So Are things Looking up?

[NevadaCruiser2023]

27 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I wonder if those increases are actually 100% going to the crew or to the bottom line?

Interesting question. Considering RC is a public company, I'd think the accounting for tip distribution would be available somewhere.  The US can't be the only Country that taxes its citizens on worldwide income, so tip distribution would have to be accounted for simply due to tax regulations.  

[Married90]

9 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Wow I believe that makes NCL the highest in the mainstream cruise industry. More than I pay in a Celebrity Retreat Sky Suite.

Give "X" a couple months to catch up.   They are on the way...   

[kirtihk]

15 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Wow I believe that makes NCL the highest in the mainstream cruise industry. More than I pay in a Celebrity Retreat Sky Suite.

That's right ...  as of today ...  we shall see how others proceed ...

Edited February 7, 2023 by kirtihk

[mcrcruiser]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Not sure about bigger profits.  But cost management for certain.  Yes this is driving everything in the entire cruise industry, the 1.5 year shutdown that unfairly focused on them over other travel and leisure industries.  They still paid many employees, took care of ships and took on massive debt to survive. Then 40 year high inflation.  And difficulty in attracting and training new crew.  We are lucky to be cruising in a semi-normal way IMO.  But many of us forget these facts in our need to complain about everything.  Sorry for the soap box.  I was presently surprised a couple of weeks ago on how normal pre-Covid-like our Equinox cruise was.  In my non-cruise life on land, I deal with many, many changes since 2019 that I don't like but just have to live with.

 The cruise lines are their own worse enemy . When the CDC got them to shut down they should have brought it into court because the CDC is not a governing body but is a advisory body . These increases can not last & expect people to absorb them . when a person has to make the decision to pay rent or their mortgage .The later will come first  .Most people in the states have dipped into savings to survive  this inflation brought upon us.

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, mcrcruiser said:

 The cruise lines are their own worse enemy . When the CDC got them to shut down they should have brought it into court because the CDC is not a governing body but is a advisory body . These increases can not last & expect people to absorb them . when a person has to make the decision to pay rent or their mortgage .The later will come first  .Most people in the states have dipped into savings to survive  this inflation brought upon us.

It was more than the CDC, many countries all over the world banned cruise ships during the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and 21. Some like Australia didn't open up to cruises until now.

[D C]

46 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Precisely! - they don't call it "gratuities" anymore; it is the "service charge" now.  My agent told me that 1. now one cannot adjust it on the ship for any reason regardless of whether prepaid or being paid on-going on the ship, and 2. it goes to the entire crew pool; so, who knows what they actually do with it in terms of distribution among personnel.

 

43 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

On our one and done cruise on NCL in 2017 in order to remove the service charge you had to request in writing with specific reasons and names as to why they should be removed. The last day of that cruise I was in line for guest services to question an item on my bill and the man in front of me was arguing with them about his service charges. He told them where he lived there was no tipping and he refused to pay on the ship. He was told by a supervisor that his excuse was not valid and he had to submit his request with specifics in writing. I have no idea how that came out.

Boggles my mind why they have grats/svc fees as a separate line item. Roll it into the cruise price and be done with the nonsense.  

[phoenix_dream]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

It was more than the CDC, many countries all over the world banned cruise ships during the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and 21. Some like Australia didn't open up to cruises until now.

Exactly.  And islands forbade cruise ships docking so that effectively shut down Caribbean cruises from the US. Same for Canada and Alaska cruises. 

[D C]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Not sure about bigger profits.  But cost management for certain.  Yes this is driving everything in the entire cruise industry, the 1.5 year shutdown that unfairly focused on them over other travel and leisure industries.  They still paid many employees, took care of ships and took on massive debt to survive. Then 40 year high inflation.  And difficulty in attracting and training new crew.  We are lucky to be cruising in a semi-normal way IMO.  But many of us forget these facts in our need to complain about everything.  Sorry for the soap box.  I was presently surprised a couple of weeks ago on how normal pre-Covid-like our Equinox cruise was.  In my non-cruise life on land, I deal with many, many changes since 2019 that I don't like but just have to live with.

Bigger profits shouldn't be too far off.  According to today's announcements, bookings (at the RCL parent level) are at all time highs.  It looks like prices are at all time highs as well.  For the dates I've been checking recently, I can book with perks on Princess, Holland, or MSC for the same or less than X's price without perks.  

[TeeRick]

7 minutes ago, D C said:

Bigger profits shouldn't be too far off.  According to today's announcements, bookings (at the RCL parent level) are at all time highs.  It looks like prices are at all time highs as well.  For the dates I've been checking recently, I can book with perks on Princess, Holland, or MSC for the same or less than X's price without perks.  

Yes I am seeking other lines too.  And I have been loyal and exclusive to RCCL and Celebrity for years!

[TeeRick]

19 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

 The cruise lines are their own worse enemy . When the CDC got them to shut down they should have brought it into court because the CDC is not a governing body but is a advisory body . These increases can not last & expect people to absorb them . when a person has to make the decision to pay rent or their mortgage .The later will come first  .Most people in the states have dipped into savings to survive  this inflation brought upon us.

Not to get into this again and I don’t want to open up an old and tired discussion.  The CDC had the authority at the time to shut down the US based industry as part of its public health mandate.  And it did.  

[kirtihk]

15 minutes ago, D C said:

 

Boggles my mind why they have grats/svc fees as a separate line item. Roll it into the cruise price and be done with the nonsense.  

I also call it nonsense for any tips charged in US.  It should be included in a product price (meal item in a restaurant, hair-cut, whatever).  You see a price, you accept it, you buy it, you use it, the end.

