*LIVE* from Mariner of the Seas - PROBLEMS!

[dmk446]

The 2007 sailing is already scheduled on Ncl. Check the website.

 

I couldn't find it Sue, when's the date/ship or where in particular did you see it listed?

[Sue L]

I couldn't find it Sue, when's the date/ship or where in particular did you see it listed?

 

 

Here is the link

 

http://www.rottours.com/bearvoyage07.htm

 

 

November 2-11,2007 Norwegian Pearl is the picture they are showing.

[dmk446]

Here is the link

 

http://www.rottours.com/bearvoyage07.htm

 

 

November 2-11,2007 Norwegian Pearl is the picture they are showing.

 

Thank you...I'll be sure to avoid that cruise.

[dirtgirl]

I just did a search for group cruises for 2007 - worried about my booked cruises now.

 

The Feb. 11th/07 sailing of the Vision is a group cruise for a Christian group, featuring Christian music and comedians. It is not chartered, as it is on RCI's web site. There are tons of gay/lesbian cruises out there as well, including the Radiance this November. I am not sure that they are all chartered.

 

I don't want to sail with any large group, as I don't want the entertainment and facilities to cater to that group. To take over an entire lounge or Solarium for the duration of the cruise is just not right.

 

The swinger's cruise on the Carnival Inspiration sounds just as bad as this Bear's cruise. There was nudity and sexual activity everywhere, including the dining room. That thread has been pulled.

 

Sexually explicit acts in public, whether gay or straight, especially in sight of children, is completely inappropriate.

[GMoney]

Once again..who are the "bears"?

The sad part of this is...they probably got a better price on the cruise because they got a "group" rate..so they shouldn't get priority over other cruisers, right?

 

I don't think this is a true statement. I know that Atlantis chartered cruises are more expensive than on equivalent non-chartered sailings, sometimes significantly more expensive.

[GMoney]

IME, the cruise lines will generally do what it takes to get group business. With the very low fares being offered to the general population, group business is becoming more and more important to the cruise lines. There is less and less to differentiate the lines/ships from each other and groups will commit to cabins early on. Tips are guaranteed and often group guests are pretty big spenders.

 

The types of groups can vary widely and I am sure that there are some that each of us would prefer not to cruise with depending on our personal lifestyles. This is the exact reason the cruise lines do not want you to know. If the group cannot afford to charter, then they will buy up as many cabins as they can sell.

 

I personally believe that the overall decline in the cost of cruising will serve to exacerbate the group problem and we will see even more in the future.

 

I think the upcoming move of Navigator to alternating 4 / 5 day cruises supports CG's comments. I think groups are another big reason RCI doesn't do more to curtail smoking.

 

Uh oh, now I've done it - smoking and bears in the same post! People are gonna freak! =)

[Sue L]

The swinger's cruise on the Carnival Inspiration sounds just as bad as this Bear's cruise. There was nudity and sexual activity everywhere, including the dining room. That thread has been pulled.

 

 

 

The thread was not pulled and from others on the same cruise the "rumours" of some of the activities were greatly exagerated. Here is the thread

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=430432

[GMoney]

I checked out the site and if saw any of any of those guys on the street I would think they were normal people. This is Scarrrrrry.:eek:

 

Yeah, it's realy annoying when the gays don't all wear pink and lisp so we can tell exactly who they are... :D

[GMoney]

One also has to wonder if Royal Caribbean really knew what kind of group was booked on this sailing. My bet is the travel agency booked it as a gay group and that was it. Maybe as mentioned above by a few other posters that the decision was made to give them this area to keep them away from the other guests on board and that this was the best area to do that. Not making excuses for Royal Caribbean but it does sound like that in the future they need to investigate their group bookings a little more.

 

How could RCI possibly not know???!?!?

[tricializ]

of the passengeres. I'm sure it's all in the fine print. But, you have all paid for a cruise with the amenities that are included. If they offer those to some and not to all, that seems wrong and recoverable. I'm sorry you had to witness this. What a bummer.

