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RCVoyager

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Posts posted by RCVoyager

  1. 2 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

    Oh I’m now getting a bit nervous about my September Mardi Gras cruise after Utopia!  Our friends talked us into booking this…they had been on Mardi Gras last August and loved it.  We are booked in Cabana Havana rooms which have their own little area on the ship.  We'll see how it goes as we don’t plan to cancel.  It’s an expensive cruise…paying more than just about any cruise I’ve been on with Royal!  All I know is our friends raved about their cruise experience so time will tell!

    I will say I am not impressed with any pre cruise things.  Seems they charge for just about everything and doesn’t look like discount sales ever occur!  Nothing about the website is easy!  I am so used to Royal!  

    We met a woman who was staying in the upgraded area of the ship.  They even have their own elevator and she didn't have most of the problems we had.  She did say it seemed crowded in the common areas, but it didn't affect them much.  She said they paid for the most expensive restaurant daily (I think she said $110 per day), and there were no issues there.  They didn't attend any shows and had priority on and off the ship.

  2. 5 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

    That would have been a cruise you would want to go to guest services and say you did not want to not do auto-gratuity, decide for yourself.

    I was not going to do anything negative toward the staff on board.  They were working themselves to death.  It's not their fault.  This is a problem from above.  Why design a ship to be that crowded to begin with?

  3. 1 hour ago, GatorCruiser said:

    Thank you for your thoughtful and thorough response. I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. 

    One more thing to add, we barely saw our room steward.   When we did, I asked him how many cabins he had?  35.  I don't know what that number should be, but there is no way to offer good service when you have 35 of them.  If working a 10 hour day, that is less than 20 minutes per room per day.  If working a 12 hour day, he would have had 20 minutes per room.

    I'll not even bother to write about the customer service response we received upon my follow-up, but it was BAD.

  4. 6 minutes ago, Geezer Of The Seas said:

    An educated guess. Passenger load (double occupancy) on Mardi Gras is 5200, 6500 max. That's Oasis Class number on a ship that's 50K gross tons/ 60 ft. or so shorter. The ship must have been packed to the rafters on the sailing. 🤔

    Absolutely.  100% way too crowded.  I'm surprised whoever from a government standpoint allows that many.  It was like being in a packed high school gym 100% of the time.

  5. 4 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

    Please elaborate further on your Mardi Gras experience, I’m curious what you encountered. 

    We were on the 2nd week of October, and although it wasn't announced, the ship had to be at capacity (6500).  Oasis Class full capacity is 6700, and it is 25% larger.

    There were people everywhere all the time.  Elevators were a nightmare (my mother-in-law was with us so had to use them).  The Carnival App is a joke.  Even with it, there were lines down the hall for every restaurant at every meal.  The service people were doing the best they could, but there was no way to manage that crowd.    Three times during the week, our entrees arrived before our appetizers.  Oftentimes the food was cold, and again we did not believe the problem was from poor service, it was from an overwhelming crowd.

    If you weren't waiting in line for a show or comedy show at least 30 minutes prior, you would not get a seat.  There were people sitting on the floor for every comedy show we attended.

    To make the crowd matter worse, there is a big theater in the front of the ship that is hardly used, and there is an inadequate stage that carves a bunch of space mid-ship that takes 3 or 4 decks.  The seating is poor, and the flow of the ship is badly interupted.  And the main theater sits empty.

    The roller coaster can't be used for 4 hours after the slightest rain.  Needless to say, in the Caribbean, there is not much use for it.  It does however interfere with important deck space, namely the walking track with is totally inadequate to begin with.  People didn't even bother to try on that track.

    When you get that many people, the worst comes out in some of them.  My m-i-l was pushed by a guy who didn't want to wait his turn.  When confronted, he claimed it was accidental.  I saw it, it was purposeful.

    What Carnival is doing is cruise malpractice, and that was the first vacation I've been on, out of many, that was a waste of money, and I felt cheated.

    I sent a negative review and never heard back from them, so I followed-up.  Got corporate run around.  Carnival does not care.

    I say again, do not sail carnival.

  6. 9 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

    I agree with everything you said, especially about getting earlier flights now.  I will say as a general point that the RCL Air2Sea program delivers a lot of value to travelers where the NCL program, if you are talking about the 2 for 1 “Free at Sea” is not comparable.  There are more terrible NCL air reviews than you can count. 