[kirtihk]

31 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

 The cruise lines are their own worse enemy . When the CDC got them to shut down they should have brought it into court because the CDC is not a governing body but is a advisory body . These increases can not last & expect people to absorb them . when a person has to make the decision to pay rent or their mortgage .The later will come first  .Most people in the states have dipped into savings to survive  this inflation brought upon us.

I stated while being on our March 8 - 25, 2020 shmandemic cruise on Ponant Le Soleal (South Pacific crossing from Eastern Island to Tahiti) and 've been repeating over and over since then that this is what will occur if setting from your second sentence happens.  And, haplessly, it happened.

Edited February 7, 2023 by kirtihk

[D C]

1 hour ago, kirtihk said:

I also call it nonsense for any tips charged in US.  It should be included in a product price (meal item in a restaurant, hair-cut, whatever).  You see a price, you accept it, you buy it, you use it, the end.

Would be nice, but it's failed every time it's been tried in the US. 

 

Cliffs Notes: American's are bad at math

Edited February 7, 2023 by D C

[BlerkOne]

4 hours ago, Obobru said:

You mean like the cruise fares that increase to cover the costs that increase. 

Supply and demand. Cruise fares can't go up if there is no demand. Celebrity is still giving away lots of free cruises via the casino.

[Chardonnay Char]

On 2/5/2023 at 9:09 AM, terrydtx said:

Interesting conversation with my TA who books mostly cruises with Celebrity on Friday. I have been telling her for weeks about CC and the number of loyal Celebrity customers who are very upset over the cutbacks and changes instigated last month. She had a meeting with her Celebrity rep this week and brought up my comments and the CC complaints. The rep told her that Celebrity management does monitor CC and is aware of the complaints on CC.  He told her the cutback in the OVC for diner was to reduce the nightly food wastes that are over 50% on most cruises. He also told her the whole OVC changes are going to be a reassessed on a regular basis. The new charge for a second lobster tail in MDR was again to cut down in waste, too many people would order multiple lobsters and not eat all of them.

Don't you think the leftovers are either 1)refrigerated for the next day or 2)made available to the staff.  I mean, if you are talking pasta and rice dishes from the buffet -- why not let the staff eat it?  Cooking something separate for them could only cost more.  

[markeb]

15 minutes ago, Chardonnay Char said:

Don't you think the leftovers are either 1)refrigerated for the next day or 2)made available to the staff.  I mean, if you are talking pasta and rice dishes from the buffet -- why not let the staff eat it?  Cooking something separate for them could only cost more.  

 

Back of the house waste. Since the US based cruise lines are inspected by US federal agencies, I assume they largely follow the US Retail Food Code. There are limits on how much they can rework product. Things that are put out for service generally don't get reworked or reused (food code). Bagged produce is flushed with nitrogen at the processor (which is why your salad looks like crap overnight in the refrigerator once you open it), so there's little or no ability to rework.

 

Most of the crew is from outside of North America. I'm sure they'll eat things from the buffet, but several common nationalities are heavy vegetarian, for instance. 

 

It's not as simple as people want to make it. For any cruise line. Or really any restaurant. Waste eats into margin...

[Obobru]

16 minutes ago, Chardonnay Char said:

Don't you think the leftovers are either 1)refrigerated for the next day or 2)made available to the staff.  I mean, if you are talking pasta and rice dishes from the buffet -- why not let the staff eat it?  Cooking something separate for them could only cost more.  

We have a friend working on Disney and he told us a lot of things are reused the next day with expensive items such as prawns and crab were put out for a number of days. Other items were used to make soups and deserts were used a second day and were used for staff. The food waste from buffets isn't that much most of it is customers who either take too much or just don't like the food which can sometimes be down to the quality of it. 

 

 

[BlerkOne]

3 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

 

 

Most of the crew is from outside of North America. I'm sure they'll eat things from the buffet, but several common nationalities are heavy vegetarian, for instance. 

 

 

I doubt most of the crew would eat the food served to the passengers by choice. They are employees, not slaves.

[Obobru]

7 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

I doubt most of the crew would eat the food served to the passengers by choice. They are employees, not slaves.

A lot of the crew do eat these foods, crew are from all over the world so while they make some regional foods for the different nationalities many of the crew are from countries in the west or eat a mix of foods depending on the country they are from. 

[D. B.]

On 2/6/2023 at 2:57 PM, D. B. said:

Cruise lines have been "Spinning" things for Years.

 I remember when They Mailed us a nice spiral binder with all our Cruise Docks Printed nicely.

 Then when they Stopped That they Said Gleefully "Now YOU can Print out your Own docks at Home at YOUR Convenience" ! ! !  😍 Yes, Conveniently with My Paper and My Ink and no Postage cost to Them?

 I Doubt they pass their Savings along to Us?😉

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by D. B.
spelling

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, Obobru said:

A lot of the crew do eat these foods, crew are from all over the world so while they make some regional foods for the different nationalities many of the crew are from countries in the west or eat a mix of foods depending on the country they are from. 

A lot do. I still say most don't. We agree to disagree.

[D C]

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I doubt most of the crew would eat the food served to the passengers by choice. They are employees, not slaves.

You're basing this on what exactly?

[RichYak]

17 minutes ago, D C said:

You're basing this on what exactly?

I don’t even understand what it means? Only slaves would eat the food that Celebrity serves?

[BlerkOne]

22 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I don’t even understand what it means? Only slaves would eat the food that Celebrity serves?

I mean given a choice, most of the staff would not choose to eat Western food on a regular basis. They should not be forced to eat leftovers.

Edited February 8, 2023 by BlerkOne

[D C]

3 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

I mean given a choice, most of the staff would not choose to eat Western food on a regular basis. They should not be forced to eat leftovers.

Again, you're basing this on what?  

I see crew from a variety of heritages in OVC each evening, eating the buffet food.  I've talked to crew members who have commented on eating the buffet leftovers.