LizzyBee23

We were just on Allure, and the ship itself was great... The cutbacks in service are noticeable (but are fleet wide). It helps if you ground yourself in the reality that we live in a world where everything is more expensive.

I will say that AO on Allure did not live up to my expectations (especially in the 3-5 room). The staff there seemed cold, and generally non-communicative.

We stayed at an Airbnb in the Strand that offered cruise parking. With two families and two cars, it was by far the cheapest option for an overnight stay and parking. Would have been walkable for a Carnival cruise, ended up getting a ride to the RCL terminal (though a motivated person with little luggage could also walk).

It was pretty green last week! Needs a few finishing touches, but it's most of the way there.

On 4/27/2023 at 5:47 PM, OCSC Mike said:

When you first open the app, click on the hints and tips section under the ship (it should say Welcome aboard! since it should be day 1), scroll down to where it says "Stateroom requests are just a tap away" and there is a TELL US link. It doesn't work unless you're on the ship but it redirects you to guest-requests.rccl.com so I'm thinking you could also just go to that URL once onboard.

Keep in mind I just stumbled upon it earlier today (while at home), never actually used it on a ship.

Hope this helps.

What an odd place to hide a link like that. Thanks for the tip! (Found this thread searching specifically for Twangster's link... need that stickied somewhere).

Offers went out for our cruise on the 28th, according to FB group (I haven't personally recieved it, though will include the screenshots below). The offer is less generous... 100% refund (or booked on an equivalent sailing, no additional OBC), 50% FCC.

Think we're about to see RCL test the waters with how low they can go and still get enough takers. Have a feeling we'll see some IDB's in the terminal next Sunday.

This article notes the language change with the 21 May sailing:

https://www.cruisehive.com/another-oversold-royal-caribbean-cruise-whats-different/101524

In the group for the sailing before ours (5/21), which is the sailing after the one in the news story that started this thread... Apparently cancellation offers also went out for the 5/21 cruise. Seems like this may be the norm for Allure over the summer. Wonder if any of the other ships are experiencing this with such frequency.

At least the last few times I've noticed Delta asking at the check-in kiosks if you'd be willing to give up your seat, and to give them a number if so. I keyed in an offer last week for the first time... I was the first flight out, and had all day to get to where I was going, so figured I'd give it a shot. Turns out, they didn't need me, but I was wondering about the efficacy of that approach versus the one over the announcements. Of course, not much in common with asking someone to fully reschedule a vacation with nothing to show for the trouble.

1 hour ago, BMW Hoosier said:

It actually isn't nearly that simple. Each airline has to publish its criteria for involuntarily denied bookings and the cost of the ticket is but one of several factors. Most airlines have their effective IDB rate very low and in particular, Delta has it as near to zero (like less than 10 people in a year) as about humanly possible. They will give a LOT of money before they will kick someone off. Worthy of note, airlines hand out millions of dollars every day for oversells but they still do it because the alternative would cost them more. 

Not sure any such standard exists now for cruise lines... Do they face any financial penalties at all for denying boarding, other than a refund of the fare?

15 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Like the others, the local retirees who cruise on a whim will take RC up on the offer and no one will get kicked off.

I think these summer sailings will be a test, and especially this one... where the only alternative that really ends up with the buyer being in a better position is to take the shorter Voyager sailing.

24 minutes ago, twangster said:

Given that I'm flying to most of cruises again, I wonder if they try to keep Air2Sea booked guests on the sailing so they don't have to eat the airline fees for last minute cancellations.

May be an unpublished benefit of A2S...  less likely to be booted in an oversold scenraio. 

I do wonder about that... I think I read at one point it was "random", but would not be surprised to hear that all of their random selections were below the 10th percentile in terms of fare revenue (and betting the financial impact for A2S would enter in here).

We're actually booked on Allure at the end of the month, and only need a flight to get my husband back to work on a plane while the kids and I do our grand tour of grandparents for the summer. I suspect ours will be oversold, too (first sailing after most southern schools are out). I think we'd take them up on the offer of a full refund and an alternate sailing, but we're traveling in a group of 4 cabins. We're also very low revenue (booked when the fare was inexplicably low, and hasn't come within 60% of it since then). Wondering if we'd be first on the chopping block because of our low fare, or last because of the group.