    I believe there are many negative NCL reviews.  Carnival too.  I think in the post Covid world, the almighty dollar is more important than ever to those companies.  I have not heard a lot of bad RCCL reviews, so maybe it is different.

    I personally carried Carnival's water up until our Mardi Gras experience in October.  Unless you want to be packed in like sardines, do not, and I mean DO NOT book Carnival. 

  7. I read of this horror story for a family on NCL a few months ago.  Arrived late to Vancouver.  NCL and Federal Law didn't allow them to board on their 1st Alaska port of call, because the requirement to have at least one out of the US port wasn't met.  To make matters worse, the financial obligation to NCL was only $500 per person which did not pay their way back home.  It was NCL's air to sea, and a family of roughly 14 lost $60,000.  I never read if a better resolution was ever obtained.

    My advice, get earlier flights now.

  8. Congratulations.  

    When I adopted my son, I did not know there would be a new birth certificate with me listed as the father.  Being that I did not know the woman who would become my wife at the time he was born to her, I had no idea.

    He's a 16 year old junior in high school now.   He's the equal of everyone in our family just the same as my other two children.  He made me very proud earlier this month.  For a Psychology class, he had to write an essay about "the greatest thing that has ever happened to you".  His greatest thing was being adopted by me.  He did not want me to see his paper, but my wife gave me a sneak peak.  I think I barely beat out him getting his Xbox.  I'll take it. 

  9. We were on the Carnival Mardi Gras in Oct.  They said we could not store luggage under our bed because another family was staying there.  

    Well, I might have made some of the above up, but I will say, never, ever, ever go on that ship or any of their new ships.  They are packed so tight, it is cruising malpractice.  And I was Carnival's biggest supporter on this forum.

  10. On 10/8/2023 at 10:14 AM, Thoodt said:

    Has anyone done one of these before?  We're booked - but a little confused on booking other items...Goes through NAHA (Native American Heritage Assn.).  

    Curious for those that have been on these cruises with multiple bands - what's it like (are you constantly moving around between bands?  Mornings off I assume - so when do they start - like 2pm?  The bands that are more headliners - that will play in the Royal Theater - I have to assume there's a huge queue to get in and it starts forming pretty early...

     

    The NAHA website says nothing opens up to book until like 6 weeks out, which sounds a bit odd to me.

    Any other tips / advice is appreciated.  We've done multiple RC cruises but this is our first non-RC cruise on a RC ship.

    My brothers and I did the Barenaked Ladies 1 & 3.  Most of the ship's regular entertainment was given the week off.  There was about 25 bands on board.  They started as early as 10AM around the pool and went until about 3 AM.  They played everywhere a stage could be set-up including the casino.  These were not cover bands, but regional lesser known bands with BNL being the headliner.

    Upon embarkation, there was a long line... we did not know why.  When we finally got to the end of it, a pair of double doors opened.  We walked in.  There, set in pose  was BNL. A photo was taken, and every passenger received an 8x10 photo of their party with the band.  It was a very nice touch.  That was also the cruise where the now famous Barenaked at Sea photo took place.  700 people posed naked for a photo on the Lido Deck.  You can look it up.

    At the sail away show by the pool, the band mentioned they were on board with their families.  Their request was if we see them about the ship alone or with other band members to approach to say hello.  When with their families, please give privacy.  And that's exactly what happened.  The bands we accessible, and would sign stuff if you wanted.

    That's where we met our now favorite band: Gaelic Storm. One afternoon at lunch by the pool, a member of GS asked if he could sit with us for lunch.  He said, "I saw you at our show last night.  Thanks for coming out."  We had a nice 30 minutes with him.

    This was the  best cruise experience I've had.

  11. 33 minutes ago, texaskstar said:

    I hope you let Royal and Carnival know what you think, because posting on an internet message board is going to change anything or matter at all to them.

     

    Sad to say, I don’t think Royal or Carnival will care though.  They are full speed ahead on scooping up new first time cruisers.  That, combined with the insane demand they’re seeing right now, isn’t really going to motivate them to change back.  Quite the opposite really.  We do appear to be heading towards a recession in 2024, so that may cause demand to dip.  If so it may cause Royal to start listening more.  However, a decrease in demand is NOT going to make them start printing a daily Compass.  Again, quite the opposite as it saves them money.