Tricia

[GMoney]

Actually, yes they will get the message here. Royal Caribbean has employees who's sole job is to monitor Cruise Critic. See pic below showing that they even have a link to CC on their computer terminals. :D

 

 

I don't think RCI having the link to CC on their PCs is indicative of anything bigger or more meaningful.

[GMoney]

Good afternoon,

 

It appears to me this thread turned into a "game of telephone". The message seemed to change often as someone new added to it. The OP, from what I can tell, did not state they were filming a porn video on this sailing. Others then jump in saying that they should not allow the bears to do this, it seems as if people have gotten many of the messages confused.

 

HT - I really respect your post. Thanks for making a great point. I don't doubt anything the OP stated, but it's interesting how people jump on board and feel free to make all kinds of comments without having a lot of facts, or varying firsthand opinions at the very least.

[beachlovergirl]

Aquafest Gay Cruises has booked the Mariner for next Halloween......October 28, 2007:

*****

[Fran Harp]

I don't think RCI having the link to CC on their PCs is indicative of anything bigger or more meaningful.

 

However, they do have employees whose job is to monitor the boards. If kudos are given to crew members or staff, that's passed on. If there are negative comments about crew or staff, that's also passed on to those people. I don't recall the name of the thread, but this information was posted recently when someone else asked the same question.

 

There are also crew members who read the boards, although they are not allowed to *post* to the boards while on the ship. It's been reported more than once that Captain Loekling has mentioned the CC boards.:eek:

 

Fran in Toronto

[bajathree]

And people laugh about spring break, Easter and Christmas Cruises that are loaded with kids:rolleyes: at least you don't have to worry about dealing with this;)

[mohavemommy]

I don't think RCI having the link to CC on their PCs is indicative of anything bigger or more meaningful.

 

I don't believe I said it was.

 

I was making a point that they are more than just aware of the presence of CC... also by the staff mentioning CC on cruises, Meet & Mingle parties, etc... but you can do a search of these boards to find out more about that.

[GMoney]

I don't believe I said it was.

 

I was making a point that they are more than just aware of the presence of CC... also by the staff mentioning CC on cruises, Meet & Mingle parties, etc... but you can do a search of these boards to find out more about that.

 

I got the gist of what you were trying to say. It's nice that RCI is aware of CC, and I'm sure that in some cases they may take some minor action with some of the feedback, I've never really seen or heard of an example where RCI made a major, meaningful decision based on CC feedback. CC is a small sample of cruisers. I think they get much better feedback from their onboard surveys, mail, and other feedback methods.

 

But my apologies to the OP; we are way off topic.

[mohavemommy]

I think they get much better feedback from their onboard surveys, mail, and other feedback methods.

 

... and I hope that all onboard who felt this was a bad situation make sure they note it on the comment cards as well as follow up with phone calls and email to Royal Caribbean upon their return. They are the ones who had to deal with the situation, not us. :o

 

mojo4trav -- I hope you update us when you get back! :)

[GMoney]

...they are the ones who had to deal with the situation, not us. :o

 

can't argue with that!

[mommomporkchop]

Just checking out one of the sites a poster shared a few pages back, it looks like there will be a large group (last year they had 400 attending) on The Radiance of the Seas - sailing 11/25. Another trip on the Radiance on Dec 1 and one on the Exployer on May 25, 2007 (I think that count was up to 600 already signed up).

No matter what the group is, they shouldn't have any more rights than a single passenger. We all pay for our vacation expecting the same rights, and shouldn't be put in the position to "detour around the ship" to avoid contact with them.

If anyone is booked for any of the above sailings, you might want to do some research before final payment.

I always thought of Royal Caribbean as "clean cut family" cruise line. Sounds like RCCL is losing some of the integrity it used to have, customer service is apparently hitting an all time low, no returned calls, avoiding the issue with the op...what's up with that? Just not right.

MoJo4Trav, I'm so very sorry to hear how you're being treated. Hopefully you're be able to have some fun before disembarking.

RCCL if you're reading these threads, you might want to rethink booking groups if they have that many obnoxious, loud, rude, disgusting people antagonizing all the other passengers.

