in arms" because they have no claws.😁

 

Some pax in the MDR reservation line might turn "tail" when they hear about this and hightail it to the Windjammer only to find the rumors of lobster tails were just tall tales of cruises gone by.

 

After this, the passengers said their evening went into a tailspin.  🤪

I believe that's all a tall tail!