    I’ve got some cruises planned on a few different classes of ship with Royal and I’m going to really evaluate which one I think is best for me and will likely start to focus in on that class.  Oddly enough, the ship I’m most looking forward to is a Radiance Class ship (I have other sailings on Voyager and Oasis class ships and am still looking for a Quantum Class ship to go on).  That would be my only other suggestion to you is to go try a Vision or Radiance Class ship if you prefer the cruising style from the previous century, it was nice era after all.

    Oh, and I 100% agree with you on having to rely on your phone so much.  I hate that, and it isn’t just with cruising either, it’s everywhere on vacation - fights, hotels, theme parks, transportation, it never ends.

    Indeed, I eagerly completed my survey with 2s and 3s rather than my normal 9s or 10s.  I even gave a 0 to one restaurant for abysmal service, cold food, and entrees that arrived before appetizers.  I noted that in my opinion, the people attempting to serve us did what they could. Two of them had 8 tables and the food came from 2 decks below via escalator.  It's been almost a month since I completed it.  I haven't heard anything and doubt I do.

  12. 5 hours ago, bobroo said:

    I know I echo the OP @RCVoyager, but the change I do not understand is why was hospitality allowed to completely leak out the bottom of this cruising thing?

    My observation is that technology allows less, and in fact almost no, person to person interaction.  Once you lose that, hospitality goes with it.  Less staff can serve more people, and technology is the crutch that allows it.

    On the Mardi Gras, we only saw our stateroom attendant two or three times all week.  In one of those interactions, I asked him how many rooms he "has".  His reply was 35.  I don't know what the norm used to be because I never asked that question before.  But 35 seems extreme and is a number that disallows any extra attention to be paid to any of them.

  13. On 11/5/2023 at 9:46 AM, JasonOasis said:

    I don't know if you are spoiled Americans or not.  I just think you are use to how cruising was for decades and not a fan of what it is evolving into. 

    Truth is you don't have to participate in my time dinning every cruise I've been on has both traditional dinning where you get the same waiter every night and my time dinning.  The paper version of the cruise compass going away was only a matter of time because it is a complete waste of resources and not to mention millions and millions of dollars spent per year buy both the paper and the ink.  

    The large ships aren't for everyone however cruising on a smaller ship tends to favor people like yourself who are interested in a more intimate, personal form of cruising. 

    But the truth of the matter is during the pandemic both Empress and Majesty of the Seas left Royals fleet and Odyssey and Wonder joined the fleet and this past Q3 Royal for the entire quarter sailed at 110% capacity. They are bring on Icon and Utopia within the first 7 months of 2024, that is a massive amount of capacity Royal has brought and is bringing on since Odyssey in 2021. And again according to Royals Q3 results demand remains at an all time high even in 2024 when 2 additional massive ships join the fleet.  

    Cruising across the board from Carnival all the way to Silver Seas, heck even the Ritz Carlton now has its own ultra luxury cruise brand is more popular than ever and there truly is something out there for everyone at every price point.  And all of these cruise lines are integrating more and more technology into their ships so people can stay connected to family and friends and so people can work.  Some people who can work from anywhere in the world do work while on a cruise.  

    Looking at the industry as a whole it has moved away from what cruising was in the 90s and even early 2000's and that shift is paying dividends.  If it's not your cup of tea any longer that is totally fine that doesn't make you a spoiled American it just makes you you, and you like what you like and there is nothing wrong with that. If you feel like its time for you to move on then by all means do that because there are a lot land based vacation that will cater to your needs.

    Nice response Jason.  Thanks for the thoughtful reply.  I think "not our cup of tea" is correct.  We did a VRBO beach house with our family a year or so ago.  We had our own pool and a little used beach, though there were several walkers passing throughout the day.  We did the local restaurants and avoided the 5 to 6 PM rush.  There was plenty to do in the area.  It was great for our family group.

    We also, just the two of us, have done two of the best trips we've ever done in the last couple of years.  One was a VRBO in Providenciales not near the Beaches Resort but still on Grace Bay.  That beach is gorgeous and when not near the big resorts sparsely used.  The other was in St. Croix.  The beach wasn't great, but there is sea glass there by the bag full.  We're hooked on that.

    This past trip reminded us, we want less cruising and more of St. Croix!

  14. 35 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

    Apps showing schedules allow flexibility that paper schedules don't.  They can be updated throughout the day if the weather/illness/etc causes a change to an activity/show/etc.  It's also more environmentally friendly than printing something that is only valid for a single day.

