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

[princevaliantus 940]

7 hours ago, Newyorkjoe75 said:

I have a boardwalk balcony booked for May 2020 on symphony... I can see their point about overlapping promos, and can even understand changing what their doing. I’m sailing just my two kids and myself and they don’t drink soda, and I got the drink package. We would have def used the Johnny rockets ... but I absolutely cannot understand how they change what people have already had has part of what they booked. I work retail and I can tell you if my company tried something like this all heck would break lose. I am going to call and complain on principle and to help in the cause ... good luck to all ... and may the force be with you 🙂 

Perfect example !!!

[Neesa 578]

Corporate decisions like these are why we left DCL! This has not even happened to me yet, I have 2 future sailings booked with RCCL and this is so disheartening. We are platinum on DCL and our last two sailings we truly felt they just stopped trying, every area was lacking and may I say boring. I communicated with my TA as well as corporate & their attitude was basically the same as you guys are experiencing here, I felt like they enjoyed with a smile our frustration with the bait & switch type tactics. We felt the monies could be better spent elsewhere but the emotions I experienced, the euphoric mindset that I loved (taking me away from the craziness of life) that was all but gone.....and they constantly smiled maybe smirked when the answer was policy, policy or just plain no. I have taken my cruise monies elsewhere (now RCCL) and I am sending crazy positive energy your way that RCCL does right by those that previously booked and reinstates the amenities. Good Luck fellow cruisers, I'm rooting for you!

[monctonguy 1,453]

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!

 

 

[Susie 213]

I have 2 upcoming cruises. One in 22 days on Symphony and Oasis next yer in August. Oasis will the one RCI removed my perks. On Symphony, we will be in Ocean view Balcony. 

Marketing email from Royal, you know how it is. They will send many marketing emails everyday. Today I got really good price for DX + Voom for $58 pp. I actually plan to purchase this for my husband before we board but now for what happen. I will not let one penny more to RCI pocket. Everywhere we stop we just enjoy drinks there. 

[dahdoul44 14]

Just saw this on another groups page..looks like they listened and willing to change.  Nice to see them act on it.

[PG Cruiser 1,672]

One again ... Royal gets my admiration!

 

 

[Lovetocruise2002 9,481]

1 minute ago, RatedPG said:

One again ... Royal gets my admiration!

+1!  So happy to see that they made things right yet again.

[dahdoul44 14]

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.

[WannabeViking 5]

Way to turn it around. Well done RCL

[PG Cruiser 1,672]

I owe Royal Caribbean this...

[JLMoran 5,987]

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.

[WAAAYTOOO 9,903]

I don’t understand why they made the unforced error to begin with.  All that angst and wrath were so avoidable. 

Glad to see them make the right decision in the end.

[JLMoran 5,987]

21 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I don’t understand why they made the unforced error to begin with.  All that angst and wrath were so avoidable. 

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

[PG Cruiser 1,672]

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.

 

 

[DandA 364]

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.  

[SpeedNoodles 3,720]

3 minutes ago, DandA said:

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.  

They'll price them at whatever rate they can reasonably move them, I would guess. 

[PG Cruiser 1,672]

15 minutes ago, DandA said:

to me these balconies are worthless and should be priced just above an oceanview cabin.  

Glorified interior rooms...  I would price them just above an interior room, not an ocean view

 

[tmp916 32]

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.

[PG Cruiser 1,672]

6 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

They'll price them at whatever rate they can reasonably move them, I would guess. 

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

[SpeedNoodles 3,720]

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

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.

[Lovetocruise2002 9,481]

Just now, SpeedNoodles said:

In this information age, I have little sympathy for people who don't research their ships/sailings prior to booking. 

Right with you on that one. 

[PG Cruiser 1,672]

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.

[SpeedNoodles 3,720]

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.

[Bakerette 111]

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.

[Wnuk 47]

Has anyone successfully made it to their page where you make the choice? I keep getting a “site can’t be reached” error.