I wanted to plan a cruise for next year to take my grandsons, now I'm not so sure. A little too risky who your tablemates may be :confused:

 

Mommomporkchop

(Kathy)

[GMoney]

 

I always thought of Royal Caribbean as "clean cut family" cruise line. Sounds like RCCL is losing some of the integrity it used to have, customer service is apparently hitting an all time low, no returned calls, avoiding the issue with the op...what's up with that? Just not right.

 

 

Just wondering - do you have any facts to back up your hyperbole?:rolleyes:

[MrsPete]

I checked out the site and if saw any of any of those guys on the street I would think they were normal people. This is Scarrrrrry.:eek:

I didn't think they looked normal. It's not normal for a whole group of guys to LOOK JUST ALIKE!

 

Their website was VERY OFFENSIVE. It only takes one click to find your way to porn, and there's no warning about what you're about to see. I'd never heard of these guys before, but their website really does "say it all".

[jeanne_stein]

If I was on this cruise I would APPLAUDE the cruise line for getting these obnoxious people out of the OTHER public areas, and giving them their own space to be rowdy, ass-grabbing, probably drunk, unpleasant people.

 

I don't think the OP said that the bears had to stay in that area... just that the rest of the passengers weren't allowed in. So I'm guessing you will find them in all areas of the ship at different times of the day... maybe the casino, other bars, etc.

 

The worst thing was that they were harassing the OP with cat calls. They obviously wanted attention.

[MrsPete]

I also agree that no public area should be taken from others. However, IMO, it may have been best with this group on this sailing.

If they were really harassing other passengers, engaging in sexual activity in public, or otherwise diminishing the cruise experience for other paying customers, THEY SHOULD BE PUT OFF THE SHIP. I'd say the same thing if it was a group of straight people behaving badly.

 

If their behavior is bad enough to upset those of us who were not even on the cruise, if their behavior is bad enough that other people are tracking their future travel plans so they can be avoided, then the captain should use his authority and put them off the ship.

 

I assume that every person in this group didn't behave badly, but those who did should've been punished quickly and severely. That would've caused the rest of them to straighten up -- ha-ha, didn't realize that was going to come out funny -- in public, and that's the real problem: public behavior.

[ekdskier]

I'm gay, I have no issues with gay people obviously. It's just the large groups. They all seem to be offensive or annoying in some way.

 

On one cruise we had at least 500 people from an insurance company in Venezuela. They drank a LOT of Johnny Walker Black - a LOT. They also had free drink cards. This is something I want to learn more about ;)

 

You can imagine how many people were drunk. I mean, this is normal on a cruise, but put hundreds of them together getting sh1tfaced for FREE... :eek: And they preferred hanging out at Boleros for the Latin music/dancing. This is understandable, but hundreds? There are only one or two bartenders! Those poor guys were sweating, running, and trying to locate more cases of JWBlack. :D

 

I had these people screaming in my ears, knocking into me in the halls by the elevators, etc. Very annoying - they seemed oblivious to their surroundings. I still loved LOVED the cruise. We just tried to laugh it off.

 

Another cruise I went on with my mom had a very large group from some other travel website (and here). They were kind of annoying, but I don't thikn they were that big so it wasn't everywhere. They all dressed alike and seemed kind of silly.

 

Porn is ok, but shooting it on a cruise ship is icky. I will remember to bring my Lysol sanitizing wipes on every cruise with me. :D I think they tried to handle it the best way they knew how. If they were to throw all of them overboard, I think the PR nightmare would be insurmountable. ;)

 

DedeM

 

I was on that same cruise, the group was Liberty Mutual of Venezuela, and yes they paid for a unlimited drink card. We found out from the bartender in the Schooner bar that they chartered every year with RCCL, and RCCL has to put on extra Johnny Walker Black (Perfered drink) just for them. You are right the more they drank the more loud, unruly, obnoxous (sp) they became, even the women. I had one drunk elderly man start to screem at me outside the casino about President Bush, the US was having problems with the Venezuela government at the time. But, he just could not let me pass without making a statement, man was I mad!!!! They did take over Boleros so you couldn't get a seat or a drink even if you were next in line, they would just reach over, you and tell the bartender "two Johnny Walker Black". Same thing in the casino, I mean you could be sitting at the BJ table and they would be right up on your back trying to bet $100.