    You can eat at the same time with the same waiter whether you do "My Time Dining" or traditional.

    There's no shuffleboard because most of Royal (and Carnival's) guests have never played it!

    Much of your complaints are a generational issue.  I mean this in the kindest way possible, but it sounds like you are older than the target market for the mainstream cruise lines.  There's nothing wrong with that, but you may need to seek out smaller, more luxurious cruise lines to find what you are looking for.

    I tend to agree with your points.  Maybe, at 58, I've become an old codger. We have discussed the smaller lines, and that will probably be how we continue, assuming we do.

    With regard to My Time Dining, we have used it in the past without much of an issue.  However, on the Mardi Gras, there were people lined up the length of a football field, on their phones, at both My Time and traditional, waiting to be notified their table was ready.

    I get your point about shuffleboard... not many play.  There is no excuse for that sorry walking/jogging track that is always widely used on every ship I've been on.

    And while my original rant about the technology still stands, and as the biggest Carnival apologist on this board over the last 10 years or so, 6500 passengers on that ship is cruising malpractice.  I no longer recommend that line at all, and everyone here can correctly say "I told you so".

    I joked to my wife that when I pulled my suitcase from under the bed the last day, there was a family sleeping in it.  She rolled her eyes, but I heard her retell it to one of her friends.

  15. After our poor experience on the Carnival Mardi Gras last month, my wife and I have talked several times about what we didn't like.  I think the biggest overall disappointment is the evolution that has come not just to Carnival, but all of mainstream cruising.  We don't want an "app" we have to schedule everything we do.  In fact, other than touching base with the people at home once or twice during the week, we want to put our phones in the safe and leave them there.  We don't want "My Time Dining".  We much prefer the same table with the same waiter and assistant, a paper menu in a nice folder, at the same time each night.

    We like a daily ship newspaper and schedule on our bed each night and announcements delivered by the Captain at noon each day.

    We are forced to live our lives on our phones and laptops.  Vacation is a way for us to get away from technology.

    Several years ago, we had to come to grips with the idea of automatic gratuities.  We didn't like it at first because some passengers took advantage of the workers by poorly tipping or not tipping at all.  We adapted and now see that is better.  We still be sure to bring a few extra 20s on board for those we recognize for good service.

    To us, this new way of cruising is not better.  We will, in all likelihood, become "former" cruisers rather than adapt.  There are lots of land based vacations out there.

    Technology does not make the cruise line better able to serve its current customers.  It allows the cruise line to jam more people onto the ship and "serve" them with less staff.  Sad to us.

    As an additional rant, who in their right mind builds a new cruise ship without a Shuffleboard Court and an unusable walking/jogging track but with a roller coaster at sea that can't be used most days?  Carnival, that's who.  The others are sure to follow.

    Anyone agree?  Or are we just spoiled Americans?

     

  16. Buyer beware for sure.  There was an article a couple of months back (which I can't find now) regarding two families traveling NCL with NCL purchased air.  One family had insurance, the other didn't.  In both cases, the NCL purchased flights did not get them to the cruise in time.  In both cases, the families were denied the opportunity to board at the next port.  The one family was out like $60,000 (large group).  The other lost all but a few hundred dollars of their money because the insurance only paid like $500 per person.  I'd like to think RCCL would handle a similar situation differently, but I'm not sure.

  17. 12 minutes ago, CruisingSteve said:

    For those not familiar, Rhapsody was sailing from Haifa Israel. Looks like Royal found a new home for Rhapsody

    Capture.JPG

    Only until April 24 when it moves to San Juan.  No more Voyager Class or Radiance Class in San Juan.  Sad.  Carnival not there at all.  No Princess.  That and the fact the new Carnival ships are unsailable, makes me want to move to land based trips only.

  18. 23 hours ago, Cruisegirl1976 said:

    I have sailed on Royal, NCL, and just tried Carnival for the 1st time .. the Mardi Gras back in Feb, and it was a one and done for me.. we felt rushed in the main dining room, then waited forever in the italian restaurant.  They only had one section of the buffet open.. the line was horrible just to get some food. The lines for shows backed up into the casino. Hubby and I will stick with Royal from now on. 

    As mentioned above, this was my 20th cruise, my 9th with Carnival.  As Anders11 and JB17 pointed out above, there are statistics that show how utterly crowded this ship is.  

