Entice me to come back to RCCL

[orville99]

36 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'd already booked adventure eastern and ABC and this last drop was exactly more of what I'd already booked but not yet done.

We have a B2B 6-night Eastern and an 8 night ABC on Adventure booked for next April. We just booked an 11-night Southern on Celebrity Ascent for December 2025 out of FLL that is doing St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, Dominica and St Kitts, none of which are anywhere on RCL's currently released itineraries. We are also waiting on our concierge from Cunard to get us the pre and post cruise hotel info so we can complete booking a 30-night RT out of NYC on the QM2 to the British Isles and back for September 2025. Silversea is working up itineraries for us in 2026 to do South America, so RCL is fast fading into the dustbin of what used to be.

Edited May 14 by orville99

[BecciBoo]

16 hours ago, HicksRA said:

I always have to laugh when people ask about two tops thinking they’ll be a private experience. There’s usually about 7 of them crammed so close together you bump elbows with the guy at the table next to you when you try to put food in your mouth and people trying to get by drag their butt in your green beans as they scoot sideways…

That's exactly why you go to the MDR first thing and make sure you like the location...they almost always accommodate.

[BecciBoo]

7 minutes ago, orville99 said:

doing St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, Dominica and St Kitts

We booked the Ascent 10 day for Jan. '26 for our 30th anniversary.  Include Tortola BVI too.  We have a Sunset full balcony.  The April cruise coming up on Ascent is also the same type cabin.  If you don't like the Infinite bal. just book early and snag a regular.

Edited May 14 by BecciBoo

[BecciBoo]

15 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

I've also been with only one other 2-top by a window and had a more private table

Last month on Vger, we were next to the window with one other 2top and met a lovely couple, had so much fun with them at lunch and dinner.  But if you don't want to talk you don't have to.  If at a large table you almost feel obligated to interact. I don't like being put in that situation.  It has led to some awful dining experiences.  So we've been done with that for ages.  One unusually sticky situation with an elderly couple whose hubs thought he was a sit down comedian...NOT. We could hardly converse nor eat for his loud interruptions!  Fortunately, a couple at another multi table must've noticed how uncomfortable we were and one night asked us if we'd like to move to their table which had a vacancy.  We did and have been cruise buds for several years!

[BecciBoo]

14 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

One of the things we enjoy the most about cruising is the balcony.  Sitting on it sipping a glass of wine in the evening before dinner, or before retiring for the evening the IV just doesn't have the same or equal feel at all. 

I agree but we don't mind doing an interior some cruises as well, like the cozy feel of our cocoon and like virtual balcony too so we can see the water.  It's ok because we save a lot of money and tend to do them in between the bigger cruises or on shorties like the Vger we just did.  Icon coming up is an inside accessible and I'm looking forward to seeing it...will post pics.  Our Ascent cruises are both balconies in the aft so looking forward to the sipping and waking!!!!😁

[BecciBoo]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

loyal to royal

For us it's not a matter of being loyal, they just tick all our boxes.  Lately after Icon pricing though, it's been a little expensive, but after doing Jubilee we are convinced RCI suits us just fine. Love Celebrity too, but cannot cruise them too often.  Now looking at a cheap short cruise for Sept. "25 and every time I do a mockup it ends up on the qte page way more than when I picked it, hundreds more, can't understand that when it starts out at $300 or $400 each and ends up $3000+ on the last page...have you noticed that??

[firefly333]

23 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We have a B2B 6-night Eastern and an 8 night ABC on Adventure booked for next April. We just booked an 11-night Southern on Celebrity Ascent for December 2025 out of FLL that is doing St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, Dominica and St Kitts, none of which are anywhere on RCL's currently released itineraries. We are also waiting on our concierge from Cunard to get us the pre and post cruise hotel info so we can complete booking a 30-night RT out of NYC on the QM2 to the British Isles and back for September 2025. Silversea is working up itineraries for us in 2026 to do South America, so RCL is fast fading into the dustbin of what used to be.

