*LIVE* from Mariner of the Seas - PROBLEMS!

[CanuckCruizer]

pbhunt & bobbeasea - Well, we certainly got a different opinion from the members of the crew we spoke to - they were not looking forward to it at all. Guess it depends on who you talked to...

[PhoenixCruiser]

We have booked to sail on the mariner for the new years cruise leaving Dec 31 - I certainly hope there isn't any areas that may be closed off. Surely RCL would contact everyone and let them know before they sail? Or am I being naive?

 

RCI will not notify you, sorry! We had a large group on our first RCCL cruise, it was amazing how may venues were closed off for this group. I'm actually surprised that we decided to give them another chance. Our next cruise was fantastic our last one was so so. I guess will will make our final decision next week ;)

 

###

[rubrrick]

Patrick...........I agree with you........however, if a passenger that paid the regular fare.......and was lead to believe the services that they would receive in return for money received............is still entitled to either have use of the premisses......or be given some sort of credit to wards another cruise.

 

Rick

 

 

NOT a part of the bears group!!

[piercetc4]

phoenix- which ship are you on next week? are you on the mariner with us?

 

to op- i am sorry you guys got stuck on this ship with an obnoxious group- you deserve some compensation for having to witness and be subjected to this type behavior- cannot wait to read your review after we get back

i wonder if your disembarking will go slowly - how was it to board the ship? were these wild and crazy porn stars acting obnoxious then too?

[PhoenixCruiser]

phoenix- which ship are you on next week? are you on the mariner with us?

 

 

We are on the Jewel out of Boston, it's chartered by Vacation Outlet :eek: Hopefully we won't experience what the OP did :(

 

###

[c-legs]

mojo - now I get your drift-lol. We just got off the Serenade and apparently a similar group has chartered out the whole ship coming up very soon and all the crew is extremely nervous about it because on past cruises things have gotten very "out of hand" apparently.

 

 

 

Good Luck!

:( Hi,

You're right;; next week's sailing, before it embarks on a panama transit to her winter homeport of SanJuan....But at least, it's a full charter to the group(s), nobody else...

 

And yes, crew members are always uptight about full charters by certain ''groups'' which tend to get out of control by about day # 1 1/2...I don't know why they have to resort to such behaviour, but they obviously do...and shore authorities intervention at some port of calls is common...

 

Takes all kinds....

 

Cheers

Claude G

:)

[Coralc]

Not being able to visit the Hollywood Odyssey/Ellington's or the Safari/Colony/Whatever Club is a little different than not being able to walk through or use the Solarium.

 

If it's a regulary scheduled, public cruise, then major venues should be available for your use for most of the time. It doesn't matter which group, rudeness shouldn't be tolerated.

 

Have fun on Jewel, Phoenix. :)

[gamomluvs2cruise]

CanuckCruizer...do you know which "serenade" sailing the Atlantis group is chartering?:)

[Coralc]

Not Canuck, but it is Oct. 21-29 2006. Atlantis Cruise leaves tomorrow from San Diego. :)

[c-legs]

 

?

I noticed the Mariner of the Seas is not listed for a sailing next Oct 20, wonder if this is due to a large group booking the whole ship or what?

 

Bev

:) Hi,

Dead on !!! That's one of the better hints that a ship is chartered out, when you find a ''hole'' in mid-season and no more than 7 day, your average cruise. If it were for scheduled drydock, you'd find the gap lasting about 12-14 days, and generally at the end of a season ( or the beginning of the next....synonimous ?? )

 

Yes, the cruise lines ought to change their culture a bit and adopt a protocol of disclosures when a large group (s) is on board a specific sailing.

 

Cheers

Claude G

;)

[CanuckCruizer]

Thanks Claude, for your support about the crewmembers getting uptight. I just repeat what I have been told by the crew.

 

Gamomsluv2cruise(sorry if I don't have that exactly right) - Yes, according to Claude - the Atlantis group have chartered the Serenade for next week. From what I can gather - they are meek & mild compared to these Bear people:D

 

Canuck

[c-legs]

We have booked to sail on the mariner for the new years cruise leaving Dec 31 - I certainly hope there isn't any areas that may be closed off. Surely RCL would contact everyone and let them know before they sail? Or am I being naive?

