Elpida

Only 7 more nights until we're Diamond Plus. Let's hope they don't require even more nights until a Diamond member becomes Diamond Plus. We're Elite on Princess, so if Royal Caribbean requires even more points, we'll go back to Princess. We prefer Royal Caribbean, but we've noticed the service has become worse over the last few years. Princess still has great service, so we may move on anyway. "New" cruisers may not realize what the service was like a few years ago, but those of us who have been cruising for 30 years really see the difference, especially on Royal Caribbean.

My husband and I usually cruise with another couple and we each normally get a Grand Suite. We like the benefits and we would be greatly disappointed if any of these perks would be cut. In fact, if anything is cut from the GS perks, we would most likely either go back to Princess or we would get a standard balcony cabin. For us, it's the perks that make us book a GS and not the space in the cabin (although all that space is very nice). Cutting current perks would only anger past passengers and I doubt Royal Caribbean would try something so stupid...although, I guess we won't know until we hear what they have in mind.

I have noticed that Royal Caribbean, compared to other cruise lines, is very slow at posting future cruises. We normally have to book very early due to my husband's job, and twice now we've had to book with Princess because Royal Caribbean has not posted cruises very far in advance. I'm not sure why they can't post earlier since other lines can do it, but with so many people trying to book early, you would think they could arrange to keep up with other lines.

We just came back from a European cruise on the Rhapsody of the Seas. We got to the muster drill early and went to our designated area. Our area was on deck and the sun was extremely hot. The temperature that day was 92 degrees. I have a kidney transplant and I am not supposed to be in the sun (even for a short time) because the medication makes me feel ill if I get too hot. We stood in the shade and as more people arrived, the staff member at our station told me to come up front since I was shorter than most of the men in front of me. My husband said, "She has a medical condition and can't be in the sun." The staff member said, "Right. Come up here in the front." I said, "I honestly cannot be in the sun due to my medication. I'd like to stay back here in the shade." He said, in a very loud voice, "Come up here and stand in the front." So I went in the front and fifteen minutes later (in the 92 degree heat) I felt so ill that I started to fall down. My husband grabbed me and took me in the back to the shade. In my opinion, the staff does not care about anything except that they have the "power" to boss the customers around. Why on earth do they make the weak or elderly passengers stand in the hot sun for the muster drills when they could just as easily do it inside? I am a Diamond member (one more cruise to Diamond Plus) and I have found the service/staff attentiveness to be poor compared to even a few years ago. This is just one example of how the service and lack of concern for passengers is falling short.