Jump to content

Eat....Drink.....Discover..... Being discontinued


monctonguy

Recommended Posts

8 hours ago, monctonguy said:

Royal doesn't care about you as a customer...all they care about is $. Its become more and more obvious with them.

 

If ppl weren't using these perks..then they were making MORE money from the promo. They are full of BS.

 

This is the way most companies go once they get so big.....one customer or 10 doesn't mean anything to them anymore..too big too care.

 

Based on their rationale and justification, they could eliminate everything and anything they want at anytime..no more complimentary food.....it would save them money...watchout!

 

Good luck everyone!

 

 

See the post above.  It looks like they listened to the concerns everyone had and is making a change for the better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As noted in a related post about this change, I think this approach of giving all passengers the choice of which option they prefer is how it should have been done from the get-go. Those who really didn't see the value in the perks win with additional OBC; those who truly wanted the perks get to keep them.

Royal still has to deal with a bit of a black eye around the way they handled this, and one that's worse than the $18 DBP snafu, but at least they made a good call in the end and can come out looking better than they might have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Refer to @RatedPG's explanation in the separate thread on the Royal Caribbean News & Rumors board. ? 

Here it is:

8 minutes ago, RatedPG said:

It was their original plan, but the intern only typed in the information about the $50 OBC.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad they fixed this for those that had already booked those rooms, but I have to wonder who in corporate is making these decisions in the first place.  This person or persons have no common sense, it's almost like they are trying to torpedo the company.  After the stuff hits the fan someone higher up jumps in and makes the decision to end the publicity nightmare.  Kudos for Royal for making things right but by god get it right the first time.

I wonder how they will price these rooms in the future?, to me these balconies are worthless and should be priced just above an oceanview cabin.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If ppl weren't using these perks..then they were making MORE money from the promo. They are full of BS.

 

Exactly if they weren't using or "overlapping" benefits that just means the customer was buying even more.  Overlapping benefits isn't a bad thing if one of them is being paid for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, RatedPG said:

Only newbies will book them at these prices... thinking they're getting balcony rooms.  This is from a mock booking for April 2021 on the Harmony

2135879535_ScreenShot2019-09-20at6_20_53PM.thumb.png.21fcf6290e67015403bbe5a157ba86ed.png

In this information age, I have little sympathy for people who don't research their ships/sailings prior to booking.  There are so many ways to see different category of rooms prior to booking, whether it's the cruise line's website, YouTube videos, multiple cruise related forums, etc. Personally I've always thought it's pretty clear that they are balconies that face the interior of the ship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

In this information age, I have little sympathy for people who don't research their ships/sailings prior to booking.  There are so many ways to see different category of rooms prior to booking, whether it's the cruise line's website, YouTube videos, multiple cruise related forums, etc. Personally I've always thought it's pretty clear that they are balconies that face the interior of the ship.

The uninitiated may have a hard time making sense of these different cabin configurations, especially with the way the Royal website presents them.  You see the word "balcony" and every modifier before or after it seems insignificant. 

How many times have you sailed before you really figured out how Royal works?  It took about 2-3 sailing.  Even up to now, I’m still learning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, RatedPG said:

The uninitiated may have a hard time making sense of these different cabin configurations, especially with the way the Royal website presents them.  You see the word "balcony" and every modifier before or after it seems insignificant. 

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one :)  I think the description of the views as well as the photos make it pretty obvious.  But I am VERY glad for everyone affected by this Royal snafu (see what I did there?) that they can now make a choice that suits them best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RC sent out an email to people who booked a cruise on one of the Oasis Class ships and has selected. Central Park or Boardwalk balcony after January 1st, 2020, that they have the option of getting the $50 OBC that they offered 2 days ago because they had discontinued the dine...Drink...discover program, & yesterday they sent out another email that gave people who are booked  in the Central Park balconies and made the reservation for those balconies before September 18th, 2020 now have the option for get the $50 or be grandfathered into the dine...drink...discover program that RC is discontinuing.38C8AC9C-53DA-4C23-92C5-A5B88749800F.thumb.png.a4e7585e08e929e496ef4b6ea71ebbe3.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, JohnK6404 said:

Can you make the selection (through the above link) even if you booked through a travel agent or do you need to go through the agency?