23 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

To me, this [oversold situation popping up so frequently lately] screams that either RoyalUp isn't working OR they just don't trust RU to get the best $$ result. Obviously, whatever "buffer" inventory that they had been using in the past has been replaced with "sell it all and hope for the best". Desperation, much ?

Yea... I think the days of claiming it's an IT glitch are long gone. At this point, it's a feature... not a bug.

https://www.cruisehive.com/yet-another-royal-caribbean-ship-oversold-days-before-sailing/100832

This menu is different than one I received on request with a filename MENU ENG 2022 (got the file in Nov 2022). Prices on my menu were way higher (drinks $2-4, food in some places doubled).

Little French Key has quite a bit of drama on FB... Just started looking for excursions next summer.

Huh, interesting. 

That honestly sounds like they're looking for someone. Don't think it has anything to do with 8 day vs 7 day.

17 hours ago, wordell1 said:

Royal Caribbean is not a "top dollar" cruise line.

Subtle classism.

For most of us, it's certainly not a pittance.

The solarium is a huge part of the advertising for RCL... Add another pool closure on top, and then a final sweetener that this is all so that the ship can make a nice debut when it gets to Galveston, and yeah... I'd be pretty upset, too.

It's not just an inconvenience. They're actively robbing their customers today for a marketing gimmick they're unwilling to break their schedule for.

You all should make a mass complaint to guest services and demand to talk to the captain. 

Maybe my experience in late May was an aberration, then! Glad to hear paper is still a thing.

Checking with recent cruisers to see if the main dining room has gotten a bit more flexible with paper menus at dinner. They were really pushing the app on The Ovation, which caused quite a bit of frustration for some in our party who really didn't want to have to keep their phone on them at dinner. Have an upcoming cruise on Radiance, and trying to figure out if we need to warn the other guests in our party.

HAL to Alaska on our honeymoon ~7 years ago was one of my first and only non-RCL cruises. It was partially paid for by Carnival loyalists, who actually went with us on Ovation last year. HAL to Alaska was absolutely amazing. The ship didn't have anywhere near the amenities as Ovation, but the experienced crew, and dedication to the Alaska experience, was just top notch. There were also enough amenities to satisfy our needs, and the fact that we were younger and out and about in the evening meant we could form closer relationships with the crew.

Additionally, the family that tried out RCL for the first time with us in AK this year are actually getting on another cruise right now, a Carnival ship in Port Canaveral. While they were gracious about how awful the experience was on Ovation, they all privately said they wouldn't be booking on another RCL cruise.

An AK cruise is just such a massive expense for most of us (mitigated a bit if you're a west coaster or Canadian). If I could do it again, I'd stick to HAL even though what drove us to Ovation were some of the things I think may influencing your thought process (we took both of our kids on Ovation). Personally, I'd book for the ship for itineraries in the Caribbean where you'll be able to use the shiny amenities more fully. For AK, I'd book the one that has a better track record of getting you a truly spectacular experience of the ports and the scenery.  HAL is a clear winner.

Also, if you can swing it, do the one way itinerary, and personally I preferred sailing out of Victoria (versus the RT sailing out of Seattle).

Yeesh, our Ovation disaster was Alaska. Truly do still feel bitter about how bad it was.

I wish you better luck... Hopefully next year's Alaska season will be better.

It's been bad since the restart... Not much consolation since you have no comparative points.

We booked on NCL last minute and had a much better experience with our cheapy, quickie cruise than our last RCL cruise on Ovation.

Still running out reservations on RCL. Have a cheapie next month and then on Wonder early next year. Haven't given up hope, but at least got over the hurdle of trying out another brand.

Absolutely stoked... We were on Harmony and got moved to this sailing. We were sad when we lost Coco Cay and considered switching sailings. Glad we didn't!

@10-42, I think you've found the core of the strategy for RCL: if they advertise a venue is closed or unavailable, then a ship full of people will feel like they're missing out (and personally I think it's the right thing to do). If they don't advertise it and let it come out only once people go looking for it, only a subset of the full ship of people will feel like they're missing out. Maybe RCL is making the decision that it's essentially cheaper to buy off unhappy customers with FCC's or OBC's while hoping the majority of them remain ignorant of the scale of the problem.

Foolish, in my mind, but I value honesty and transparency and am not a customer with malleable expectations.