Maybe I'll see you. You said you have a 8 day on adventure in april to ABC. I'm also booked in april on adventure next April to ABC. 

 

I booked eastern just before xmas on adventure to DR which will be new ro me this dec and staying on for xmas. To grand bahamas .. b2b. My april isnt b2b. 

 

Sounds like we might run into each other next April. To me it didnt make sense to book the exact same cruise so soon afterwards when the new itineraries dropped. I've also booked wonder and utopia. And even explorer. Booked every ship on royal out of PC. Time to look around.

 

I do have some planning to do for rome. Ta next may plus 2nd leg and staying on in rome. After that ... pretty much empty, to fill in later after I get  moved I'll be looking around. 

[FOXTROT]

It is your vacation & your money. How can I make those decisions for you? RCL is a great fit for us. We spent over a month on Celebrity & was not satisfied with the differences. We will stay loyal.

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, BecciBoo said:

For us it's not a matter of being loyal, they just tick all our boxes.  Lately after Icon pricing though, it's been a little expensive, but after doing Jubilee we are convinced RCI suits us just fine. Love Celebrity too, but cannot cruise them too often.  Now looking at a cheap short cruise for Sept. "25 and every time I do a mockup it ends up on the qte page way more than when I picked it, hundreds more, can't understand that when it starts out at $300 or $400 each and ends up $3000+ on the last page...have you noticed that??

Yes I posted on the thread about transparency pricing why cant solo book gty. It's not right to pay 250% more than what a couple pays per person. I am sick and tired of seeing prices from ...  and click and it's way more than 200% more. I warn friends about royals pricing is fake. It's one pax, based on a couple without fees. ..and that's usually a come on price you cant find anyway. 

 

I admit I'm a fast food lover so carnival suits me. But I'd like all that sea food ourusualbeach posted on some explore journey line I havent heard of. Ill ask when he gets home.

[loman]

13 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I assume it is safe to say you cruise for the ship, not the ports. You would not like my cruise schedule. Right now I am on Freedom. Over the next two months I have cruises booked on Radiance, Independence, Grandeur and Enchantment. I do have two cruises on Utopia and three cruises on Allure booked late Summer/early Fall, which I assume you would like. 🙂

You are correct , we sail for the ship . After a while the all the ports do look similar and we like everything Oasis class has to offer. 

We dont sail that often , but after trying several classes , we settled on Oasis class .

 

Enjoy your future cruises ! 🙂

 

[OCSC Mike]

27 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

Last month on Vger, we were next to the window with one other 2top and met a lovely couple, had so much fun with them at lunch and dinner.  But if you don't want to talk you don't have to.

 

Similar experience for us on Wonder in March. We only had 4 dinners together but we had some nice conversation... and the craziest part was something made the woman ask me if I posted here b/c she read a live review of Wonder from someone named Mike, lol. She said it helped her plan for the ship (their 1st time). And she was right, it was mine. Who knew giving out my insanely common first name on the internet would reveal my identity? 🤣

 

18 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

For us it's not a matter of being loyal, they just tick all our boxes.

 

Everyone likes what they like. I've never even tried another cruise line and currently have no desire to. Different strokes...

[BecciBoo]

We were enthused about trying Carnival Jubilee after our first and only Carni DID NOT GO WELL!  And there were many things we loved but mostly things we did not love...their cafeteria Marketplace is a joke.  We'd go to get breakfast and it wasn't the "bacon day" so no bacon to be had!  WHAT!!!!!!!!! and very little variety, Windjammer has 50 times the choices.  And after hearing about the pizza forever, I tried twice to eat it, cardboard with melted cheese on it...ish.  The service in MDR was way subpar, we were not even given a menu when seated!  WHAT!!  I figure they were counting on your making your choices from their app (which is very functional). And no white linen on the tables...anywhere!  Just little things but important to us.