Also, do you get a confirmation?

Thanks!

Yes, you can make a selection thru the above link in the post above you even if you are booked thru a TA & you did not need to go thru the TA & you do get a confirmation of you choice and that what you have chosen has been recorded.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

when we sailed a year ago on oasis, we had no clue this was even a thing until we got to our room, even then we had to do some digging to figure out why we had 4 glasses...

it was not apparent during the booking at any point, didnt flag us when we bought the refreshment package that we already had a soda package.  Nothing at all.

If they wanted some sort of "credit" for this program that would encourage people to book these inside balconies, maybe they should have mentioned it somewhere...

It was a wierd program, particularly with soda and wine, things that people often buy on their own with the deluxe beverage package, which leads to varying levels of benefit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Constantino said:

It was a wierd program, particularly with soda and wine, things that people often buy on their own with the deluxe beverage package, which leads to varying levels of benefit.

This was the overlap they were talking about as one of the reasons for discontinuing the program.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They don't deserve much credit for all of this.....

 

They only changed it cause many people made enough stink and yelled and screamed and kicked about it...

 

Like I stated originally.....they don't care about 1 customer or 10.....many more need to complain to be even treated fairly in all this.

 

What would have made Royal look good is if they had announced this plan originally......not after they tried to pull a fast one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm glad that RC made the change and decided to do what we all felt was the right thing to do from the beginning.

I would feel much better about RC if they had done the right thing at first, instead of being forced into it by bad publicity. 

Sometimes I think with all of the talk about dream cruises, exotic ports, our favorite dining options and so forth, we forget that RC is a company that's in business to make money. 

That is their bottom line. They made the change to benefit themselves in the long run, while appeasing us in the short run. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RCCL (parent company) must be doing some overall cost-cutting measures, because shenanigans like this haven't been limited to RCI cruises. Celebrity late last week announced they were eliminating complimentary in-room movies and would now be charging $14.99 for any in-room movie rental.

As with this event, there was a serious public outcry over having that perk removed (even though I'm guessing only a fraction of a percent of all passengers actually take advantage of it), and this morning it was relayed on the Cruise Radio News podcast that Celebrity reversed the decision and free rentals were reinstated.

I imagine it's costing X no more in licensing fees to get those movie rentals available than it costs RCI (if it's not all lumped under the RCCL umbrella); and I'd be stunned if those fees aren't already built into the cruise fare like any other in-room perk. Were they actually expecting to make any significant money off people willing to pay what is an exorbitant fee for one of those rentals? But they went and did it anyway, only to have to undo it when the expected hue and cry came out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

RCCL (parent company) must be doing some overall cost-cutting measures, because shenanigans like this haven't been limited to RCI cruises. Celebrity late last week announced they were eliminating complimentary in-room movies and would now be charging $14.99 for any in-room movie rental.

As with this event, there was a serious public outcry over having that perk removed (even though I'm guessing only a fraction of a percent of all passengers actually take advantage of it), and this morning it was relayed on the Cruise Radio News podcast that Celebrity reversed the decision and free rentals were reinstated.

I imagine it's costing X no more in licensing fees to get those movie rentals available than it costs RCI (if it's not all lumped under the RCCL umbrella); and I'd be stunned if those fees aren't already built into the cruise fare like any other in-room perk. Were they actually expecting to make any significant money off people willing to pay what is an exorbitant fee for one of those rentals? But they went and did it anyway, only to have to undo it when the expected hue and cry came out.

You're right @JLMoran, I'm sure a lot of the people complaining never watched the "complimentary" movies, but still, it always look bad when you start to charge for something that was once free. Bad optics. Regardless of the reasons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Celebrity late last week announced they were eliminating complimentary in-room movies and would now be charging $14.99 for any in-room movie rental.

... and this morning it was relayed on the Cruise Radio News podcast that Celebrity reversed the decision and free rentals were reinstated.

Here's an idea. They can keep offering the complimentary in-room movies but just offer a few titles:

1.  Titanic
2.  Poseidon Adventure (1972)
3.  Poseidon (2006)
4.  Speed 2: Cruise Control
5.  The Perfect Storm
6.  Captain Phillips
7.  Life of Pi
8.  Adrift
9.  Under Siege

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...