:) Hi,

Cruise lines RARELY would charter entire ships over the holiday season You're OK there. The only ''groups'' you'll have to worry about is the KIDS....you'll have a few of those on a Xmas // NewYear sailing, for sure...

 

Cheers

Claude G

;)

[wrp96]

Not defending this, wouldn't want to see it myself. BUT, the cruiseline's are not going to tell you about large groups on their sailings. I would imagine it might be a privacy issue.

 

Yes, it would be better if groups would charter a full ship instead of infringing on other people's vacations (does not matter the group). But look at the numbers. So this is a group of 400 people. Even Holland America ships sail with at least 1500 people on them. The luxury lines have smaller ships but my guess is most groups can't afford to charter one of the ships from the luxury lines.

 

It is a very common complaint, even on lines like Holland America about large groups infringing on the cruise experience of everyone else. And it doesn't matter the type of group. There are complaints out there about gay groups, Christian groups, Amway salesmen, etc. No matter the group it seems like once they get to that large of a size, they tend to infringe on other passenger's enjoyment of the cruise.

 

What can we do since it's unlikely any cruiseline will tell you what groups will be onboard with you? Do research before you book and after you book. It doesn't help the OP now, but in many cases the information is out there in advance. A lot of these groups can be found just by doing a Google search. We've already had posters that were originally booked on this cruise come here and tell us they knew in advance about this group and changed sailings. The cruise on the Jewel of the Seas the week before mine has a really large group of Funeral Directors onboard. My roommate for my Jewel cruise found out that information by searching the internet.

 

Hopefully since the OP is onboard now she will be able to get somebody like the Hotel Manager to listen to her concerns and help make it better for her or at the very least listen to her instead of having them ignore her concerns.

[Coralc]

Canuck...since whan are we at odds with each other? Neither one of us are on the Atlantis sailing. And thankfully, we are not on the "Bears" sailing. We just talked to different bar servers. LOL:D :D We just got back from Hawaii! Aloha:)

[c-legs]

Thanks Claude, for your support about the crewmembers getting uptight. I just repeat what I have been told by the crew.

 

Gamomsluv2cruise(sorry if I don't have that exactly right) - Yes, according to Claude - the Atlantis group have chartered the Serenade for next week. From what I can gather - they are meek & mild compared to these Bear people:D

 

Canuck

:) Hi,

The Atlantis and RSVP-type charters actually cater to a much more socially sophisticated crowd; the ones I've seen while working at the pier were of course....noisy...and exhuberant, but on board, they are cruisers first and are quite observant of the dress code for example, and rarely out of control. Crews feedback relate to sometimes very classy demeanour. Of course, the '' entertainement'' is not discreet.but it's their ship for the week/cruise..

The case with '' Bears'' is well documented on these boards and elsewhere...it's another class altogether.

If only there was a sure way of finding out which groups have huge block of space on any given sailing, that would be socially responsible on the part of the cruise lines, whichever they are.

Might be '' just about $$$ for the cruise lines''...but it's $$$ for the '' bears''....and it's $$$ for the other 2700-odds passengers as well.

 

Cheers

Claude G

;)

[PhoenixCruiser]

Have fun on Jewel, Phoenix. :)

 

Thanks P :) Long time no see! Hope all is well with you and yours :)

 

###

[Coralc]

Have a fabulous time on Jewel! and a safe flight. Remember a quart size ziplock for gels and lotions on the return flight. People were scrambling at the airport. :D

 

We just returned from the Hawaii repo on Serenade and missed the earthquake by about 3 days, thankfully. Great, great cruise:D

 

I thought they were wrestlers, Rob. :rolleyes:

[brigittetom]

Oh man,I would be LIVID!:mad: I think the ones inconvenienced should be getting some kind of compensation.

 

I do remember a few months back someone posting on here to "warn" other cruisers that this group was going on the MA Oct 15th..........

 

That poster got an earful how horrible she was to "discriminate" against a group of gay men.........lucky for her, she did change her cruise...smart lady........

 

Tonite someone else posted a thread how one of RCCL's ships is being booked by a similar large group in january(I think)...............that thread also got pulled.......

 

I think there should be a way to let us know if ANY extremely large groups have booked............we may not be into the same things as them and wish to book another...........

 

And before you bash me,I am not just talking about gay groups(even though the porn part of the Bears grosses me out),but any LARGE organization............I,for one,would not really care for the motorcycle based cruises..........I dont wanna wear leather........haha!

