karl_nj

21 hours ago, deep1 said:

Either fast ferry or air. Not eager to risk it again.

Ah that is a good idea. I saw the ferry docked next to us. Seems like it just takes 2 hours from FLL. It looked pretty cool, and fast!

Wow, what a mess. I hope they get back to you soon with a resolution of your account issues. 

And sorry you missed Bimini! I know you were looking forward to showing your Fiancé around. Hopefully you can get back there on another cruise someday soon!

On 3/1/2024 at 1:15 PM, smokeybandit said:

I wish someone would have asked about what they think about diamond vouchers, but otherwise, some interesting nuggets in there

 

Someone did ask about diamond vouchers; they claimed it worked similar to drink package customers:

On 1/8/2024 at 10:08 PM, deep1 said:

Summit April 1: Mia - Key West- Bimini- Nassau.... All places I've lived. Fiancee hasn't done Bimini or Key West so that was the reasoning. Gotta say, compared to Royal, they go out of their way to make you feel welcome...

What are your plans for Bimini? I just booked Reflection for April, and that is one of our stops. Trying to decide what to do there.

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

Last time I looked RC had a ton of IT jobs open. So they're at least trying.

Then again the reason so many jobs are open could be part of the problem.

Didn't they layoff everyone during the COVID shutdown?

Not that their IT was great pre shutdown.

Doesn't NCL already have some ships where the ropes course goes over the end of the ship?

I prefer the lot over the garage actually. Easier than waiting for the elevators to bring luggage up, or trying to drive down to the loading area (and waiting for a spot to open)

1 hour ago, TXcruzer said:

Minimum bas salary is $658 monthly, raising to $666 on Jan 1 2024.

OK, but like I said, we don't know how much of the discretionary service fee goes towards meeting the min salary. Employers have used similar policies in the US for tipped positions.

18 hours ago, Colombia20102018 said:

 

Let’s do the math. At $3.55 per guest per room per day. Supposing that this is true and that Royal Caribbean is giving them that money and assuming double occupancy, let’s round that up to $7 per day per room. Now let’s assume each Stewart is responsible for ten cabins. That would be $70 per day, $490 a week or $2100 a month just in tips. Most guests leave a little extra. Let’s say on average $50 per room. That’s another $500 per week for ten rooms or another $2142. That totals $4212 a month just in tips on average. Now, I understand that they also have a base salary and don’t have to pay any costs on board. They get a shared cabin, good food, gym, internet, and other amenities. Let’s say the salary is $800 a month. Then give or take they could make about $5000 a month. If these assumptions are correct, 80% of their income is based on tips which is extremely exaggerated. Now, some rooms are for four people and suites pay more tips, then the amounts are even bigger.
I have a hard time believing they make  this much. 
What are your thoughts? 

We don't know what the base salary is, or how much of these 'tips' are 'included' as part of their salary. And they do need to pay for internet and alcohol (but at a discount).

19 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

There are rumblings in a few FB groups that this is already in place for Nov/Dec HM sailings. I checked my Odyssey sailing for NYE and there's nothing there yet. People are saying that this can be found on the app under "Welcome aboard"

In the past the app hasn't really been good for predicting this sort of thing. Just like when a ship alternates between, say, 5 and 9 day cruises, the dinner menus can be messed up if "this cruise" doesn't match the number of days of the cruise you will be going on.

At least in the past, some parts of the app can really only publish information for the current cruise, and it can cause confusion when looking at your future cruise in the app.

1 hour ago, RCIfan1912 said:

I actually tried this 2 room theory the other day on the Liberty 9 day cruise next October so I contacted my TA and instead of it being 2,549 it was over 10 thousand. Again, I have no idea where these idea are coming from but it seems far fetched. I wish it wasn't because I'd love to have 2 rooms. 

Yeah, it really depends on the specific sailing and the exact point in time you are booking the cruise. You really just need to price out all your options at the time, and see what works best.

Seems like RCL does dynamic pricing based on the cabin category. And Royal changes around the categories all the time (that is why you will see multiple versions of deck plans for specific time periods). If a particular sailing has sold mostly Quad Occupancy cabins compared to Doubles, then the price of those will be higher. If they haven't sold many Quad cabins, then they price would be lower. Same thing with Connecting cabins (if you are booking at a time period where Connecting is a different category)

I've been sailing a lot when kids are out of school, so cabins for 4 tend to get booked up quickly, raising the price. I recall a time when I needed one cabin for 2 (for my wife and I) and one cabin for 3 (for my mom, son and daughter).  My cabin had an amazing group rate price, the other cabin was at prevailing rates.  My daughter, booked as a 3rd person, had a more expensive fare then I did. Was wild.

16 hours ago, JFCruise said:

At least, to me, it sounds like there might be better deals available than KSF. I wonder what can be an example for that.

For a family of 4, with one kid below 12 and one kid above 12 it could potentially be cheaper to book 2 double occupancy rooms instead of one quad occupancy room. Especially if the travel agency has group space.

5 hours ago, twangster said:

Moving the goalposts (changing thresholds) is a non-starter.  Disaster move from a customer relationship perspective. 

The best solution will always be adjusting perks and benefits to adapt the program to suit the overall goals of a free loyalty program over time.  That is what they have done in the past, that is what they are currently doing and that will be what they do in the future.  