So we have decided we stick with the 2 RCI lines from now on, we'll just set aside more $$.

Edited May 14 by BecciBoo

[Biker19]

33 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Yes I posted on the thread about transparency pricing why cant solo book gty. It's not right to pay 250% more than what a couple pays per person.

Trying to figure out the why of anything RCI does just leads to frustration.  It has been repeated many times on the RCI boards about this issue - book for two to get around the increased solo pricing issue and then if you want the extra C&A points for solo, change the booking to a solo later.

[nelblu]

19 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

I’ve never once NOT been able to get a 2-top.

Never  had a problem getting a table for 2 in the MDR.  Just e-mail the dining room and they will accommodate you.  I even ask for a window view and been very successful.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

Maybe I'll see you. You said you have a 8 day on adventure in april to ABC. I'm also booked in april on adventure next April to ABC. 

Probably, we are doing a B3B from 4/4 to 4/26.😇

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Never  had a problem getting a table for 2 in the MDR.  Just e-mail the dining room and they will accommodate you.  I even ask for a window view and been very successful.

 

That's exactly what I ask for. For my upcoming cruise I added a request for deck 5. We were on deck 4 in March and decided we'd rather avoid the casino if possible (our cabin is forward). We can also avoid the mob of MTDiners waiting outside the deck 4 entrance as we're leaving early seating this way. Not a big deal of course, we can always cross on the promenade and walk down a deck or two, but since I was requesting the table anyway, figured no reason not to add to the deck request. In all honesty, as long as we have a 2-top, we really don't care where we're seated.

Edited May 14 by OCSC Mike

[firefly333]

4 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Probably, we are doing a B3B from 4/4 to 4/26.😇

If I didnt have wonder and utopia in feb and a TA in may with this ABC islands in between I'd usually book b2b. I've been to A and C, not bonaire.  Trying to pick up the few I've missed.

[lovesthebeach2]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

We have a B2B 6-night Eastern and an 8 night ABC on Adventure booked for next April. We just booked an 11-night Southern on Celebrity Ascent for December 2025 out of FLL that is doing St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, Dominica and St Kitts, none of which are anywhere on RCL's currently released itineraries. We are also waiting on our concierge from Cunard to get us the pre and post cruise hotel info so we can complete booking a 30-night RT out of NYC on the QM2 to the British Isles and back for September 2025. Silversea is working up itineraries for us in 2026 to do South America, so RCL is fast fading into the dustbin of what used to be.

Sounds fabulous! We never thought of Cunard! We do have the Silver Nova booked next year to Alaska for 14 nights, so we’re excited about that.  I’m curious, do you do all your own booking? 

[orville99]

14 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

 I’m curious, do you do all your own booking? 

Yes, we do. Have done all of our own bookings for about 20 years so far. We do make use of the cruise line's concierge services when we decide to book on a new cruise line in order to better  understand the nuances of their booking process, but when it becomes time to book, we always do it ourselves.

 

Case in point:

When we decided this year to book on a new cruise line, I went over to their CC board, and several posters insisted that I would be better off if I used a TA to book. I tried that with several agencies, and in each case, the booking would have ended up costing me the exact same amount, they could (or would) not book me in the category I requested, and neglected to tell me that the "OBC" they were going to give me for booking with them was the same OBC that the cruise line was going to give me for booking direct.

[lovesthebeach2]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

Yes, we do. Have done all of our own bookings for about 20 years so far. We do make use of the cruise line's concierge services when we decide to book on a new cruise line in order to better  understand the nuances of their booking process, but when it becomes time to book, we always do it ourselves.

 

Case in point:

When we decided this year to book on a new cruise line, I went over to their CC board, and several posters insisted that I would be better off if I used a TA to book. I tried that with several agencies, and in each case, the booking would have ended up costing me the exact same amount, they could (or would) not book me in the category I requested, and neglected to tell me that the "OBC" they were going to give me for booking with them was the same OBC that the cruise line was going to give me for booking direct.

