Anders11

A not so fun fact for those of my age:
The height of the Spice Girls is as far from modern teenagers as Elvis and the Beatles were from me when we were teenagers.
And yet Elvis felt like ancient history but the Spice Girls now feel quite recent.
The deceptions of time can be depressing.

A not so fun fact for those of my age:
The height of the Spice Girls is as far from modern teenagers as Elvis and the Beatles were from me when we were teenagers.
And yet Elvis felt like ancient history but the Spice Girls now feel quite recent.
The deceptions of time can be depressing.

A not so fun fact for those of my age:
The height of the Spice Girls is as far from modern teenagers as Elvis and the Beatles were from me when we were teenagers.
And yet Elvis felt like ancient history but the Spice Girls now feel quite recent.
The deceptions of time can be depressing.

I’’m pleased to see Mariner mentioned a few times as I’m sailing her next year. What do you like about Mariner?

This is an entertaining conversation but going nowhere.
Not liking something is fine but bluntly ignoring the facts presented to you because you don't like them is another thing.
If a ship is legally allowed (for safety reasons) to have 5000 pax and they sold them all a cruise for $1000 then the revenue is 5mil. Now if there were 200 babies that they decided to give free cruise to revenue falls by $200k plus all the ancillary purchases full size people make. Now what do you think would happen, yes they would raise the cost to those without babies to maintain their revenue. So now is that fair on those without the kids having to pay extra.
So while the end result is a business decision it is a result of the safety rules.

If you go on enough cruises with RCI guess what you get?  You guessed it, a free cruise.  Does McDonalds charge a 2 year old for french fries or do they just throw them in?

Sure it is.  When the taxpayers are subsidizing the "business" by the billions you can offer whatever you want.  "Too big to fail" is a wonderful policy.
Also does not account for the fact that Amtrak doesn't need to account for life boat access for a passenger they won't be selling drinks to.

I think they should make solo guests sail free all the time since they don't consume the food of two people, they don't consume two seats at the shows and with fewer guests on board they have more capacity to charge families and groups greater than two.  Elevators aren't as busy, queues every are less with solo over two guests, more space in pools, less loungers consumed on the pool deck, etc.  Clearly solo guests have minimal impact and should be free.  
That's a pretty selfish position to take but it's all about me, so...

The “Royal Caribbean should do this” comments seem a bit of a tantrum to me.
I cruise solo so could be thanking RC that they only charge extra for the empty berth and don’t adjust for the lower on board spending, but know it’s simply part of a longer term business decision not to do that.
As someone else said, Royal Caribbean is a business, not a charity or public service.

We clearly aren't having a meeting of the minds.  There are certainly rules around proximity to your Muster.  
They aren't making decisions about baby's while evaluating in real time if they are 100% or not, they make a policy and for times of the year when they expect high capacity they don't have KSF, the other times they have it and the baby is free.
Not direct cost, opportunity cost.  The opportunity cost of allowing the baby on the ship and to occupy that Life Boat seat is the missed revenue from a paying customer occupying it.  Might be more than $600.  The slot can only be occupied once.
Kids Sail Free at least half the year and maybe more.

They don't set their policy on a case by case basis.  They make an overall policy to reach their overarching goals and have times of year when the baby is free.  Other times, they view,  on the whole, that the opportunity cost is too great.
I don't think I can say anything different or combine the words in any different way for us to have a meeting of the minds.  I will see you around the boards.

When they do a KSF promo they often raise the price of guests one and two. That's how they do it. It offsets it.

It is only hard to understand to those who simply don't want to understand. 

Yeah, I don't recall Royal Caribbean getting billion dollar handouts from the US taxpayers.

You're missing the point.  A baby takes up one of the available spaces on the Life Boat.  A 100 year old takes up one of the available spaces on a Life Boat.  They are the same in their consumption of that limited resource.  The hotel on land has no Life Boat so adding the baby does not prevent them from taking a paying guest in the next room.  On the cruise ship, because the baby is required to have a life boat seat, the opportunity cost of giving a baby a free fare is more impactful than doing the same at the land based hotel.
The requirement for the explicit lifeboat seat is the only way this is related to safety, but that relationship comes at a greater opportunity cost than land based items fo a similar nature.
It has nothing to do with a person's mobility or likelihood to need any additional safety services while on board.  Just that the ship is required to have the lifeboat space.  no lap sitting like on the airline.

And Amtrak has never been profitable https://econreview.berkeley.edu/amtrak-future-of-american-transit-or-failed-experiment/#:~:text=Throughout Amtrak's history%2C the company,in its history in 2020.

You never went back to re-read that post like I told you earlier.  There is a safety issue that impacts the opportunity cost on a cruise ship in a way that it does not in a hotel.  That's all there in that post.  That poster never was on safety, they were simply explaining that due to that safety reason, the presence of the child has more negative impact being on the cruise ship than in the land based hotel.
Seemed clear to me.

Feel bad?  Nope.
The thing of it is Royal isn't overcharging.  
No one is required to go on a cruise vacation.  Sail with a cruise line here in America who offers your infants free fare.  In a free and open market consumers can make those choices and business can set policies to achieve their business goals.  It's a wonderful thing.    

The two are intertwined.  More importantly the safety aspect creates an operating environment they are constrained by and creates an environment that isn't found on land so comparisons to land based businesses don't work.
 
Royal is a business not a charity.  It's easy to say they could provide <insert thing I care about> and not feel a thing.  McDonalds could provide free soda and not feel a thing.  Sports stadiums could provide free water bottles and not feel a thing, they cost pennies!!!  Banks could not charge maintenance fees and not feel a thing.  And so on, and so.  
Why should they?  Why should any business give up revenue? 
The thing is businesses won't accept less income.  Shareholders won't accept lower returns.  They would need to cover that loss of income somehow.  Something else goes up in price to cover that loss of income.  
Any time you waive a charge or subsidize it someone pays for it.  
I cruise solo often so my favorite <insert thing here> would be the single supplement.  I could rant and write long justifications why solo cruisers shouldn't have to pay single supplements but the truth is solo cruisers represent a loss of revenue potential and so as a business they charge solo cruisers more and there are times of the year they charge them even more because they lose more revenue on solo cruisers during peak times.     
Other popular < insert thing here >:
< free Voom for everyone >
< free drinks for everyone >
< free photos for everyone >
< free specialty dining for everyone >
< lower cruise fares right now > 
< lower suite fares > 
There are many things they could afford to do and not go bankrupt.  Not going bankrupt isn't the primary goal of any business.  Maximizing revenue should always be.  
Do you not own any investments or retirement accounts?  Are you okay with your investments not growing as much?  You good with retiring with less savings?  All so businesses can provide more free things?

I get it.  You don't want to hear what I'm saying.  
You just want what you want.  
Enjoy your cruise.

You want for free what is important to you.  The world doesn't work that way.

Yes!
I usually drink it as a dark n stormy which is ginger beer with gosling rum

The Central Park balcony is nice.  That is always our go-to option when we want to save money.  I MUCH prefer CP to Boardwalk.  You will have a great time

And it's absolutely beautiful at night. 

Central Park balcony can be amazing. You will be able to sit there and listen to the birds chirp, the various groups playing music, which is mellow, great and chill.