Well, they have also "moved the goalposts" in the past, but they have done it along with a bigger change around the criteria.  Such as when they moved from getting Diamond after 10 cruises, to getting it after 80 points. So they went from people needing to take 12 seven night cruises to hit diamond, instead of 10. But they also closed a "loophole" where you could hit diamond after 5 three night cruises in a suite.

I guess it's possible that they make bigger changes to the program, perhaps to also include spend as a criteria. But to avoid blowback, they would need to make the change complicated, so it isn't very apparent the goalposts were moved.

4 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Just to be clear, because I will admit to not actually reading the posted letter closely enough earlier, it specifically says "due to the high number of top tier members on THIS CRUISE, we've made a slight adjustment..."

This certainly seems to indicate it will be a cruise by cruise determination based on the volume of top tier members aboard.

Wasn't that the same exact excuse they used to kick Diamond+ out of the Concierge Lounge for like every single sailing?

10 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

The only reason to merge programs to a common points system would be to try to get more people on Celebrity ships. Clearly they don't need any changes to get more onto RC ships.  Just the same, making it quasi-easier to earn points seems counterintuitive to the concern that too many people have higher numbers of points.

Well, you take advantage of the program change to make hitting levels more difficult in the future….  At one point diamond was 10 cruises. 

2 hours ago, Rackham said:

If you believe a particular poster over on CC, a limited happy hour menu in Celebrity's vein has been under consideration to replace the current drink vouchers.

Royal already had that, and then they replaced it with the vouchers. So if they do head in that direction, it would be less then copying celebrity, and more of a rollback to an earlier Royal policy (but perhaps related to trying to match benefits across lines, as mentioned in the cc webinar)

25 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

The C&A newsletter:

 

I’m thrilled to announce that over the next few weeks, the Diamond Lounge — beloved by our Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle members — is being specially renamed as the Crown Lounge across our fleet*. This is more than just a new name — it’s a tribute to the legacy of the Royal Caribbean maritime heritage. It’s a nod to our roots, and a symbol of our dedication to our loyal guests.

Don’t worry — access requirements aren’t changing. All members who have enjoyed the Diamond Lounge will continue to enjoy the exclusivity and comfort of your private space with delicious treats and top-notch service.

Thank you for being part of the Royal Caribbean family. We look forward to welcoming you to the Crown Lounge on a future adventure.

*Renaming of Diamond Lounge to Crown Lounge does not apply to Spectrum of the Seas^®.
 

Yeah, no access changes for now. We'll see what happens next year. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Remember this from a few months ago?

Could be phase 1 of the solution to this 'problem'

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

...sounds like a preface to removing/restricting some loyalty levels to me....but who knows.

Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me too. I bet I'll lose access as a lowly diamond C&A member sometime in 2024...

48 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

You do realize in 2019 a one day beach vibe club pass only cost $29 dollars.  Here we are 2023 and NCL is now charging $99 dollars for the same area on the ship.  This is exactly why I stated the solarium should remain free.  There is no reason customers should have to pay to enter a place on a cruise ship like the solarium.  For people who want more privacy book a suite so you can have access to the suite deck.  It is just a very slippery slope because one a charge is instituted where does it end, NCL has gone from $29 dollars to $99 dollars in 4 years for the same day pass to the same area of the ship that use to be 100% free and open to all.

NCL has Vibe at an extra cost, but they also have Spice H20 for free, no?

Were 16 year olds in the solarium actually an issue?

This "consistency" excuse seems a little odd to me. Will they also change the age limit from 16 to 18 for the gym then?

If they really want to be consistent then "Kids Sail Free" should go up to age 17, instead of ending at age 11, no?

27 minutes ago, Matt said:

Stay in a suite on Royal Caribbean. You'll get 2x service + free room service, and I'm betting in many cases a suite on Royal will be cheaper than a standard room on DCL 

Might have been the case in the past, but have you seen the prices for Icon?  Seems like Royal is creeping up to DCL prices...

But you do have a point.  My 3 night on Wish last week was more expensive then my 7 night on Wonder last summer.  But I was only on Wonder because of a double lift-and-shift starting with a super cheap sailing (including a early COVID re-price) on the non-amped Explorer of the Seas...

3 hours ago, Fuzzywuzzy said:

Same here on the Brilliance. The overhead pull down too. Little room to move around. He told us he only comes in once a day. Except to drop off ice along with a printed Cruise Compass.

Makes me appreciate Disney cruise line even more, as they still do twice a day service, including putting away the sofa and Pullman beds. The included room service was nice too. 

They claim it has to do with the environment, but this is actually going to be worse for the environment. If they cared about the environment, they would keep the cruise port where it is but mandate that the ships connect to land power when docked. Instead, what is going to happen is the ships will end up docking 30 minutes away, and then in addition to the cruise ship emissions, there will also be all the bus emissions and extra traffic to move cruise passengers from the nearby port to the city center.

They actually just want to build a new bridge, but they don't want to spend the money to build it high enough so cruise ships can pass under.

On 6/7/2023 at 8:35 AM, Pooch said:

And again, none of this is new.

Exactly... not new at all. No lobster on a 8 day cruise to Norway out of Copenhagen in 2015.

This was back in the days when the menu had names like "sage" and you could get a chilled soup every night.