You use the word “we”, so not sure if your DW helps, but in my case I do it all and it’s a lot of planning and making decisions, not on the local cruises from Florida, but the majority of our trips are international which requires more planning. So although it would be preferable for me if we both were involved, my TA has been a godsend! Which mostly leaves me to plan the excursions and in the new places we travel.

[BecciBoo]

39 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

. I've been to A and C, not bonaire

Just the opposite here, never been to the others but Bonaire has excellent shore diving/snorkeling.  We enjoyed our dive trip, it's a dessert island though, plenty of cacti, brambles, donkeys and flamingos.

[BecciBoo]

8 minutes ago, orville99 said:

"OBC" they were going to give me for booking with them was the same OBC that the cruise line was going to give me for booking direct.

That's exactly why we quit the agencies.  It used to be way better to transfer the booking and get all their perks, but early on they quit including such things as special dinners and paid gratuity, then you just saw what you just described.  Done!  I have booked our own for at least the last 15 yrs.  I don't blame them, they never made much money...I know cuz I worked with one for a while, bust!

[Gracie115]

17 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Yes, we do. Have done all of our own bookings for about 20 years so far. We do make use of the cruise line's concierge services when we decide to book on a new cruise line in order to better  understand the nuances of their booking process, but when it becomes time to book, we always do it ourselves.

 

Case in point:

When we decided this year to book on a new cruise line, I went over to their CC board, and several posters insisted that I would be better off if I used a TA to book. I tried that with several agencies, and in each case, the booking would have ended up costing me the exact same amount, they could (or would) not book me in the category I requested, and neglected to tell me that the "OBC" they were going to give me for booking with them was the same OBC that the cruise line was going to give me for booking direct.

 

This was my feelings until about 2 years ago when I began using an agency someone recommended and have literally saved $1000's by doing so.  Not only do I receive a check in the amount of about 8% of the cruise cost, but there is usually a bit of OBC thrown in.  Have never had an issue having them book exactly what we wanted and the agent I work with is very helpful.  I usually book the room and then they take it over from there.  Wish I had done it years ago.

[jean87510]

21 hours ago, ScottC4746 said:

We are in our late 50's, me pushing 60 more than DH.  We left RCCL for a smaller ship that is affordable.  We tried HAL and we are too young, but beautiful ship and attention to detail.  Loved the customer service.  They have trivia which we love, but no prizes. No problem getting a 2 top in the MDR.

We tried Celebrity and we were hooked.  Unfortunately their trend seems to be infinite verandas which we will have on our cruise in 20 days but heard it is a love hate thing.  The more we read about them we already hate them.  While it makes a beautiful streamlined ship, if it says balcony we want a balcony. No trivia.  No problem getting a two top in the MDR.

 

This leaves us with RCCL.  Their ships have grown huge.  This scares us because we can just imagine the lines and crowds for everything, but it seems as they grow they have added more bars and comp restaurants to help.  We aren't really pool people, so that deck is a waste to us.  Not sure how often we will be able to get a two top in the MDR.

 

What can you all say/suggest to encourage us back?  How can we learn to embrace bigger ships.

 

[nelblu]

33 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Yes, we do. Have done all of our own bookings for about 20 years so far. We do make use of the cruise line's concierge services when we decide to book on a new cruise line in order to better  understand the nuances of their booking process, but when it becomes time to book, we always do it ourselves.

I do all of the prep/investigative work, including the location of a cabin/#.  Usually book on board for the reduced deposit and the OBC.  Depending on what my TA is offering I decide whether to transfer the booking or not.  For instance, I have an 11 niter on Explorer in early January--got $200 OBC for booking on board, + $100 in shareholder's OBC, and $350 in OBCs from my TA (10% of the fare and a $50 in Loyalty.)