Al Miller

LOL!!! I think there must be someone in the PR Dept. whose job it is to "Justify" the changes that the bean counters want to make by scouring surveys looking for at least one person whose answers will fit the change they want to make. They spend hours poring over survey answers and finally they blurt out "GOT ONE!" "This survey says they think Diamond lounges are dumb. So we can use the "Customer Demand" excuse."

It's a very industrial area. You can see Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, but they are pretty far. Unless you have a good DLSR with Zoom, you are not getting very good photos of the Statue. The roads right down by the terminal seem to be in a constant state of construction. Take it slow. They use the Facial recognition if you have a passport. Has always worked well for us. One weird thing is that the suite check in is where they corral you to if they see you have mobility issues. (I use a cane) And that line is the furthest possible one from the escalators. Oh, you have issues walking for long distance? Here, we are going to punish you with the longest possible walk. Actually not that big a deal, it just kind of mystifies me every time. And they are quick to ask if you need assistance (IE a wheel chair). So if it really is an issue, you have a fall back.

They are getting better at getting this stuff pushed to the app sooner, but it still seems that until you get on board, a lot of the stuff on the schedule is incorrect or just missing. Had this on Anthem several times. Once I am on board it seems to reload everything and is more or less correct.

I've had it take up to a month to post. And as Short as about 10 Days.

Does not seem all that slow to me. It's been pretty rapid IMO.

Yeah it might be a real smart move for the other big lines to institute a status match program for a few months while Royal keeps pushing loyalists away. Interesting times...

Being a theme park person originally, The Gift and Spectra's impress me as just higher production value theme park revue shows. (Not higher than Disney's, I would imagine) I get it if people think they want to get what the "Story" is in The Gift. And it IS just an excuse to perform pop songs and use neat stage props. I loved it as a performance and really don't care about the "Story." It's not that kind of show. We Will Rock You is easy enough to understand, but is leagues more "Silly" and nonsensical than any other show on the ship. But people have less problems accepting it I guess. People's insistence that they cant follow Spectra's "story" mystifies and annoys me. It has "Cabaret" in the title. a Cabaret show is just a series of singing, dancing and sometimes comedy or variety acts usually hosted by a performer who may also sing or dance. There is NO story. There usually is not even a theme. Folks are spending so much effort to follow a story that is not there. I feel like they need to change the sign on the screens during the pre-show to "Spectra's Cabaret: There is no story line. Please stop stressing about it and enjoy the performances."

Thank you Mr Liberty! I expected nothing less. Honestly, I barely see the draw here. Other than cool cabanas, which you have to pay extra for anyway, why would you voluntarily pay extra for this?

The Royal ones previewed online look like they'd be fun, but not nearly as elaborate as what I've participated in on land. $20 seemed fair. But at $40 you've opened yourself to a land value comparisons. Anyone whose done both, feel free to correct me, but while the Royal ones look nice, they don't quite seem to be on the same level as a $40 land based escape room.

It's pretty cheap to park at the terminal relative to Bayonne or New York. $15/day.

Just noticed this. What a crock or you know what. Just one more way they will not be getting my money. I really hope Mr. Liberty enjoys his short term success in getting in the black. Cause overall, in the next few years he is getting thousands less of my money. I have three sailings booked with RC right now and I am pretty sure that other than 5 or 6 beers during a week, they will be getting zero on-board spend from me. I used to spend a couple of hundred bucks up to a thousand on-board per sailing. But now they get none. No Casino... nothing.

I've seen this before. My TA Told me it was because they had very specific promotions with restrictions like "No solo bookings." I'm on Oasis next month with one of those deals. Booked it a year ago. Inside cabin. $1900 solo total. $1400 total for two. And I'll get a little over $200 back in port fees and taxes.

I really love quantum class ships. for me the Seaplex, Northstar, IFly and 270 are awesome.

Wrong! It's comical at this point. https://www.cruisehive.com/new-charge-spotted-for-cookies-on-celebrity-cruises-ship/109334

Yeah, it's terrible quality, minuscule lobster tails. For included, it is okay. But for $16 it's WAAAY overpriced. I can get better tails from my local Acme for $8-$12 right now.

Get used to that feeling.

I wonder if Mr. Bailey is self aware enough to realize that the outrage was not purely driven by this survey question, but was a symptom of the growing negative perception of his brand in the last 9 or 10 months by its most ardent supporters. It was simply the straw that threatened to break the camels back. There was a time not that long ago when this survey question would not be given much credence by the faithful on the boards here. "Ehh... It's just a survey question. Don't freak out" is what I'm sure most would have said. But at this point in time, we have been conditioned to absolutely not give them any benefit of the doubt when it comes to price hikes and service reductions. That trust seems mostly gone. They've squandered it. And once their balance sheets look a little better in a few years, they may have trouble getting that trust back.

That's a great rate. You are not booking anywhere near that on a Quantum ship out of NJ right now. More like 4 grand. And it gets worse once Odyssey comes in '25. So for equivalent experience, prices are way, way up. And that's not even accounting for nearly all Coco Cay fees skyrocketing. Speciality dining and dining packages higher than ever. The value is just not there right now IMO. You obviously feel differently. But they are not getting any more of my money for now. Well see how things shake out over the next 6 months.

Maybe our definition of wealthy is different. But if I have to downgrade to a 20-30 year old ship in order to pay the same or more as an Excel class ship on Carnival, then the value proposition does not hold up for me. I've always been willing to pay a little more for what I feel is a better experience than the other lines. Especially on ships less than 10 years old. But not double or triple. Royal is damaging their reputation as the happy medium between value and quality IMO.

Royal is definitely NOT the place for "Good Deals" with current leadership in place. Lately, when friends ask me about cruising, I tell them to avoid Royal for the time being unless they are wealthy. Never thought it would come to this but here we are.

How is it, that even with that huge example right in front of their face, they refuse to see they are going down the same road? SMH... As good as their product may or may not still be, it still mainly survives by the good will of the customers. And they just do not seem to value us anymore. It used to seem like "How can we make our experience so good, that they will want to choose us over the competition? Even if it costs a little more." Lately it comes across as more like "We've got them on the hook. Now how can we milk them for the most dollars possible?"

Of the big 3 lines Royal already has the absolute poorest non MDR/Buffet complementary offerings. And that is WITH Sorrentos. What would they be trying to prove by taking that away? That their cruisers are the dumbest at sea and will put up with anything? They make me feel dumber all the time when this stuff keeps happening.

I agree. Problem is it would be one more thing in the litany of service cuts, price increases, and general degradation of the cruise product over a short amount of time.

I know right? They already took the Anti-Pasti away. Scaled the WJ way back. Gutted the MDR menu. Rolled back cleaning service. Doubled or tripled nearly every fee on Coco Cay. That mostly all happened the first month after Fain stepped down. I could have understood this stuff more when the restart first happened and they were actually just barely getting by. But it seemed like Fain was trying to protect the product. Now, it seems nothing is off limits and they are testing the waters to see how much they can get away with. It's a slippery slope.

Record earnings! Best quarter ever! You hear this and you think "Whew!" Maybe now they can stop the death by a thousand cuts that is killing my desire to book anything new. Nope! Let's see how fast and how far they can gut the core experience. This company under Mr. Liberty has me very much questioning my loyalty to cruising in general. They are going to keep pushing this and in five years they are going to wonder why all the repeat business has dried up.