 

Parrot, I remember that thread also. When will people stop calling it discrimination because you don't want to cruise with a group of 500? We were on the Summit with a group from Venezuala. They took over whole parts of the ship at their preference, not RCL's, and the rest of us had to find elsewhere to go. It wouldn't have mattered if this group was from Chicago, they just happened to be from Venezuala and it was really annoying not to even be able to go to our favorite lounge to have a drink before dinner and the pool was not even an option on most days because it was just one big party and the rest of the passengers were excluded.

 

The original poster who had reservations about going on this cruise obviously had a valid concern and good for her that she cancelled.

 

Just the fact that the OP of this thread has not been able to talk to the GR rep. about this says it all. :rolleyes:

 

I'm guessing the Bear's possibly were showing a little too much public display so Miami deceided the Solerium might be the better alternative to having it all out in the open and constantly having other passengers offended. Personally I think that was a good deceision but if that were my cruise and I was denied access I would be fuming also. Personally I see this as a no win for RCL and possibly they are just doing the best they can to remedy this one cruise. I have no idea what kind of checks they do before booking a large group but obviously that needs some work. :mad:

[weary traveler]

hey phoenix not to worry about that 5 day charter.. thats just a local attempt by Vacation Outlet to test the waters for future short charters (and they havent done well with numbers even as of today..) have a great time aboard it will be a great sail!

to all the others having read this thread.. i guess we'll have to depend on the astute observations and information provided on these threads and make decisions as to travel or not on a particular cruise..

Kudos to the person who first brought this group information, I'm sorry he or she got flamed for presenting it.. but in hindsight isnt that what this board is all about to inform? I certainly dont mind getting a heads up on things to come..

all i know is if i paid what they paid then i have the same usage rights as the others.. unless its not open or damaged.. if they advertise the solarium then it has to be opened to all... but i guess they think by herding them all into the solarium for "what ever" it becomes out of sight

out of mind... just stupid...

HEY PARROTHEAD!!!!!!!!

 

Weary Traveler

[PH8]

HEY WEARY..how ya doing?????:)

[clochette]

What would bother me, is a group taking over the solarium pool, or any other spca meant for public use, a group were individuals are making remarks and harrassing you as you walk by, (which the OP reported), a group that makes you feel unwelcome in their presence, a group that would make me feel that I need to watch my kids every minute of the day because they might be harrassed. I could care less, if they white, black or purple, what their sexual orientation is, the harrassing part is what I could not tolerate and would get me to not enjoy my cruise.

[caviargal]

Sorry Tracy, but I have to believe RCI knows exactly what it's getting into when they book these groups. The only reason they do it b/c the pax in these groups usually spend much more than traditional pax.

 

Spot on, Patrick:).

 

I don't know if there is a solution to those unhappy with the situation. For me, being denied use of the only kid free zone on the ship would make me very unhappy:(.

[airbusdrvr]

royal should give them the option of chartering the entire ship or go elsewhere. I don't understand why groups like this wouldn't want to do a private charter anyway. :confused: That way they could do what ever it is they want to do on board and not offend anyone.

 

 

I think some groups and individuals get a kick out of offending others. Like the 2 gUys in the pool on our last Mariner cruise, making out in front of a lot of young children. That is inappropiate behavior for anyone !:mad:

[caviargal]

I agree that you should be able to find out if large groups are sailing, but if the cruiselines let you know about that ahead of time they are potentially losing out on a lot of booking$.

 

And I wish I could find out the numbers of kids aboard so I would know not to book those sailings. The cruise lines know better than to provide info that would cause a reduction in bookings, no matter what group of folks some are trying to avoid.

[cruiselovingmom]

Seriously, you can't compare gay people in general to gay porn stars-I mean... they're porn stars!

To me, it's not their sexual preference that is the issue at all, it's their jobs!

They obviously don't have the morals the average person has( I'm refering to the porn, not the gay- I have gay cousins on both sides of my family and they are both in long term wonderful relationships with great people- I honestly have no issue with it), so I can't believe RC expected them to act properly in public and not offend other paying customers on this cruise !

For those that will say"only a small number of them are actually the porn stars", if you are the type of person who would go on a cruise specifically to be with these people, you are just as bad!

 

They should be ashamed that they subjected people to this, I would definately want at least a replacement cruise out of them!!