    The Mardi Gras, and all the others in it's class, are an insult to cruising.  Someone at Carnival needs to take a look at what's going on with those ships and make changes.

    This is coming from the guy who is the biggest Carnival defender on this board or anywhere else the topic comes up.  No more.

  19. I turned my survey in for this cruise last night.  Something I've never done before is to give several 2's and 3's (on a scale of 0-10), but I did here.   I actually gave out a 0 for one of the restaurants.   In the comments section I made sure to emphasize that my issues were not with anyone on board.  My issues were based upon the fact this ship cannot handle to crowd that was put on it.

    When asked the chances of me booking another cruise within 12 months, I scored it a 6.  When asked if it would be with Carnival, a 2.  

    I doubt anyone cares, but as a customer with 20 cruises under my belt (9 of which are on Carnival), they should care.

    I didn't get nasty, stomp my feet, or say never again.  I did make my points which are valid.

    It will be interesting if I hear anything from them.

  20. 1 hour ago, tonyfsu21 said:

    The Oasis class ships don’t seem crowded at all for the most part. The exception is always going to be the elevators and the buffet regardless of the size of the ship. If you are able bodied then the stairs are always an option. As for service, that’s hit or miss depending on the ship and the venue. I’ve had entire cruises with exceptional service across the board and others that were pretty bad. In late 2023 it’s all about managing expectations. If you pick apart every aspect of your cruise regarding service, food quality (and the list goes on) you will find plenty of flaws and room for improvement. IMHO time is better spent focusing on the fact that you are fortunate enough to have the ability to afford a vacation  that many families are not able to take. 

    Absolutely Tony, I am thankful that we are able to do trips like this.  My post was not meant as a complaint.  It was meant as a question as to whether or not this stuff happens on Royal's big ships.  We did this on the cheap and took inside staterooms because this was our second major vacation of the year (did 2 weeks along the Pacific Coast, Yosemite, Muir Woods, and Lake Tahoe and some of those places were incredibly crowded as well).

    During the course of the week, we learned of ways to avoid some of the bottlenecks, but much of it could not be avoided.  My wife, son, and I did a lot of stairs.  My m-i-l can't, so oftentimes we would be sure she was safely on a lift, and then we would take the stairs, but when going from deck 6 to deck 14, it's not always what we wanted to do.

    I did not mention in my first post that my m-i-l was pushed, at one point,  by a male adult able bodied passenger who did not think it necessary to wait his turn.  I saw it happen and since she didn't fall, I chose not to escalate the situation.  It almost appeared as though he wanted me to do so.  Had she fallen, I would have not had a choice in the matter.

    We are no doubt blessed to have these opportunities, but don't want to be in situations where we have to rely of the goodness, or even proper behavior of others, in order to take a vacation and not be inconvenienced or in my m-i-l's case assaulted in huge crowds of people.  If this is what mainstream cruising is becoming, we will probably pass or take small ships like Windstar, ect.  We would have to go less often due to cost.

  21. 1 minute ago, RCVoyager said:

    ScottD, the 5 foot rail has not been standard on on any of my previous 19 cruises.  In the photo you will see the inner rail which was approximately the standard of every other ship I've been on.  It is about chest high to me.  When you add in the secondary rail and the glass, it's up to my chin.  It cuts a full 1/3 of the view for a person my height (5'7") It would cut more if you are shorter, and less if you are taller.

    I am a person who would spend time each day looking at whatever there is to see off the rail.  It was a major limitation for me.

    thumbnail.jpg

    Sorry Scott.  That reply was meant for Columbia who said the 5' rail seems standard.  

  22. 1 hour ago, ScottD said:

    Royal's Oasis class ships are the big ones, and they have done an amazing job making them not feel over crowded. I just got off Oasis, and the only time I ever felt like there was close to 7000 people was the elevators after 3 shows finished at the same time in the theater area. Other than that, it's so spread and and stuff going on everywhere, it never feels packed. It's pretty impressive, actually 

    ScottD, the 5 foot rail has not been standard on on any of my previous 19 cruises.  In the photo you will see the inner rail which was approximately the standard of every other ship I've been on.  It is about chest high to me.  When you add in the secondary rail and the glass, it's up to my chin.  It cuts a full 1/3 of the view for a person my height (5'7") It would cut more if you are shorter, and less if you are taller.

    I am a person who would spend time each day looking at whatever there is to see off the rail.  It was a major limitation for me.

    thumbnail.jpg

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